What is a Mastery Matrix and how does it work?
A mastery matrix identifies which outcomes are valued most highly within courses, and, as OAC is proposing, within areas and programs. They will serve as tools to help us ensure full coverage within a program of the outcomes we have identified as being essential to a student’s education, as well as tools to assist us in determining which outcomes will be piloted first. Below is a sample matrix that illustrates how one GE area’s matrix might appear. Across the top are listed five GE outcomes. (The numbers 1-5 do not represent GE areas. They are intended as place holders for GE outcomes faculty will soon draft.) Within the grid are the ratings discipline experts have assigned to each outcome for each course within the area (1=not important, 5=central to the course). The completed grid provides a tool to facilitate a faculty discussion within and across disciplines about the outcomes coverage they provide and whether or not they want to explore different coverage. Note, for example, that
