General Education Assessment


General Education Student Learning Outcomes

The following learning outcomes were approved by the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee at Georgia Tech and by the USG Council on General Education in April 2011.

  • gened outcomesCommunication (Area A1)

    Student will demonstrate proficiency in the process of articulating and organizing rhetorical arguments in written, oral, visual, and nonverbal modes, using concrete support and conventional language.

  • Quantitative (Area A2)

    Student will demonstrate the ability to apply basic elements of differential and integral calculus to solve relevant problems.

  • Computing (Institutional Options Area B)

    Student will be able to develop algorithms and implement them using an appropriate computer language and will understand algorithmic complexity and reasonable versus unreasonable algorithms.

  • Humanities, Fine Arts, and Ethics (Area C)

    Student will be able to describe relationships among languages, philosophies, cultures, literature, ethics, or the arts.

  • Natural Sciences, Math, and Technology (Area D)

    Student will be able to demonstrate the ability to obtain, analyze, interpret, and criticize qualitative observations and quantitative measurements to explain natural phenomena and to test hypotheses.

  • Social Sciences (Area E)

    Student will demonstrate the ability to describe the social, political, and economic forces that influence social behavior.

 


General Education Assessment Plan

For a course to be included in Georgia Tech’s Gen Ed, it must align with the appropriate learning outcome in the Gen Ed proposal process. Courses proposed to be included in Gen Ed undergo approval processes through the Institute’s Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (IUCC), the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Faculty Senate, and the USG’s Council on General Education.

 

Nurtured by the IUCC Subcommittee on Gen Ed and Policy, the Gen Ed Assessment Plan outlines the learning outcomes, signature assignments, targets for performance, and results.  To encourage a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of student performance, Georgia Tech will use both direct and indirect methods to assess general education learning outcomes.

gened image1outcomes

Direct Assessment

The Georgia Tech Gen Ed Assessment Plan sets the framework for good practice in course delivery and assessment, capitalizing on the good judgement of faculty members regarding students’ levels of attainment of the Gen Ed learning outcomes. Faculty develop signature assignments in their Gen Ed courses, and the assignment, along with student performance, is collected for review and analysis at the end of each semester. These direct measures of student learning via faculty identified signature assignments are at the heart of the Gen Ed Assessment Plan.

 

Indirect Assessment

Complementing the direct measures will be indirect measures that involve student perceptions of their learning. One indirect measure will be the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Georgia Tech has participated in the NSSE every three years since 2000 as required by the USG. The survey is administered to all first-year students and seniors. Some NSSE questions align well with Georgia Tech’s Gen Ed learning outcomes. Georgia Tech plans to use the NSSE results to inform our level of expected attainment. Results will be monitored over time and will be triangulated with assessment information from our direct measures.

The second indirect measure will be the Georgia Tech Exit Survey given to graduating seniors. The Institute has been gathering information about students’ experiences for more than fifteen years. Some survey questions address the Gen Ed learning outcomes.

Taken together, the results will be shared with the Subcommittee on Gen Ed and Policy. Using the assessment results, the Subcommittee, along with other stakeholders, consider opportunities for improvement for students’ attainment of the Gen Ed learning outcomes.

 

 

General Education Assessment Reports

 

 

Subcommittee on General Education and Policy 

(Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee)

The IUCC's General Education and Undergraduate Policy Subcommittee include campus experts in various areas to ensure appropriate input on agenda items. Matters regarding changes to the Core Curriculum, related assessment issues in collaboration with the Office of Academic Effectiveness, new course proposals, policy changes related to syllabi, affordability, and other undergraduate issues are discussed by this Subcommittee. This Subcommittee operates under the authority of the IUCC and recommends courses and policy changes to the IUCC.