General Education Assessment Committee
September 24, 2015
MSU, Room 312
Present: Mary Eicholtz (at-large teaching faculty), Krista Prock (at-large non-teaching faculty), William
Donner (SPRC), George Sirrakos (COE), Valerie Trollinger (VPA), Gil Clary (Office of Assessment), Kim
Shively (at-large teaching faculty), Rolf Mayrhofer for Patricia Derr (Gen Ed Committee), Varsha
Pandya (CLAS), David Beougher (Academic Dean), Matthew Delaney (Admin & Finance).
Absent: TBA (at-large teaching faculty), Megan Luckenbaugh (Student Representative), Stephen
Hensler (COB).
Guest: Kathleen Stanfa (COE).
Eicholtz called the meeting to order at 3 pm.
Minutes: Eicholtz introduced the Minutes from the September 3, 2015 meeting for approval. After some
discussion, there were two areas needing correction, and it was decided to do so. Motion to approve the
Minutes as amended made by Prock; seconded by Pandya. Minutes are approved.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on Thursday, October 8th at 3 pm in MSU 312.
Committee Membership: Eicholtz informed the Committee that a willingness to serve appeal has been
sent out, and we should have a new At-large faculty member to replace Janice Gasker on the Committee
by the end of October.
Drexel conference: Ten people from Kutztown attended the 2nd annual assessment conference at
Drexel University early September. Pytleski, Morris, and Folk from the English department with Prock
presented at the conference on Developing and Sustaining First-Year Writing Assessment for Multiple
Audiences. The presentation was well attended and the attendees asked interested questions. Clary
attended a presentation by Drexel where they described work on alignment with courses, and we may
be able to use it with Computer Science. They use this as a retention tool. It is felt Drexel is a good
assessment resource. Discussion followed. It is observed that based on presentations heard, Kutztown is
doing well, and we are on track. We could be doing more, but we don’t have resources to do more yet.
Information from the conference will be posted on their website for access to us.
Goal 1 Data: Eicholtz reported that as we stand now, we are still waiting to get information from the
Mathematics department about which courses will be assessed. We have ten sections of Modern
Language Studies doing oral communication. For inquiry and analysis, the English department is
assessing ENG139 and ENG145. All domains are covered but not as many courses are participating.
This time, participation is not voluntary. We will give it one more effort to recruit additional
participants. Clary will talk to the Provost to see if we can get better participation.
Training: Emails were sent out to offer training. Some departments will have training as a group.
VSA: Clary attended a meeting and discussion session concerning VSA. APSCUF was concerned about
turning over assignments to another party. We have to make sure people are objective in evaluating
assignments. If some want to train raters, then we will have to do it. Training is not intensive and is
manageable. There are two routes: (1) an assignment is reviewed by an independent rater. Faculty
members are still concerned that they will be evaluated individually. This is not the case. Discussion
followed. We will limit the assessment to seniors only. Our goal is to see how well the University is
doing not just a department, program or college. Clary will follow-up with Provost Zayaitz.
We will put out a call to recruit raters. We will try to collect samples this semester, and work on this
project during the year. Discussion followed. It was asked if we could bring in raters from other
PASSHE institutions. It was discussed to have two coders for each project. This will need to be
performed every three years. We are assessing writing and critical thinking.
The VSA could be replaced by standardized tests. This would be a more real experience for us. Clary
asks that everyone on the Committee continue to think through this process for Kutztown. This will
help GEAC’s long-term goals.
We can also talk to D2L to create drop boxes so that the products can be anonymous. Communication
will come from Provost Zayaitz to the deans and on down.
We will collect demographics, but will not stratify. Donner asked if the rubrics used should be
localized. We will use the VALUE rubrics as much as possible to follow the VSA rules.
Eicholtz and Derr will meet to tweak general education to be better. Derr has gone to her Committee to
discuss this. We want to look again at the goals (21) in our program. It is something that all students
are directly influence in their knowledge and experience. What if we look at all of the goals to see
which we can streamline for this process: oral communication, information literacy, critical thinking
and decision-making?
How does this committee think we make recommendations for changes in the general education
program? Discussion followed. If we have a goal, then we need to assess it.
There is talk about a co-curricular map. Why not ask this group to join in?
Meeting adjourned at 3:55 pm.
/km
10/2/2015