General Education

Historically, USC Sumter has defined general education as the course work leading to an Associate in Arts or an Associate in Science degree. The Associate degree curriculum has been designed to fulfill our mission of fostering in students "the abilities essential to an educated citizenry." These abilities include the ability to communicate effectively, as well as quantitative competence, creative and critical thinking, and the integration of knowledge. These abilities also prepare our students to make a successful transition to a baccalaureate degree program.

USC Sumter has discussed assessment of written communication in previous reports. In this report the assessment of oral communication, computer communication, and quantitative competence will be reviewed.

• Oral Communication Skills
• Computer Communication Skills
• Quantitative Competence
• Success in Baccalaureate Degree Programs

• Transcript Evaluation
• Tracking of Students

The following assumptions have been made:

1. Students who have taken a theater/speech class have acquired the oral communication skills appropriate to the first two years of a university education.
2. Students who have taken a computer science class have acquired the computer communication skills appropriate to the first two years of a university education.
3. Students who have completed the math requirements for an Associate degree have acquired the level of quantitative competence appropriate to the first two years of a university education.
4. Students who successfully change to a baccalaureate degree program have acquired the abilities appropriate to the first two years of a university education.

The transcripts of the cohort of students who earned an Associate of Arts or an Associate of Science degree during 1997 were evaluated to determine how many had taken a theater/speech, and/or a computer science class as part of their Associate degree course work. The transcripts also were evaluated to determine if all Associate degree graduates had met, or exceeded, the math requirement (MATH 111 -Basic College Mathematics) for the degree. The results of the transcript evaluations are:

There are other routes to competency in oral communication and computer skills than taking a course in these areas. USC Sumter knows that many of its courses require oral skills and that many non-computer science courses require use of the computer. We are confident that the percentages shown in the tables above under report the actual skill levels of our Associate degree recipients.

In a previous report USC Sumter provided detailed information showing that our students who change to one of the baccalaureate degree granting USC campuses have a history of success. As part of a continuing study, the records of a cohort of 14 students who completed a Change of Campus to USC Aiken for fall 1995 were recently examined. Seven (50%) of these students have earned a baccalaureate degree from USC Aiken. Of those that had not graduated, three (21.4%) were enrolled during spring 1998 as USC Aiken students, and four (28.6%) were not enrolled for spring 1998 but were eligible to be enrolled. One of the students not enrolled is a military student who appears now to be a University of Hawaii student.

Since only 70.5% of the Associate degree graduates have taken a Theater/Speech course, additional research needs to be conducted to determine how many other courses the Associate degree students have taken contain a significant oral communication component. Also, the transcripts of additional cohorts need to be examined to determine if there is a consistent pattern. If it appears that a significant number of the graduates have not taken courses with an oral communication component, the requirements for the Associate degrees may need to be modified.

Additional cohorts also should be examined to determine if there is a consistent pattern of 80% of the graduates having had at least one computer science course and 100% having met or exceeded the math requirement.

In addition to monitoring the general education of our Associate degree graduates, USC Sumter needs to continue to monitor our success in providing the first two years of the general education background necessary to succeed in a baccalaureate degree program.