9:29 a.m., Oct. 20, 2009----The University of Delaware Center for Educational Effectiveness -- formerly the Office of Educational Assessment and the Center for Teaching Effectiveness -- and the Office of Deputy Provost have awarded grants to support the development of general education research at UD.

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Through a competitive process, staff from the Center for Educational Effectiveness selected five outstanding and diverse proposals focusing on general education learning outcomes assessment in support of the University's Path to Prominence strategic plan.

A unique component of the grants is the involvement of undergraduate students in the assessment of student learning and in particular, assessment of general education.

According to Deputy Provost Havidán Rodríguez, “These are very important and innovative research initiatives under the leadership of our faculty. Through these research initiatives, we will be able to assess the importance, contributions, and impact of general education at UD. The outcomes of these research projects will not only make important contributions as we prepare for the Middle States Commission accreditation visit in 2011, but will also allow us to enhance general education at the institutional level.”

The following grants were awarded:

• Tammy Anderson, associate professor of sociology, in collaboration with colleagues in the department is investigating how the online pedagogical technologies compared to more traditional face-to-face approaches, might improve students' achievement of general education and department-specific learning goals in large survey courses.

• Dena Deglau, assistant professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, is conducting a qualitative study investigating the development, instructional implementation, and outcomes of Multicultural Education at UD from both the faculty and students' perspectives.

• Melissa Ianetta, associate professor of English and the director of the Writing Center, is researching students' competencies in written communication and information literacy. The instructors will apply a common rubric to assess learning outcomes in first-year writing courses and then compare these results to students' learning outcomes in the second, upper-level writing requirement courses.

• Delphis Levia and April Veness, both associate professors of geography, are examining whether Discovery Learning Experiences (DLE) demand a certain level of academic preparation that make them more valuable and effective for junior and/or senior level undergraduates.

• Louis Rossi, associate professor of mathematical sciences, in collaboration with Bettyann Daley and Alfinio Flores, is studying changes in students' mathematical knowledge and skills during their four years at UD. All freshmen entering UD take the Mathematics Placement Exam, which indicates their ability to work with mathematical abstraction upon arrival. In this study, graduating seniors' mathematical knowledge and skills will be tested using the exact same instrument, and then comparative analyses will be conducted.

“These research initiatives will continue to contribute to our goals to institutionalize and develop university-wide commitment and support for learning assessment and to develop and expand faculty expertise and leadership in this area, which will, in turn, strengthen our academic programs and contribute to enhancing the educational experiences of our students,” said Rodríguez.

Faculty and undergraduate student research teams are currently working on their projects, and they will present the results of their studies by the end of the spring semester 2010. Watch for an update during that semester.

For further information, contact the Center for Educational Effectiveness via e-mail [cfee-info@udel.edu] or call (302) 831-2027.