1. Closing the Loop in General Education: Adapting Current Models to New Accreditation Standards
Timothy S. Brophy, Director of Institutional Assessment
M. David Miller, Chair, General Education Assessment
University of Florida
Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education Conference, Salt Lake City, June, 2018

2. Let’s talk about you and your institution
General Education on your campus:
Your institution
Who oversees it?

3. University of Florida Land Grant, Research Intensive, AAU Institution
55, 862 students (2017)
36,366 Undergraduates (2017)
16 Colleges – 10 colleges with general education courses
Main Campus and UF Online

4. Florida Requirements for undergraduate programs
Academic Learning Compacts
SLOs in communication, critical thinking, and content
General Education – three institutional outcomes
Subject areas – composition, physical and biological sciences, humanities, social and behavioral sciences, mathematics
Unique to UF: international and diversity

5. General Education Program Requirements
Outcomes

6. Let’s talk about you and your institution
General Education on your campus:
What external regulations must you accommodate?

7. UF Institutional Assessment and Effectiveness Cycle
Student Learning Outcomes/Program and Unit Goals
Assessment Planning
Implement the Plan and Gather Information
Interpret and Evaluate the Information
Modify and Improve
Institutional Effectiveness
Assessment

8. University of Florida General Education Assessment CYCLE
GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
UF’s SLO Category definitions*
UF’s Institutional SLOs for General Education
*BOG Regulation 8.016
UF’S MASTERY/NON-MASTERY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ↕
GENERAL EDUCATION CORE COURSE-EMBEDDED ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT
Student mastery data reported to the General Education Committee; Biennial SERU data
Data is reviewed, analyzed, interpreted
MODIFY AND IMPROVE GENERAL EDUCATION
New SACSCOC standard
8.2b
SLO Categories: Content, Critical Thinking, and Communication
General Education and Academic Assessment Committees review and approve the measures

9. Let’s talk about you and your institution
General Education on your campus:
How do you assess student learning in general education?

10. Assessment Input
Dr. Brophy and Academic Assessment Committee conducted focus groups on assessment at UF – Major Findings included
Faculty sent in data but did not receive anything back
Faculty were not sure how to use data
Recent Changes in SACSCOC require programs report how data is used for program improvement
Consequently – Developed Visualization that is being piloted with General Education and other UF programs

11. Direct Assessment: Visualization
Faculty from select general education courses provide assessment data
This is visualized using Tableau
General Education Visualized Data

12. General Education Effectiveness
Direct Measurement : Student Achievement Data
Positive Results
Raises questions
Indirect Measures : Student Experience in the Research University (SERU)
Biennial Undergraduate Survey
Comprehensive Survey with Limited Items on General Education

13. Indirect Assessment: SERU (2015)
Contribution of courses to your:
Percent responding Significantly or Extremely
Gen Ed
Other
Critical Thinking 25 35
Clear and effective writing 34 32
Appreciate, tolerate and understand racial and ethnic diversity 36 26
Read and comprehend academic material 28
Quantitative skills 68
Speak clearly and effectively 47
Understand international perspectives 57 48
Appreciate fine arts 33 40
Appreciate cultural and global diversity 37

14. Accreditation and Triangulation
SACSCOC standard 8.2b - The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of the results for student learning outcomes for collegiate-level general education competencies of its undergraduate degree programs. (Student outcomes: general education)
Current challenge is to triangulate both direct and indirect assessment data and use this analysis to seek improvement – to close the loop

15. Our Next StepS Within the current framework:
Develop Training Modules for Using Data to Improve Courses
Develop Guidelines for Faculty to Use Data to Close the Loop
New Program - QUEST (4 years)
Curriculum enhancement – multidisciplinary courses in Arts and Humanities (Quest 1) and Natural and Social Sciences (Quest 2)
Experiential education (Quest 3) and Capstone within major (Quest 4)

16. Follow-up Procedures to Include
Item analyses – Reviewing Specific skills and items to better understand what students do best and still have trouble
Incorporating other data into decisions – other measures of learning, student reactions and opinions
Reviewing the curriculum and its relationship to the data
Is instructor training needed to align teaching, curriculum and assessment

17. Follow-up Procedures to Include
Is the measurement adequate or are changes needed? (item statistics or overall reliability and validity)
Review SLOs and performance standards and expectations
Consider subpopulation differences
Consider prerequisites

18. New Program in Development: QUEST
Quest Model

19. Let’s talk about you and your institution
General Education on your campus:
What activities and methods are being used at your institution to close the loop?

20. Questions?