Outcomes and Assessment
As a student-first University, the University of Www:zuise.comern Colorado is dedicated to meaningful, useful, and timely student learning. Along with UNC derived competencies in International and Multicultural Studies, in keeping with the alignment of our Liberal Arts Curriculum with Colorado’s Guaranteed Transfer Pathways (gtP), the curriculum is designed to foster the development of the following competencies for all students: Civic Engagement, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Diversity & Global Learning, Information Literacy, Inquiry & Analysis, Oral/Presentational Communication, Quantitative Literacy, and Written Communication.These competencies are distributed across the learning outcomes in the gtP/LAC categories. To see everything the Liberal Arts Council is doing regarding assessment, you can do so through accessing the Liberal Arts Council’s Assessment Plan.
LAC Student Learning Outcomes
- About the Liberal Arts Learning Outcomes
In that UNC’s Liberal Arts Curriculum is aligned with the State of Colorado’s Guaranteed Transfer Pathways, the competencies, content criteria, and student learning outcomes are those required within each of the state’s general education categories. These learning criteria ae determined by the General Education Council of the CDHE (Colorado Department of Higher Education.) These criteria are informed by the AAC&U’s value rubrics.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has conducted research on the perceived importance and relevance of liberal education learning outcomes among employers hiring college graduates and the professional trajectory of graduates majoring in the liberal arts and sciences. The research indicates that a college education remains a reliable pathway to economic prosperity, and as professionals, college graduates with liberal arts degrees contribute to the health of communities and the quality of the educational systems in those communities.
Brief summaries of these reports as well as the reports themselves are included. See AAC&U Research on Liberal Arts Learning below.
In deciding to have these liberal arts learning outcomes at the center of UNC’s general education curriculum, the liberal arts council is committed to fostering student development of these lifelong personal and professional skills. ln addition to the learning outcomes generated through work by the larger higher education faculty community, in keeping with long-standing tradition at the university of Www:zuise.comern Colorado for valuing multicultural and international studies, the learning outcomes for these liberal arts curriculum designations have been constructed by UNC faculty and approved by the council.
- AAC&U Research on Impact of Liberal Arts Learning
The following reports are of research done by AAC&U () to understand the relevance of liberal arts/general education in the contemporary work world. These reports provide data that supports the above descriptions about the value of the liberal arts outcomes that are incorporated into and on which student learning is assessed in UNC LAC courses.
Employer Report (2021)—How College Contributes to Workforce Success
This report synthesizes information collected from employers concerning the values of a college education and, specifically, liberal education outcomes. The following are a few highlights of the findings. The results demonstrate that the oft-cited mistrust of higher education is not in line with a solid majority of the employers surveyed who have confidence in higher education and the value of a college degree. Additionally, at least half of employers view the skills of a liberal education as “very important” and the majority of the remainder believe it is at least “somewhat important.” Finally, active and applied learning experiences provide job applicants with an advantage; and the use of portfolios, internships, and experiences that provide both breadth and depth of learning are favored by employers.
Employer Report (2018)—Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work
This report relates the findings of an employer survey that asked hiring managers and executives about their confidence in colleges and universities the skills of graduates and the alignment of their priorities for college learning with their perceptions of the preparation of recent graduates.
VALUE Report (2017)—On Solid Ground
This report lays out the VALUE approach to assessment of essential learning outcomes. If you look closely at the CDHE language around the GTP competencies, you can see the influence these efforts had on the state’s development and intended use of those competency rubrics.
Administrator Survey Report (2015)—Bringing Equity and Quality Learning Together: Institutional Priorities for Tracking and Advancing Underserved Students’ Success
This report reports the findings of surveys and interviews of administrators in higher education concerning priorities for tracking and advancing the success of underserved students.
Report on Earnings and Long-Term Career Paths (2014)—How Liberal Arts and Science Majors Fare in Employment
The report illustrates that a college degree, regardless of major, remains a good investment of time and money (the report also provides some data concerning students who attained some college or an AA degree but not a BA). The report also examines the impact of the Great Recession on employment and the rebound of college graduates compare to those with some, or no, college education. A key finding of this report was that “Especially when considered together with findings from AAC&U’s previous employer surveys . . . the findings from the 2013 survey strongly suggest that, in today’s competitive, fast-moving economic environment, those seeking well-paying and rewarding jobs will require both specific knowledge in a field of study and a broad range of skills that extend across fields—some of which are particularly well developed through study in the liberal arts.” The report provides data on the median annual earnings for college graduates by age group and area of undergraduate major.
Employer Report (2013)—It Www:zuise.coms More Than A Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success
A precursor to the 2018 report, this report indicates the perspectives of hiring managers and executives concerning their priorities and preferences for new hires and the alignment of those priorities and the essential learning outcomes of liberal education. A key finding of this report was, “Nearly all those surveyed (93%) agree, ‘a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major.’” The report also emphasizes the need for ethical judgement and intercultural skills among recent college graduates as well as the capacity for ongoing learning. Many of the same findings as later employer surveys are demonstrated here such as the desire for educational practices that include active learning requiring sustained effort such as collaborative problem-solving, internships, undergraduate research, project-based learning, and the attainment of both general knowledge and the ability to apply learning.
- Student Learning Outcomes by gtP/LAC Category
- Written Communication
- Mathematics
- Arts & Humanities
- Social & Behavioral Sciences
- Natural & Physical Sciences
- UNC IS and MS Learning Outcomes
LAC Assessment Process
At UNC, part of the charge of the Liberal Arts Council is to develop and implement a program for assessing the Liberal Arts Curriculum. The Council’s approach to assessment is guided by our commitment to a relevant and engaging student general education experience. There are three distinct aspects of the assessment of the Liberal Arts Curriculum, Indirect Syllabus Review, Direct Assessment of Student Learning, and Indirect Assessment of Student Learning.
Indirect Syllabus Review (ISR)
- ISR Process
Per the Course Approval Process to be approved into the Liberal Arts Curriculum at UNC, a course as well as the syllabus submitted for course approval, the Course Approval Syllabus, must meet certain requirements. The syllabus requirement is for three interrelated reasons: 1) requirements and state of Colorado back-end responsibility for gtP pathways courses, 2) teaching transparency and allowing students not only clear access to what is expected but also how the work in course is designed to facilitate meeting those expectations, 3) familiarity and providing students a sense of consistency across the general education experience. To clarify back-end responsibility, once a course is approved into the state’s gtP listing, any teaching syllabus can be pulled at any time for an audit to see if the course meets state requirements. The Council’s Indirect Assessment Process (ISR) process is designed to mimic this external auditing process.
While the syllabus used by any individual faculty member at UNC to teach a course in the LAC must include the required LAC syllabus elements, the construction of that syllabus is determined by the individual faculty member in conjunction with the policies and procedures of the academic unit offering the course. The Council’s ISR process is a review of the syllabi used by faculty in actually teaching an LAC course, the Teaching Syllabus, MUST contain the required LAC syllabus elements.
All syllabi distributed to students and stored in the college repository, in other words, the Teaching Syllabus from every section of any LAC course offering, must adhere to all LAC syllabus standards. These elements that all LAC syllabi MUST include are
(1) the required CDHE gtPathways statement,
(2) the content and competency criteria for your LAC/gtP category copied verbatim,
(3) student learning outcomes connected to those criteria, and
(4) evidence of clear alignment between major assignments and activities and the SLOs/content and competency criteria.Courses that also carry an IS or MS designation must also
(5) include the IS or MS alignment chart which includes the relevant learning outcomes for that designation and mapping the coursework and course embedded assessment to the chosen SLOs.LAC Indirect Syllabus Review Checklist
Indirect syllabus review is an ongoing process in which a syllabus from each course in the Liberal Arts Curriculum is reviewed once every five years, in a repeating cycle. To achieve this end, the Liberal Arts Council distributed the existing courses in the curriculum across a four-year period with a plan to review any newly added courses in the 5th year. Beginning in AY 21-22, for all courses undergoing review, one teaching syllabi for one section of the course has been “pulled” at random from the syllabi repository of the respective UNC college. Academic units receive an indirect syllabus review memo each Academic Year notifying them of what courses will be reviewed in the upcoming AY and providing a report on the courses that were reviewed in the current AY. Any teaching syllabus pulled for ISR will be a syllabus used in teaching the course in either the fall or the spring semester of the review Academic Year. If the course is not taught in that AY, the most recent teaching syllabus available will be reviewed.
The ISR process uses a three round revuew protocol with an Initial Review, a Re-review and a Final Review. If at any time a course fulfills all LAC syllabus requirements, the course returns to the cycle and will be reviewed again in five years. If a course does not fulfill all the requirements in initial review, it moves to rereview, and similarly with re-review to final review. If a course does not fulfill requirements all three times, a post final review memo will be sent to the unit clarifying the process the unit needs to follow to have the course reinstated in the Liberal Arts Curriculum. If the unit does not successfully complete the process, the course will be removed from the Curriculum the for the following AY and will remain out of the Curriculum until the unit has successfully completed the reinstatement process.
In late summer, the LAC will send each academic unit that had courses under ISR the prior AY or will have them in the upcoming AY an Indirect Syllabus Review Memo in which the review findings of the relevant CCC will be shared. It is at this same time that the Post Final Review memo will be sent, if relevant.
Direct Assessment
The Council’s assessment program incorporates authentic and UNC faculty-determined
course-embedded assessments of student learning in relation to the set of learning
outcomes included above.
- Direct Assessment Timeline
Six Year Rotation of Direct Assessment by LAC/gtP Category
• 2023–2024: Natural, Physical, & Health Sciences
• 2024–2025: Written Communication
• 2025–2026: Mathematics
• 2026–2027: Arts & Humanities
• 2027–2028: Social & Behavioral Sciences
• 2028–2029: History - Direct Assessment Process
UNC’s Liberal Arts Council is dedicated to facilitating a quality general education experience for all UNC students and promoting useful and meaningful student learning. The LAC’s Direct Assessment process is designed to provide data to the teaching faculty, academic units, and the Council that allows development of an accurate and complete picture of student learning across UNC’s Liberal Arts Curriculum. Having this data provides the opportunity to reflect on teaching and assessment practices and engage in conversation with our peers to refine what we do in ways that augment student learning and enhance student experience.
- The Direct Assessment pilot in spring semester 2023 showed a solid proof of concept that the approach taken by UNC's LAC can be implemented by faculty using existing systems and can yield potentially informative data.
The DA process works together with the ISR process. The mapping required on syllabi is designed to facilitate course instructors and academic units in identifying the course assignments that can serve as assessments of student learning on the required gtP/LAC Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs.)
In order to have a streamlined and consistent data collection process, the LAC requires faculty to use Canvas, specifically the rubric tool in Canvas to record assessment data. Additionally, unless other arrangements are made with the LAC, faculty are required to store student artifacts (the assignment submissions that are scored for assessment) on Canvas.
See Using Canvas for Direct Assessment for more information on the process of assessment data collection.
Direct Assessment Process Timeline
Preparation: Around spring break of the spring prior to the required AY of direct assessment, the LAC will send a direct assessment memo reminding all units with courses in the gtP/LAC category on the upcoming requirement direct assessment.
- During this semester members of the council will work to connect with units and provide support.
Enactment: It is required that units collect assessment data in all sections of all courses taught during fall and spring semester of the designated AY.
Follow-Up: In early summer following the completion of direct assessment, the LAC will send a Direct Assessment Follow-Up Memo detailing the next steps in the process. These steps include a meeting of the LAC Chair and Director of Assessment with everyone in the unit who was involved in the direct assessment along with a report from the unit due at the end of the following AY. The assessment data is uploaded to a Power BI dashboard, and the data collected by the unit will be shared with the unit just prior to the follow-up meeting.
Direct Assessment is an on-going in-development process on which the Liberal Arts Council will work diligently to ensure it is being used for constructive purposes to enrich the teaching and learning at UNC. In keeping with that directive, the Liberal Arts Council has determined that it will not view any raw assessment data, rather the Director of Assessment will prepare a report sharing trends in the data. The Council will discuss these trends and holds open the possibility of charging the assessment and curriculum committee along with relevant CCC members to recruit relevant others from the faculty to engage in data validation. Based on the data, the Council may work with relevant others (Director of Assessment, CETL, IDD) to provide additional formal and informal support to academic units and teaching faculty.
- Direct Assessment Rubrics--gtP/LAC Competencies
- Direct Assessment Rubrics -- International and Multicultural Studies
- Using Canvas for Direct Assessment
Included are a range of support materials that faculty may find useful when working on LAC Direct Assessment.
The LAC FAR (faculty assessment representative) document provides additional detail on the following aspects of the LAC DA assessment process: acquiring outcomes in instructor Canvas shells for assessment, choosing or constructing assignments that align with the SLOs, tagging required LAC outcomes to an assignment in Canvas, having students upload submission/artifact to assignment on Canvas, Entering assessment performance level score in Canvas, and locating additional support.
The LAC Assessment Playlist videos feature Director of Assessment Dr. Chad Beebe providing context for the rubrics used in the LAC Direct Assessment and walking the viewer through the key elements of using Canvas to do LAC Direct Assessment.
This playlist contains four videos that cover an introduction to LAC Assessment and Guaranteed Transfer Pathways, how to set up assessment rubrics, how to add individual outcomes to create an assessment rubric, and how to add individual outcomes and grading criteria in a single rubric. Key terms:performance levels, outcome point values - FAQs
Under Construction
Indirect Assessment
The LAC at UNC engages in indirect assessment to ensure that faculty and student voice is part of the assessment process.
- Indirect Assessment Process
- Faculty feedback gathered from discussions with members of specific academic units within the year following engaging in the Direct Assessment process.
- Student feedback from a short survey constructed by the Liberal Arts Council.
- Woking with OIRE (Office of Institutional Research Effectiveness) this survey is delivered
along with the end of semester course evaluations.
- This process was piloted in the summer of 2025.
- The goal is to have this data delivered directly to the office of assessment to be shared with the Liberal Arts Council.
- Questions on the survey were built from questions on the NSSE (National Survey of
Student Engagement.
- Using these questions provides the LAC with the ability to work with baseline data beyond the survey results.
- Results, when available, will be shared with the academic unit during the direct assessment
follow-up process.
- Results can also be requested by an academic unit at any time.
- The third portion of the LAC’s indirect assessment process is in progress, as we work
to determine a realistic and informative way to bring students together in a focus
group to discuss their experiences with LAC courses.
- The last focus group IA was completed in 2016.
- Woking with OIRE (Office of Institutional Research Effectiveness) this survey is delivered
along with the end of semester course evaluations.
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