Lindenwood's Three-Year Roadmap for General Education Assessment
(2022-2025)
Lindenwood University's Three-Year Roadmap for General Education Assessment outlines a new vision, strategy, and tactics for general education assessment.
General Education Learning Outcomes
Lindenwood's General Education Program is designed to support students' development toward Graduate Attributes.
Lions are Leaders
Lindenwood adopted the Graduate Attributes in fall of 2021 and is currently transitioning from the previous Institutional Learning Outcomes, with implementation of the graduate attributes in Spring 2023. Each graduate attribute includes outcomes, an aligned rubric, and is assessed through Community of Practice Model.
Communities of Practice Model of Assessment
Lindenwood University uses a Communities of Practice model of assessment for its general education program. To read more about this approach, please visit our blog post: "Harnessing Passion to Improve Learning: Building Communities of Practice to Assessment General Education" by Robyne Elder and Bethany Alden-Rivers.
For more information on Graduate Attribute Outcomes, visit the Graduate Attribute webpage.
FAQs
For faculty and staff for communities of practice model of assessment.
What is a “Communities of Practice” approach to assessment?
A community of practice is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. This definition reflects the fundamental social nature of human learning (Source: wegner-trayner.com).
Starting in fall 2019, a Community of Practice for Written Communication formed to assess ILO 3.1, and in spring 2020, a separate Community of Practice for Spoken Communication convened to assess ILO 3.2. Since this time a community of practice has formed each semester to assess an ILO which has now transitioned to graduate attributes. For more information, please see the Three-Year Roadmap for Assessment.
Each Community of Practice uses a validated rubric to score a stratified sample of student learning artifacts (assessments), which are extracted from Canvas (LMS). Each assessment is scored by at least two different members of the Community of Practice, and the data from this process are considered for learning improvement opportunities. With the transition to graduate attributes, faculty are encouraged to use signature assignments as their assessments.
How does the shift to a Communities of Practice model affect the former General Education assessment process in Canvas?
Since Fall 2020, faculty were no longer required to score key assessments in Canvas. However, because the Communities of Practices will be using these assessments for their scoring, faculty will still need to include the key assessment in the course. As we transition to graduate attributes, we ask faculty to use a similar process and have a signature assignment aligned to the appropriate rubric to assess the graduate attribute that aligns to their course.
How will the Community of Practice know which assessment to use for their scoring?
Each general education course has continued to align with two ILOs, however as we transition to graduate attributes, each course will align to one graduate attribute. This work is being done through the Graduate Attribute Alignment and Assessment Committee.
If you have a question about the graduate attribute for your course, please contact the Graduate Attribute Alignment and Assessment Committee or assessment@lindenwood.edu.
For the current list of general education courses and aligning graduate attributes, please see below link to 'General Education Courses and Aligning Graduate Attributes'.
If you are interested in joining a Community of Practice, please contact assessment@lindenwood.edu.
Resources
Reports
- Fall 2019 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Written Communication
- Spring 2020 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Spoken Communication
- Fall 2020 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Diverse Perspectives
- Spring 2021 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Civic Responsibility
- Fall 2021 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Critical Thinking
- Spring 2022 General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Adaptive Thinking
- Fall 2022 Student Learning and General Education Report: Focus on Written Communication
- Spring 2023 Student Learning & General Education Assessment Report: Focus on the Effective Communicator
- Fall 2023 Student Learning and General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Global Advocate
- Spring 2024 Student Learning and General Education Assessment Report: Focus on Responsible Citizens and Ethical Decision Makers
- General Education Assessment Report Archive (Institutional)
