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Evaluating a General Education Program in Transition
Author(s) -
Stevenson John F.,
Hicks Sandy Jean,
Hubbard Anne
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
new directions for evaluation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.374
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1534-875X
pISSN - 1097-6736
DOI - 10.1002/ev.20197
Subject(s) - conceptualization , context (archaeology) , relevance (law) , apathy , citizen journalism , institution , higher education , work (physics) , toolbox , pedagogy , psychology , engineering ethics , medical education , sociology , political science , computer science , cognition , social science , medicine , mechanical engineering , paleontology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , law , biology , programming language , engineering
This reflective case study uses one public university example to explore the role of student learning outcomes assessment in the improvement of general education programs. These programs are a universal feature of higher education in the United States, requiring learning experiences for all students at an institution—but with little likely commitment from the faculty. Our university's efforts to overcome faculty apathy and resistance, build a responsive assessment system, and direct it toward transformation of our program are instructive beyond the higher education context. We take a participatory, utilization‐focused approach and reflect on what we have learned as it illuminates both the relevance of evaluation concepts to our work in assessment and the contributions from our context to the broader domains of evaluation conceptualization and practice.