Accreditation wants a couple of things of us:
· Accreditation wants a commitment to Institution-wide learning outcomes and therefore BC needs to select learning outcomes that we want all our degree seeking students to attain. With this in mind, “general education outcomes” become “Institutional Learning Outcomes”.
· It wants us to act on our assessment data to improve our instruction of our Institutional Learning Outcomes
Under our past approach to Gen Ed and assessment we cannot do either of these things:
· 18 outcomes are too many. We cannot assure instruction to all our degree seeking students in 18 different Gen Ed outcomes.
· We cannot measure what we do not understand. Our assessment data will not be actionable without a broadly shared conception of our Institutional Learning Outcomes and the curricular standards we apply to these.
So, Gen Ed reform at BC is called for. What should it look like?
· We need a manageable number of outcomes.
· These should reflect what it means to get an education at BC.
· We can benefit students by adopting Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and standards that address core competencies and values that are not necessarily covered by the DTA or current degree requirements.
· Faculty teaching Institutional Learning Outcomes should work to maintain a shared conception of these and a shared appreciation of our curricular standards so that we know what we are measuring in assessment.
What has the Gen Ed Steering committee proposed so far:
· Limit our outcomes to 4 or 5 at the most.
· Adopt a governance structure for Gen Ed that is not just about assessment, but also sustains and refines our shared understanding of our outcomes and supports programs in meeting our curricular standards.
Next steps:
· Faculty need to talk about new Institutional Learning Outcomes and curricular standards for these.
· Pilot classes and assessment (2024-25)
For more detail, please consult our collection of brief working documents: