The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) has specified five initial competency areas, and the College has developed and adopted definitions for each.  Additional competencies in areas such as the arts and global diversity are being developed under the direction of the Academic Assembly.

To honor the diversity and expertise of faculty in our academic areas, the assessment approach implemented at Montgomery College is course-based rather than program-wide. The process is grounded in the belief that a student who has taken a variety of General Education courses will be more successful at achieving the skills in the five competency areas than one who has not.  In evaluating the effectiveness of our General Education program, only the largest, multiple-section courses across the College have been selected in order to ensure that course-based outcomes assessment does not become individual faculty member-based or campus-based assessment.

1. Define the MHEC competency areas in our own words. By doing so five broad competency areas become 13 distinct learning outcomes. (Completed by the General Education Committee in Spring, 2004.) In addition, begin a college-wide dialogue about adding new General Education competencies.  (Started in Fall, 2004)
2. Ask each academic area to rate its General Education courses according to how important each competency is to the course’s goals through an online General Education Competency Survey. (Completed in Fall, 2004)
3. Create a matrix that is based on faculty responses to the Competency Survey that identifies each of the thirteen competencies and five competency areas as primary, secondary, or not applicable for each of the approximately 260 General Education courses offered at the College.  (Completed Fall, 2004)
4. Develop a list of the College’s “leading” General Education courses, based primarily on enrollment and number of sections. These courses are the pool of candidates to participate in General Education Outcomes Assessment to its full extent.   Other General Education courses will be asked to develop outcomes and supporting student activities to match the competencies, but will not necessarily participate in the assessment part of the process. (Completed Fall, 2004)
5. Create a schedule for each “leading general education course” to participate in the assessment process that maintains a balance of Foundation and Distribution courses from the five lists, and does not overburden disciplines that have multiple “leading general education courses” or ones with multiple primary competency areas.   (Completed Fall, 2004)
6. Identify and train college-wide faculty workgroups responsible for developing and implementing the assessment process for participating “ leading general education courses.”  In addition to assessing specified general education competencies, assessment of at least one course content outcome is required. (Completed Fall, 2004 for Round One)
7. Provide continued support for faculty workgroups as they design, pilot, evaluate, and implement an outcomes assessment plan.  (On going)
8. Analyzed data by the OA Data Resource Team, after assessment is graded by individual discipline faculty.  (On going)
9. Return completed assessment results to General Education Committee and Executive  Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for review. Individual course assessment results are returned to appropriate discipline chairs to be shared and reviewed with faculty.
10. Determination by General Education Committee as to the extent that General Education Program is helping students achieve desired competencies. Recommendations follow.
11. Determination by disciplines as to whether instructional improvements are necessary. Recommendations follow.

Every academic area will participate in the assessment of student learning outcomes (SLOs).  However, for the purposes of planning the Gen Ed OA process, academic areas have been broken into three categories:

1. Academic areas with NO Gen Ed courses.
2. Academic areas with Gen Ed courses on the "leading courses" list.
3. Academic areas with Gen Ed courses, but NONE on the "leading courses" list

Academic areas in the first and third groups will begin their SLO assessment in the year after they complete academic area review (AAR). The second group will NOT follow this schedule; rather they will follow the General Education Outcomes Assessment Schedule, substituting their Gen Ed outcomes assessment project for the academic area SLO assessment.  Of course, this group may choose to assess other academic experiences such as a degree or transfer program in addition to their Gen Ed assessment, however doing so is not required.

For more information about the General Education at Montgomery College visit the General Education Committee website. 

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