Stony Brook University implemented a new general education curriculum for undergraduate
students known as the Stony Brook Curriculum (SBC) in Fall 2014. The purpose of the
SBC is to provide students with foundational knowledge, develop their critical thinking
skills, enhance communication skills, and promote personal growth. The SBC aims to
promote lifelong learning and increase the employability of our graduates.
Assessment of the SBC is a critical component to ensuring that our curriculum is effective
and meeting the needs of our student body. Through assessment, we can provide better
student support and continue to attract high-quality students, faculty and funding.
In collaboration with the Office of the Provost, the Office of Educational Effectiveness
assessed the SBCs during the Spring 2023 semester through guided conversations. Review the presentation slides from the overview session. Review the final report from this assessment.
Our approach to general education assessment the 2023 cycle was led by the following
principles:
To improve our students’ educational experience;
To align with Middle States Commission on Higher Education expectations;
To limit unnecessary burdens on faculty and staff assessing general education courses
through a streamlined process.
To support this assessment initiative, OEE facilitated the following actions in collaboration
with Assessment Coordinators:
March 30, 2023
OEE will provide assessment coordinators with a list of all instructors teaching Spring
2023 general education courses. Assessment Coordinators will be asked to identify
five faculty members to participate in this assessment initiative.
April 5, 2023
Assessment Coordinators select five participating faculty members and notify OEE.
April 6, 2023 - May 8, 2023
Assessment Consultants (members of OEE, CELT, and other assessment champions) will
schedule 45-minute guided conversations with participating faculty members to collect
relevant assessment information. Faculty will receive a copy of their individual reports.
FAQs for Spring 2023 Assessment Cycle
You will receive an email with a comprehensive list of all SBC general education courses
and instructors offered by your department during the Spring 2023 term. Please identify
five faculty members from this list to participate in the general education assessment
initiative. Reply to the email with your selections by April 5, 2023 to notify OEE.
We leave this at your discretion as the assessment coordinator for your area, although
we offer the following considerations to guide your selection, if helpful:
The purpose of general education assessment is to understand the typical performance
of non-majors in the SBC and affiliated learning outcomes. You may want to focus on 100- or 200-level courses (as opposed to 300- and 400-level courses, which are more likely to consist primarily
of major students).
You may want to consult with your program director, chair or dean during the identification
process about your selections.
You are welcome to select faculty members of any appointment type (full-time, part-time,
adjunct, etc.).
You may want to speak with the individual instructors you plan to select prior to
submitting their names to OEE, in order to ensure that they are willing and available
to participate.
We encourage you to select faculty who may be interested in supporting and cultivating
a culture of assessment at Stony Brook University.
It may be helpful to reiterate to faculty members selected to participate that this
assessment initiative is assessing student performance in the SBCs. It is not assessing
faculty teaching in the SBCs.
*Please note: Courses with fewer than 10 students enrolled have been excluded from
the list.*
Absolutely! We encourage you to participate as much as you are able.
Thank you for your participation! Once identified, OEE will reach out to schedule
a 45-minute in-person or Zoom meeting with an Assessment Consultant. This meeting
will consist of a guided conversation to better understand your course, assignments,
and student performance in relation to the SBC categories and learning objective.
To find out what you need to bring to this meeting, see the following FAQ.
Please come prepared with a copy of your syllabus, a list of your course assignments,
and access to student performance results on those assignments. This is for your reference
only and we will not keep these materials.
For instructions on accessing grades in Brightspace, click here.
For assistance accessing information in learning tools embedded within Brightspace
(Cengage, McGraw-Hill, Pearson's, Web Assign, etc.), click here.
For hands-on support with Brightspace, contact Academic Technology Services at (631) 632-9800 or contact the SUNY Helpdesk at 1-(844)-673-6786.
Assessment Consultants are members of the Office of Educational Effectiveness, the
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, and other members of the Office of
the Provost who are trained to conduct the guided conversations on the topic of general
education assessment.
Assessment Consultants will be prepared to facilitate the discussion and will already
have a record of your course code, course title, applicable SBC categories, and a
list of all SBC learning outcomes per category.
The results of the general education assessment initiative will be used to evaluate
student performance in the SBCs. Results will not be used to evaluate faculty teaching
in the SBCs.
Results will be reported in aggregate by SBC category. Aggregated results will not
discuss specific courses or instructors. Participating instructors will receive a
copy of the information collected during the guided conversation meeting for their
records.
Spring 2018 Assessment Cycle
In Spring 2018, SBU faculty and administration launched a pilot project to study the
effectiveness of the SBC, intended to establish a baseline for future projects. At
the time, the project was the first of its kind at SBU to aggregate measurements of
multiple faculty-defined general education learning objectives across departments,
colleges, and schools. The results of this pilot project are available in the final report and in the data visualization dashboard.