Pathways Assessment Data
Virginia Tech adopted the Pathways to General Education curriculum in Spring 2015 with an implementation date of Fall 2018. Pathways assessment data are used to inform and improve the Pathways general education program to enhance student learning at Virginia Tech.
Each time a Pathways course is taught, instructors collect and report assessment data. Submitted data are aggregated at the student learning outcome level, ensuring that data are not student, instructor, or course identifiable.
Reports
Below are downloadable reports for each core and integrative Pathways concept. Pathways assessment data collection was suspended for Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the reports for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years each only include one semester.
2020-2021 Pathways Assessment Data Summary
Core Concepts
- Discourse
- Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- Reasoning in the Natural Sciences
- Quantitative and Computational Thinking
- Critique and Practice in Design and the Arts
- Critical Analysis of Identity and Equity in the U.S.
Integrative Concepts
2019-2020 Pathways Assessment Data Summary
Core Concepts
- Discourse
- Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- Reasoning in the Natural Sciences
- Quantitative and Computational Thinking
- Critique and Practice in Design and the Arts
- Critical Analysis of Identity and Equity in the U.S.
Integrative Concepts
2018-2019 Pathways Assessment Data Summary
Core Concepts
- Discourse
- Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- Reasoning in the Natural Sciences
- Quantitative and Computational Thinking
- Critique and Practice in Design and the Arts
- Critical Analysis of Identity and Equity in the U.S.
Integrative Concepts
Data Visualizations
Several visualizations of the data are provided below. Interactive visualizations have been created for individuals who are interested in exploring Pathways assessment data related to numbers of courses and sections offered, enrollment in sections, and student competency levels for each concept. To explore all concepts, please visit our interactive visualizations.
Number of Courses and Sections Offered
Pathways instructors are asked to submit assessment data to the Institutional Effectiveness unit in the Office of Analytics and Institutional Effectiveness each time they teach a Pathways course. The bar graphs below show the number of courses (313) and sections (2,227) addressing Pathways concepts offered during the 2018-2019 academic year.
* Some Pathways courses address more than one Core Concept and/or Integrative Concept.
Sections Offered and Enrollment in Sections*
The line charts indicate that there is an upward trend in the number of sections included in analyses and the number of students enrolled in sections included in analyses from Fall 2018 to Fall 2019.
This line chart demonstrates the number of sections offered, sections submitting data, and sections included in analyses.
This line chart demonstrates the number of sections offered, sections submitting data, and sections included in analyses.
* Enrollment values include students who may be enrolled and/or assessed in multiple Pathways courses.
Discourse Core Concept (2018-2019)
As seen in the pie charts below, in the 2018-2019 academic year, 52% of sections addressing the Discourse concept were included in analyses. Student enrollment in the Discourse sections included in analyses was 6,368 (54%). Student competency levels for each Pathways student learning outcome (SLO) are shown in the interactive visualizations. For instance, in the bar graphs below, for all Discourse sections included in analyses, 92% of students were rated as either Competent or Above Competent for Discourse SLO 1 (i.e., Discover and comprehend information from a variety of written, oral, and visual sources).
Discourse courses are approved as either Foundational or Advanced/Applied. Discourse is the exchange of ideas in writing or speaking, adapted to specific contexts and developed through discovery, analysis, creation, presentation, and evaluation. A student who is competent in Discourse demonstrates the ability to reason, write, and speak effectively for academic, professional, and public purposes. Students will demonstrate increasing proficiency over the years. All student learning outcomes will be met in all courses, but expectations for proficiency will be heightened for Advanced/Applied courses. There are five student learning outcomes (SLOs) associated with Discourse.
*** Enrollment values include students who may have been enrolled and/or assessed in multiple Pathways courses.