The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s (UHM) General Education Office (GEO) and General Education Committee (GEC) are committed to the assessment of student achievement of the General Education (Gen Ed) learning outcomes. The fourth assessment project in the Gen Ed seven-year assessment plan is of Foundations Quantitative Reasoning (FQ). The FQ assessment project is overseen by the GEC’s Assessment Working Group and the General Education Office.
2023 – 2025: Foundations Quantitative Reasoning (FQ) Assessment Project
FQ Assessment Project Timeline
FQ Faculty Learning Community
An FQ Faculty Learning Community (FQ FLC) was formed consisting of 10 faculty members from different departments that offer FQ designated courses. Three FQ FLC sessions were facilitated by Sarah Widiasih Post, Christine Beaule, and Rosalie Paradise. The goals for each session were as follows:
Session 1: Discuss FQ assessment and the feasibility of administering a signature assignment.
Session 2: Develop and share signature assignments that are directly aligned with the FQ Student Learning Objectives (SLOs).
Session 3: Develop a rubric that is designed to directly measure the SLOs .
Faculty administer signature assignment and GEO collects artifacts at the end of the semester.
Faculty continue to administer signature assignments and GEO collects artifacts.
Artifacts will be assessed and report written.
Results will be discussed and an action plan will be created (including plans for ongoing professional development).
2015 – 2017: Quantitative Reasoning: Institutional Learning Assessment Project
The Assessment and Curriculum Support Center conducted the “Quantitative Reasoning: Institutional Learning Assessment Project” in 2015-2016. Faculty scored 88 pieces of student work, nearly all from upper-division courses, using the AAC&U Quantitative Literacy VALUE Rubric.
The following is the executive summary of the “Quantitative Reasoning: Institutional Learning Assessment Project. Please see the 2015-2016 FULL REPORT for more detailed information.
In response to the 2015 – 2016 Quantitative Reasoning: Institutional Learning Assessment Project, the Assessment and Curriculum Support Center held three QR faculty development workshops in collaboration with a Mathematics faculty member to work on assignment design and alignment with the scoring rubric. In spring 2017 artifacts were collected from 100-level and upper-division courses that instructors identified as addressing QR skills. The key take-aways are:
- Artifacts from upper-division courses and students with 90+ credits received higher scores on average than artifacts from lower-division courses and students with 0-15 credits.
- Results in 2016 and 2017 were similar.
- The results suggest changes to the learning environment are needed in order to improve student learning achievement.
- Professional development for faculty is an effective way to change the learning environment and it deserves consideration.
Please see the 2017 FULL REPORT for more detailed information.
