General Education (GE) Assessment

College of Arts and Sciences

Student Learning Assessment at the College Level

• Departments that offer GE courses have the responsibility for ensuring ongoing assessment based on the General Education Goals and Expected Learning Outcomes.

• The university Pre-Graduation Survey is administered each semester to graduating seniors. Many programs use the university Pre-Graduation Survey as an indirect measure of student learning. The Survey has had an average response rate of over 40%. It includes college questions (e.g., questions pertaining to the student’s major and GE courses) and, in some cases, departmental questions. It is a useful tool to track student learning.

Categories of GE Courses Offered in WGSS

• Writing and Communication• Literature • Visual and Performing Arts • Cultures and Ideas • Historical Study • Diversity

Writing and CommunicationWGSST 2367s: U.S. Women Writers, U.S. Latina Writers, Lesbian Writers, and Black Women Writers

Goals:Students are skilled in written communication and expression, reading, critical thinking, oral expression and visual expression. Expected Learning Outcomes:• Through critical analysis, discussion, and writing, students

demonstrate the ability to read carefully and express ideas effectively.

• Students apply written, oral, and visual communication skills and conventions of academic discourse to the challenges of a specific discipline.

• Students access and use information critically and analytically.

LiteratureWGSST 2215: Reading Women Writers & 3372: Modern Arabic Literature in TranslationGoals:Students evaluate significant texts in order to develop capacities for aesthetic and historical response and judgment; interpretation and evaluation; and critical listening, reading, seeing, thinking, and writing.

Expected Learning Outcomes:• Students analyze, interpret, and critique significant literary

works.• Through reading, discussing, and writing about literature,

students appraise and evaluate the personal and social values of their own and other cultures.

Visual and Performing Arts

WGSST 2230: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Pop Culture & 3317: Hollywood, Women and Film Goals:Students evaluate significant works of art in order to develop capacities for aesthetic and historical response and judgment; interpretation and evaluation; critical listening, reading, seeing, thinking, and writing; and experiencing the arts and reflecting on that experience.

Expected Learning Outcomes:• Students analyze, appreciate, and interpret significant works of art.• Students engage in informed observation and/or active participation

in a discipline within the visual, spatial, and performing arts.

Cultures and Ideas

WGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power & 2282: Introduction to Queer StudiesGoals:Students evaluate significant cultural phenomena and ideas in order to develop capacities for aesthetic and historical response and judgment, and interpretation and evaluation.

Expected Learning Outcomes: • Students analyze and interpret major forms of human thought,

culture, and expression.• Students evaluate how ideas influence the character of human

beliefs, the perception of reality, and the norms which guide human behavior.

Historical Study WGSST 3322: Natives and Newcomers: U.S. Immigration and Migration

Goals:Students recognize how past events are studied and how they influence today’s society and the human condition. Expected Learning Outcomes: • Students construct an integrated perspective on history and the

factors that shape human activity.• Students describe and analyze the origins and nature of

contemporary issues.• Students speak and write critically about primary and secondary

historical sources by examining diverse interpretations of past events and ideas in their historical contexts.

DiversityWGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power, all 2367 courses, 2282: Intro to Queer Studies, 3322 Natives and Newcomers: Immigration and Migration, 3370: Sexualities and Citizenship, 3372: Modern Arabic Literature in Translation, 4510: American Women’s Movements, 4520: Women of Color and Social ActivismGoals:Students understand the pluralistic nature of institutions, society, and culture in the United States and across the world in order to become educated, productive, and principled citizens.

Expected Learning Outcomes:Social Diversity in the United States • Students describe and evaluate the roles of such categories as race, gender and sexuality,

disability, class, ethnicity, and religion in the pluralistic institutions and cultures of the United States.

• Students recognize the role of social diversity in shaping their own attitudes and values regarding appreciation, tolerance, and equality of others.

Global Studies• Students understand some of the political, economic, cultural, physical, social, and

philosophical aspects of one or more of the world's nations, peoples and cultures outside the U.S.

• Students recognize the role of national and international diversity in shaping their own attitudes and values as global citizens.

GE Syllabus Elements• GE category or categories the course fulfills • “GE Expected Learning Outcomes” (ELOs) • A statement that explains how the course will satisfy the stated

ELOs• Course description• Required texts and other course materials• List of assignments• Grading information• A weekly topical outline of course meetings (the assessment

committee wants a sense of how much work is required of students)

• Statement on academic misconduct• Statement about disability services in 16 point font

GE Syllabus Components

Example: WGSST 1110 – Gender, Sex and Power• Fulfills two GEC requirements: Cultures and Ideas, and Diversity • ELOs:By the end of the course, students will be able to:1) See sex, gender, sexuality, race, class, nationality, and ability as categories of analysis, a social construction, performative identities, power relations, and a lens for rethinking taken-for-granted ideas.2) Critically interrogate issues of power, privilege and oppression—the way life chances are distributed in society.3) Use an intersectional lens for critique and analysis of social, cultural, political, economic and scientific assumptions/practices that produce and maintain relations of inequality.4) Cultivate skills in critical writing, reading, thinking, and oral expression.5) Connect concepts learned in class to the world outside of academia.

Example of statement that explains how the course will satisfy the Expected Learning Outcomes

• Students will read, analyze, and discuss articles that explain and illustrate the concepts of intersectionality, power, privilege and oppression. They will be required to take an exam and write a paper focused on these concepts.

• Several short papers and opportunities for re-writes will improve students’ writing skills.

GE Assessment Reports (in progress)

• Summary of the GE assessment plan• Brief description of the GE course(s) • Data summaries (direct assessments of ELOs:

e.g., student grades; student course evaluations)

• Actions to be taken based on findings of report• Appendices: syllabi (with relevant ELOs),

assessment plan(s), criteria for success, relevant rubrics used

Undergraduate Program Assessment

The Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies

The Ohio State University

Learning Goals for WGSS Students

• Think critically about women’s issues, gender and sexuality (using feminist and intersectional lens)

• Pursue interdisciplinary inquiries about gender and sexuality and pose questions that cut across disciplinary fields

• Perform WGSS research through developing an argument, organizing data and evidence for that argument, and expressing ideas in writing

Means/Methods of Assessment

• Direct Measures: research papers in capstone course, exit surveys

• Indirect Measures: student evaluation of instruction, grade review

WGSS Undergraduate Major Assessment Plan

• Review of student papers in WGSS 4575: Issues in Contemporary Theory (senior capstone course)

• Three faculty members who serve on the undergraduate studies committee review each paper

• Student evaluations of instruction are reviewed each semester

• Exit surveys are sent to all graduating seniors

WGSS Assessment Reports

• Summary of Plan• Means and methods of assessment (direct,

indirect)• WGSS Learning Goals• Analysis of senior capstone data• WGSS ELO assessment• Actions and outcomes

Actions and Outcomes

• Revisions to major program

• Revisions to existing courses

• Development of new courses