General Education Assessment
The YC General Education Assessment Plan
Yavapai College is committed to ensuring that every graduate leaves our college with the skills and knowledge necessary to be an engaged and successful citizen in the global community.
Our General Education program is designed to provide students with the tools they need to communicate effectively, understand their connections to the natural world, contend with contemporary issues and apply their creativity and insight to career, society and home life.
YC measures student learning by assessing student work products (SWPs) completed in general education courses that support applicable competencies identified on the Official Course Outlines using the YC General Education Rubrics. This work is assessed by faculty in the classroom, by departments in program review, and by faculty work groups in general education assessment.
General Education Assessment (.docx) is a Three Year Cycle. For more information on our Assessment process and Assessment data, please visit our Sharepoint page.
YC General Education Competencies
Each course students take at YC to fulfill their General Education requirements develops students in one or more of the following competencies: written communication, scientific literacy, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, and diversity awareness. Each of these competencies is representative of the general education categories, the special AGEC requirements, or both. Faculty identify the competencies developed in each course on the Official Course Outlines.
Faculty members incorporate course activities and assignments to facilitate students’ development for the applicable competency’s learning outcomes, as identified on the YC General Education Rubrics, which are included in the YC General Education Assessment Plan.
Written communication is the ability to effectively develop, express, and support ideas in written English.
Quantitative Literacy (also known as Numeracy or Quantitative Reasoning) is a “habit of mind,” competency, and comfort in working with numerical data. (AACU Value Rubric)
Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. (National Science Education Standards)
Diversity awareness is the ability to understand a broader perspective of human experience that accompanies an understanding of diverse people groups across history, geography, and culture.
Critical thinking is careful goal-directed thinking using and evaluating reasons in support of a conclusion in accordance with proper patterns of reasoning. This skill includes the ability to critically examine an issue by evaluating conceptual frameworks, determining and drawing upon relevant bodies of evidence, and avoiding reasoning from unquestioned perspectives.