General Education Course Proposal Evaluation Rubric

Proposed courses must demonstrate effective treatment and meaningful assessment of outcomes and reinforcement of the relevant fundamental skill (e.g., writing, speaking, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, etc.).

Course Structure

Criteria Approved Developing Limited
Course alignment with GE content area Course fully incorporates the knowledge, theories, and core questions of the content area and explicitly integrates foundational concepts. Course incorporates the knowledge, theories, and core questions of the content area but lacks depth or clear integration of concepts in some areas. Course has some relevance to the content area but does not adequately incorporate the knowledge, theories, or core questions of the content area or lacks coherent integration of foundational concepts.
Course description Course description gives students an idea of the transferable skills they will acquire in the course. Course description addresses content but does not clearly articulate transferable skills in a way that students can easily relate to. Course description makes no mention of skill development.
Course outline The proposal contains a clear course outline that lists the content and concepts associated with the GE area. Course outline is missing elements that convincingly demonstrate alignment with GE area. Course outline is missing or incomplete.
Instructional strategies The course effectively employs content-specific methodologies and integrates them throughout learning activities in a meaningful and rigorous manner. The course incorporates appropriate content-area methods but may lack depth, consistency, or thorough application across learning experiences. The course includes some relevant methodologies but applies them inconsistently or with limited depth, reducing their impact on student learning.
Course syllabus Syllabus contains GE SLOs and well-aligned material that sufficiently supports student development of the learning outcomes. Syllabus contains GE SLOs and some material that supports student development of learning outcomes. Syllabus does not adequately reflect orientation toward GE area outcomes.

Assessment Methods

Criteria Approved Developing Limited
Formative assessment The course deliberately integrates the relevant fundamental skills expressed in the SLOs in ways that promote multiple cycles of feedback, practice, and application. The course integrates the relevant fundamental skills into activities and assessments, with some opportunities for meaningful application and actionable feedback The course does not integrate the skill clearly and consistently, and includes limited practice, feedback, or application.
Summative assessment Assessments are appropriate, well aligned with course SLOs and adequate in scope to cover the learning goals. Assessment methods align to some extent with learning outcomes and are adequate but incomplete in scope. Assessment methods are weakly aligned with learning outcomes or limited in scope.