In our assessment for 2009-2010 we concluded that

"It is time for the Social Social Science Core to be revised. The basic leaning outcomes in the Social Science Core were established in 1998. They include the three outcomes assessed plus the writing requirement. A number of departments in the Social Science Core would like to see the writing requirement eliminated. When the college changes from a five course student load to a four course student load, the general education requirements will have to be revised. We should take this opportunity to use the evidence from the assessments to revise the Social Science Core to reflect the new situation and current practice."

Because the discussion of the switch from a five course to a four course load is incomplete and unclear, we did not pursue these three items in need of revision

  • Number of courses in the social science core, 2 or 1
  • Writing requirement , or not
  • Clarification of the learning outcome on methods of social science

All three items depend on the structure of general education and will wait for some resolution of that before the loop will be finally closed.  The last item is most closely linked to our assessment. Teaching of the methods of social science is not taught consistently or consistently well across the courses in the social science core.  This in turn is related to the definition of a "social science" course.  Making the methods of social science learning outcome stronger, implies that some courses currently in the social science core may not belong there.

Closing the loop in social science core must proceed along with revision of the general education curriculum for the college.

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