General Education Assessment at SCC
The SCC General Education Outcomes are the Core Competencies that were determined after conversations with faculty, students, and area employers of SCC graduates during advisory council meetings. The Core Competencies represent the identified qualities that students need to succeed after leaving SCC, whether they complete a degree or certificate for employment, complete an AA/AS degree for transfer to a four-year institution, or obtain continuing education credit. As part of the systematic assessment process, the core competencies are evaluated annually for relevancy.
Programs map their courses to the Core Competencies and ensure every course includes at least one competency. Faculty explicitly articulate to students the learning outcomes of the competencies to which the courses are aligned by identifying the core competency, the assessment artifact, and the evaluation tool within the course assessment plan located in the syllabi. The College has developed a rubric for each Core Competency that the faculty use to asses student learning, and faculty report and analyze the results of the assessment on the Core Competency Assessment Form (CCAF), which is then uploaded to Weave.
At the end of each academic year, the Assessment Coordinator leads the SAAT in consolidating and analyzing all CCAFs to determine competency-specific, program-specific, and institution-wide strengths, areas for improvement, and recommendations. These findings are reported in the annual Student Academic Assessment Monitoring Report and shared with all SCC employees at the annual fall assessment day.
General Education Core Competency Assessment Map
SCC Core Competencies
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is a process designed to implement a strategy to achieve a desired goal. Achievement of problem-solving components assist in gauging an individual’s critical-thinking abilities.
SCC students will:
- Construct a problem statement
- Propose a complete solution
- Implement solutions
Written Communication
Written communication is the development and expression of ideas through writing. Written communication involves learning to work with many styles and different writing technologies while mixing texts with data and images. Written communication abilities develop through interactive experiences across the curriculum.
SCC students will:
- Demonstrate understanding of context, audience, and purpose
- Use appropriate, relevant, and compelling content
- Use English language with clarity and fluency
- Demonstrate use of credible, relevant sources
Oral Communication
Oral communication is a prepared, purposeful presentation designed to increase knowledge, foster understanding, or to promote change on the part of the listeners’ attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
SCC students will:
- Deliver a clear, compelling central message
- Organize a coherent arrangement of ideas
- Deliver with polished techniques (posture, gesture, eye contact, vocal expression)
- Use language choices that enhance the effectiveness of the presentation
- Support with evidence and establish the presenter’s authority
Research and Information Literacy
Research and information literacy are the recognition of the need for information and ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use and share information.
SCC students will:
- Define the scope of the research question, thesis, or problem
- Identify own and multiple others’ assumptions and relevant contexts when presenting a position
- Communicate, organize, and synthesize information to achieve a specific purpose
- Provide complete citations in correct format
Personal Growth and Responsibility
Personal growth is the ability to create personal, academic, and career goals and implement an action plan in order to complete a degree.
SCC students will:
- Use SCC services to enhance self-directed learning
- Accomplish their identified tasks in group work and motivate other members
- Identify and address conflicts directly and constructively while staying engaged
Global and Cultural Awareness
Global and cultural awareness is an acknowledgment of cultural and societal influences, along with differences in race, nationality, religion, and gender, while recognizing that people have different backgrounds, attitudes, and experiences.
SCC students will:
- Draw from information given, their own experiences, and external sources the factors that bring change to society and the ways others have been instrumental in bringing about change
- Demonstrate and discuss inclusion of socio-economic, political, and social events that influence world culture
- Identify effects of stereotypes and myths on society and create ways to dispel these
Recognize the impact of other nations on their own social, political, and economic lives, and make decisions based upon this information