General Education Assessment:
The Computer Literacy Outcome
Goes Full Circle
Mary T. Zegarski
Professor , Computer Information Technology
Dr. Jill Hirt
Director, Planning Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness
Northampton Community College
Bethlehem, PA
REVISING THE COMPUTER LITERACY
GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENT
LEARNING OUTCOME
Where We Began
• General Education core revision prompted by
Middle States Self-Evaluation in 2005
• Committee formed to study General Education
Outcomes 2006
• The Computer Literacy General Education
Outcome read: “Employ the computer as a
tool in one’s personal and professional life”
• Computer Literacy Outcome revised in 2008
New Computer Literacy Outcome
Students will use computer technology as a tool for
communication and productivity both professionally
and personally
1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of computer
concepts and terminology.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the
ethical use of current technologies.
3. Students will use technology for communication and
research with tools such as email and the internet.
4. Students will create, store, retrieve and print
appropriately formatted documents using assorted
software such as word processors, spreadsheets, and
other applications required by their field of study.
ASSESSING THE COMPUTER
LITERACY GEN ED SLO
Planning the Assessment
• How to assess
– Embedded assignment
– Third party assessment tool
– Objective exam
• Decision
– Use an Office simulation for SLO 4
– Create short objective exam for SLO 1 and 2
– Use Community College Survey of Student
Engagement 2009 (CCSSE) for SLO 3
• Who to assess
– Students with more than 36 credits completed
– Traditional and online students
Pilot
• Fall 2010
– Multiple choice 15 item quiz to assess SLO 1 & 2
– Online Office simulation used to assess SLO 4
• Results
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61 students participated in the multiple choice tool
35 students completed the online simulation
Students were successful on both instruments
Student Learning Outcomes Committee deemed the
multiple choice tool to be fair
– Modifications were made
• Items with 100% success were removed
• Replaced by items on ethics
Official Assessment Spring 2011
• Tools
– SLO 1 & 2 - 15 item multiple choice written
assessment
– SLO 4 - SAM2007 Word assessment
– SLO 3 - CCSSE data used for “indirect” evidence to
support SLO
Word Items
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Create a new blank document
Save the document under the name ‘services.docx’ in the current directory.
Close the document without exiting word.
Save the current, previously saved word document into the folder ‘2007’ located in the documents
folder. Do not change the file name or type.
Print six copies of page two of this document.
Display a preview of what the document will look like when printed.
Select the text ‘translations one’ – do not click and drag.
Change the font of the selected text to Comic Sans MS
Change the font size of the selected text to 14.
Bold the selected text.
Specify that the selected text will be italicized.
Change the color of the selected text to orange.
Specify that the selected text will appear as a bulleted list. Use the default bullet.
Center the selected paragraph.
Add a graphic file (not a clip art image) named ‘logo’ to the current document at the insertion
point.
• Participants
– Written assessment
• 18 classes
• 179 students with more than 36 credits completed
• 59 exclusively online students with more than 36
credits completed
• 238 Total participants
– Online Word assessment
• 92 students with more than 36 credits
Results
• Goal – 80 % of students achieve 80%
• Written assessment
– Average score 12 with a range of 6 to 15
– 62% scored 80% or above
– 80 % scored 73% or above
• Word assessment
– Average score 14 with a range of 11 to 15
– Almost 100% scored 80% or above
• Community College Survey of Student
Engagement
– 51% of NCC students reported using such tools for any
purpose “multiple times per day”
• Lower than reported by CCSSE participants (55%)
– 40% use these tools to communicate with other
students, instructors, or college staff about their
coursework at least once a week
• Higher than CCSSE participants (35%)
– 55% of NCC students are likely to use course
management systems
• Higher than CCSSE participants (41%)
CLOSING THE LOOP
Where to Start
• SLO 4 – Survey of faculty and students
– Information on assignments requiring Word, Excel or
PowerPoint
– Self-evaluation by students and faculty on facility with
Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• SLO 1 & 2
– Three ways to fulfill Computer Literacy General Education
Outcome
1.
2.
3.
Complete a CISC course (usually Introduction to Computers)
Embedded computer literacy in program courses
Competing English 101c and English 151c
The Plan
• Address all three areas
1. CISC101 Intro to Computers
• Common Blackboard site for all adjuncts
2. Meet with English instructors
3. Meet with Division Dean’s to discuss programs
which have embedded Computer Literacy
Meeting With The Deans
• Speak at division meetings on Professional
Days
• Send a letter to all programs with embedded
Computer Literacy
– Discuss the new Computer Literacy Gen Ed SLO
– Share the results of the assessment
– Ask for assistance in making improvements
• Request that program courses are reviewed to find
where SLO 1 & 2 are embedded
• Address those SLO’s in some new way
• English 101C & English 151C
– Course coordinators are reluctant to continue as
Comp Lit Gen Ed fulfillment
– Meeting with the Dean to be scheduled
• Program with embedded Comp Lit
– Allied Health and Science division asked for assistance
from the Computer Cluster particularly a workshop to
be planned for professional days before the Fall
semester
– Discussions are on-going with other programs
Suggestions
• Always use the correct terminology. For example: Submitting an
assignment by emailing the file is sending the file as an attachment.
Submitting a file in Blackboard is uploading the file.
• If you make your selection in a program by selecting an item from a
list of choices, you are using a menu driven user interface. If you
make your choice by clicking an image, called an icon, you are using
a graphical user interface (GUI, gooey). You could point this out to
your students as you use your software.
• You can discuss where files are stored. If they are stored internally
on the computer’s hard drive, they are stored on the C drive. My
Documents, often the default storage location, is on the internal
hard drive. Portable storage is now usually a flash drive which is
inserted into the USB port of the computer. It’s important for
students to keep their files in an organized way.
• If you talk about employment, you could mention
how Social Media is being used by prospective
employers. Suggest that students look at their
Facebook page from that perspective. Point out
good job search sites that students can use.
• Always mention the system requirements for any
software. You can find that info by doing a search
for the software. That reinforces the idea that
software can’t be run on all computers and that
you have to be aware of these things when
purchasing computers or software.
WRAP UP
• The assessment went very well – no problems
• Closing the Loop proves to be more difficult
than expected
• On the whole the faculty has been very
cooperative
Contact Information
• Mary Zegarski
– mzegarski@northampton.edu