During the 2001 fall semester, the VPAA determined that the Senate Curriculum Committee (SCC) would be responsible for overseeing the assessment of the current general education curriculum. The first step in this process was to canvas the faculty on the level of competency and knowledge they believe students graduating from KSC should achieve. The Delphi method (Clayton, 1997) consists of a series of questionnaires meant to gauge the level of agreement on a particular issue and to solicit comments for possible revision. The SCC has used the Delphi method to measure participating faculty agreement with the competencies and outcomes suggested by expert teams. Through the surveys themselves, e-mail messages, and faculty forums, the Senate Curriculum Committee has communicated to all faculty that the surveys using the Delphi method constitute their opportunity to participate in the identification of General Education competencies and outcomes. The SCC has encouraged all faculty to participate.

Once the competencies and learning outcomes for a particular goal have been set, the next step is to gather evidence to determine if students are competent and knowledgeable in these areas. This phase has been difficult, particularly when we attempted to assess writing competencies. We have used different assessment methods for the first two goals (writing and quantitative reasoning). We are still searching for an approach that will be effective and efficient over the long term.

In the case of the two goals for which students have been assessed, students were found to be below the level the faculty specified. Therefore, we are now approaching a third step: Discussion of models for improving General Education in order to help students better achieve the goals of that program.

A. Goals
Approved 2000 Spring Semester

B. Writing Competencies
Approved 2001 Spring Semester
Assessment completed, Spring 2002
Report to SCC, Fall 2002

C. Quantitative Reasoning Competencies
Approved 2002 Spring Semester
Evidence gathered, Spring 2002
Report accepted Spring 2002

D. Diversity Outcomes
Approved Spring 2002
Evidence to be gathered and report to SCC, Fall 2002

The SCC anticipates a discussion with the incoming VPAA to determine whether the current process will be modified. There are six competency goals (oral, critical reading, critical and creative thinking, computer, and research) remaining to be addressed. There are three major content area goals (natural world, social world, world of arts and letters) remaining to be addressed. In addition, it must be determined how the remaining goals (see links below) will be realized.

Clayton, M. J. (1997). Delphi: A technique to harness expert opinion for critical decision-making tasks in education. Educational Psychology 17 (4). Retrieved November 9, 2000 from EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com.

Senate Curriculum Committee