With general education coursework making up a significant portion of associate and bachelor's degree curriculum, conveying the content and importance of student competencies to stakeholder audiences has never been more essential. Accreditation pressure and accountability measures are influencing a focus on improving the presentation of…

Assessing students' learning outcomes is on the agenda of higher education institutions seeking improvement of student learning. Faculty members should be well versed in developing and assessing learning outcomes and involved in ensuring success in the assessment process; however, many claim that the process interferes with academic freedom,…

Students' level of engagement with general education and their grasp of its goals are a problem at many institutions. Academic advising, which is often viewed as having the "signpost" function of directing students to the completion of their course requirements, has the potential instead to be a place where students learn to approach…

The article provides a comprehensive examination of the use of ePortfolios to assess and improve the General Education Program in a public university in the southeastern United States. The implementation process, six years of assessment data, findings from the recent reaffirmation of accreditation conducted by the Southern Association of Colleges…

Despite the desire of employers to hire those with the critical-thinking and communication skills a general education (GE) program can offer, the value of GE programs is often questioned due to concerns about four-year graduation rates, perceived low immediate economic payoff, and a dearth of evidence to support their efficacy. This article…

General education reform provides strategic opportunities for departments. This article analyzes reform at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, illustrating how departments could use the reform process to clarify their strategic planning, align with institutional goals, and steer the university closer to departmental objectives. (Contains 1 table.)

While "general education" is a phrase heavily used in higher education, Leskes and Wright note that it has multiple meanings: it can refer to those courses that a college or university requires all of its students must pass as a condition for graduation, a common curriculum, a distribution requirement, or even core texts. This analysis of general…

Assessing common target outcome for a general education program is difficult in an undergraduate "cafeteria style" program because of the scope of courses and lack of uniformity in the students' choices, and the difficulties associated with tracking a large number of transfer students. The University of Central Florida used a course…

Profiles the general education assessment movement on colleges/universities, identifying as benefits improvements in curricula, instructional strategies, and educational quality. Describes efforts to assess and describe fully student learning experiences. Notes gains in institutional community/identity, renewed curricular meaning and purpose, and…

Suggests that faculty suspects that assessment will only confirm that many students have problems with college level learning. Views assessment as part of the learning enterprise, a way of helping greater proportions of students succeed academically, and a source of information needed to meet diverse student abilities, backgrounds, and interests.…

Discusses reasons for supporting indirect indicators to track higher education's progress in teaching critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills. Outlines the primary characteristics of indirect indicators. Provides specific examples of different indirect indicators, analyzing data collection methods. Assesses the viability of…

Proposes that six qualities mark efforts to describe the effects of general education on student learning. Urges colleges to make a commitment to a flexible, dynamic plan for assessment, relying on faculty to give direction to the plan, with results providing the basis for reform and revision. (DMM)

In this era of global competitiveness, it is not sufficient for colleges and universities to train students for mere technical competence. What is required for graduates' professional and personal success is additional attention to the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will support them throughout their lives. General education…

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is an urban public research-extensive institution located in downtown Indianapolis. In 1991, in preparation for the 1992 NCA accreditation visit, a newly-formed Council on Undergraduate Learning at IUPUI and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Council established a Commission on…

West Liberty State College (WLSC) is a baccalaureate-general state college situated on 290 acres in the village of West Liberty, West Virginia. In the fall 2002 semester, the College reported an enrollment of 2,571 students. The College contains four academic units: the School of Business Administration, the School of Education, the School of…