Three Schools, One Goal

Facilitating Collaborative General Education Reform

2026 Assessment Institute, Indianapolis, IN

October 19, 2026

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Jeremy P. Reich, EdD Candidate

Asst. Dir. Assessment & Accreditation

New Jersey Institute of Technology

jeremy.p.reich@njit.edu

Ania Peczalska, Ph.D.

Director of Institutional Effectiveness

University of Kentucky

ania.peczalska@uky.edu

Troy R. Nash, Ph.D.

Director of University Assessment

Mercer University

nash_tr@mercer.edu

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Attendee Questions

1. How many years of experience do you have in higher education?
2. How many years of experience do you have with general education assessment?
3. What type of institution do you represent?
1. Carnegie Classification (R1, R2, etc.)
2. Sector (2-year, 4 year, Graduate, Doctoral)
3. Control (Public, Private Non-Profit, Private For-Profit)

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Session Outcomes

Through this presentation, attendees will:

1. Explore the general education contexts, systems, and technologies at three distinct institutions of higher education.
2. Discuss the changes within the general education programs at these institutions.
3. Identify best practices for effectively creating and implementing collaborative change at large institutions of higher education.
4. Discuss how to successfully navigate the unique nature of general education shared governance structures to affect collaborative change.
5. Acquire a toolkit of resources for improving general education assessment to use and adapt in their own institutional contexts.

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

General Education Governance

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University General Education Committee

Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

Faculty Senate

General Education Governance

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

University General Education Committee

College Gen Ed Committees

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

General Education Governance

Assessment�Director

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Faculty Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Gen. Ed. Subcommittee

Gen. Ed. Assessment Committee

College of Science and Liberal Arts

Stakeholder Engagement

• OSPIE provides resources and support for UK core mapping and assessment selection
• UK Core Assessment Liaison pilot program engages faculty volunteers to train other faculty in their college with UK Core assessment best practices

• Representatives on UGEC keep their college/school informed on curricular changes
• OIE provides training to faculty regarding appropriate assignment selection, rubric interpretation, and LMS (Canvas) use
• Students are probably the missing stakeholders in the conversation

• GER Subcommittee of CUE has a representative from each department
• Chair of both committees (same person) presents to department faculty
• Assessment Director presents data to key pilot stakeholders (e.g. Intro. Communication courses)
• Assessment Director and Chair provide support for course onboarding and approvals

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Stakeholder Engagement

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Stakeholder Engagement

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UGEC oversees outcomes and rubrics

Instructors select aligned assignments

Instructors score outcomes in Canvas

OIE collects and analyzes data

OIE prepares assessment report

UGEC informs colleges/schools of data for improvement planning

Stakeholder Engagement

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Assessment�Director

Committees Chair

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tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Gen. Ed. Subcommittee

Academic Department Representatives

Gen. Ed. Assessment Committee

Group Discussion

• What general education shared governance structures do you have at your institutions?
• What strategies do you employ to identify and engage general education stakeholders at your institutions?

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Outcome & Rubric Development

• University General Education Committee provides revised rubrics
• Faculty committee reviews and approves general education course changes

• UGEC appoints ad hoc task force composed of faculty members and director of university assessment
• UGEC reviews and approves recommendations from task force

• Initially drafted by Assessment Director in collaboration with key faculty
• Fully drafted by CSLA GER Assessment Committee
• Piloted by key instructors
• Approved by GER Subcommittee of CUE

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Scoring: In-Course vs. External

• External evaluators that consist of UK faculty
• Pilot program for UK Core self-evaluation of courses

• Faculty score their own students on an appropriate assignment using approved outcomes and rubric

• Instructor scoring (in-course)
• Instructors translate student work on summative assessment to relevant rubric(s)
• Relevant rubrics are declared as gen. ed. contributions at the course level by departments and/or course coordinators

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Systems & Technologies

• Utilize Canvas for UK Core mapping and self-assessment
• Excel spreadsheet for external evaluators

• UGEC maintains Canvas course-shell for documentation, policies, etc.
• All Gen Ed outcomes are available in Canvas as institutional outcomes
• OIE uses R for data cleaning, analyses, and dashboards

• Rubrics maintained as Canvas Assignment Tools
• Course declarations maintained in Google Sheet
• Relevant rubrics auto-imported into appropriate courses before each semester
• Scores recorded in Canvas Gradebook
• Scores collected via Snowflake data lake
• Data aggregated & shared in MicroStrategy dashboards

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Data Democratization

• Results shared in department reports passed on to senior academic leaders

• Aggregate assessment results are shared with UGEC
• Disaggregated data available on filterable R-Shiny dashboard

• Course-level data to be shared with course coordinators and departments
• Program-level data to be shared with GER committees and academic leadership
• May be one dashboard, TBD
• Mechanism for instructor-specific data to instructors only is being considered

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Group Discussion & Report Out

• How are general education learning outcomes and rubrics developed and scored at your institutions?
• What systems and technologies do you use at your institutions to record, collect, and share assessment data with general education stakeholders?

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Best Practices

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1. Coordinate with interdisciplinary shared governance committees.
2. Utilize collaborative co-design processes and trans-disciplinary communication skills.
3. Include stakeholders in developing assessment processes and provide them with the results of assessment and their assessment data.
4. Create pilot programs to test new initiatives and enhancements.
5. Leverage existing technologies for integration and provide training & support.
6. Adopt and communicate an assessment philosophy that leads to processes that are effective and meaningful, while being as efficient and unburdensome to instructors as possible.

Audience Q&A

tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal

Resource Provision

• UK: UK Core Website
• NJIT:
• Website link
• Guidance documents
• Publications
• Rubrics
• Mercer:
• Gen Ed Competencies and Rubrics
• Example R-code for data analysis

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tinyurl.com/3Schools1Goal