University of Nebraska Kearney

General Studies Program Assessment Plan

Introduction

The assessment plan includes a combination of direct and indirect measures of student learning. The direct measures of student learning are embedded within the courses offered in the various categorical perspectives. The indirect measures of student learning consist of surveys designed to measure formative and summative student opinion and impressions regarding engagement in the academic community and satisfaction with accomplishment of the intended program outcomes. In addition, a faculty survey is included as an indirect measure to reflect faculty perceptions of the GS Program. The timelines for each assessment include a schedule for evaluating the effectiveness of the assessment to ensure that the assessment procedures evolve to meet the future needs of the students.

Direct Measurement of Student Outcomes

Departmental Assessment of GS Program courses: The GS Program at UNK is based on a distributive model requiring students to select courses from various perspectives within the different categories. The courses are designed to assist students with meeting the objectives of the specific category. The intent of the distributed program organization is that all students will have the opportunity to engage in the exploration of a variety of academic perspectives while also accomplishing the general objectives of the program. Each department offering a GS course is required to assess student outcomes of those courses on a regular basis. The student objective on which the specific assessment is based depends in which category the course is offered. All departments are required to have a current plan in place. The individual department plans are posted on the General Studies page of the assessment website.

Departmental Assessment

Each department offering a GS course is required to assess learning outcomes of those courses annually. Each department is required to use at least one direct measure and to assess at a minimum the General Studies category objectives. Departments submit reports October 1 and are given feedback from the General Studies Director. Departments also are required to have a General Studies assessment plan and any changes to this plan are to be submitted by May 1.

Objective	Participants	Evaluators
I-VII	students in GS courses	faculty in each department

Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP)

UNK will administer the CAAP to freshmen and seniors every three years beginning in the fall of 2007. The nationally normed test will measure critical thinking and writing skills. Samples will include approximately 200 freshmen and 200 senior students for each test, yielding a total sample of approximately 800. The freshmen sample will be selected by randomly selecting general studies courses for the test. The senior sample will be collected by identifying the senior level course in each department that has the highest level of seniors enrolled.

Objective	Participants	Evaluators
overall GS objectives 2 and 3	freshmen and seniors	experts from testing company

General Studies will eventually use WI and CD assessment data if those programs adopt an instrument that is commonly used in all WI or CD courses, and if the instruments align with General Studies objectives.

Indirect Measurement of Student Outcomes

The instruments included in this plan are:

• Graduating Student Survey
• National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Graduating Student Survey

Each spring the Registrar’s Office will administer a survey to graduating seniors to measure satisfaction with their educational experience at UNK. The GS Council developed survey items for inclusion in the survey to measure student satisfaction in meeting GS program objectives.

Objective	Participants	Evaluators
overall objectives 1-4	graduating seniors using GS Graduating Student Survey

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

UNK will administer the NSSE to freshmen and seniors on a three year rotation beginning with spring 2007. The GS Council extracted data from NSSE questions which relate to the general objectives of the GS program. From this subset of NSSE questions, the GS Council will identify institutional practices and areas of student engagement that should be improved in order to increase student learning. An alignment chart illustrating the linkage of individual survey items with GS Program objectives is available.

Objective	Participants	Evaluators
overall objectives 1-4	freshmen and seniors	experts from testing company

2007

Previous Plan, Replaced Fall 2007