GEAR, General Education Assessment by Rubrics
Selection of Classes
Each semester, after completion of the second week of classes, the Academy Committee will select a sample of classes (preferably upper level) to participate in the General Education Assessment by Rubrics project. To do this class enrollment sheets will be used, and a sample of classes is selected. Letters from the VP of Academics are then addressed to each instructor of a sampled class, along with response forms to be returned.Selecting the Assignment and a Sampled Class
After receiving a letter, each instructor of a sampled class determines if he/she will participate in the project. Then the instructor will decide which test, project, essay, or other assignment would best allow the students to demonstrate mastery of the LLCC general education learning outcomes. The instructor will completes and returns the response form, giving an approximate date and time when the assignment would be available. The Academy team then schedules the appointed date and time on their calendar.
The Day of
Before the scheduled day, the Academy team will confirm with the instructor that the assignment will be available at the originally scheduled date and time. When the assignment has been collected, but not yet graded, an appointed staff member will pick up the assignment from the instructor, make a copy of every student's submission for that assignment, and return the assignment to the instructor. This step should occur within the same day.
Preparing the Assignment to be Scored
On these assignments, the instructor and student names are replaced by a code to protect the anonymity of both instructor and student. Several copies are then made for distribution in the following semester to the scoring team chairs. If an assignment could meet more than one of the major outcomes, it will be distributed to more than one scoring team chair.
The Samples Become Scores
Samples are scored in the semester following their collection. Each scoring team consists of about five LLCC faculty members, who score collected samples each semester. Often members serve on scoring teams that are not directly related to their disciplines. Assignments will be received by the chair of each scoring team, and distributed to some or all of their team. Each individual will score the sample according to the rubrics developed by the faculty at different sub committees. Discrepancies in scoring between individuals could be handled by discussion, by averaging, or by having the sample scored by yet another team member. The chair compiles the work of each scoring team. By the end of the semester, a single score for each sample of an assignment is reported by the chair to Academy team.
Creation of a Report
The Academy team compiles the data, computes measures of success in aggregate form, and prepares a report to the Assessment Committee of results to date. After reviewing the results reported by Institutional Research, CELT makes the report available to the faculty, along with any point the Assessment committee wants to see discussed as a consequence of the report .Faculty after receiving the report, are encouraged to discuss its implications in connection with their own department's commitment to the teaching of general education. When, in the view of the faculty of each department, the results suggest that change is necessary, instructional faculty implement the change at their level. Each annual departmental master plan addresses the results and action taken, and makes suggestions for institutional change necessary to improve the students’ learning of general education.