Miami Dade College General Education Assessment Process

Miami Dade College used the following tenets in the design of the general education outcomes assessment process.

Follow the students: Institutional Research studies indicate that Miami Dade College students follow multiple paths in the completion of courses that meet general education requirements. In addition, the assessment process should not hinder the student´s progress in the completion of a degree. Thus, MDC´s general education outcomes assessment process follows the student and assesses the student at the time when the student is nearest completion of the general education requirements and graduation.

Assessment is about student learning: The focus of assessment is on graduating students´ learning not course content or faculty teaching. Moreover, general education occurs across courses and co-curricular experiences and can not be isolated to a particular course.

Faculty are integral to the process: Faculty and staff must be involved in the assessment process through the development of assessment tools to assess student attainment of general education outcomes that were developed and adopted by faculty and staff, the development of scoring rubrics, and the scoring of student work. Participating faculty will also be supported through training and incentives as appropriate.

Anonymity of faculty and students involved in the process must be guaranteed: General education is an institutional activity that involves faculty, staff, and students. At no time during the process should individual faculty or student participants´ results be identified. The Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment will maintain the integrity of the process through following processes that maintain the confidentiality of participants.

Assessment results are aggregated: General education outcomes assessment results will be reported in the aggregate because the results represent MDC and not individual students or faculty. In addition, assessment results will be shared with MDC faculty, staff, and students.

Assessment results are to be used to improve student learning: The assessment results are to be regularly and systematically considered by the faculty, staff, and administrators in order to take action to improve student learning.

The assessment process is to be reviewed periodically: General education assessment tools (tasks and scoring rubrics) and the process will be reviewed to improve process validity and efficiency.