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ASSURANCE OF MASTERY-LEVEL TREATMENT OF ARGUMENTATION SKILLS IN CONNECTION COURSES

Connections courses play a critical pedagogical and assessment role within the Colonnade Program.  Connections courses serve to ensure a capstone experience within the general education curriculum and, as such, play a key role in program-level assessment of general education at WKU.  It was originally envisioned by the General Education Review Task Force that Connections courses would be primarily new courses, developed specifically for the Colonnade Program.  While some new course development has occurred, and more will likely come with time, most of the currently-approved Connections courses already existed within the WKU course inventory prior to development and implementation of the Colonnade Program.

Given this, it is critical to ensure that connections course are addressing E&A student learning outcomes at a mastery level, and building upon the teaching and learning foundations established courses such as ENG 100, COMM 145, and ENG 300.  Specific initiatives are anticipated to include:

• Undertaking an evaluation of the treatment of argumentation skills within Connections courses;
• Working with faculty, academic departments and colleges to ensure that the treatment of argumentation is undertaken at a rigorous and consistent level;
• Aligning course goals and student artifacts with E&A student learning outcomes to facilitate authentic and reliable assessment;
• Assisting faculty in devising assignments that can serve as appropriate artifacts for assessment of E&A student learning outcomes; and
• Establishing appropriate targeted levels of student performance on assessments based on LEAP rubrics.

Want to be involved in this initiative?  Send us an email.