UCC Assessment
Assessment is rooted in a philosophy of continual improvement of our learning environment. Annual assessment of student learning in the tiered University Core Curriculum (UCC) is an essential component of the General Education program at Ball State.
Proposals for new or revised UCC courses should follow the format outlined on the Registrar's website.
The learning outcomes for UCC courses are referred to as cognitive skills. These cognitive skills are aligned with the Indiana College Core (formerly STGEC). Assessment of UCC cognitive skills includes both indirect and direct measures.
INDIRECT MEASURE: Annual senior surveys, conducted each spring, ask graduating students to rate their growth in written communication, oral communication, problem solving, critical thinking, judgement, and other areas that also align with some of the UCC cognitive skills. Students' perceptions of their growth in these areas are an important measure of UCC cognitive skill attainment. See the Senior Survey Results.
DIRECT MEASURE: Course instructors assess the attainment of UCC cognitive skills and report their findings to the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. See the Summary of Transformation Attainment. The UCC assessment report should contain four parts:
Part 1 - Course SLOs aligned with UCC Cognitive Skills
Part 2 - Assessment Methods: Describe activities used to assess the UCC cognitive skills outlined in #1. This could be one mile-marker assignment that covers all of the cognitive skills or it could be a separate assignment for each cognitive skill. Describe the sample. What is the expected performance outcome? Describe any other details related to the assessment methods/activities.
Part 3 - Results: What was the sample size? Using the rubric designed to assess the UCC cognitive skills, indicate the number and percentage of students in your sample in each of the following levels for each UCC cognitive skill: 4 = Accomplished; 3 = Competent; 2 = Developing; 1 = Beginning. Describe the results. Was the expected performance outcome met? Include comparisons with previous assessment cycles, if possible, and note trends within this cycle and/or over time. What did you learn?
Part 4 - Use of Results to Improve: Describe how the results were shared with other faculty. Describe any plans for improvements to future instructional methods, course content, syllabus or assessment activities/processes in this course as a result of assessment data. Given that assessment of general education at Ball State is focused on improvement, examples of improvements noted in recent UCC assessment reports (with personal identifiers extracted) are disseminated for Foundations, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 courses.
Assessment reports reflect how well students are meeting the cognitive skills, and potential improvements that can be made as a result of the findings.. Instructors teaching core courses with multiple sections may submit one report with samples from each section. UCC course assessment reports should be uploaded by Oct. 15 each year. (Upload UCC Assessment Report Here) Brief tutorials are available to assist with completion of the annual UCC assessment report:
