Overall CLAS Core review
CLAS reviews the requirements, learning outcomes, and structure of the GE CLAS Core every seven to eight years, often in conjunction with updated guidelines and expectations from the Higher Learning Commission, the UI accreditation body. The processes for the review are developed at the time it takes place. The committee appointed to conduct the review is composed of faculty and academic staff from CLAS and from other colleges to provide a wide perspective on the GE CLAS Core. Students either serve as members of the committee or participate in focus groups and related activities. The purpose of this review is to ensure that the CLAS Core is providing students with the broad range of skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the 21st century.
The last review of the CLAS Core in 2019-20, for example, led to the inclusion of Sustainability as part of the core curriculum.
Assessment of CLAS Core areas
The thematic areas of the GE CLAS Core are also periodically assessed approximately every seven to eight years. Currently, one or two thematic areas are assessed per academic year on a rotating cycle. This process is coordinated by the GECC with the assistance of the Academic Assessment Coordinator, who works out of the CLAS Undergraduate Programs office.
The primary goal of this assessment is to discover if students are achieving the intended outcomes of the GE CLAS Core requirements and to discuss what might help students to better achieve these outcomes. Even though the assessment process typically involves gathering information from individual courses, it is primarily about the CLAS Core requirements rather than about the specific disciplinary content of the course. Likewise, the assessment is not an evaluation of the instructors but of student learning related to the GE outcomes.
The second purpose of this assessment is to help educate instructors and the UI community on the goals of the program and to discuss and revise learning outcomes. The assessment procedures allow a dialogue to occur among participants, resulting in focused conversations about teaching and student success. The assessment process is meant to generate a sense of community related to teaching undergraduate students and a valuable discussion about teaching and learning.
Here are the results of recent assessments of CLAS Core areas:
The assessment process
When a specific area of the CLAS Core is assessed, different procedures may be followed, but with the same overall aim. For areas where courses are concentrated in one or a few disciplines, a committee, including a faculty chair, will be appointed for that task the semester before the assessment is to begin. The committee will potentially include faculty who teach in that particular area or in disciplines associated with the area, faculty from other colleges, academic advisors, and graduate teaching assistants. For areas where courses are taught across a wide variety of disciplines, instructors teaching courses in the area of the CLAS Core to be assessed will be expected to produce assessment reports for their courses as part of the process, and they should be informed of the process the semester before the assessment is to begin and provided instructions on how to complete their assessment in a timely manner. These instructions will be developed by the CLAS Academic Assessment Coordinator and the GECC.
The assessment process can take somewhat different forms, but in general it involves gathering information from instructors teaching in the area, data from student course evaluations and other student surveys, and information from other relevant stakeholders. This data is then analyzed and used to assess the student learning process. The committee, under the guidance of the chair, will then synthesize this information into a report presenting the findings and recommendations resulting from the assessment. This report will then be submitted to the GECC and the UEPCC for suggestions and ultimately approval.
The assessment of a specific area of the CLAS Core should ideally include a consideration of the following topics:
- A review of any prior assessment of the area and the findings resulting from it, and a report on what has been done in the meantime in response to those findings
- An analysis of how effectively courses in the area (considered as a whole) are helping students achieve the area learning outcomes and whether the student learning outcomes are in need of revision
- An analysis of how effectively courses in the area (considered as a whole) demonstrate the CLAS Core course attributes, or a discussion of pedagogical methods more generally that are relevant for courses in the area.
Other topics relevant to a particular CLAS Core area but not listed here, such as instructor staffing issues, could also be included as part of the assessment.
SPOT feedback survey questions
The following teaching feedback questions are on the SPOT student surveys for each course in the GE CLAS Core. The questions differ by CLAS Core requirement area, addressing the specific outcomes for each requirement. These questions are revised if needed by the General Education Curriculum Committee (GECC) during the annual assessment process. Feedback and suggestions by those teaching in these areas are always welcomed. Please contact the committee for more information.
- I better understand how cultural and social biases affect human interactions.
- I understand how my own social and cultural background has shaped my perspectives and opportunities.
- I am better able to interact with people who have backgrounds or ideas different from my own.
- I have learned to use basic rhetorical concepts to help me communicate more effectively.
- I have improved my skills in analysis and persuasion.
- I have developed more competence in research and inquiry.
- I am better at analyzing and understanding what I read.
- I have strengthened my abilities to respond critically to reading materials.
- I can better understand how texts are related to their cultural, historical, and political contexts.
- I have improved my ability to read and understand this language.
- I have improved my communication skills in this language.
- I have a better understanding of the cultures where this language is used.
- I have learned concepts and definitions associated with sustainability and systems thinking.
- I better understand the interconnectedness of human and natural systems.
- I can see how my actions affect sustainability goals.
- I better understand how scientists conduct research, gather data, and derive conclusions.
- I have improved my ability to explain scientific concepts.
- My ability to evaluate data, conclusions, and hypotheses has improved.
- My analytical reasoning skills have improved.
- I can think strategically about how to solve a problem or create an argument.
- I can use the methods taught in the course to understand and evaluate solutions to problems.
- I better understand how social scientists conduct research, gather data, and derive conclusions.
- My ability to evaluate data, conclusions, and hypotheses has improved.
- I am better able to support my ideas and positions using evidence.
- I have a better understanding of change and continuity in history.
- I have improved my ability to evaluate evidence by using methods of historical investigation.
- I am better able to explain and interpret historical change.
- I have gained knowledge of a contemporary global or international issue.
- I have a deeper understanding of the importance of seeing an issue from multiple perspectives.
- I have learned to apply at least one method of analysis for understanding global issues.
- I better understand processes an artist might use to create art.
- I have a better knowledge of how art is interpreted and evaluated.
- I can see how art is related to the artist’s context, culture, and identity.
- This class encouraged me to ask fundamental questions about human values and experience.
- I have improved my ability to understand different cultural value systems.
- I am better able to explain the bases for my own values and beliefs.