General Education, Assessment, and the Learning Students Need

2009 Conference Descriptions, Program and Resources

AAC&U's 2009 conference on General Education and Assessment was held February 26-28, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland. 580 educators gathered to discuss and reflect on what we know and what we do with regard to general education. TaskStream and Tk20 supported the conference as sponsors. The Council for the Administration of General and Liberal Studies (CAGLS) was an Academic Partner. The conference program and session resources follow. AAC&U offers sincere appreciation to the many conference participants and contributors who made this conference a success.

Conference Registrant List

Conference Program

Thursday, February 26

2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Pre-Conference Workshops

Workshop 1: Blurring Boundaries: Developing a Four-Year, Integrated Curriculum Tailored to Each Student 
Over the past several years, higher education has begun to reconsider its approach to general education from a set of disparate, menu-based courses to a more intentional and student-centered program of study from first to final year.  In this workshop, participants will learn about an innovative, integrative approach to undergraduate learning at Arcadia University that blurs traditional boundaries between general education and the majors and offers flexible paths of study for students.  Instead of requiring students to explore isolated subjects in courses outside of their majors, Arcadia’s program calls for students to (a) participate in common curricular experiences, including a first-year experience, university seminars, an advanced study-away experience, and a senior capstone; (b) explore areas of inquiry; and (c) develop intellectual practices, all in relation to their majors and areas of interest. Participants will examine Arcadia’s program from conceptualization to implementation and apply the lessons learned to their own general education reform.  This workshop will be of interest to faculty and others involved in general education who are interested in a more integrative approach that both informs and draws on learning within the majors.
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Norah Shultz, Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education and Jeffrey Shultz, Assistant Provost for Special Projects and Professor of Education—Arcadia University

Workshop 2:  General Education and Social Justice: A Integrative Praxis Approach
This workshop will offer a practical, participatory opportunity for faculty to develop general education courses that integrate diversity, civic, and global learning and equip students with knowledge and skills to address social justice within their communities and the world. Participants will explore two institutional approaches that ask students and faculty to grapple with questions of human experience, personal and social responsibility, and just and sustainable communities and societies.  Both approaches have developed general education courses that are deeply grounded in the theory and practice of integrative, experiential education and that have honed a tradition of learning in and with communities.  Facilitators will briefly review the research on effective teaching and learning and offer case studies that will enable participants to leave the workshop with a framework for course development/revision. In small groups, participants will also have an opportunity to reflect on a particular course they plan to offer. 
Garry Hesser, Sabo Professor of Citizenship and Learning, Sociology and Metro-Urban Studies—Augsburg College; Jenny Keyser, Executive Director—Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA); and Deep Shikha, Professor and Chair, Economics—College of St. Catherine

Workshop 3:  Using Student Artifacts to Enhance Coherence in General Education and Transfer  
In General Education in an Age of Student Mobility, author Robert Shoenberg criticizes state-mandated general education articulation and course transfer agreements for resulting in “lowest-common denominator general education program[s], based invariably on loose distribution requirements.”  This workshop will experiment with an alternative method for addressing coherence in general education and in transfer—using samples of student work to engage in dialogue about educational quality.  In the workshop, participants will be invited to examine samples of student work from the facilitators’ institutions.  Conversation will focus on developing shared values regarding educational quality at the departmental, campus, and multi-campus levels, including how to use common values and student artifacts as a basis for transfer among institutions.  The goal is for participants to return to their own institutions and use student artifacts and dialogue to develop more meaningful and ethical assessments of student work, to overcome barriers to student learning and transfer, and to improve existing transfer agreements. 
Advance Reading for Workshop Exercise (pdf)
Workshop Slides (pdf)
Linda Adler-Kassner, Director of First-Year Writing and Associate Professor of English—Eastern Michigan University; Barry Alford, Professor of English—Mid-Michigan Community College; Bob Broad, Director, Writing Program and Professor of English—Illinois State University; Michael Gress, Chair of English and Coordinator of General Education—Vincennes University and Past-President of the Association for General and Liberal Studies; Joan Hawthorne, Assistant Provost—University of North Dakota; David McGuirk, Co-chair, Learning Outcomes Assessment Team—Miami Dade College; and Tom Steen, Director of General Studies—University of North Dakota

Workshop 4:  Developing Assessments that Foster and Improve Student Learning
What forms of assessment advance the learning that colleges and universities want to develop with their students?  What special role can milestone and culminating assessments play in general education?  In this workshop, participants will focus on developing assessments that foster and improve achievement of essential learning outcomes. Using insights from the long-standing King’s College assessment program and paying particular attention to milestone and capstone experiences in general education, facilitators and participants will discuss how to generate useful data for a variety of audiences and make assessment a routine part of every student’s learning experience.  This workshop is designed for faculty, institutional researchers, and teaching and learning center leaders.  
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Jennifer McClinton-Temple, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center and Jean O’Brien, Professor of Psychology and former Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and—both of King’s College

Workshop 5:  Supporting Faculty Innovation in General Education
How do we invite, encourage, and support faculty, as disciplinary specialists, to excel at teaching outcomes that transcend their disciplines or hail from other disciplines?  What is the educational responsibility that faculty members have for fostering a positive climate for learning, and how can faculty work in this area be rewarded?  In this workshop, participants will examine structures, processes, and reward systems that value and advance faculty interest—and innovation—in general education. The workshop is designed for faculty, teaching and learning center and faculty development leaders, and administrators dedicated to fostering general education that equips students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to address the complex and contemporary challenges of our diverse and knowledge-based society.
Laurence Miners, Director, Center for Academic Excellence Associate, and Kathryn A. Nantz, Director of the Core Integration Initiative—both of Fairfield University; and Mathew L. Ouellett, Director, Center for Teaching, University of Massachusetts Amherst and past president, of POD, Professional and Organizational Development Network for Higher Education

Workshop 6:  Sustaining Intentional General Education Programs
AAC&U’s articulation of essential outcomes provides a vision for aligning policies and practices as campuses seek to enhance student learning. This workshop will provide both theoretical grounding and practical guidelines for not only designing but also sustaining programs based on student learning outcomes—beginning with an articulation of those outcomes for entering students and continuing through the undergraduate curriculum and co-curriculum, with assessment of those outcomes and strategies for utilizing assessment results for program improvement.James Madison University and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have each spent a decade implementing general education curricula that provide coherent undergraduate programs of intentional educational practices. As mature programs, they also face special challenges in maintaining campus engagement. Workshop facilitators from these two campuses will provide descriptions and analyses of their programs, stressing assessment and improvement, and work with participants to draw out strategies for both implementing and sustaining intentional practices on their home campuses.
Scott Evenbeck, Dean of University College and Frank E. Ross, III, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Learning—both from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, and Linda Cabe Halpern, Dean of University Studies—James Madison University
Presented by the American Conference for Academic Deans

7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Keynote Address

Why General Education is a Problem
Podcast
In this keynote session, Dr. Menand will argue that the problem of general education is an ambivalence that is reflective of the evolving place and purpose of the liberal arts within American higher education.  Dr. Menand will first examine the history of American higher education as a context for the kinds of issues that arise when faculty attempt to formulate and implement general education curricula.  He will then offer thoughts on and analysis of the historical meaning of general education, highlight different models, and provide insight into the possibilities for innovation in the undergraduate curriculum to assure that every student leaves college prepared for work and engagement in an increasingly complex and competitive global society.
Louis Menand, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English—Harvard University

8:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Posters and Reception                                                                                   

Assessment
Poster 1: A Qualitative Assessment of First-Year Students’ Understanding of Liberal Arts Education and Civic Responsibility
One of the the implicit (and sometimes explicit) goals in the early socialization of students at liberal arts colleges is to foster their understanding of what a liberal arts education is all about, including the role of civic responsibility and citizenship.  But how can campus leaders assess such lofty ambitions?  This poster presentation will document the evolution of an assessment approach and a coding strategy to assess changes in students’ understanding of the liberal arts and of civic responsibility.  The poster will feature results from a two-year period, as well as refinements made to the instruments, assessment procedures, and coding process based on the two years’ experience.  Pretest–posttest comparisons have shown significant changes over the course of the students’ first semester in some areas but not others.  Implications for and application of the results to curricular and pedagogical change will also be highlighted.
Materials (pdf)
Frederick S. Foster-Clark, Associate Professor and Coordinator of General Education, Linda L. McDowell, First-Year Experiences Coordinator, and Laurie Hanich, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations—all of Millersville University

Assessment
Poster 2: Developing Multiple Choice Tests that Reflect Learning Outcomes
Multiple choice tests can be developed to reflect learning of higher order thinking skills and student learning outcomes—an important activity in large classes. This poster session will provide faculty and assessment professionals with basic tools to help them write valid and reliable tests at levels appropriate for evaluating student learning outcomes. Because assessing large classes may pose significant challenges to faculty, developing multiple choice tests that reflect higher levels of thinking can help faculty understand if students are achieving the desired outcomes.  These tests can also be used to guide changes in the pedagogy and content to improve learning throughout the course. Information will be provided to help faculty evaluate the effectiveness of their tests, to determine if outcomes are reached, and to identify any weaknesses in learning.
Teresa Flateby, Director, Office of Assessment, University ofSouth Florida

Assessment
Poster 3:  The Matrix: Streamline & Sustain Assessment at all Institutional Levels by Using a Customizable & Curriculum-Focused Tool for Planning, Organizing, and Archiving Assessment
Who has time for meaningless busywork?!  Faculty desire streamlined and sustainable assessment solutions—and if practical applications of assessment are not clearly communicated, then resistance, apathy, and frustration will ensue!  This poster session presents an easy-to-communicate approach for engaging faculty in a meaningful and sustainable way.  Come learn how matrix-building serves both the faculty need for practical application and the administrative desire for routine documentation of assessment for stakeholder reporting.  Participants will leave with bright ideas on how to plan, organize, and archive your use of assessment of general education for the improvement of student learning.  This customizable, curriculum-focused approach is based on a collaborative approach—to help all stakeholders see “the big picture” in the community of curriculum.  By interacting with sample matrices that have been used at course-, program-, and institution-levels from several different types of institutions, participants will be challenged to engage their own faculty—without adding busywork!
Jeremiah C. Gee, Assessment Coordinator—Pennsylvania College of Technology

Assessment
Poster 4: Developing Information Literacy Skills in First-Year Interdisciplinary Clusters: Evaluation and Assessment Practices
The centerpiece of UCLA’s general education curricular reform effort is the first-year cluster, a year-long, team-taught, interdisciplinary series of courses open only to entering first-year students.  A key aim of the cluster is to help these students acquire a high degree of information literacy skills.  The Information Literacy Assessment Project is designed to measure students’ information literacy competencies and evaluate the library instruction that is part of the cluster program.  The project is also evaluating the partnership between campus librarians and the cluster program faculty in order to document how this partnership benefits students’ development of information literacy skills and to generate strategies for extending this model to other general education and lower-division courses.  This poster presentation will document this recent evaluation and assessment project and offer suggestions for how participants might use the lessons learned at UCLA and apply them to their own institutional contexts.
Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, Director of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research and David Kasch, Research Analyst, Center for Educational Assessment —both of University of California, Los Angeles

Design:  Programs and Themes
Poster 5: Continuing Critical Thinking Skills Development by Involving Students in Individual and Institutional Assessment
In 2007, Derek Bok acknowledged the difficulty educators face in fostering high levels of critical thinking among students.  Research has indicated that the most significant development in the ability to think critically occurs during the first two years of college (Pascarella & Terenzini 2005), after which development falters.  Establishing learning communities in the junior and senior years may provide a solution to the arrested development of critical thinking skills.  This poster presentation will highlight the instructional approach utilized within the University of Connecticut’s Global House Learning Community to promote the continuous development of critical thinking skills.  Participants will also find details regarding the research currently being conducted concerning the measurement of undergraduates’ critical thinking skills, epistemological beliefs, metacognition, and self-regulation skills, and they will be able to review both the assessment plan and student artifacts developed through the Global House experience.
Mark E. Oliver, Doctoral Candidate; contributor, not attending: I. Morty Ortega, Director of Global House Learning Community—both of University of Connecticut

Design:  Programs and Themes
Poster 6: Curricular Redesign toward the Learning Paradigm
For the past two years, the Kent State University community engaged in developing a philosophy of undergraduate education for the campus.  Faculty, staff, and students, in learning communities, discussed shifting from a “teaching paradigm” to a “learning paradigm,” the characteristics of an engaged learner, and pedagogies that would support engaged learning.  This poster will highlight that process and the impact of the new philosophy statement on the university’s first-year experience, liberal education requirements, and the curriculum within the majors.
Stephane Elise Booth, Associate Provost for Academic Quality Improvement and Verna  Fitzsimmons, Interim Dean, College of Technology—both of Kent State University

Design:  Programs and Themes
Poster 7: Achieving Better Horizontal and Vertical Integration in the Curriculum: A Four-Year Personal Development Portfolio 
The poster session will present Bridgewater College’s signature program, the Personal Development Portfolio program, as a model and practical example of achieving better horizontal and vertical integration in the undergraduate curriculum.  Bridgewater’s mission is to educate the “whole person,” and the PDP serves as a vehicle for making that education more coherent and intentional for students than traditional liberal arts programs sometimes are.  With critical reflection as a pedagogical foundation, the program helps students reflect on their liberal arts experience in a more holistic way, make connections within the curriculum as well as between the curriculum and co-curriculum, and do so throughout the four years.  A poster display, computer slides, and video clips will highlight the PDP, the foundational role of critical reflection, and the ways in which the program fosters better horizontal and vertical integration.
Nan R. Covert, Associate Professor of Art and Art History, Catherine L. Elick, Professor of English, and Edward W. Huffstetler, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs—all of Bridgewater College

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
Poster  8: Developing an Integrated Common Core with Assessment and Faculty Development
Sacred Heart University’s core curriculum: (1) has embedded in it the learning outcomes identified in AAC&U’s LEAP initiative; (2) is framed by four “big questions” of enduring human meaning and value; (3) enages students in a multi-disciplinary, integrative understanding of the liberal arts and sciences; (4) involves a faculty-designed comprehensive assessment model; and (5) includes a two-year faculty development program that assists disciplinary specialists in teaching multi-disciplinary courses.  The poster and handouts will provide greater detail about this integrated common core.
Michelle Loris, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Kathryn LaFontana, Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology, and June-Ann Greeley, Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies—all of Sacred Heart University

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
Poster 9: Maximizing Faculty Ownership of General Education Assessment
Some issues in conducting general education assessment include lack of “ownership” of the curriculum by any particular entity, multiple and cross-disciplinary goals within the curriculum, and limited resources for this aspect of assessment within a larger assessment program.  Perhaps the most difficult objective to achieve is the development of a faculty-driven program outside the bounds of traditional academic departments. This poster will highlight a practical model for general education assessment that includes faculty at the most central levels of design.  The model maximizes faculty control over general education assessment and minimizes resource dedication by the institution. This poster presentation is particularly relevant for small liberal arts colleges that are beginning the study of general education outcomes.
Michele Starkey, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Karol Dean, Assistant Provost—both of Mount St. Mary's College; and (contributor, not attending) Don Haviland, Assistant Professor of Education—California State University Long Beach

Poster 10: The LEAP Campus Action Network
The Liberal Education ad America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative is AAC&U’s primary vehicle for advancing and communicating about the importance of undergraduate liberal education for all students. LEAP seeks to engage the public with core questions about what really matters in college, to give students a compass to guide their learning, and to make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence, assessment of learning, and new alignments between school and college. The Campus Action Network (CAN) component brings together colleges, universities, and organizations that are committed to liberal education, helps them to improve their efforts to ensure all students achieve essential liberal education outcomes, and highlights campus practices that work.  Participants are invited to visit this table to learn more about the LEAP vision, essential learning outcomes, and principles of excellence, as well as campus exemplars.
Nakia Bell, Program and Administrative Assistant and Alma Clayton-Pedersen, Vice President, Office of Education and Institutional Renewal and Director of CAN—both of the Association of American Colleges and Universities

Poster 11: Liberal Education—Our Best Investment in Our Shared Futures
The mission of the Association of American Colleges and Universities is to make the aims of liberal learning a vigorous and constant influence on institutional purpose and educational practice in higher education.  Visit with AAC&U staff to learn more about the association’s goals and areas of work; the many projects, publications, and meetings that are available; and ways to become involved.
Karen Ann Kalla, Co-director, Network for Academic Renewal and Dennis Renner, Director of Membership— both of the Association of American Colleges and Universities

Friday, February 27, 2009

7:45 – 9:00 a.m.
Roundtable Discussions

Assessment
Roundtable 1: The Long-Term Value of a Liberal Education: Assessing Alumni Perspectives
This roundtable will address how institutions of higher education can respond to calls for measuring the impact of a liberal education by establishing a longitudinal assessment of alumni.  Discussion leaders will briefly describe the development and implementation of an evidence-based alumni assessment tool.  Participants will discuss how this assessment format could be used by a broad range of institutions to (a) document the “value-added” of a liberal education; (b) establish stronger alumni connections with a college; and (c) enhance curriculum and pedagogy as a program evaluation tool.
Beverly Dolinsky, Professor of Psychology and Sara Quay, Dean of Education—both of Endicott College

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
Roundtable 2: Designing and Delivering a General Education Curriculum That Meets the Needs of High-Risk Students
What role(s) can general education curriculum design and delivery play in improving outcomes for students at high risk of attrition?  Using general education curricular reform at Trinity University in Washington, DC as a case study, this session is aimed at eliciting a lively conversation about this question, with particular emphasis on such issues as the role of developmental courses in general education, the integration of advising into curricular design, and the infusion of learning outcomes assessment into the curriculum.  In addition to reviewing challenges and successes in using general education reform to address gaps in student preparation, the facilitators hope to discuss how institutions can find ways to capitalize on student strengths such as resilience, persistence, and optimism.  This roundtable is relevant to any college or university that serves students at high risk of attrition, as well as to institutions interested in how best to maximize limited resources in order to enhance student learning.
Elizabeth Child, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Cristina Parsons, Associate Professor of Economics—both of Trinity Washington University

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
Roundtable 3: Helping Students Become Intentional Learners—A Focus on Advising and Integration
The facilitators of this roundtable will briefly set the context by arguing that despite how faculty try to spell out liberal learning outcomes, students still do not apprehend the importance of liberal learning or know how to integrate their general education with the rest of their undergraduate education.  This, in turn, impedes their ability to become intentional learners.  The discussion will build off of three questions: Can faculty engage students in general education so that they can practice integrating their learning?  Could advising be re-conceptualized as a problem-based learning experience that helps with integration?  And finally, how might a focus on advising and integration affect general education curricular designs at participants’ own institutions?
Katrina Hoop, Professor of Sociology—Saint Joseph’s College of Maine and Ned Scott Laff, Director for General Education and Co-Director for the Center for Engaged Leadership—Columbia College

Assessment
Roundtable 4: Writing and Critical Thinking: An Assessment Tool
Employers consider writing skills and related critical thinking skills to be among the most valuable outcomes for college graduates.  Because of their importance, these outcomes are often the focus of an institution’s general education curriculum. The Cognitive Level and Quality of Writing Assessment (CLAQWA) rubric, based on commonly used English writing handbooks, Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Cognitive Domain), and more recently, the American Philosophical Association’s Delphi Report (Facione 1990) is designed to assess both writing and thinking outcomes and has evolved over time.  Participants in this roundtable will discuss its evolution, how to use various forms of the rubric, and how to adapt the CLAQWA to assess and enhance writing and critical thinking at their institutions.
Terri Flateby, Director of University Assessment, Evaluation, and Testing—University of South Florida

Assessment
Roundtable 5: Making Assessment Pragmatic and Practical: Strategies for General Education Programs with Limited Resources
Even effective outcomes assessment plans can flounder with the realities of scarce time and resources.  Assessment that is intellectually and methodologically sound but time-consuming and cumbersome can undermine systematic programmatic evaluation.  In this discussion, participants will examine Philadelphia University’s faculty-centered, concise, and practical assessment model, which still meets the needs of the institution to evaluate student learning and program effectiveness.  The model draws in faculty from the start, considers pressures on faculty time, and puts a central focus on student work.  Such assessment also lays a foundation for wider and deeper institutional initiatives, and at Philadelphia University, for example, faculty have grown comfortable with the principle that outcomes goals should drive course, curricula, and programmatic development.  Participants will discuss strategies for creating pragmatic and manageable outcomes assessment and the need to “close the loop”—tying assessment results to educational improvement and overall effectiveness.  Participants will leave with scenarios from the campuses represented as well as detailed material on Philadelphia University’s general education assessment.
Marion W. Roydhouse, Dean and Professor of History and Thomas Schrand, Associate Dean and Chair of the College Studies Committtee, School of Liberal Arts—both of Philadelphia University

Assessment
Roundtable 6: Sustaining Assessment Efforts Across the Curriculum
Sustaining student learning assessment on college campuses creates both challenges and opportunities.  Some colleges have initiated ongoing assessment procedures as a direct response to an accreditation body, while others reacted with a “we’re-glad-that’s-over-with” attitude—until the next time.  The facilitators of this roundtable will share some of the practices they have designed to sustain assessment on their campus and provide participants with suggestions and materials to share with faculty on their campuses. With participants, they will identify strategies for sustaining robust assessment practices within various institutional contexts.
Barb Thompson, Professor and Libby Daugherty, Director of Assessment for Student Learning—both of Columbus State Community College

Assessment
Roundtable 7: Guided Reflection: A Tool for Fostering and Measuring Deep Learning of Characteristics Such as Open-Mindedness and Critical Thinking 
Most institutions of higher education claim that their graduates develop characteristics such as critical thinking, open-mindedness, applying theory to practice, and motivation for life-long learning.  But faculty and staff charged with measuring deep learning in these areas know that this is not easy.  A portfolio that includes some form of student reflection is often seen as a way to measure these less tangible characteristics, but some attempts to establish a portfolio or a reflection piece as a means of assessment have faltered because they have not generated sufficient or robust evidence.  This roundtable will discuss approaches to teaching and measuring reflection that are geared toward these characteristics and that address shortcomings related to quantity and quality of evidence.
Thomas W. Zane, Director of Assessment Quality and Validity—Western Governors University

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
Roundtable 8:  Liberal Education and America’s Promise
Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is AAC&U’s campus action and public advocacy initiative designed to engage campus colleagues and the larger public in meaningful conversations about what really matters in college. In this session, the facilitator will review LEAP resources, principles, and practices guiding the campus action component of the campaign. Participants will discuss LEAP’s goals and activities, with particular attention to efforts to ensure that all students—including those historically underserved by higher education—achieve essential liberal learning outcomes. They will also address how their institutions can use the campaign and the emerging national consensus around liberal education outcomes to guide educational planning and practice.
Carol Geary Schneider, President—Association of American Colleges and Universities

9:15 – 10:30 a.m.
Plenary 

The Role of Assessment in Furthering Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement     
Podcast
Slides (pdf)
Assessment is a vital component of any program or initiative in terms of monitoring and strengthening its impact.  Assessment involves establishing outcomes (programmatic and student learning), verifying that efforts are aligned with those outcomes, assessing impact, and “closing the loop” by using what is learned to make improvements.  This panel will focus on characteristics of quality assessment, such as the need for it to be valid, reliable, actionable, and efficient.  AAC&U’s cluster of intellectual and practical skills for a liberal education include inquiry and analysis; critical and creative thinking; written and oral communication; quantitative literacy; and teamwork and problem solving.  Information literacy relates to and incorporates many of these learning outcomes and will be used as an example to illustrate how collaboration among campus professionals and robust assessment can lead to effective student engagement and learning.
Mary Allen, Higher Education Consultant specializing in assessment and accreditation; Sylvia Hurtado, Professor and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles; and Patricia Iannuzzi, Dean of Libraries at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions

 Design:  Programs and Themes
CS 1: General Education Reinvention in (and for) Tough Times
How can the emerging consensus on outcomes that all students should achieve support institutional efforts to enhance student learning?  To what extent can the intentional reinvention of general education in light of institutional mission prepare students more fully for life and work in a complex and technologically advanced global society?  This session will review progress made in connecting curriculum and pedagogy to learning outcomes, reference the incentive offered by the Bologna Process to campuses in articulating student learning outcomes, and consider pragmatic impediments to reinvention—budgetary, political, and cultural.  In the “capstone” of the session, participants will examine and discuss case studies that address such impediments.
Paul L. Gaston, Trustees Professor—Kent State University

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
CS 2: A Four-Year, Interdisciplinary, and Integrative Model of General Education
An institution’s general education curriculum plays a major role in shaping student learning, student values, and the overall intellectual environment.  Current best practice and thinking about undergraduate education underscore the importance of crossing intellectual boundaries, capitalizing on a variety of pedagogies through civic engagement and other co-curricular opportunities, and designing general education that spans all four years of college. After a four-year planning process, Bates College began implementing a new general education curriculum in fall 2007 that incorporates each of these goals.  Session facilitators from Bates will demonstrate and discuss their general education model, the process by which it was developed and overwhelmingly approved by the faculty, strategic points for implementation, and assessment of outcomes.  They will then engage participants in thinking creatively about their own models of general education in light of earlier discussion, including generating greater faculty support and engagement.
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Jill N. Reich, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Alexander E. Dauge-Roth, Assistant Professor of French, and Judy Head, Associate Dean of the Faculty—all of Bates College

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 3: Steps and Missteps on the Road to General Education Reform
Following Leskes and Miller’s (2005) General Education: A Self-Study Guide for Review and Assessment, which was designed as a straightforward guide for institutions to use in reviewing and revising General Education programs, the facilitators will present a case study of Millersville University’s fall 2008 implementation of a revised general education program.  In particicular, the facilitators will focus on what steps and strategies worked well, where roadblocks arose, and what efforts were needed to move around them.  The facilitators will offer ideas about how the context of reform (a mid-sized, regional, public, master’s comprehensive) affected progress and lead discussion of how the process might be negotiated differently in different institutional contexts.  The efforts to review and revise general education at Millersville took place over five years and were characterized by steps forward, sideways, and occasionally backwards, but the process culminated in the successful adoption of the revised curriculum, due in part to strategic  management of the change process.
Frederick S. Foster-Clark, Associate Professor and General Education Coordinator, John Ward, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, Carol Y. Phillips, Associate Provost Emerita, and Douglas Zander, Director of Admissions—all of Millersville University

Assessment
CS4: Tk20 CampusWide™ Assessment and Reporting Solution
This session will present the Tk20 CampusWide system for outcomes-based assessment and measurement of institutional effectiveness. The facilitator will discuss how users can: (a) specify institutional mission, goals, and learning outcomes; (b) generate assessment plans for those outcomes; (c) track program improvements; (d) import data from other systems; and (e) provide comprehensive reporting.  Participants will examine sample faculty activity data, course evaluations, and data collected through surveys and a variety of student assessments, including electronic portfolios.  They will gain insights into reporting on institutional research, student retention, data-based decision-making, and accreditation-based reporting.
Yi-Ping Huang, Director of Assessment and Information, Department of Education—University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Bhupi Bhasin, President—Tk20
Sponsored by Tk20, Inc.

Assessment
CS 5: Using Course-Based Assessment to Transform General Education
In 2004, the University of Rhode Island (URI) introduced a modified distribution general education program designed to be a foundation for academic specialization and engaged citizenship.  Courses are taken in four knowledge domains (social sciences, natural sciences, fine arts and literature, and letters), and a committee of faculty and staff developed a set of learning outcomes (the ability to identify concepts, recognize problems, ask questions, collect relevant information, and analyze information to solve problems) that could be fostered through each of the domains.  URI created a multi-method assessment process, and this session will report on findings related to the classification of sample course assignments according to the learning outcomes and the development of rubrics for use across the four knowledge domains.  The facilitators will share these findings, discuss next steps in the process, and facilitate a discussion on how such data can be useful in transforming general education into a program for academic and civic inquiry.
Sandy Jean Hicks, Associate Professor of Education and Anne M. Hubbard, Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Bachelor of General Studies Program—both of University of Rhode Island

Design:  Programs and Themes
CS 6: Course Redesign: Doing More with Less is Not a Myth 
Ever since the Spellings Commission (2006) embraced Carol Twigg’s course redesign model as a best practice for effectiveness and efficiency in higher education, policy makers have urged adoption of the model across the country.  The University System of Maryland was the first to implement the model across all degree-granting institutions, research and comprehensive, and the first to establish collaborative professional learning communities to support the work.  This session will feature two examples of institutional redesign of high- enrollment general education courses (psychology and general chemistry) that have resulted in increased student learning and reduced costs.  In both cases, the results of rigorous analysis of outcomes data surprised skeptical faculty.  Two faculty presenters will share candid stories of the implementation of these course redesigns, which used a combination of technology-infused instruction and redefined faculty roles to accomplish the objectives.
Jennifer L. Hearne, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry—University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and Megan E. Bradley, Associate Professor of Psychology—Frostburg State University; introduction by Nancy S. Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs—University of Maryland, College Park

Assessment
CS 7: Assessing Instructional and Curricular Practices in General Education
At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a joint faculty/administration general education task force is assessing instructional and curricular supports and barriers to student learning and development in general education.  The group is using multiple assessment strategies to (a) clarify learning objectives, (b) examine instructional quality, and (c) better align general education courses and the now-clarified learning objectives.  One of the most revealing data sources has been a curriculum mapping survey that was sent to all general education instructors.  The results have helped the task force to develop a much clearer sense of which objectives are receiving adequate attention in general education and where gaps exist.  This session will provide examples of the assessment tools the task force is using along with selected findings.  The facilitators will discuss how this evidence is being used to improve general education practice on their campus and invite participants to consider how such evidence might be used to improve pratice at their own institutions.
Randall  Knoper, Associate Professor of English and Chair, General Education Council and Martha L. A. Stassen, Director of Assessment—both of University of Massachusetts Amherst

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 8: Process with a Purpose: Implementing a New General Education Program
This session will build upon the argument that process is key to success as intellectual leaders forge new pathways toward assessable general education programs.  The new general education program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln provides a model for using a strong central organizing theme based on learning outcomes to help campus leaders build a cohesive and coherent curriculum.  The university’s outcomes-based plan offers a focal point for its ongoing implementation and provides faculty members opportunities to refocus their thinking and do their jobs in new ways.  The process has been both successful and challenging and has helped campus leaders make their choices more strategic, their efforts more efficient, and their purpose more unified.  The session facilitators will use specific examples of changes in the academic community generated by the process to stimulate an exchange of ideas with the audience.
Nancy Mitchell, Interim Director of General Education and Jessica Jonson, Director of Institutional Assessment—both of University of Nebraska-Lincoln

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Plenary and Luncheon

Examining Practices for Assessment and Reporting on Student Achievement 
Podcast
This panel will examine the effectiveness of—and relationships among—a variety of tools used to measure student learning of specific outcomes. In the current climate of accountability, the panelists will discuss a major FIPSE-funded project designed to explore tools that both public and private campuses can use for assessment and reporting on student learning.  Measures include: (a) the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP), Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), and Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) tests; (b) a new survey on student growth that focuses on learning outcomes not measured by existing instruments; and (c) new rubrics intended to assess a broad range of essential learning outcomes through electronic portfolios.  Following an overview of the project and an exchange among presenters, there will be opportunities for questions about the project and about the usefulness of these measures for assessing learning and for communicating results to stakeholders.
John Hammang, Director of Special Projects and Development—American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Terrel Rhodes, Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment—Association of American Colleges and Universities; and David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs—National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges

2:15 – 3:45 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 9: At the Heart of the Matter: Empowering Faculty in General Education Assessment
Accountability and assessment of student learning are a given in the current higher education climate, spurred by increased scrutiny from the Department of Education and by increased pressure from regional accreditors for institutional student performance measures—particularly in general education.  In this session, the facilitators will feature an established model that places faculty empowerment at the center of the general education assessment process.  The session will: (a) highlight Miami Dade College’s accomplishments with its faculty-centered mapping of student learning outcomes and assessment initiatives, (b) propose a faculty-centered model that promises transformation of teaching and student learning, and (c) engage participants in small groups to explore strategies for mission-driven and faculty-centered general education assessment at their institutions.  The Miami Dade model is applicable to complex institutions, liberal arts institutions, and community colleges and is intended for college and university leaders at all levels.
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Pamela Glenn Menke, Associate Provost, Academic Affairs and David McGuirk, Professor of English and Co-Chair Learning Outcomes Coordinating Council—both of Miami Dade College

Assessment
CS 10: “Only Connect”: Integrating General Education and Departmental Assessment 
All too often, general education assessment and departmental assessment run on separate tracks.  In this session, the facilitators will demonstrate that the two tracks can be brought together as they present two different institutional perspectives.  They will argue that a strong four-year assessment plan can unfold when: (a) a proactive assessment office partners with other campus constituencies; (b) targeted training of administrators and unit heads develops a common lexicon of concepts and processes; and (c) these partners then forge connections between general education course goals and outcomes and those of upper-level courses in the majors.  Participants will go through a series of exercises to connect outcomes of key courses in a two-year core curriculum to specific courses in the majors and then discuss how to bring together assessment efforts in order to strengthen vertical integration of the curriculum and students’ integration of learning outcomes introduced in general education and enhanced through work in the majors.
Jeffery W. Galle, Director of the Center for Academic Excellence—Emory University; Jo K. Galle, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs—Georgia Gwinnett College; and Jeff Ray, Dean, School of Engineering Technology and Management—Southern Polytechnic State University

Assessment
CS 11: Faculty Learning Communities: Developing Faculty Buy-In and Generating Useful Assessment Strategies at the Same Time
When an assessment plan is developed long after a general education program is in place, there can be little faculty buy-in on the methods used or the data that is eventually collected. This makes the implementation of the assessment plan something that requires a large investment of time in exchange for very little meaningful feedback about student learning. At Texas Christian University (TCU), faculty developed a learning outcomes-based core curriculum. In order to have assessment be part of the process from the very start, faculty learning communities (FLCs) were created to generate appropriate and meaningful assessment tools. The FLCs have been in place for two years, and faculty have developed and pilot-tested creative and useful assessment strategies as a result.  In this interactive session, the facilitators will briefly describe the TCU core curriculum, share the process for creating faculty learning communities, and provide participants the opportunity to be part of an FLC that will develop aspects of an assessment methodology.  The facilitators will also share assessment tools that were created by the FLCs at at their institution.  
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Catherine M. Wehlburg, Executive Director of the Office for Assessment and Quality Enhancement—Texas Christian University

Assessment
CS 12: Interventions for Low Completion Courses Using a Faculty Professional Development Approach
This workshop will simulate a process for developing effective interventions to address learning barriers in general education courses that are identified as the most problematic for students.  These can be termed “low completion courses” and are ones that have unacceptably high student failure or withdrawal rates over time.  The session facilitator is pioneering a process involving a semester-long focus group that has faculty, department chairs, and professional development experts working collaboratively through a series of tasks to diagnose the factors that contribute to low completion rates.  Session participants will be guided through a tool kit of resources that will allow them to design and adopt realizable solutions for managing/solving low completion problems, once identified.
Lisa M. Maxfield, Professor and General Education Coordinator—California State University, Long Beach

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
CS 13: Education for Personal and Social Responsibility and “The Human Journey”: Strategies for Enhancing the Core Curriculum 
Sacred Heart University’s recent general education revision included the development of a four-course common core, “The Human Journey,” which anchors students’ exploration of “big questions”—including what it means to be human, to develop a sense of purpose, and to contribute to a larger community.  SHU is using its membership in the AAC&U initiative on education for personal and social responsibility, Core Commitments, to enhance and deepenits work on this new core curriculum.  In this session, facilitators will describe the goals of Core Commitments and talk briefly about how the initiative is playing out on one campus.  In small groups, participants will then consider how three areas of work—faculty development, learning communities, and assessment—can deepen and extend education for personal and social responsibility within general education and share examples from their own institutions.
June-Ann Greeley, Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, Kathryn LaFontana, Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology, and Michelle Loris, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences—all of Sacred Heart University; and Nancy O’Neill, Assistant Director, Core Commitments Initiative—Association of American Colleges and Universities

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
CS 14: Show Me the Learning: Valid Assessment of Student Learning
AAC&U’s VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) initiative is a research- and campus-based initiative designed to embed the essential learning outcomes at the center of the educational experience and to help campus leaders assess the levels at which students are learning them.  The initiative is generating leadership for high-quality assessment, promising practices and curricular designs, and an assessment framework for campuses to adapt and use.  This session will introduce participants to VALUE, focusing on the development of rubrics keyed to the essential learning outcomes and how these rubrics are being used to assess learning through the work students do in the curriculum and co-curriculum.  Examples of rubrics and student e-portfolios will be shared and discussed.
Wende Morgaine, Research Associate and Terry Rhodes, Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment—both of the Association of American Colleges and Universities

Assessment
CS15: Engaging Faculty and Administrators in Outcomes Assessment
As administrators guide campus-wide collaboration and communication regarding institutional effectiveness, they seek tools to streamline the processes and support the efforts of faculty and staff. TaskStream provides such a tool in its web-based Accountability Management System (AMS), which can help promote a culture of educational excellence in academic and non-academic units.  In this session, the facilitator will: (a) demonstrate how to create and manage web-based assessment plans in real time; (b) highlight the system’s capability to manage the flow of assessment processes; (c) discuss the use of the AMS to prepare accreditation reports; and (d) showcase the system’s Learning Achievement Tools, including student e-Portfolios.
Dara Wexler, Education Solutions Specialist—TaskStream
Sponsored by TaskStream

Assessment
CS 16: Using Assessment of an Interdisciplinary Program to Rethink General Education: Exploiting the Virtues of “Backward Design” 
Faculty in general education are increasingly being called upon to guide students toward learning that interrogates conventional disciplinary boundaries.  At the same time, the assessment of such learning, by virtue of its non-traditional nature and often awkward fit with ingrained college structures, provides special challenges.  In this session, the facilitators will: (a) review the philosophical debate about crossing disciplinary boundaries, (b) offer exemplary models of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary curricula from a range of campuses, highlighting their receptiveness to assessment, (c) illustrate the effects on students and faculty of implementing an assessment plan using “backward design” principles and targeted to an interdisciplinary curriculum, and (d) illuminate the relationship between assignment design and assessment by asking audience members to evaluate samples of student work in light of a specified goal and rubric.  Participants will be asked to draft assessable objectives that might lead to the desired boundary-crossing in established or prospective curricula on their own campuses.
James Ottavio Castagnera, Associate Provost, Arlene F. Wilner, Professor of English, and Tim McGee, Associate Director of Faculty Development—all of Rider University

4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions

Design:  Programs and Themes
CS 17: Up, Down, Across, and Around: Designing an Integrative Approach to General Education
The core curriculum model at St. Mary’s College of Maryland uses four fundamental liberal arts skills (critical thinking, information literacy, written expression, and oral expression) to connect courses across general education, majors, and minors, and chart the educational progression of students from first year to senior year.  In this session, facilitators will introduce the integrative learning model, share assessment data, and offer a student’s perspective on the model.  They will focus attention on how the college has laid the groundwork for the integrated curriculum through its first-year seminar, and they will highlight the seminar’s writing-intensive focus and specific assessment approach.  Participants will be invited into collaborative problem-solving discussions on diverse topics, such as the use of e-portfolios to assess integrative learning and the difficulties of providing a model that works for all sectors of the college.
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Brian O’Sullivan, Director of the Writing Center, Christina Torres, Student, Elizabeth Nutt Williams, Dean of the Core Curriculum and First Year Experience, and Theresa Leonard, Associate Librarian—all of Saint Mary's College of Maryland

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 18: Philosophic and Pragmatic Aspects of Implementing Integrative Studies and Core Programs: A Tale of Two Colleges
Colleges want students to love learning and be able to apply their learning to future endeavors.  That is a hallmark of a liberal education.  Based on their missions, both Keene State College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts—members of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges—strive to ensure that the goals of a liberal education are realized.  In support of this, both colleges are engaged in implementing new integrative studies and core programs.  In this session, facilitators will discuss the philosophic and pragmatic issues associated with implementing models that require (a) faculty instructional development, (b) effective assessment processes, and (c) faculty and administrative leadership in shifting from menu-driven general education curricula to integrative, liberal education programs. Participants will glean insights from these cases in order to enact this kind of shift at their institutions.
Ann Marie Rancourt, Associate Provost, Anne-Marie Mallon, Professor of English and Women's Studies—both of Keene State College; and Robert Bence, Professor of Political Science—Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Assessment
CS 19: Using Assessment to Achieve “GREAT” Learning in General Education
Embedding general education goals across the curriculum and assessing those goals in a way that is effective and not overly demanding on faculty can be a significant challenge.  At the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), general education assessment teams (“GREATs”) have developed common graded assignments and standardized scoring rubrics to assess student learning in every general education course.  This method of course-embedded, faculty-developed assignments has been effective in revealing strengths and areas for improvement and has been recognized nationally as a best practice.  Campus leaders have used the assessment data (a) to track trends over time and across disciplines, (b) to employ professional development initiatives and other interventions to enhance areas that need attention, and (c) to garner the support of college-wide initiatives, such as CCBC’s Writing in the Disciplines/Across Communities program.  In this session, participants will consider how the CCBC model can be adapted to further their own assessment work and to enhance the faculty’s role in, and commitment to, general education.
Linda Gronberg-Quinn, Education Program Coordinator and Rose Mince, Dean of Instruction for Curriculum and Assessment—both of The Community College of Baltimore County

Assessment
CS 20: Building a Campus Culture to Assess 300 General Education Courses
In this session, participants will learn how Grand Valley State University came to implement a course-based assessment program for the 300 classes in its general education program.  Over a two year period, Grand Valley State University moved from an assessment program that mainly used local and national indirect measures of student learning to an expanded program that used direct measures.  The effort was initiated by a faculty governance committee and involved all departments, including the general education program, in developing a strategic plan and an assessment plan.  Faculty members from across the university received training in writing outcomes based on general education goals such that within one year, 95% of the general education courses had outcomes-based assessment plans.  The assessment program has achieved widespread acceptance and participation, despite the fact that the campus culture was not based on assessment.  In a larger discussion about building a supportive campus climate for assessment, participants will be asked to share problems they’ve encountered and strategies that did or did not work.
Carol Griffin, Director, General Education Program—Grand Valley State University

Assessment
CS 21: Principles and Practices of Effective Writing Assessment
In the first part of this session, the facilitators will share research-based principles and practices of effective writing assessment as articulated in a white paper authored by the National Council of Teachers of English and the Council of Writing Program Administrators.  Using an online resource guide, they will then illustrate how these principles have been enacted through diverse assessment models in writing programs across the country.  The facilitators will then ask participants to consider what principles and models might be salient for their own programs or courses, and they will offer strategies that participants can use to design locally contextualized assessments to gauge and improve student writing.
Linda Adler-Kassner, Director of First-Year Writing, Associate Professor of English—Eastern Michigan University; and Peggy O'Neill, Director of Composition, Associate Professor of Writing—Loyola College

Assessment
CS 22: Using On-Hand Assessment Data to Fine-Tune Faculty Development Activities
Many colleges and universities have been collecting data about teaching and the student experience in a systematic way for several years, but fewer have used such findings to focus faculty efforts to improve their instructional practice.  In this session, the facilitators will share an assessment-use model from their institution and describe the development and impact of this approach.  They will then invite participants to construct an inventory of the types of on-hand data at their institutions that relate to teaching and learning and propose some of the ways in which those data can be used to provide answers to important questions about classroom experiences.  Facilitators will invite participants to consider an approach for triangulating different sources of on-hand data to look at important liberal learning outcomes in the dual light of direct and indirect measurement.
Sonia V. Gonsalves, Professor of Psychology and Claudine Keenan, Executive Assistant to the Provost—both of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Assessment
CS 23: Assessing and Strengthening General Education Using NSSE: Lessons from the Field
In an era of heightened calls for accountability and demands for graduates with strong abilities in problem solving, teamwork, communication, and leadership, it is incumbent on institutions to strengthen and demonstrate the effectiveness of their general education programs.  Since 2000, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has provided more than 1,300 baccalaureate-granting institutions information about general education outcomes, and the extent to which students’ undergraduate education features integrated learning experiences and opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills.  Session facilitators will share how they used assessment results to foster and improve learning and reinvigorate general education.  In particular, they will show how NSSE national results, particularly for seniors by major, can serve as benchmarks for institutional and departmental assessment efforts and can stimulate campus discussions about general education goals and outcomes.  Institutional examples of using NSSE results in general education assessment and accreditation self-studies will be featured to stimulate the exchange of ideas.
John Burney, Associate Provost—Drake University; Jessica Jonson, Director of Institutional Assessment—University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, Center for Postsecondary Research—Indiana University Bloomington

Assessment
CS 24: Developing Undergraduate Campus-wide Learning Outcomes: The Power of Bringing Students, Faculty, and Student Affairs to the Table
The purpose of this session is to share a set of strategies used at Portland State University that led to the adoption of seven campus-wide learning outcomes for undergraduates.  Encouraged by powerful administrative leaders, faculty, students, and student affairs professionals discussed and developed these campus-wide learning outcomes through a series of work-sessions, roundtables, focus groups and public displays of results. Individual units mapped out how these campus-wide outcomes could be applied to and assessed within their distinct departments and programs.  The results were displayed at a public showcase and on-line. In this session, facilitators will share the essential elements of effective PSU strategies and engage participants in a work-session similar to the ones used at PSU.  Participants are encouraged to bring examples of campus-wide learning outcomes or discipline-/program-specific student learning outcomes.
Dannelle D. Stevens, Faculty-in-Residence for Assessment, Center for Academic Excellence and Cheryl Ramette, Assessment Associate, Center for Academic Excellence—both of Portland State University

Saturday, February 28, 2009

7:45 – 9:00 a.m.
Featured Session

ePortfolios for General Education: Enriching and Assessing Student Learning
ePortfolios create opportunities for students and faculty to examine and enrich the learning process.  Comprised of digital collections of students’ work and their reflections on learning, ePortfolios can build engagement, advance core competencies, and help students craft new identities as learners.  At the same time, ePortfolios can support the authentic assessment processes that are often seen as crucial to meaningful general education reform.  Reviewing examples of student ePortfolios, participants will explore relationships among pedagogy, technology, and assessment, and consider the challenges and opportunities for ePortfolio work on their own campuses.
Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning—LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York

Roundtable Discussions

Design:  Programs and Themes
Roundtable 9: Evaluating Teaching and Assessment of Learning Objectives across General Education Science Courses
In a distribution-driven model of general education, students select courses from a broad menu of options.  Institutions then need to ensure that individual courses are well aligned with the learning goals identified for different areas of the curriculum.  This roundtable discussion will be based on an investigation of this alignment in the science and technology content area at the University of Connecticut.  An assessment team interviewed instructors and evaluated materials to examine how thoroughly science courses addressed the learning objectives identified for them and the extent to which instructors had developed the means of knowing whether their students achieved these objectives.  Discussion leaders will briefly describe the approach and the results, and participants will then discuss how this process can be applied to different content areas and to other institutions that allow students wide latitude in their selection of general education courses, as well as next steps to be taken in the process.
Hedley C. Freake, Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Katharina von Hammerstein, Chair, General Education Oversight Committee—both of University of Connecticut

Design:  Programs and Themes
Roundtable 10: The Role of Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) in Delivering General Education
This roundtable will focus on the role Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) can play in building a solid general education foundation for students.  Within general education, FIGs can offer a seamless, structured breadth of knowledge, foster initial development of skills, and provide a liberal context for the later pursuit of a more specialized study.  They are also an efficient and popular model for institutions concerned with having first-year students reflect on life experiences and daily events as part of the learning process.  The discussion leader will share examples of FIGs that focus on strengthening verbal and quantitative skills, critical thinking, and information literacy, and then actively engage participants in considering how FIGs might be used within general education at their own institutions.  They will also receive a packet of FIG models, bibliographic materials, and sample course assignments and project activities.
Gerald Lee Ratliff, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs—State University of New York College at Potsdam

Design:  Programs and Themes
Roundtable 11: The Core Curriculum and Applied Learning: Creating a Context for Moral and Ethical Growth 
In spring 2007, the faculty of William Jewell College approved and implemented an applied learning component which, when combined with the 38-hour liberal arts core, allows for any student to add an additional major in Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry.  Jewell’s program recognizes that the study of ethical and scientific problems cannot simply remain in the classroom, and it responds to the urgency of developing students’ critical thinking skills, ethical and analytical reasoning, and applied learning, thus educating both future leaders and responsible citizens.  This practical model encourages students to combine applied learning—including service learning, internships, and guided research—with core classes in creative and intentional ways during their undergraduate experience.  Participants in this roundtable discussion will: (a) briefly review the history of the new major, (b) examine levels of student engagement, (c) discuss the connections between core curriculum goals and applied learning and how this might apply to any institution, and (d) explore the challenges of assessing applied learning as a unique major.
Handout (pdf)
Andy Pratt, Vice President for Religious Ministries and Dean of the Chapel and Ron Witzke, Associate Dean of Core Curriculum and Professor of Music—both of William Jewell College

Assessment
Roundtable 12: Challenges in Utilizing Standardized Instruments for Improving General Education
One of the most significant challenges confronting colleges and universities in assessing general education is determining how to effectively use the results of standardized instruments to improve the general education curriculum.  In this roundtable, the facilitators will discuss how to enhance the usefulness of standardized instruments, share examples from Millersville, and invite participants to share examples from their own campuses.  The focus of discussion will be on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), and the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) Faculty Survey.
Adam Lawrence, Assistant Professor of Government and Political Affairs and Lisa R. Shibley, Assistant Vice President, Institutional Assessment and Planning—both of Millersville University

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
Roundtable 13: Truth Telling: Redefining Disciplines in a New Era of General Education
In College Learning for the New Global Century (2007), AAC&U invites colleges and universities to rethink the isolated, “modular” curriculum of the academy, which, the report argues, “has become increasingly dysfunctional” (p. 19).  As general education programs attempt to answer AAC&U’s call, a new question has emerged: How should courses and curriculum be categorized, not only within general education, but also across the entire institution?  In this roundtable, the facilitators hope to generate a stimulating discussion about what defines disciplines and whether the traditional structure of classifying courses of studies as humanities, sciences, social sciences, and the arts needs to be redefined to accommodate today’s realities.  The discussion will look at the historical roots of academic organization and discuss social forces that reinforce old paradigms.  Most importantly, participants will exchange strategies regarding altering the organization of higher learning institutions to better serve students in the 21st century.
Nancy Mitchell, Interim Director of General Education, Rita Kean, Dean of Undergraduate Studies—both of University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Deborah Smith-Howell, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
Roundtable 14: Effective Administration Strategies for General Education
This session will offer strategies, discussion, and promising practices for administrators in general and liberal studies.  Session facilitators will describe the governance and administrative structures for their own programs and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these structures relative to achieving expected outcomes.  In addition, the facilitators will share results of a survey of governance structures and invite participants to engage in conversation about the elements that lead to effective administration of general education programs.  Participants will be invited to discuss ongoing general education challenges from their campuses and work to resolve specific administrative problems, including strategies used to achieve goals related to curriculum reform and program coordination. 
Richard Schur, Past President of CAGLS and Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Center—Drury University; and Edward Katz, Dean of University of Programs—University of North Carolina Asheville

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
Roundtable 15: Strategic Leadership in Planning, Developing, Implementing, and Assessing a Core General Education Program
Studies show that successful leadership in the academy, particularly with regard to general education reform, involves strategic integration of the different organizational roles of faculty, administrators, and students and collaboration among these groups.  In this roundtable discussion, facilitators will engage participants in discussing successful leadership strategies within institutions, focusing on navigating pitfalls and compromises encountered in building support for and designing a comprehensive, trans-disciplinary core program.  The discussion will also highlight the role of first-year experience courses in such a program, and handouts will be provided.
Paul Hecht, Assistant Professor of Engligh, Diane Maletta, Associate Professor of Education, Jason Curtis, Associate Professor of Biology—all of Purdue University North Central; and Drew Weiss, Director of the School of Business—Heidelberg College

9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions                                     

Design:  Programs and Themes
CS 25: Using e-Portfolios to Enrich and Assess Student Learning
Dr. Eynon will use this opportunity to facilitate participant examination of e-portfolios and discussion of their potential uses and strategies for adaptation with colleagues. The workshop will build on the information and insights of the previous featured session and provide a hands-on experience for participants to apply new ideas to their own unique work with students.
Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning—LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York

Assessment
CS 26: So Many Outcomes, So Little Time: Solving the General Education “Problem” for Adult Learners
Assessment that fosters the types of learning outcomes typically associated with general education is challenging at most institutions. When those campuses serve adult learners who complete their undergraduate degrees after many years and across several institutions, the challenges multiply.  In this session, the facilitators—who have substantial experience in adult higher education assessment—will (a) discuss the challenge of embedding learning outcomes into curricula for adults, (b) describe one model developed to embed and assess comprehensive learning outcomes for an adult student population, and (c) engage participants in a discussion and sharing of best practices in their institutions.     
Marie Cini, Vice Provost and Dean, School of Undergraduate Studies—University of Maryland University College; and Elizabeth Fountain, Director, Office of Institutional Effectiveness—City University of Seattle

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 27: Transforming General Education to Increase Interdisciplinarity and Connected Learning 
Colleges and universities struggle to make general education courses meaningful to the educational needs and aspirations of today's students, while retaining the core values of liberal education.  Challenges inherent in transforming general education may be intensified by the desire to create signature experiences grounded in institutional culture and values, and the wish to address broad learning goals important to the faculty.  This session is planned to interest faculty, department chairs, and academic administrators who want to discuss: (a) a sustainable, collaborative process for re-visioning general education goals reflective of institutional culture and (b) a generative structure for expanding general education requirements, interdisciplinarity, and connected learning beyond the first two years of college.  Participants will be encouraged to share concerns and strategies for achieving general education goals through the major.
Cynthia Baurele, Professor and Chair of Biology, Zandra L. Jordan, Assistant Professor of English and SpEl.Folio Co-Director, and Johnnella E. Butler, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs—all of Spelman College

Assessment
CS 28: PGA vs. GPA: Evaluating General Education Curriculum and Measuring Student Learning Using Alternative Assessment Tools
Oral Roberts University’s ePortfolio assessment enables faculty to make informed decisions concerning ORU’s general education program in order to ensure that required courses reflect the institution’s mission-focused learning outcomes.  Since fall 2004, enough data has been collected from faculty-developed rubrics to show how well courses meet established criteria for the various learning outcomes and to determine a Personal Growth Assessment (PGA) score for each student.  The facilitators, English and Chemistry professors, will present ePortfolio data for some of their courses and demonstrate how well these courses fit the general education outcomes and how PGA scores are determined.  They will then discuss the process for curriculum revision.  Participants will be able to apply these techniques to their own disciplines and courses, share their comments with the group, and bring specific and pertinent ideas back to their institutions.
Mark R. Hall, Coordinator of General Education and Professor of English and Kenneth M. Weed, Coordinator of Planning and Institutional Accreditation and Associate Professor of Chemistry—both of Oral Roberts University

Assessment
CS 29:  General Education Learning Outcomes and the Liberal Education Scorecard
The Winter 2008 issue of Liberal Education presented the “Liberal Education Scorecard” as a tool to guide, assess, and document outcomes-based student learning.  The Scorecard can represent any type of educational program – general education programs, major/minor programs, co-curricular programs – at any type of liberal education institution – small liberal arts institutions, large state institutions, two-year community colleges, etc.  In this session, the facilitators will provide a brief overview of the scorecard, share their own experiences with implementing the scorecard at their institution, and recommend a process for using the scorecard to create general education learning outcomes and their assessment.  Workshop participants will explore the application of this process to their own institutions and will reflect on innovative implications for the design of their programs.  The presenters will share their experiences in applying the scorecard and highlight potential benefits and roadblocks to its use.
Michael R. Wick, Professor and Chair of Computer Science, Andrew T. Phillips, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies, and Scott F. Oates, Associate Professor of English and Director of Institutional Assessment—all of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Design:  Programs and Themes
CS 30:  Beyond the Rhetoric of Civic Engagement: Designing Course-Based Assignments that Engage and Directly Assess Students’ Civic Learning
Most colleges and universities promote the idea that their students will be civically engaged as a result of their higher education experiences.  Fewer colleges and universities actually design course-based assignments for engaged civic learning and assessments that provide direct evidence that learning has occurred.  In this workshop, Elon University and Cabrini College will: (a) highlight practices at their respective institutions for designing course-based assignments that engage students in civic learning and assess the extent of this learning, (b) organize participants into small groups and lead them through the process of designing assignments around civic learning that also serve assessment purposes, and (c) lead a discussion among participants about strategies for creating faculty buy-in for these engaged pedagogies.  Participants will leave the session with clear strategies for moving course-based civic learning beyond rhetoric and towards engaged learning that can be validated and enhanced through effective assessment.
Beverly Bryde, Associate Professor of Education, Lisa Ratmansky, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning—both of Cabrini College;  Janet Warman, Dean of General Studies and Professor of English and Bud Warner, Associate Professor of Human Services—both of Elon University

Roles, Rewards, and Leadership
CS 31:  Leading and Sustaining Faculty, Administrator, Staff, and Student Involvement in Assessment
A recent review of university and college Web sites that report established assessment mechanisms revealed that when many constituents were involved in assessment, including faculty, administrators, staff, and students, the assessment practices were likelier to be sustained and made part of the institutional culture.  As college leaders strive for continuous improvement in student learning outcomes, they must establish means to encourage and sustain the enthusiasm of the people who contribute to assessment throughout the institution.  In this session, the facilitators will: (a) highlight results of the review and identify particular models that involve a wide range of university constituents; (b) engage participants in discussion of the roles of constituents within their institution and how each helps facilitate sustained assessment; and (c) suggest ways to foster communication among various constituents and create mechanisms that offer intrinsic, as well as extrinsic, rewards for being part of an assessment team.
Session Slides (pdf)
Mary Finn, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Marti Singer, Senior Faculty Associate for Assessment—both of Georgia State University

Philosophy:  Purposes of General Education
CS 32:  Communicating Effectively About General Education and Assessment to Colleagues, Students, and External Constituents
This session will draw on new research conducted as part of AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative. The facilitator will: (a) share the latest trends in general education reform and assessment as revealed in a recent survey of AAC&U members and (b) discuss public opinion research that highlights how students, recent graduates, and business leaders view the most important outcomes of college and the role of general education in teaching those outcomes. Participants will also be introduced to messages and language proven effective in making the case for liberal and general education to a variety of constituents. They will learn what employers see as the most promising approaches to assessment and will be introduced to several AAC&U resources designed to help institutions communicate effectively and align their practices with the messages they send through a variety of means—including curriculum, admissions, Web sites, and external relations.
Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs—Association of American Colleges and Universities

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Plenary

General Education for the 21st Century: From Conception to Implementation
Podcast
AAC&U’s 2007 report, College Learning for the New Global Century, notes that “American students already know they want a degree.  The challenge is to help students become highly intentional about the forms of learning and accomplishment that the degree should represent” (p. 29).  How can educators rethink and rework general education to achieve this goal?  How can they build a general education curriculum that addresses the essential learning outcomes and the principles of excellence articulated in the AAC&U report?  How do they ensure that students have an integrated educational experience, connecting general education and the major as well as the curricular and co-curricular?  Drawing on insights from the conference, Dr. Evans and Dr. Wood will describe how campuses can use these essential learning outcomes and principles of excellence to reframe general education.  They will offer theoretical structures and practical strategies that have proved effective in creating a more intentional general education that engages students in real-world problems, interdisciplinary learning, global understanding, and civic engagement.
Session Slides (pdf) Slides in Handout Format (pdf)
Gail Evans, Dean of Undergraduate Studies—San Francisco State University; and Joseph S. Wood, Professor of Geography and former Interim President—University of Southern Maine

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