General Education Outcomes

General education outcomes are core academic skills and knowledge that go beyond a specific course. They are commonly established at the organization level; however, a state-level system may also designate general education outcomes that cross organizational boundaries. General education outcomes function very much like core abilities, therefore many organizations do not distinguish between them.

Purpose

General education outcomes ensure that learners develop the ability to integrate academic foundation skills to achieve personal growth and to carry out their roles as professionals, citizens, and family members.

How General Education Outcomes Relate to Competencies
 A competency is taught in a specific lesson or sequence of related lessons. In contrast, a general education outcome is a broader skill that is cross-functional to many disciplines and occupations. They are skills that are essential regardless of an individual’s personal, occupational, or community role. General education outcomes are not taught in specific lessons—they are woven throughout instruction.

Linking General Education Outcomes

 In WIDS, you can document the relationship between a general education outcome and its related program outcomes, courses, competencies, assessment tasks and learning plans by linking them.  This is important because assessment at the course and competency level documents the learner’s progress toward mastery of the general education outcome. Assessment at the course and competency level also provides information to guide adjustment of learning and teaching strategies that improve student success and performance along the way.

When you have assigned general education outcomes to courses in WIDS, you can run a matrix report to show where those outcomes are addressed across multiple courses. You can also run matrix reports that show how the general education outcomes link to program outcomes or course competencies.

Sources for General Education Outcomes

These outcomes are usually set by the organization. Many organizations have a list to work from. If not, you can usually derive general education outcomes from one of the following sources:

• Focus groups
• External standards
• US Department of Education
• DACUM

General Education Outcome Summative Assessment Strategies

Summative assessment strategies define the product or process used to assess a general education outcome. Some examples include:

• Portfolio
• Reflection
• Completion of a course
• Standardized test
• Clinical evaluation

General Education Outcome Criteria

General education outcome criteria help define the skill described in the general education outcome and clarify the required levels of performance. They are observable and measurable criteria for assessing the outcomes.

General education outcome criteria:

• Provide a structure in which to answer the question, “Did the learner achieve the outcome?”
• Describe important characteristics of a satisfactory performance.
• Establish specifications by which the performance of the general education outcome will be evaluated. In WIDS users can insert general education outcome criteria into scoring guides for assessment.