February 2024
In this issue:
Each newsletter will have a brief "best practice" for one of the Gen Ed or Additional Baccalaureate components. Today's highlighted practice cuts across components, and should be part of all Gen Ed or Additional Baccalaureate syllabi: student learning outcome and assessment alignment.
To help with the review process at all levels, and to help students see the competencies they are acquiring (i.e., the purpose for the various learning activities and assessments in the course), relevant Gen Ed Goals should be explicitly aligned with the relevant, specific Gen Ed Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and a specific assessment. It is not enough to align the overarching goal (e.g., Communicate Effectively), you must do so at the SLO level (e.g., Express oneself effectively in common college-level written forms). Each SLO must be explicitly and clearly aligned in the syllabus with at least one assessment (e.g., exam, assignment). Note that readings, lectures, etc., are not assessments in and of themselves, they are learning activities.
Care should be taken to align assessment measures that can actually assess the competency expressed in the SLO. If it is not abundantly obvious how the item assesses the SLO, please briefly clarify. For example, it is not clear how “an exam” would assess Goal 1 SLO a “express oneself effectively in common college-level written forms,” but it is clear that “short essay exam questions” would assess that SLO.
More is not necessarily better when choosing SLOs and assessments; choose those that are most clearly addressed in the course, even if you touch on others. For this purpose, you do not have to align every assessment in the class to a Gen Ed SLO; some learning activities and assessments likely align best with a course or program goal/SLO.
See the Gen Ed 2019 Program document for details.
Due to the CIM course closure last semester, finalization of the W revalidation was delayed. But, we will soon begin taking action on unvalidated courses. If you or your department still have W courses to be revalidated, please submit the edits at this time. If you or your department has W courses that they intend to have the W removed from or to inactivate altogether, please take action on this ASAP (i.e., within a few weeks).
If you want to remove the W from a course, you must still submit a CIM course edit. Justification should be listed as W removal, and a sample syllabus with all mention of W removed should be submitted. This ensures that all involved parties understand the status of the course moving forward.
You can check the current status of W courses here.
Please update the status of your W courses ASAP. If you have any questions, please contact Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu), or W subcommittee chair, John Taylor (jtaylor3@wcupa.edu).
Due to the CIM course closure last semester, finalization of approvals of the required Gen Ed Capstone Assignments was delayed. Now that CIM is back up and running, please submit ASAP your program's Gen Ed Capstone Assignment for CAPC approval. Completion of the Capstone course, including the Gen Ed Capstone Assignment, is a graduation requirement for students who matriculated to WCU Fall of 2023 or later. It is thus imperative that your program have an approved Assignment this semester. If you are not sure of the status of your program's Gen Ed Capstone Assignment, you can check here, or reach out to Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu). You can read more about this Gen Ed requirement here.
Since Fall 2022, all Gen Ed courses (Academic Foundations, Distributive Disciplinary Requirements) and Additional Baccalaureate courses must identify in the syllabus one assessment artifact addressing each relevant Gen Ed goal that students will be expected to upload to their Gen Ed Google Sites ePortfolio. Note that this is not the D2L ePortfolio, or any other professional portfolio a student may be asked to create as part of a course or major program. It is the portfolio they create in Google Sites during their semester in FYE or upon transfer to WCU.
All Writing Emphasis (W) and Speaking Emphasis (SE) courses should identify one artifact for Goal 1 and one artifact for Goal 2; all other courses should identify one artifact for each of the other Goals related to the Gen Ed attributes of the courses (Goals 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, as appropriate; See the Gen Ed 2019 Program for reference). An artifact may meet more than one goal. The identified artifact(s) should be a good representation of the attribute (e.g., for a W course, the artifact should be a substantial piece of writing; for an ET course, the artifact should demonstrate ethical thinking/problem seeing/problem solving). You can find more details here.
To help support students with the ePortfolio requirement, please use syllabus language similar to this: “You must upload [assignment name, or options] to your General Education Google Sites E-Portfolio so you will have it to reflect upon during your Capstone course. If you took FYE at WCU your first year, you should have created your portfolio then. If you have not previously created your portfolio in Google Sites for any reason, please follow these instructions for creating your Portfolio using Google Sites.”
If you have any questions about identifying an artifact suitable for upload to ePortfolio, please contact Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu), or the chair of the relevant subcommittee (member lists can be found here). More general questions about the Gen Ed ePortfolio can be directed to either Karen or Janneken Smucker, Gen Ed Council ePortfolio Director (JSmucker@wcupa.edu).
Any proposal that does not identify specific ePortfolio artifacts will be rolled back to the preparer without further review.
Effective Fall 2023, a Gen Ed "Narrative" form is required for any new or revised course that checks any of the following boxes in the CIM shell:
· Additional Baccalaureate Requirement 2019+
· General Education 2019+
· General Education Pathways
The form can be found linked to the CIM page at submission or here (please be sure to download the file and save to your own computer to complete--do not complete the form in Google Drive or Sharepoint).
The form provides useful information for reviewers at every level as they consider Gen Ed course proposals and the role the course may play in the WCU Gen Ed curriculum. Any Gen Ed proposal (for a new or revised course) that does not include the Gen Ed Narrative Form will be rolled back to the preparer without review.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Gen Ed Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu).
The suspension of Diverse Communities course proposals (both new and revised) continues for a bit longer this spring as we finalize the necessary edits to the handbook, checklist, and online information. We anticipate doing a call for revalidation with the revised SLOs soon using the Goal and SLOs approved by CAPC in September 2023. Please do not submit your revised courses yet. There will be an official call soon. This is just an update on progress. As a reminder, the revised Goal and SLOs are:
DIVERSE COMMUNITIES GOAL (GEN ED GOAL 5):
Examine the workings of power, oppression, and resistance in a diverse society.
DIVERSE COMMUNITIES SLOs. Address all of the following:
a) Analyze the role that social structures have historically played or continue to play in maintaining disparities within and/or across diverse groups.
b) Discuss the varied ways peoples from marginalized groups resist oppression and wield agency despite structural exclusion and discrimination.
c) Identify relevant tools or strategies to challenge oppression and help create a more just and equitable world.
The suspension of proposals for Interdisciplinary courses continues for Spring 2024, as we work to bring our I curriculum into the 21st century. This is for both new courses and existing courses that seek to add the I. Until curriculum revisions are completed, all I proposals (revised or new) are suspended. NOTE: As per usual CAPC process, although we are not accepting any new I proposals, any existing I course that comes through CAPC for any reason will be reviewed to ensure it meets the current I criteria. If you have any questions, please contact Gen Ed Committee Chair/Gen Ed Council Director, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu)