CA4 Assessment (draft April 27, 2008)
Provisos
--Of paramount concern is the matter of resources. First, appropriate resources must be provided for assessment; faculty cannot be expected to take on the additional and time-consuming burden of assessment without compensation, assistance, or reduction in other responsibilities. Second, assessment should not divert time, money, or effort from the core university missions of research and teaching.
--The emphasis should not be on assessing individual faculty. Assessment may be most useful to individual faculty if they are encouraged to use the process to assess their own teaching to improve instruction.
--The use of assessment in the future should be judicious and not be expanded to purposes for which it is not originally designed (such as resource allocation).
Mission
Definition of Diversity and Multiculturalism for General Education
In this interconnected global community, individuals of any profession need to be able to understand, appreciate, and function in cultures other than their own. Diversity and multiculturalism in the university curriculum contribute to this essential aspect of education by bringing to the fore the historical truths about different cultural and international perspectives, especially those of groups that traditionally have been underrepresented. These groups might be characterized by such features as “race,” ethnicity, gender, sexual identities, political systems, religious traditions, or by persons with disabilities. By studying the ideas, histories, values, and creative expressions of diverse groups, students gain appreciation for differences as well as commonalities among people.
Subject matter alone cannot define multicultural education. A key element is to examine the subject from the perspective of the group that generates the culture. The inquiry needs to be structured by the concepts, ideas, beliefs, and/or values of the culture under study. A variety of approaches can be used, including comparative or interdisciplinary methodologies. Regardless of the approach, courses should view the studied group(s) as authors and agents in the making of history.
Criteria
Courses may be contemporary or historical in focus; they may be broadly based or highly specialized; they may be at an introductory or advanced level. Courses must contribute to advancing multicultural and/or diverse perspectives and also highlight the perspective of the group(s) under study.
Courses appropriate to this category must meet at least one of the following criteria:
1. Emphasize that there are varieties of human experiences, perceptions, thoughts, values, and/or modes of creativity;
2. Emphasize that interpretive systems and/or social structures are cultural creations;
3. Consider the similarities that may exist among diverse groups;
4. Develop an understanding of and sensitivity to issues involving human rights and migration;
5. Develop an awareness of the dynamics of social, political, and/or economic power in the context of any of the above four items.
At least one course selected by each student must provide an international perspective and/or comparative study of the history of culture(s) over time and place. Courses meeting the international requirement must focus on a group(s) outside of the United States or on cultural continuities and transformations.
Learning Goals
(Goals are what the faculty intends students to know after completions of the CA4 requirements)
Students should be aware of and sensitive to different cultural perspectives of groups that traditionally have been underrepresented. They should be able to understand and articulate in some measurable manner, through the lens of “race,” ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, political system, religious tradition, or of disability, at least one of the following:
Moreover, students should be able to be aware of, sensitive to, able to understand and articulate some of the above issues in terms of international or comparative perspectives on the history of culture(s) and on cultural continuities, disruptions, and transformations over time and place.
Outcomes
Learning Objectives
(Objectives are assessable and/or demonstrable student achievements and abilities arising from completing CA4 requirements. They are measurable reflections of the content area’s learning goals)
Students should be able to carry out, in a reflective manner that is theoretically informed and illustrated with specific examples, through the lens of “race,” ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, political system, religious tradition, or of disability, at least one of the following:
3-1 describe the interrelatedness of various cultures or peoples
4-1 define human rights and/or migration
5-1 inspect social, political, and/or economic power
Moreover, students shall be able to explain, demonstrate, or describe at least one of the above objectives within an international perspective.
Measures
Outcomes in CA4 should be appropriate to the course content and the methods of instruction. At least one of the basic principles of assessment in CA4 should be based on written reflection or work of equal substance as part of the course, which would include analysis of two or more groups or perspectives, through the lens of “race,” ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, political system, religious tradition or disability, and its application to relevant theory and methods presented in the course.
Results
Students should be aware of and sensitive to different cultural groups and perspectives, through the lens of “race,” ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, political system, religious tradition or disability, that traditionally have been underrepresented by
- demonstrating that one or more of the learning objectives have become evident in written reflection (or work of equal substance), and that
- such reflection includes the kernel of one or more of the following intercultural competencies: tolerance for ambiguity, awareness of dissent, empathy, polycentrism, ability to engage with synergies and processes, and the flexibility to challenge one’s own structures of thought and behavior.