North Carolina State University
Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs
"measure
what you value, rather than valuing what you measure." -anonymous
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General
Education Assessment
The NC State general education curriculum is designed to provide students with the intellectual skills and aptitudes necessary for “a lifetime of intellectual discovery, personal development, and community service” and to prepare them for “advanced work in various academic and professional disciplines.” As such, students are required to complete 50 to 53 hours of academic coursework drawn from five different category lists. The addition of courses to these lists is governed by the category objectives, which outline in broad terms what students are expected to gain by completing the category requirements. In order for a course to be added to the list, the department, course coordinator, or instructor must devise specific, measurable student learning outcomes that support the category objectives and the methods that will be used to assess student achievement of those outcomes. Thus, the lists are not disciplinary in the sense that any course that can meet the category objectives may be added to a category. The Council on Undergraduate Education approves the addition of courses to the lists based on this and other criteria.
This organization of general education naturally lends itself to course based assessment. The stated purpose of general education assessment is to help faculty members improve their courses as general education courses and therefore to improve student learning of the general education objectives and outcomes. It should be noted that the Office of Assessment is working to identify appropriate instruments that would measure student learning of general education objectives and outcomes outside of particular courses.
