Assignments:
For each of Chapman University’s General Education (GE) Program areas, randomly selected
faculty assess their respective course-embedded assignments.
Sampling:
Each semester, one or two GE areas are selected for assessment (please see the GE assessment schedule). For each GE area, approximately 10-15 course sections are randomly selected for
assessment. All students in these courses are assessed. Typically, 300-400 student
work samples across these randomly selected course sections are assessed per GE area.
Assessment Tool:
Given the need to assess a variety of course types in each of the GE area, the instructor
of the GE course chooses the appropriate assignment for assessment. The assignments
typically are culminating course assignments, such as culminating course paper, final
exam, or final project. Click the links below for sample course assignments:
Each assignment is assessed using a tailored rubric for that GE area. Each GE Learning
Outcome has additional assessment criteria with descriptions and levels of performance.
Please see each GE area rubric below for details.
Assessment Criteria:
All students are expected to receive a rubric score of “meets expectations.” Depending
on the rubric, this criteria may be a score of 2 or 3. Please see each GE rubric for
details (links below):
- GE Artistic Inquiry Rubric
- GE Citizenship, Community, Service Rubric
- GE First Year Focus Rubric
- GE Global Studies Inquiry Rubric
- GE Interdisciplinary Cluster Rubric
- GE Language Inquiry Rubric
- GE Natural Sciences Inquiry Rubric
- GE Quantitative Inquiry Rubric
- GE Social Inquiry Rubric
- GE Values and Ethics Inquiry Rubric
- GE Written Inquiry Rubric
How are the learning outcomes findings used?
Data Analysis and Interpretation:
After the faculty score the students’ work, the assessment scores are sent to the
Director of Accreditation and Assessment (soon to be sent to the new Director of General
Education) to coordinate, review, and report. When the director receives the scores,
they aggregate and analyze the scores at the program level and determine if students
met the expected performance levels. For each assignment, the sample size, mean, range,
min-max, and standard deviation are calculated for review.
The data analysis, along with a preliminary draft of the report are sent to the Vice
Provost of Undergraduate Education and the General Education Committee for review.
During the review, the faculty members compare actual student performance data against
the expected performance levels. If necessary, follow-up analyses and discussions
take place to thoroughly understand the data. Using the information from these analyses,
ideas and decisions on how to improve the GE area are made and voted by committee
members. The entire assessment data, process, findings, and program improvement strategies
are formally written in the assessment report (please see each GE area assessment).
A portion of the GE assessment reports are published and can be found here:
- GE Artistic Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Citizenship, Community, Service Assessment Report
- GE First Year Focus Assessment Report
- GE Global Studies Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Exploration Focus Assessment Report
- GE Language Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Natural Sciences Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Quantitative Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Social Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Values and Ethics Inquiry Assessment Report
- GE Written Inquiry Assessment Report