General Education Assessm ent Com m ittee
M arch 7, 2014
Rohrbach Library, Room 22
Present: Krista Prock (at-large non-teaching faculty), Stephen Oross (at-large teaching faculty), Janice Gasker
(at-large teaching faculty), William Dempsey (Academic Dean), Gil Clary (Office of Assessment), William
Donner (SPRC), Mary Eicholtz (at-large teaching faculty), Nancy Cardenuto (COE), Randy Schaeffer (Gen Ed
Committee), Brent Penny (Admin. & Finance).
Absent: Varsha Pandya (CLAS), Valerie Trollinger (CVPA), Dina Hayduk (COB), and Austen Mest (Student
Representative).
Oross called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.
M inutes: Oross introduced the February 7, 2014 Minutes for approval. Motion was made to approve the
Minutes by Donner, seconded by Prock. Motion carried.
Announcem ents: Oross opened the meeting and reminded the members there are only a few meetings left in
the semester. After receiving approval from the administration, Oross placed an order for the general education
posters and fliers. He ordered 7500 fliers and 300 posters. Carole Wells will distribute some of the fliers when
she visits each department this semester. Oross wants to focus on where some of these fliers should be
distributed. Discussion followed regarding distribution throughout residence halls, etc.
Oross reminded the committee that the assessment of Goal 3 this year is a ‘volunteer’ process, and in a year we
move to a collaborative-based effort. Assessment of Goal 1 begins in the fall; therefore we must approach
assessors this semester. We have to decide how to approach each of the departments, their faculty, and when.
Discussion followed.
The willingness-to-serve forms were distributed on March 7th. They will be due after spring break. Once a new
GEAC member is identified, then it will be up to the new GEAC to select a chair.
Goal 3 and Database: Prock reported the database is being worked on by a graduating senior from the
Computer Science department. Prock has been in touch with the IT department to find out how we will
maintain the database. The database will allow the curricular map information to be more interactive. Issues
have to be cleared. Computer Science will save the database at the end of the semester before the student
graduates in May. The database should allow sorting on course levels, competencies, etc. According to
Schaeffer, the list of competencies is up to date on the general education website. Discussion followed. How
many courses do we include? Do we include a weighting factor? It was suggested that we focus on capstone
courses or 300 level courses. We need to come up with a plan, but that plan can be revised for future Goal 3
assessment. After discussion, it was decided to choose six courses (3 courses designated 0 through the100 level
and 3 courses designated 300 level) under each domain. These courses will be randomly selected from the
courses offered next semester. If we don’t have enough, then we will leave it blank and note that we do not
have a course addressing a particular domain. With this method, we would have a maximum of 60 courses.
This is a work in progress, but it is felt this method is doable. By the time Middle States visits again, we will have
five or six years of work, and we will modify our methods and work if necessary. We will leave it up to the
department to determine if all sections of a course would be assessed. Only one report for each course would be
submitted to the GEAC, and that fact will be communicated to the departments.
At the April 4th meeting, we should look at the list we have, make final adjustments and immediately contact the
departments. It was suggested that we attend the next Chairnet meeting to advise the chairs of the work coming
during the fall semester. Mary Eicholtz will go through the list to identify the courses to be assessed in the fall.
She will send the list to the committee ahead of our next meeting on April 4th. Oross will request a few minutes
to speak at the next Chairnet meeting on March 25th. Jim Delle of the Anthropology/Sociology department is
chair of Chairnet. Once Chairnet is advised of the upcoming assessment, the departments will be sent
information, and they can then begin to prepare. Oross will contact Paul Quinn, President of APSCUF to tell him
what to expect for the fall assessment.
Clary reported there are department meetings occurring now with the Provost. He feels most departments are
conducting some assessment.
Oross indicated that the meeting with the Provost was brief. Not all topics were covered. He believes that GEAC
has the support of the Provost – including financial support.
Training: A training session occurred on February 25th. Only a few people attended, and there didn’t seem to
be any major concerns by the volunteers attending. Volunteers who were contacted prior to the training session
for the most part felt comfortable with the process after reviewing the PowerPoint presentation. Cardenuto
volunteered to remind volunteers that their assessment data is due. She will send a first reminder before spring
break begins on March 14th.
Oross will send an email to GEAC members requesting a list of people who volunteered to assess Goal 3 this
semester.
Next meeting is Friday, April 4, 2014 at 2 pm in RL 22.
Meeting adjourned at 3:40 pm.
/km
3/10/14