General Education Assessment

Led by the Senate GE Committee, the Office of Undergraduate Studies and General Education and the Office of  Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, CSUF has piloted and implemented a multi-year assessment plan for the General Education Program since the 2015-16 academic year. The intention is to assess GE as an integral program as opposed to assessing individual courses.  The assessment plan is guided by the CSUF General Education: Programmatic Student Learning Goals and Learning Outcomes (UPS 411.203) , which were approved by the CSUF Academic Senate in spring 2015. Revisions were made to the GE goals and outcomes in July 2023.

GE Faculty Learning Community: 2021-2022
The GE assessment effort is focused on the Oral Communication component of  GE Learning Goal 3 in 2021-2022.  Following the Faculty Learning Community model , a group of 8 full-time and part-time faculty who taught a representative sample of upper-level GE courses worked collaboratively throughout the year.  The faculty reviewed each other’s assignments, developed comparable assignments, and created an Oral Communication Rubric . A peer-rating strategy was also utilized to capture students’ audience engagement abilities.  A summary of this assessment effort is disseminated to campus constituents.  Details of the analysis results are available upon request.

GE Assessment Reflection: 2020-21

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a full-scale GE Faculty Learning Community was not feasible in 2020-21.  Based on the recommendations of the Academic Senate’s GE Committee, two faculty members, who were past GE Faculty Learning Community (FLC) participants, led a reflective exercise to review all past GE assessment data, and to gather past faculty participants’ experiences to determine the impact of the FLC.  The exercise included an examination of disaggregated assessment results, and a survey of past FLC participants.  The exercise yielded positive results, which led to continued support from the GE Committee to re-start the FLC in 2021-22. 

GE Faculty Learning Community: 2019-2020

The GE assessment effort is focused on the Written Communication component of  GE Learning Goal 3  in 2019-2020.  Following the Faculty Learning Community model , a group of 11 full-time and part-time faculty who taught a representative sample of upper-level GE courses worked collaboratively throughout the year.  The faculty reviewed each other’s assignments, developed comparable assignments, and created a Written Communication Rubric . A student self-assessment survey including all the rubric criteria was also administered as an indirect assessment.  A summary of this assessment effort is disseminated to campus constituents (19-20 GE Written Communication Assessment Summary ).  Details of the analysis results are available upon request.

GE Faculty Learning Community: 2018-2019

The GE assessment effort is focused on  GE Learning Goal 5  in 2018-2019.  Same as in previous years, a small group of full-time and part-time faculty who taught a representative sample of upper-level GE courses formed the Faculty Learning Community.  The faculty focused on the issue of diversity, particularly multiple perspectives, and developed a Diversity rubric to evaluate their students’ ability to understand, apply, and compare multiple perspectives and worldviews. A comparable student self-perception survey was also used as an indirect self-assessment tool.  A summary of this assessment effort is disseminated to campus constituents (18-19 GE Diversity Assessment Summary ).  Details of the analysis results are available upon request.

GE Faculty Learning Community: 2017-2018

The GE assessment effort is focused on   GE Learning Goal  4  in 2017-2018.  Using the same collaborative Faculty Learning Community approach as the previous year, this assessment effort engaged a small group of full-time and part-time faculty who taught a representative range of upper-level GE courses that have a focus on Teamwork.  A Teamwork rubric was developed by the faculty to evaluate their students’ ability to work as part of a team, and used by the students as an indirect self-assessment tool.  A summary of this assessment effort is disseminated to campus constituents (17-18 GE Teamwork Assessment Summary ).   Details of the analysis results are available upon request.

GE Faculty Learning Community: 2016-2017

The GE assessment effort focused on GE Learning Goal 2 in 2016-2017.  Improved upon previous assessment approaches, this assessment effort brought together a community of faculty, who teach relevant GE courses, to align their assignments, scoring rubrics and assessment practices.  This “GE Faculty Learning Community” also served as the central voice to disseminate GE assessment findings and generate curricular and pedagogical recommendations on campus.  The Office of Assessment and Educational Effectiveness and the Office of Undergraduate Studies and General Education facilitated and coordinated this effort.   A Critical Thinking rubric was developed and applied by the faculty, details of which have been presented at the WSCUC ARC 2018 conference .  The GE Faculty Learning Community was also featured by NILOA in July 2018 (Faculty Engagement and Community Building through GE Assessment ).

GE Assessment Pilot: 2015-2016

Students’ performance on GE Learning Goal 1 was assessed in 2015-2016 through a random selection of GE courses that address this learning goal.  Using embedded assignments, students demonstrated their mastery of the fundamental concepts, methods, and theories in various disciplines.  They also responded to a micro-survey that captured their perception of own learning.  Students overwhelmingly reported positive learning in these courses.

GE Pathways Program: 2014-2015

 The General Education Pathways Pilot Project 2014-2015 collected preliminary data to examine GE Pathways students' written communication skills.  Using a pre/post design, and scored with the CSUF writing rubric , positive changes were observed in all aspects of student writing.  Details of the results  have been presented at the American Educational Research Association 2016 annual conference.