General Education

The primary purpose of the assessment process for the University of Richmond's general education requirements is to determine the degree to which students are demonstrating the stated learning outcomes for each of the requirements. The three requirement areas — First-Year Seminars, second language (COMII) and fields of study — all operate on their own assessment cycles ranging from one to three years in length. The timeline for the current three-year overall cycle is as follows:

Fall 2017
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Latin
•Fields of study - Symbolic Reasoning, Natural Science

Spring 2017
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, German, Russian
•Fields of study - Historical Studies, Visual and Performing Arts

Fall 2016
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Fields of study - Literary Studies, Social Analysis

Spring 2016
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Greek
•Fields of study - Natural Science, Social Analysis

Fall 2015
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Fields of study - Historical Studies, Visual and Performing Arts

Spring 2015
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Chinese, Russian,Spanish, Latin
•Fields of study - Literary Studies, Social Analysis

Fall 2014
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - French, Italian, Spanish
•Fields of study - Natural Science, Symbolic Reasoning

Spring 2014
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Arabic, German, Japanese, Spanish
•Fields of study - Historical Studies, Visual and Performing Arts

Fall 2013
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - French, Italian, Spanish
•Fields of study - Literary Studies, Social Analysis

Spring 2013
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek
•Fields of study - Natural Science, Symbolic Reasoning

Fall 2012
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking, Written Communications, Information Literacy
•Second language - French, Italian, Spanish
•Fields of study - Historical Studies, Visual and Performing Arts

Spring 2012
•First-Year Seminars - Written Communication, Information Literacy
•Second language - Arabic, French, Russian, Latin
•Fields of study - Literary Studies, Social Analysis

Fall 2011
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking
•Second language - Italian, Spanish
•Fields of study - Natural Science, Symbolic Reasoning

Spring 2011
•First-Year Seminars - Written Communication, Information Literacy
•Second language - Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish
•Fields of study - Historical Studies, Visual and Performing Arts

Fall 2010
•First-Year Seminars - Oral Communication, Critical Thinking
•Second language - French, Italian, Spanish
•Fields of study - Literary Studies, Social Analysis

For the First-Year Seminars and fields of study assessment, course-embedded assignments selected by each instructor are used to assess the degree to which students demonstrate the specified learning outcomes. The second language assessment utilizes a combination of standardized tests and course-embedded assignments.

First-Year Seminars

Each semester, instructors will be randomly assigned to assess two of the four First-Year Seminar learning outcomes, either critical thinking and oral communication or written communication and information literacy. Instructors select an assignment, exercise, work product, etc. that best incorporates the learning outcome and provides the best illustration of the extent to which the students have achieved the outcome. When fitting, the same assignment may be used to assess both of the outcomes that are being assessed that semester.

At the end of the semester, the instructor uses the designated rubric to assess each student's work and assign a rating. Then the instructor tallies the number of students achieving each rating level for each criterion included in the rubric. All tally results are then submitted to the assessment specialist to be entered, aggregated, and analyzed.

Second Language

Modern and classical languages used to fulfill the second language requirement, 202- or 221-level courses, are assessed using a three-year timeline. Students from a sample of sections from the most popular languages — Spanish and French — are assessed on an annual basis, while students in all other languages are assessed at one designated point during the three years. Students in most of the modern languages are assessed using the Standards-Based Assessment and Measure of Proficiency (STAMP) test, which is an external standardized language proficiency test.

For two modern languages — Arabic and Russian — as well as the classical languages — Latin and Greek — a STAMP test is not available, so students in those languages are assessed using a course-embedded assessment. For Arabic and Russian, instructors assess students using the Levels of Competence rubric, which is based on a combination of the Common European Framework of Reference and the National Foreign Language Standards.

Fields of Study

The six fields of study are assessed using a three-semester timeline. Each semester, two fields of study are scheduled for assessment. All courses offered for credit in the fields of study being assessed are included in the assessment of the learning outcomes. Each field of study instructor selects an assignment, exercise, work product, etc., that best incorporates each of the learning outcomes and provides the best illustration of the extent to which the students have achieved the outcome. When fitting, the same assignment can be used to assess both of the outcomes designated for the semester.

At the end of the semester, the instructor uses the designated rubric to assess each student's work and assign a rating. Then the instructor tallies the number of students achieving each rating level for each of the outcomes. All tally results are then submitted to the assessment specialist to be entered, aggregated, and analyzed.