What kind of assessment is being applied to the GERs?
The kind of assessment we are using for the GERs is objectives-driven, course-centered, outcomes-based assessment. Here’s an explanation of what that means. The assessment involves both the Council on Undergraduate Education (the campus body charged with overseeing and assessing the GERs) and faculty teaching GER courses. The CUE has generated general objectives for each of the GER categories, such as natural sciences, humanities, and physical education. Faculty teaching GER courses are asked to create student learning outcomes designed specifically for their courses that enable students to meet the GER objectives for the appropriate category. Faculty are also asked to designate particular means of evaluating student performance (e.g., homework, essay-test questions, oral presentations) related to each outcome and to measure student performance regarding the outcomes. Thus, the assessment plan is objectives-driven (it depends on objectives that define GER courses), course-centered (it
