The process for revising the student learning outcomes (SLOs) related to the Foundation of Knowledge program began in June 2016, when the new Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs and a group of faculty attended the Association of American Colleges and University’s (AAC&U) Institute on General Education and Assessment. The Foundation of Knowledge program had not been formally or holistically assessed since its implementation in 2009, in part because many of the existing SLOs were not assessable. While at the Institute, the group developed a plan for reviewing all of the existing SLOs and aligning them with the learning outcomes within the AAC&U Value Rubrics.
In 2017, NKU hired an Assistant Vice
Provost for Assessment to lead the university in all manner of
assessment, including the assessment of the Foundation of Knowledge
program. Together, the AVP for Assessment, the General Education
Committee, and many members of the faculty have refined and implemented
the plan developed at the AAC&U Institute.
More specifically, all
changes to the SLOs resulted from a series of faculty assessment
workshops, faculty scoring sessions, and General Education Committee and
ad hoc General Education Committee sessions. All SLOs have been revised
to facilitate the assessment of the program, new rubrics for each
category of SLOs have been created, and each of the new SLOs has been
assessed. All rubrics have been shared with the campus community, as
have all subsequent assessment results and reports.
The final stage of this plan is to share the revised SLOs and associated rubrics with the entire campus community for final revision suggestions and approval. Once approved, all courses in the Foundation of Knowledge must reflect these changes.
Note that while one assignment may address
multiple SLOs, it is not necessary to cover all FOK area SLOs in a
single assignment. For example, an Individual & Society course need
not assess A2, D3, and E3 in one assignment. Over the course of the
semester, however, at least
one assignment must assess each SLO in the FOK category.
These rubrics align with the SLO's that were approved by UCC and Faculty Senate in February 2020.
