General Education Curriculum

1. General Education Curriculum 2007-8 Assessment Why, What, How

2. Today’s Session • Part 1: Reporting 2007-8 General Education assessment results • Part 2: Listening to the faculty • Part 3: Soliciting faculty-administrator input to General Education curriculum and support with assessment

3. 1. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals • Character capable of leadership and service shaped by the habits and practices of the Christian tradition • Appreciation for diversity of insight and perspective • Competence in an academic discipline

4. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals • exposed to broad contours of human knowledge • practice disciplined reflection • familiar with literary, artistic, mathematical, scientific contributions that shaped civilization • develop a truly Christian understanding in vital conversation with the liberal arts

5. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals General Education Objectives • Skills • Content • Constructive/ Integrative

6. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals General Education Objectives Academic Discipline • commensurate with professional and degree standards

7. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals General Education Objectives Academic Discipline Educational Results • Graduates capable of leadership and service

8. Summative Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals General Education Objectives Academic Discipline Educational Results

9. General Education Assessment TNU Educational Goals General Education Goals General Education Objectives Academic Discipline Educational Results

10. Assessment Process • Select General Education outcomes to measure

11. Assessment Cycle

12. Assessment Process • Select General Education outcomes to measure • Assess enrollees in each major capstone course • Administer Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP) standardized test • Add TNU self-generated questions • Compare to General Education outcome criteria • Cycle results to faculty, schools, divisions, departments for confirmation and improvement

13. 2007-8 Assessment Results • Sam Stueckle, assessment consultant

14. General Education Assessment Report

15. Outcomes B-2, B-3, B-8, C-1, C-4, C-5 • Methodology:The assessment for each of these outcomes used the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP) test from ETS. Students in senior capstone courses from various areas were asked to take the test in the spring. 49 students were tested from Business, Science, Education, English, and Psychology

16. Problem • Observations of students taking the tests and the scores reported indicate that test data is highly suspect.

17. Outcome B-2 • Students will be able to articulate the parameters of the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition and see its connections with intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical life . • The self-developed portion of the MAPP test was used to assess this outcome, using questions developed by the Division of Religion. In addition, students gave a level of satisfaction with the statement “Trevecca Nazarene University provides an understanding of what it means to live a holy life and relates this explanation to many aspects of my life.” • 62% of the responses to the questions were correct, which did not meet the criterion of 70%. In addition, the average score on the additional question was 3.75, which did not meet the criterion of 5.5.

18. Outcome B-3 • Students will be able to articulate the doctrinal and moral convictions of the Church of the Nazarene. • The self-developed portion of the MAPP test was used to assess this outcome, using questions developed by the Division of Religion. In addition, students gave a level of satisfaction with the statement “Trevecca Nazarene University clearly describes those Christian doctrines and moral convictions that are important to the school’s Nazarene heritage.” • 65.5% of the responses to the questions were correct, which did not meet the criterion of 70%. In addition, the average score on the additional question was 3.47, which did not meet the criterion of 5.5.

19. Outcome B-8 • Students will demonstrate the ability to understand and perform basic mathematical and statistical tasks to analyze and solve problems • The context portion of the MAPP Test entitled Math was used to assess this outcome. • The mean student score was in the 24th percentile, which did not meet the criterion of the 75th percentile.

20. Outcome C-1 • Students will demonstrate an understanding and practice of various modes of intellectual thinking processes. • The context portion of the MAPP Test entitled Critical Thinking was used to assess this outcome. • The mean student score was in the 5th percentile, which did not meet the criterion of the 75th percentile.

21. Outcome C-1 • Students will demonstrate an understanding and practice of various modes of intellectual thinking processes. • Laboratory exercises from 30 life science students were randomly selected and evaluated according to a rubric developed by the Department of Science and Mathematics. • The mean student score was 8.31, which met the criterion 7 out of 14 possible points. In addition, the line items on the rubric had averages ranging from 0.7 to 1.66, which met the criterion of 0.7.

22. Outcome C-4 • Students will understand the relationship between personal well-being and the capacity to engage others. • Students gave a level of satisfaction with the statement “Trevecca Nazarene University enhances my sense of personal well being and my ability to engage others as well.” • The average level of satisfaction 3.47, which did not meet the criterion of 5.5.

23. Outcome C-5 • Students will demonstrate an appreciation of the stewardship of resources, as it applies to personal life and in society as a whole, from a Christian perspective. • The self-developed portion of the MAPP test was used to assess this outcome, using questions developed by various divisions within the University. In addition, students gave a level of satisfaction with the statement “My college education at TNU prepares me to be a faithful steward of my personal finance.” • 81.5% of the responses to the questions were correct, which met the criterion of 70%. In addition, the average score on the additional question was 3.67, which did not meet the criterion of 5.5.

24. Protocol for AdministeringAssessment InstrumentsGeneral Education Committee2008-9 • Efforts to use “student convenience” as the sole criterion for gathering data to assess General Education Outcomes has led at times to flawed or useless data. In an attempt to rectify this situation, the following protocol for administering assessment instruments, including paper and computerized standardized tests, will be tested during the Fall 2008 semester. • The MAPP will be used to assess content and skill outcomes where appropriate. MAPP will be administered in capstone courses for each major with the approval of the course professor.

25. A primary testing session will be scheduled in consultation with the capstone course professor and the TNU Testing Center. • A second make-up testing session will be scheduled for students who have course conflicts or miss the primary testing session. • The primary testing session should occur before the tenth week of the semester. • Students must stay for a one and one-half hour testing session. Additional time is available as allowed by the computer testing service. • The course professor should be present for the beginning of the testing session, in order to emphasize the importance of the test. • Testing sessions will be orally introduced by the professor or a member of the General Education Committee stressing the importance of test results in deciding future changes and improvements to TNU’s instructional programs. • A member of the General Education Committee will be present for the whole testing period to observe student behavior during the period and record the length of time students were engaged answering test items. Any unexpected behavior (i.e., failure to give best effort) should be noted).

26. Capstone Courses ?

27. 2. Structure of Knowledge Freshman view of university curriculum

28. Structure of Knowledge Add General Education

29. Structure of Knowledge

30. Teaching-Learning Models • Teacher-centered model • Student-centered model • Subject-centered model

31. Teacher-Centered • Weaknesses • Teacher serves as gatekeeper and filter • Delivers conclusions (gives) to students (who take) • Learning takes place in classroom where the teacher is saved from saying the same thing more than once

32. Student-Centered • Weaknesses • Students seen as reservoirs of knowledge to be tapped • Standards of accountability arise from the group itself • Teacher’s role may be seen as a necessary evil • Can degenerate into something less than the community of truth

33. Subject-Centered • Characteristics • Subject “sits in the middle and knows” • Teacher articulates the presuppositions of the discipline • Teacher and students critically reflect on presuppositions • Teacher models for students the modes of inquiry to extract meaning • Subject holds teacher and student alike accountable for what they say and do

34. Other disciplines Inform my view Education Literature Business Science Philosophy Psychology Sociology Mathematics Religion Fine Arts Communication Social Science Subject-Centered + GenEd

35. Discussion • What characterizes an educated person in 2013? • What are TNU’s unique contributions that help her students become educated persons? • How will the general education curriculum contribute to developing educated persons? • [How well are we doing?]

36. 3. Blatant Solicitation • Include incentives for taking MAPP assessment in your capstone syllabus • Discuss GenEd issues and ideas with your colleagues and representative • Work with your representative to communicate ideas to improve curriculum, improve faculty and student attitudes, and help students understand how GenEd contributes to their education

37. Mike Vail, Chair Carol Maxson Becky Niece Kathy Mowry Jea Agee Ruth Cox Michael Karounos Paul Christianson Alan Smith Brett Armstrong Sam Stueckle Teaching & Learning Associate Provost Academic Records Religion Business Education Comm., Language, Lit. Music Science, Math Soc., Behavioral Sci. Science, Math General Education Committee