General Education Divisional Review Committee
Policies and Procedures
Mission
The General Education Divisional Review Committee (GENEDDRC) is composed of
representatives from academic colleges, online learning, and academic support services who
oversee and assist academic units at the Florida Institute of Technology with assessment
pertaining to general education student learning and development. It serves to define and
implement policies and procedures to maintain a robust academic assessment process, to
review the quality of assessment plans submitted by units within academic colleges, and to
report annually to the chair of the Academic Program Assessment Committee (APAC) the
status of the academic assessment process within the general education program.
Vision Statement
The General Education Divisional Review Committee’s (GENEDDRC) vision is to introduce
and help sustain an academic-oriented “culture of assessment” for what is generally the first
two-years of a student’s university tenure at the Florida Institute of Technology by
emphasizing the positive outcomes of the assessment process on the betterment of their
academic coursework and the overall value of their university degrees.
Goal Statements
1. To oversee assessment of general education courses at Florida Tech.
2. To assist academic units with assessment of student learning and development in
general education courses recommended and/or approved by the committee.
3. To advocate the hiring of qualified personnel to assist in the area of general
education assessment.
4. To secure appropriate web-based technology to support and enhance general education
assessment efforts.
5. To recommend appropriate actions to the chair of APAC that are critical for sustaining
the general education assessment process at Florida Tech.
GENERAL EDUCATION DIVISIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
General Education DRC Committee Member
The General Education Divisional Review Committee (GENEDDRC) is composed of
representatives from academic colleges, online learning, and academic support services.
These representatives are appointed by the chair(s) of the GENEDDRC after consultation
with the chair of APAC. The duties of the GENEDDRC members are:
Accepted Spring 2014
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to serve on the General Educational Divisional Review Committee which oversees
assessment results and assessment plans for the General Education program at
Florida Tech;
to apprise the chair of APAC of issues and updates related to the continuous quality
improvement process;
to provide assistance and guidance to the unit and department heads on general
education assessment policies and procedures;
to provide timely communication of all GENEDDRC mandates, instructions, and
deadlines to Assessment Coordinators and others as appropriate;
to maintain a current list of GENEDDRC members in the colleges and divisions and
updates this with APAC Chair each fall or whenever changes are made;
to establish internal submission deadlines for initial and final submissions of general
education assessment results reports and plans;
to report the GENEDDRC consensus reviews to the APAC at the close of the assessment
cycle;
to serve as the liaison for any unit or program in his or her college or division that
requires assistance in the development of plans, analysis of collected data, documentation
of assessment results, and navigation of the web-based assessment management system;
to work with Director of CTLE (Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence) to
coordinate training for Assessment Coordinators and other appropriate groups.
ASSESSMENT COORDINATOR
Generally, members of the GENEDDRC also fulfill the traditional role of an Assessment
Coordinators (ACs) as defined by APAC polices and procedures. The duties of an Assessment
Coordinator are:
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to enter assessment plans in the web-based assessment management program.
to collect and coordinate assessment data from faculty and/or staff responsible for
implementing assessment measures.
to examine the data in terms of the PLO statements.
to lead a group review of the results with faculty from their academic unit or degree
program who are involved with the collection of general education assessment data.
to lead a group review of the assessment plan and measures and to make appropriate
changes that may be indicated by the assessment data and results.
to enter the collected assessment data and results in the web-based assessment
management program for review by the chair(s) of the GENEDDRC.
Accepted Spring 2014
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DIVISIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
Within the academic sector of the university, a Divisional Review Committee (DRC) is
composed of all Assessment Coordinators (ACs) from the departments, degree programs, or
academic units that make up a particular division. The co-chairs of the DRCs are two of their
corresponding APAC representatives. A division can be an entire academic college, group of
colleges, and/or academic units within the institution of Florida Tech. There are five academic
Divisional Review Committees. These are as follows:
CoB/ESD Divisional Review Committee (includes online programs)
CoE/CoA Divisional Review Committee
CoPLA Divisional Review Committee (includes online programs)
CoS Divisional Review Committee
GenEd Divisional Review Committee (includes University Experience)
The DRC is responsible for the following:
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reviewing and evaluating the quality of assessment plans for each department, degree
program, and academic unit with its division. The review criteria are outlined in the
Assessment Review Rubric, found on the APAC website (www.fit.edu/apac).
assisting faculty and staff in adhering to specific review criteria.
comparing the results reports and plans to those of the previous year.
GENEDDRC VOTING POLICIES
Two-thirds of the GENEDDRC members, including the chair(s), represent a quorum. A majority
vote of a present quorum of members constitutes approval or passing of an item.
ASSESSMENT POLICIES
1. Policy on SLOs and Number and Types of Measures
The minimum number of Student Learning Outcome (SLOs) statements for the general education
program and the number and type of measures for each are outlined below. These were decided,
after consultation with the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Compliance, by a majority
vote by the members of the General Education Divisional Review Committee in the fall of 2011.
It was decided that a minimum of two (2) direct measures should be used to assess each SLO,
with these direct measures being designed and implemented by the individual departments
involved in the assessment process.
Accepted Spring 2014
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2. Policy on Assessment Items (Mission, Vision statements, Course Mapping, Curriculum
Mapping, Measurement Statements that include Achievement Targets)
Mission statements at the university level, the college levels, and the academic unit levels are
required and should align with each other (i.e. unit to college, college to university). The term
“unit” is defined by APAC as a department or an academic program within a school or college.
Although the committee does not require that every degree program offered at Florida Tech has
a mission statement, it may be necessary for some. For example, the Department of Humanities
and Communication will need to have separate statements to address the Humanities program
and the Communication program since they are very different.
The General Education Divisional Review Committee, as a unique assessment entity, has chosen
to adopt a mission statement that aligns with that of APAC, its parent organization.
Vision statements were determined to be optional.
The General Education Divisional Review Committee, as a unique assessment entity, has chosen
to adopt a vision statement that aligns with that of APAC, its parent organization.
Goals were determined to be optional.
The General Education Divisional Review Committee, as a unique assessment entity, has chosen
to adopt a set of goals that align with that of APAC, its parent organization.
Course mapping, which requires course level student learning outcomes (SLOs), is strongly
recommended as part of “best practices”.
Curriculum mapping and Assessment mapping, which require program level student
learning outcomes (PLOs), are required components for internal and external purposes (ex. for
reporting to accrediting institutions).
Measurement statements that include Achievement Targets are required for each PLO.
Rubrics used to determine level of achievement are required
Accepted Spring 2014
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