General Education Requirements Committee (GERC)
About the General Education Requirements Committee (GERC)
The General Education Requirements Committee (GERC) is a subcommittee of the Undergraduate Curriculum Council (UCC). The GERC reports directly to UCC. The purpose of the GERC is: to consider all courses and policies that relate to the University’s general education requirements; to evaluate, on a regular basis, the University’s general education courses for appropriateness, rigor, and assessment; and to make general education curricular recommendations based on these evaluations to the UCC. The General Education Objectives are to be reviewed on a staged 5-year cycle (meaning that not all of the Objectives need be evaluated at once).
Does each iteration of a general education course need to undergo assessment?
Instruments from all delivery methods of a course and from all sections of a course should be included in the pool that is used for sampling.
What is the time period to be covered in the November assessment reports?
Each November report should address results from the previous academic year (e.g., November 2023 report includes 2022-23 academic year: Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023)
Do General Education Assessment results need to be reported every year?
Yes.
If a course is not offered in a given coverage year, is a report needed?
One report per course number should be filed each year. If the course had not been taught during the coverage year, the report should clearly indicate that.
The department is making some changes to the approved assessment plan for its general education course. What does GERC expect in these cases?
It depends on the type of changes intended.
GERC does not need to review:
Change in assessment instruments to be used.
Change in textbook(s) to be used.
Change in when the department will be discussing/implementing the results.
GERC, and often UCC, does need to review:
Change in sampling method(s).
Change in the learning outcomes that are being addressed, as in the case of Objectives that require a course meet 4 of 5 learning outcomes, for example.
Removal of a course from the general education program. (See instructions for removing a gen ed course.)
Course renumbering.
Change in course title.
GERC does not need to review my department's changes to the approved assessment plan. Shall I record these changes somewhere?
Yes. Please record this type of change on the approved assessment plan that is stored on Google Drive and can found on the Approved Assessment Plans webpage. If you need editing access to your course assessment plan, please contact gercmail@isu.edu.
GERC needs to review my department's intended changes. How do I proceed?
The steps are outlined on the Changing an Approved Assessment Plan webpage.
Is there a reason why I couldn't plan to use course grades as indicators of assessment for this process?
Normally, course grades indicate student-based assessment, rather than course-based or learning outcome-based assessment. It is likely that GERC would not have approved the use of course grades in your assessment plan. Please refer to the approved assessment plan for this course.
GERC Chair Announcements
October 4, 2023
Dear Department Chairs and Assessment Coordinators,
Thank you for your ongoing work with the General Education Requirements Committee (GERC) in managing ISU’s General Education program.
We would like you to be aware of this year's reporting requirements:
- Annual assessment reports are due by November 1, 2023. Your reports should include data for the 2022/2023 academic year (Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023). Please submit only one report per course; do not submit separate reports for multiple sections. If a course was not taught, please submit a report to indicate that. Submitters should receive an email confirming submission of the report; if not, please be sure to select the "next arrow" at the end of the Qualtrics form. If you need help with assessment reports, please contact me or your GERC representative. If your department has already submitted a report for 2022-23 for a particular gen ed course, please do not submit again for that course. If you are unsure whether a report has already been submitted for a course, please contact gercmail@isu.edu and include the particular course(s) you are inquiring about in your email.
- GERC recommends that courses with assessment plans that are more than 5 years old should review their assessment plans and consider updating them.
- Objectives 3 (Mathematical Ways of Knowing) and 4 (Humanistic and Artistic Ways of Knowing) are scheduled for objective reviews this academic year. Please start preparing your five-year reports for each course within those objectives and identifying representatives to serve on the Objective Review Committee. Courses participating in objective reviews this cycle do not need to submit annual assessment reports.
Once again, thank you for supporting our General Education program. Please contact me if you have questions.
Best regards,
Joanne Tokle, Chair
GERC
August 14, 2023
Dear Department Chairs and Assessment Coordinators,
Thank you for your ongoing work with the General Education Requirements Committee (GERC) in managing ISU’s General Education program.
As fall semester begins, we would like you to be aware of this year’s reporting requirements:
- Annual assessment reports are due by November 1, 2023. Your reports should include data for the 2022/2023 academic year (Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023). Please submit only one report per course; do not submit separate reports for multiple sections. See Course & Program Assessment Process, Departmental Obligations: 3. Annual Course Reports for details. If you need help with assessment reports, please contact me or your GERC representative.
- GERC recommends that courses with assessment plans that are more than 4 years old should review their assessment plans and consider updating them.
- Objectives 3 and 4 are scheduled for objective reviews this academic year, and those Five-Year Reports are due January 19, 2024. See Course & Program Assessment Process Departmental Obligations: 4. Five-Year Reports for instructions, template to use, and sample reports. More information will be available soon.
Once again, thank you for supporting our General Education program. Please contact me if you have questions.
Best regards,
Joanne Tokle, Chair
GERC
June 2, 2023
Colleagues,
The General Education Requirements Committee (GERC) has completed its Program Review Self-Study report: Gen Ed Comprehensive Program Review Report - April 2023. GERC will continue the program review process in Fall 2023 with a peer review team.
Best regards,
Joanne Tokle
General Education Requirements Committee Chair