On April 19, 2016, the Faculty Senate approved the establishment of a Standing Joint Committee on General Education Assessment. This committee was charged with gathering data on the General Education program, learning outcomes, and student success.

The committee oversees the development of datasets to inform General Education assessment. Such datasets include, but are not limited to:

1. 1. 1. A General Education Curricular Inventory that shows patterns of course offerings, student enrollment, and student grades by major and location.
      2. General Education curriculum mapping that shows the relationship between General Education and undergraduate majors.
      3. General Education course objective mapping that shows the relationship to General Education learning objectives.

The committee should collect and use data to examine student outcomes, such as (1) student success (e.g., time-to-degree, graduation rate, and other institutional data); and (2) student learning (e.g., course work, engaged scholarship projects, and other factors that provide evidence of learning).

The findings of these analyses are used to inform curricular improvement, including but not limited to: (1) decisions about the General Education curriculum, including questions about the efficacy of pathways to support integrative thinking; (2) effective assessment practices and processes, especially those that can be shared across disciplines; and (3) decisions about availability of General Education curricular components across the University, including gaps and trends. The goal should be to develop an analytic assessment plan, supported by data that informs curricular improvement and evolves over time.

Additionally, the committee should review the establishment of the Integrative Studies requirement, including Linked and Inter-domain courses, the new 6-credit requirement in General Education for all students. Particular attention should be paid to determining whether enough courses and sections are being offered to allow students to fulfill this new requirement.

Christopher Barnes, Assistant Director of Assessment, OPAIR

Leah Ben-Nay, CCSG Academic Affairs Committee Director

Mark Erwin, Assistant Teaching Professor of English, College of the Liberal Arts

Ray Gibney, Jr., Professor, Penn State Harrisburg

Betty Harper, Co-Chair, Assistant Vice Provost for Assessment, OPAIR

Daniel Jackson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Physics, Penn State Lehigh Valley

Tanja Jefferson, WCSGA member, Undergraduate Student

Brendan Johnson, Research and Instruction Librarian, Penn State Abington

Melissa Johnson, Associate Vice Provost, Academic Administrator

Anthony Khuc, UPUA member, Undergraduate Student

Gina Pazzaglia, Teaching Professor of Nutritional Sciences & Director, MPS Program, College of Health and Human Development

Kaamran Raahemifar, Assistant Teaching Professor, College of Information Science and Technology

Dawn Pfeifer Reitz, Co-Chair, Associate Teaching Professor and CAS 100 Coordinator, Penn State Berks

Daniil Rose, GPSA President

Margaret Slattery, Director and Assistant Dean of the Office for General Education

Britta Thompson, Professor and Associate Dean, Penn State College of Medicine

Sarah Van Oss, Assistant Director of Assessment Research, OPAIR