College of Applied Science and Technology
General Education Program Assessment
The Institutional Artifact Portfolio (IAP) process for General Education is a non-intrusive system for assessing (not grading) artifacts of students’ four Shared Learning Outcomes as related to the 12 goals of General Education.
The University Assessment Office invites faculty to volunteer an artifact of student work. Faculty asks their students to complete and attach a cover sheet to their work. At this point faculty have completed all that is required of them in the Institutional Artifact Portfolio process.
A staff member from the UAO will pick up the artifacts, photocopy them, and return them within one business day. Anonymous artifacts are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team using established rubrics for the four Shared Learning Outcomes. (view the Public Opportunity Rubric) The UAO further analyzes aggregate scores and reports all data to the Council for General Education. The CGE will then review the data and make appropriate recommendations.
The Institutional Artifact Portfolio process provides a comprehensive method to evaluate the institution’s process of accomplishing the 12 goals of General Education. General Education assessment also supports teaching and learning in the disciplines by providing an accurate representation of student abilities prior to their introduction to the major.
Lastly, the General Education Program at ISU also realizes many of the requirements of systematic review of educational outcomes by external constituencies such as the state government and various accrediting agencies.
The process was designed to clearly address the four Shared Learning Outcomes and the 12 goals of General Education. It is minimally intrusive to faculty and students. The reviews of student work are blind and will be reported in aggregate. The Council for General Education (CGE) will be able to identify areas for improvement based upon the data generated from the process.
The Council for General Education will use the data to determine areas of strength and identify potential areas for improvement within the General Education Program at ISU.
No. The unit of analysis is the institution and its General Education Program. Faculty names, course numbers, and departments/schools will not be associated with any final data reports.
Faculty will receive an invitation to participate in the IAP process via campus mail on the first day of classes. Invitations will be sent out to all faculties who are scheduled to teach a course that has been identified with the Shared Learning Outcomes scheduled for review that semester. (See review cycle) To participate, faculty need only complete the Intent to Participate form and forward a copy of the Student Work Coversheet to their students. It really is that easy.
Faculty support of General Education assessment is vital so that the Institutional Artifact Portfolio process has adequate data to enhance the ease in participation. The IAP was established in a way that purposefully requires minimal time and effort of the faculty to evaluate the General Education Program.
An artifact is any form of tangible student work. It is a product of the students’ learning experience that addresses the identified traits of the four Shared Learning Outcomes. Possible examples of artifacts include essays/papers, other written assignments, speeches, presentations, poster boards, and may also include artwork, performances, or music recitals.
The Coversheet contains identifying information such as the students’ UID. The UAO uses this information to eliminate students under the age of 18 and to determine the total credit hours completed by each student as a factor for comparison.
To ensure the review is as blind as possible, and to prevent possible influence of the comments and/or grades on the artifact, the UAO will only accept ungraded artifacts.
Once they have been copied, the artifacts will be returned to your department/school via a secure envelope or box. The member of your staff to whom the artifacts were returned will fill out a receipt of delivery.
UAO staff will remove all identifying information on artifacts before distributing them to the review teams. Final reports will not identify faculty, students or particular courses/sections in any way. Following the review process all the artifacts will be disposed using confidential recycling.
A two-person review team will conduct a consensus review.
Four Shared Learning Outcomes for General Education were developed to represent the 12 goals of General Education and include Public Opportunity, Diverse and Global Perspectives, Critical Thinking and Inquiry, and Life Long Learning.
Four rubrics were developed and refined by the General Education Assessment Task Force and the University Assessment Office for each of the Shared Learning Outcomes. The faculty teams will complete a consensus review using a proficiency rating of each of the primary traits. (View the Public Opportunity Rubric)
The primary traits provide the various categories for which student artifacts will be reviewed. It is asked that faculty not adjust course content based upon these primary traits or the rubrics. They are intended to support the IAP Process and not interfere with your pedagogy or course content.