What is "General Education"?
General education usually refers to undergraduate education, which usually is more comprehensive in orientation than graduate and professional education. A college’s general education curriculum is the set of experiences and competencies we expect students to have and develop regardless of major. Such courses and course types are required for graduation, again, regardless of the major. (Students complete additional courses or experiences in their undergraduate majors, minors, or certificate programs.).
- Assessing General Education Learning Outcomes (AAC&U)
- GWU Guide to General Education Assessment
- Beauchman, M., & Waldenberger, S. (2017, September). Assessing general education: Identifying outcomes, data analysis, and improvements. (Assessment in Practice). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).
- Miller, R., & Leskes, A. (2005). Levels of assessment. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
- Capsim blog post: The Five Levels of Assessment in Higher Education
- Millet, I., & Weinstein, S. (2015). Grading by objectives: A matrix method for course assessment. Quality Approaches in Higher Education, 6(2), 3-19.
Assessing undergraduate general education at Duke
The undergraduate curriculum in the Pratt School of Engineering includes pre- and co-requisites supporting Engineering courses as well as breadth requirement outside of Engineering (e.g., the Social Sciences).
Trinity College’s curriculum is in transition. Click here for details of Trinity’s Assessment of the General Education.