Therefore, over subsequent years, the freshman English course sequence was revised to address the common deficiencies in student writing. Follow-up evaluation of student writing by external examiners was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the course modifications. Now the university plans to track students beyond the freshman year to determine if the writing skills reflected in the original criteria are maintained and enhanced as students complete writing projects in upper-level courses. While the assessment activities showed significant improvement in oral communication skills, student learning in the listening skills did not show consistent improvement across course sections, so more emphasis will be placed in 1995-96 on staff development. Once it is determined that the assessment methodologies are valid instruments, students can be tracked and tested prior to graduation to determine the maintenance and growth in speaking and listening skills.
Many degree programs have capstone experiences that require students to make oral presentations.
These taped presentations could be used as the follow up to the evaluations in the freshman courses. Assessment of individual courses in the distributive areas can be accomplished by first determining which of the previously-articulated general education goals are met by each of the offered courses. When courses are identified as meeting these learning goals, faculty will be asked to provide the indicators which demonstrate that the goals have been met. As in the major degree programs, individual faculty teaching distributive area general education courses may choose among a variety of techniques to demonstrate student learning. In addition to objective measures unique to each course, all courses in the distributive areas will utilize a course evaluation that reflects student perspectives on specific general education goals in addition to the usual evaluation of the instructor and the course content.