WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

5. Personal Development–including maintaining mental and physical wellness, and
developing leadership and teamwork abilities and lifelong learning skills (RR 67)
General Education Assessment
As part of a comprehensive assessment program, WNCC assesses learning at the course,
program, general education (GE), and institutional levels, as well as within the areas of student
services and non-credit offerings, as discussed below:
1. Individual course analysis:
Teachers of individual general education courses analyze to what extent their course
addresses the established general education goals. Obviously, no course will lend itself to
all of the goals; however, all general education courses devote themselves to at least one
"knowledge" and one "skills" goal. Such an assessment addresses the following queries:
a. Does the course contain elements that address at least one GE competency
(Communication, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Computer and
Information Literacy, Cultural and Civic Awareness, Personal Development)?
b. Are these elements presented as a primary or secondary emphasis?
c. Does the course improve essential skills (reading, writing, computer literacy)?
d. How does the general education course fit into the overall program plan?
2. Program-level measures:
In 2000, a General Education Matrix was developed asking instructors to identify which of
the general education skills were present in their courses. The results were interesting
and informative, but there existed no way to measure those outcomes and to collect the
results in a database for comparative purposes.
In order to verify the effectiveness of the general-education core, and because general
education courses are the common thread linking assorted certificates, diplomas, and
degrees awards, WNCC has elected to assess the various aspects of the stated general
education goals through the controlled application of designated rubrics, which were
distributed to faculty members and are also available on the Assessment website as well
as on the eLumen system. Instructors who teach a course listed as general-educational
offerings, or who teach a course which features instruction tied to one or more of the
particular aspects of one of the general education goals, rate student work with one of the
standardized rubrics to determine student performance.
After the determination of the student achievement, results are entered into eLumen by the
instructor. Faculty members and administrative personnel in the instructional line can
determine from these results how well individual traits, as well as the general-education
core as a whole, are being mastered by students. While the results are stored in
aggregate on eLumen, individual instructors can compare the results from their students to
the larger pool to determine strong showings in order to capitalize on whatever strategies
seem to lead to high performance. In the alternative, instructors can uncover instances
where a change in curriculum or instructional delivery may be indicated by learning
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