General Education Assessment
Data relating to the assessment of student learning as a function of General Education coursework currently is collected primarily at the class level. Instructors collect self-reports of students’ experiences with perceptions of, and attitudes toward, their General Education classes. These data provide direct feedback to instructors; they also provide baseline data that can be put to later use. Examples of instruments used for this purpose can be found on the General Education website. https://www.hawaii.edu/gened/assessment.htm
Assessment of performance outcomes related to General Education experiences is a topic that has generated extensive discussion. While the discussions have involved a wide range of opinions, there is an emerging consensus: much more needs be done in order to assure that assessment findings can be used to improve the overall General Education program. To this end, the Mānoa Faculty Senate, in late 2006, formed a Task Force to recommend specific ways in which the faculty and OVCAA’s developing Institutional Research and Assessment Office, working in collaboration, can design and implement meaningful assessment of General Education. Policies and practices relating to such assessment, involving both local and standardized instruments, have to inform both departmental and Faculty Senate efforts to improve student experiences in the General Education program.