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The General Education (GE) program at Cal State Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is designed to provide students with opportunities to explore subject areas outside the major, to delve into topics that challenge their world perspectives, and ultimately, to help them become educated citizens who base their decisions on factual evidence.  In the CSU, prescribes the broad goals for each GE subject area and mandates each campus defines GE learning outcomes "within a programmatic structure."  GE requirements constitute 36% (or 43 out of 120 semester units needed to graduate) of the undergraduate degree program.  At CSUEB, GE learning outcomes are aligned to its Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs), , and the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes--all of which express the knowledge, skills, and values CSUEB graduates are expected to attain.  Collectively, CSUEB's GE learning outcomes and ILOs distinguish who we are, what we value, and how we expect students to demonstrate their learning.  

CSUEB's GE Long-term Assessment Plan for 2022-2027, (which supercedes 18-19 CAPR 2) provides a detailed implementation plan for the programmatic assessment of GE learning outcomes through the academic year ending in 2027 and clarifies the assessment practices using terminology shared with ILO assessment.  

GE Assessment Information:

1. GE Assessment is guided by the and mandated by . GE assessment has now moved beyond the pilot stage.
2. The GE Assessment Calendar will be published at the GE Assessment website.
3. Departments offering GEOC courses must participate in GEOC program assessment (including all LD and UD GE areas, overlays, US Code, Second Composition) by providing student work aligned to GEOC learning outcomes.
4. The GE Director will randomly choose courses for assessment and will notify instructors/chairs/associate deans the semester before the assignments will be collected through Canvas.
5. All GE area courses up for assessment (regardless if they took part in the general assessment) will be asked to give their students a general education survey.
6. Failure to offer up assignments for assessment will result in the loss of the GE area (or overlays, US Code, Second Composition) for that course for the following academic year.  The decision will be recorded and archived in Curriculog.

The GE Office will organize assessment of GE areas, based on the longterm GE Assessment Calendar.  Assignments need to be:

• Individual (so no group projects)
• Uploadable by students into the Canvas LMS as an Assignment
• Aligned to the Rubric categories that will be used for assessment
• Collectable--our Online Campus will be downloading assignments and the files that students upload need to be files that are acceptable for the Canvas LMS.  We can't take assignments created in 3rd party platforms (like YouTube/GoReact, etc.)

GE assessment is currently progressing and has been been synchronized and coordinated with ILO assessment.  The cycle assessment activities within each project cycle are grouped into the following categories (see figure):

1. Develop/Refine and Align.  The assessment tool (a scoring rubric in most cases) is developed by faculty experts in the given GE area at the beginning of the project and refined after the evaluation of student work is completed.  In coordination with the faculty who teach courses in the given GE area, key assignments are aligned to the specific GE learning outcomes and the assessment instrument.
2. Collect Student Work. The Office of GE coordinates the collection of student work.  In coordination with faculty teaching selected GE courses, student work on key assignments are identified for collection per GE assessment plans.  Within a course, student work is anonymized prior to collection, and the work is collected and placed in our assessment platform (currently a mix of Google docs/sheets). 
3. Evaluate Student Work. Faculty designated by the Director of General Education and the EEC GE representative score student work using the scoring rubric. Faculty go through a rubric calibration exercise prior to the first scoring session.  
4. Analyze & Summarize Results. Evaluation data are analyzed and summarized into a report compiled by the Director of General Education. 
5. Disseminate Results.  The assessment report is provided to the campus community through Senate committees, college deans, and department chairs who coordinate discussion of the results as relevant. These discussion should lead to identification of any changes that may improve student learning.
6. Implement Changes. Pedagogical, curricular, or programmatic changes may be planned or implemented as informed by the assessment results.  Changes to the rubric or assessment process may also be warranted.

GE assessment is synchronized and coordinated as closely as possible with ILO assessment, congruent with the 2022-2028 .  GE assessment occurs on an on-going, iterative basis on the proposed GE Long-term Assessment Plan ().

Robust and meaningful assessment of GE at key "checkpoints" (guidepost assessment) is extremely valuable in informing improvements, which help move GE into a more coherent, intentional, and scaffolded program.  For example, assessment written communication at key time points in a GE pathway (e.g., GE 1A, Second Composition, and upper-division GE Areas UD-3 or UD-4) allows us to gauge how well our students attain greater autonomy and sophistication in their writing as they progress through their academic pathways.

 Assessment Projects:

• Spring 2026:  The Area 2 (B4) Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning pilot has completed a first round of collection and evaluation in Fall 2019.  A second round was completed in Fall 2020.  The third round will be collected in Fall 2025 and assessed in Spring 2026.
• Spring 2026:  Area 6 (Area F) Ethnic Studies assignments will be collected in Spring 2026 and assessed in Fall 2026.
• Fall 2026:  1B (A3) Critical Thinking pilot of collection and evaluation occurred in Spring 2021.  An assessment summary was completed in Fall 2021.  The learning outcomes and rubric were revised in Fall 2023.  Critical Thinking and Composition assessment (Area 1B) assignments will be collected in Spring 2026 and assessed in Fall 2026.
• Fall 2025:  Area 3A and 3B (C1/2) Arts and Humanities assignments have been collected in Spring 2025 and will be assessed in Fall 2025.
• Fall 2025:  U.S. Code (not GE, but under the umbrella of the GE Director) assignments have been collected in Spring 2025 and assessment will take place in Fall 2025.
• Spring 2025:  1C Oral Communication scoring rubric was developed in Spring 2020.  Collection and evaluation took place in Fall 2020.  In alignment with the ILO assessment schedule, assignments have been collected in Fall 2024 and assessed in Spring 2025.
• Spring 2025:  Area 5A, 5B, and 5C (B1/2/3) Physical and Biological Sciences and lab were assessed in Spring 2025.
• Spring 2025:  Area 4 (D1/2) Social Sciences has been assessed in Spring 2025.
• Spring 2024:  1A (A2) Written Communication assessment took place at the end of Spring 2024. 
• Spring 2024:  Though not part of the GE program (it is a part of Breadth), the Second Composition rubric (developed in 2019 but never tested), was revised in 2023.  Assessment took place in Spring 2024.
  
  
• Note that there was a delay in assessment in 2023/2023 because Blackboard Outcomes is no longer being used.  The university switched to Canvas as our LMS.
  

Explore the tabs below to learn more about each GE project.  Below the tabs faculty can find various GE resources like the rubrics, the assessment reports, and assignment guides.

GE assessment is coordinated by the Director of General Education (GE) and the Educational Effectiveness Council (EEC) Faculty Representative for GE Assessment.  The Director of GE and the EEC Faculty Rep work bring together faculty experts from across campus to perform all stages of the assessment work. The Office of GE will manage and maintain all GE assessment data.  Starting in Spring 2025, the GE Assessment Committee (subcommittee of CAPR) will oversee some of the collection and analyses of student work from designated GE courses.  In some cases the GE Director and EEC Faculty Representative will organize faculty groups to also do other assessment. 

Contact Us

Kevin Kaatz, Director of General Education at kevin.kaatz@csueastbay.edu

Nancy White, EEC Faculty Representative for GE Assessment at nancy.white@csueastbay.edu

The Office of General Education is located in SA 2315.