General Education Assessment Resources

Every semester, Winthrop University conducts Gen Ed assessment to ensure that undergraduate students are developing the foundational knowledge and skills that the university expects all graduates to achieve as part of going through our Gen Ed program. Assessment helps us evaluate how well students are meeting Gen Ed Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and identify opportunities of strength as well as areas of improvement that can support teaching and student learning. Gen Ed assessment also provides a mechanism to operationalize and  demonstrate Winthrop’s commitment to continuous improvement and accountability to students, the public, and our accrediting body, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Gen Ed assessment results are used to:

• Identify strengths and areas for improvement in student learning
• Inform faculty discussions about teaching practices and curriculum design
• Support Gen Ed program and Gen Ed course improvements
• Demonstrate institutional effectiveness for accreditation

Please note that Gen Ed assessment results are not used to evaluate individual instructors. Rather, to accomplish the above, individual course rubrics are aggregated, and the information used includes data about student learning across all Gen Ed courses within each specific component of the Gen Ed program.

Gen Ed courses are offered across many departments and are taught by different instructors each semester. Assessing student work every semester helps ensure that results reflect the full range of students, courses, and instructional contexts in the program. Moreover, collecting data regularly also allows the university to monitor student learning trends over time and identify opportunities for improvement more quickly.

Because assessment of student learning is already embedded in normal course assignments, collecting results each semester provides necessary Gen Ed data without requiring additional/separate testing or assignments.

Some institutions use sampling when assessment requires separate exams or additional assignments. At Winthrop, assessment is embedded in existing coursework and evaluated using a common rubric in Blackboard.

Assessing all Gen Ed courses rather than a sample helps ensure that results:

• Represent the full range of Gen Ed courses and students
• Provide more reliable information for program improvement
• Allow faculty within each Gen Ed component to review meaningful results
• Are as robust as possible to provide strong evidence of student learning for accreditation

You can identify the Gen Ed component(s) your course fulfills by:

• Checking the Gen Ed Course Schedule
• Reviewing the Degree Requirements website
• Consulting your department chair
• Contacting the Office of Assessment
• Contacting the General Education Curriculum Committee

The General Education Student Learning Outcomes are available on:

• The General Education program website

Additional resources are available through:

• The General Education Assessment Resources webpage
• The General Education Student Learning Outcomes page
• The General Education program website

The Gen Ed assessment process generally includes the following steps:

1. Every semester, all faculty teaching a Gen Ed designated course select an assignment that aligns with the Gen Ed Student Learning Outcome(s) for their course. Students can complete the process by directly submitting the assessment information online, or student data can be captured as an offline activity.
2. The Office of Online Learning adds the Gen Ed rubric to the Blackboard course within one month of the first day of each semester.
3. Students complete the assignment as part of normal coursework.
4. Faculty use the Gen Ed assessment rubric embedded within their course’s Blackboard shell to evaluate student work. PLEASE CLICK DIRECTLY WITHIN THE GEN ED RUBRIC FOR GEN ED ASSESSMENT DATA TO BE CORRECTLY REPORTED. (Typing in scores in the rubric will not correctly capture the needed Gen Ed data).
5. Blackboard collects the rubric scores for institutional assessment reporting.
6. The Office of Assessment aggregates the data, analyzes results, and shares this information with faculty and campus stakeholders.
7. Discussions with faculty teaching Gen Ed courses will occur to identify areas of strength, as well as areas of improvement, so that faculty can inform the strategy of how to continue to improve students’ performance on learning Gen Ed SLOs.

NB: This process allows assessment to occur within normal course activities without requiring additional Gen Ed testing or assignments.

Each semester, all faculty teaching Gen Ed courses are responsible for:

• Selecting an appropriate assignment that aligns with their designated Gen Ed component Student Learning Outcome(s).
• Providing a brief description of the assignment for assessment documentation.
• Using the embedded Blackboard Gen Ed rubric to evaluate student work.

These steps ensure that the university can gather meaningful evidence of student learning.

Assignment descriptions should typically be one short paragraph (2 - 5 sentences) explaining:

• An overview of the assignment’s process
• A description of the assignment
• An explanation of how the assignment aligns with the Gen Ed Student Learning Outcome(s)

Please provide these descriptions by uploading a short paragraph as a MS Word document or a PDF attachment in Blackboard.

If your course fulfills multiple Gen Ed components, you will need to complete the Gen Ed assessment process for each designated Gen Ed component associated with your course.

Not necessarily. Many instructors find that their course-level outcomes align naturally with Gen Ed outcomes, however, they do not need to match exactly.

The Office of Online Learning typically adds Gen Ed rubrics to each Gen Ed course’s Blackboard shell within one month of the start of each semester. By default, the Office of Online Learning  sets all Gen Ed assessment activities as hidden from students’ view.

If you do not see the rubric in your course, please contact Dr. Kimarie Whetstone in the Office of Online Learning for assistance.

Yes. Many instructors choose to hide the Gen Ed assessment rubric and scores from students if it is used only for institutional Gen Ed assessment purposes. By default, the Office of Online   sets all Gen Ed assessment activities as hidden from students’ view, which also hides corresponding scores from the gradebook.

Yes. Gen Ed Assessment activities that are added to the Blackboard courses are set up to not be included in the Overall Grade calculation in the Blackboard gradebook.

The rubric is used strictly for Gen Ed assessment purposes without affecting students’ final grades.

No. To ensure that the Gen Ed rubric is correctly configured, please do not change or delete it. Please note that if you copy a course from one year/semester to another that contains the Gen Ed assessment rubric, do not delete it in either of the course shells.

No. Please do not delete the Gen Ed assessment activity from your course. To ensure consistency of the data collected and  reported, we need to use the exact same rubric per component across Gen Ed courses within that component.

If student work is collected outside Blackboard, you can still enter rubric scores directly in Blackboard for assessment purposes. You will need to complete the process using the Offline Activities approach. 

If a student:

• Withdraws from the course: no rubric score is required. Omit scoring for these instances.
• Does not submit the assignment: no rubric score is required. Omit scoring for these instances.
• Submits plagiarized work: follow normal academic integrity procedures; scoring may be omitted.

Please note that you do not need to identify which students took the course to fulfill a Gen Ed requirement. Instead, provide scores for any undergraduate student who completed and was graded on the assignment. This allows us to evaluate undergraduate performance on SLOs regardless of Gen Ed designation and helps avoid the need for separate instruction or assessment for Gen Ed and non–Gen Ed students within the same course.

No. Unfortunately, there is currently no way for faculty to batch upload assessment data from Excel into the Blackboard rubrics in a way that aligns with our reporting process and allows us to collect the necessary Gen Ed assessment data.

For Gen Ed assessment approach assistance, please contact:

Dr. KB Gwebu

Office of Assessment
Winthrop University
Email: gwebuk@winthrop.edu
Phone: 803-323-2103

Book a consultation meeting: Book an Assessment Meeting with KB

For Gen Ed Blackboard-related questions, contact:

Dr. Kimarie Whetstone

Office of Online Learning

Winthrop University
Email: whetstonek@winthrop.edu
Phone: 803-323-2551

Book a consultation meeting: https://wuonlinelearning.youcanbook.me/

Both offices are happy to work with faculty individually to ensure  you are able to successfully complete this university requirement.