2011-2012 General Education Assessment

In 2011-2012, Seaver College conducted an assessment of its General Education program. The results of the assessment process are reported on this web page.

The General Education Program exists to advance student learning in the following areas.

GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES

Critical Thinking	Students analyze issues, ideas, behaviors, and events to develop opinions, solutions, or conclusions.
Quantitative Reasoning	Students reason and solve quantitative problems and explain mathematical concepts and data.
Scientific Reasoning	Students use the scientific method to investigate the natural or physical world.
Oral Communication	Students communicate effectively in oral form as demonstrated by their ability to structure, deliver and implement critical thinking skills.
Written Communication	Students communicate effectively in written form.
Human Response to Art	Students explain the historical, cultural, or technical significance of the art form.
Human Response to Literature	Students will demonstrate close reading skills, will analyze texts through oral and written assignments, and will develop a deeper understanding of literature in relation to its historical and cultural contexts.
Christianity & Culture	Students analyze the religious aspects of culture and use Christian scripture and tradition to assess ethical and religious issues.
American Experience	Students identify and explain significant political and historical developments that have shaped America’s democracy and its diverse society and apply that knowledge to develop a personal vision about its meaning.
Foreign Language	Students listen, speak, read, and write within the appropriate situational context of a chosen language.
Human Institutions & Behavior	Students describe the major concepts of economics, psychology, or sociology to explain institutional and human behavior.
Western Culture	Students express broad cultural perspectives informed by the history, literature, philosophy, or artistic achievements of western civilizations.
Non-western Culture	Students express broad cultural perspectives informed by the history, literature, religion, philosophy, and artistic traditions of civilizations outside Western civilizations.
Research & Inquiry	Students apply the processes of inquiry and analysis appropriate to the discipline of their academic major.

GE Assessment at Seaver College

This document:

Introduces the GE assessment process
Provides a brief history of the GE curriculum at Seaver
Reports demographic and academic profile information for Seaver students
Explains the procedures and timeline for GE assessment in the current year
Details the "Closing the Loop" process to occur during the 2012-2013 academic year

Each of the General Education Learning Outcomes and the First-Year Seminar Program were assessed by Seaver College faculty committees during the 2011-2012 academic year. The assessment reports detailing student learning in each area are linked below. (The following links will open a pdf document or a web page, if multiple documents exist, in a new window.)

Critical Thinking	Oral Communication	Written Communication	Quantitative Reasoning
Western Culture	Nonwestern Culture	Foreign Language	American Experience
Christianity & Culture	Scientific Reasoning	Human Response to Art	Human Response to Literature
Human Institutions & Behavior	Research & Inquiry	First-Year Seminar

The following document summarizes the findings and action items from each report.

GE Assessment Findings & Action Items

Seaver College alumni were surveyed to gauge their opinion on how the General Education program contributed to their knowledge, skills and personal development during the spring of 2012. Unfortunately, this indirect evidence was not available for inclusion in the 15 GE assessment reports. This survey results are in the following document.

Seaver College Alumni GE Survey Findings

The following committees and individuals will review all assessment materials during the summer of 2012 and the 2012-2013 academic year.

Dean of Seaver College, Associate Dean of Seaver College & the Associate Dean for Teaching and Assessment, Seaver College
Pepperdine University Assessment of Student Learning Committee
Seaver Faculty Association Academic Affairs Committee

Following its review of the assessment reports and consideration of the feedback provided by the ASLC and the individuals identified above, the Academic Affairs committee will formally recommend action items regarding the GE curriculum to the Seaver College faculty.

Items requiring curricular revision will follow the "normal" curricular submission and review process used at Seaver College and Pepperdine University. Following faculty review and discussion, faculty in each GE area will submit formal proposals to the Seaver College Academic Council (SAC) for all curricular changes. If approved by SAC and the Dean of Seaver College, the proposals will be forwarded to and reviewed by the University Academic Council (UAC). If approved by the UAC and Provost, the proposal will be enacted in the Seaver College curriculum.

Items that do not require curricular revision will be initiated following review and approval by the Associate Dean of Seaver College and the Academic Affairs committee.

Any archive of General Education assessment reports is available on the General Education courses website[BROKEN LINK].