General Education Committee
September 18, 2009 Music Building 133 1:00 PM
Approved Minutes
Members present:
John Hodgson – English
Christopher Keller - Communication
Greg Treadwell – Business
John Geiger - Psychology
Mohammad Tabatabai – Mathematical Sciences
Jason Smith – Library
(Chair) Kirsten Underwood - Music
Benson Warren was also in attendance.
Agenda Items/Discussions
1. The meeting was called to order at 1:02 PM.
2. Underwood moved to approve the July 8 minutes. They were seconded after two adjustments.
3. Underwood then submitted a general education assessment document from the chair of the Theatre Dept.
highlighting which classes fall under which objectives. Underwood also submitted a letter from the chair of the
Music Dept. stating that they will finalize an assessment plan after meeting with general education faculty.
Underwood also stated that she received a letter from the History Dept. stating that they are working on their
assessment plans.
4. Underwood passed out multiple handouts: General Education Assessment Draft, Data and Analysis, and a
Shared Responsibility Matrix. Underwood also included an Assessment of Student Academic Achievement:
Assessment Culture Matrix and a Cameron University Program Quality Improvement Report Faculty
Participation Document. The handouts would be distributed to each department to provide data for the Gen Ed
committee.
5. Discussion centered about forming a Pilot Sub-committee for Data and analysis Objective 1.d) Assimilate
information by applying critical thinking strategies in order to draw reasoned conclusions.
6. Discussion then centered on student achievement. Underwood had information about assessment from
Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Treadwell talked about norms for setting benchmarks, such as
standardized tests. Tabatabai said he did not recommend standardized tests; that national norms are higher
and that other universities have entry requirements. Geiger suggested perhaps they should look at other
community colleges. Hodgson said the CAP test does not reflect what his dept. teaches.
7. Underwood made a motion to invite department chairs to the next meeting. Treadwell asked about using a
Shared Responsibility Matrix from the Institutional Assessment Committee. Underwood said that the IAC
Faculty Participation Matrix was in the form of a checklist, and that the Shared Responsibility Matrix she is
proposing would provide richer, more detailed information about faculty participation. This is important for the
committee to know about at this stage in the development of a General Education PQIR. Discussion led to
creating a document that contains enough information, but is still simple enough to use. Keller said that the IAC
document could eventually be used.
8. Last agenda item was a discussion over Vice-President McArthur’s deadline for a General Education PQIR by
November. Discussion led to having formal PQIR sessions for each General Education objective. The
Institutional Assessment Committee will rate the General Education Committee this fall, and both committees
will create a PQIR by this fall. Talk then led to dividing into sub-committees to assess all of this data.
9. Keller asked about any data information from departmental PQIR’s. It was mentioned that last year’s data
would be on them. Warren said to find similarities for objectives between each dept.
10. Underwood said she will send the three handouts to department chairs on Monday, Sept. 27th, after any
revisions/suggestions by Gen Ed members. Departmental chairs will be invited to the Oct. 2nd Gen Ed meeting in
order to clarify the new Gen Ed assessment templates and answer any questions they may have about
completing them. In attending this meeting, chairs can also collaborate with the committee on setting a
deadline for the fall submission of these reports.
11. The next meeting will be scheduled for Friday, October 2nd, at 10 AM. No location was scheduled.
12. Meeting adjourned at 1:53 PM.