March 2025

Pathways assessment tool receives positive feedback 

By Bethany Lenhardt, Undergraduate Education intern

The Pathways General Education program at Virginia Tech provides the foundational knowledge each student is expected to complete to be eligible for graduation. It is divided into seven core and two integrative concepts that help students diversify and expand their education, regardless of their degree program.

Each semester, a sample of instructors teaching Pathways courses collect assessment data on student learning outcomes for each of the Pathways concepts aligned with the course. The aggregated assessment data allows Virginia Tech to evaluate the success of the program and make improvements to enhance student learning.

Previously, assessment was submitted manually via an Excel spreadsheet. Molly Hall, senior associate director of Institutional Effectiveness (IE), knew the system needed an overhaul. With the rest of the IE team, Hall worked with Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies, Information Technology Learning Systems, and the Office of General Education to create a streamlined system.

“With the old system, faculty had to collect their data, manually enter it into a spreadsheet, and then email it to our office,” said Hall. “From the beginning, a lot of instructors were asking if they could submit Pathways data like they do grades in Canvas, because they can click a button to submit their grades. Now, that's what they can do with Pathways assessment.”

This upgrade has received positive feedback. Terry Clements, professor and program chair of the Landscape Architecture program, says that the integration into Canvas is a time saver for busy faculty.

“The new Pathways Assessment Tool, as it is integrated into Canvas, is really quite helpful in being able to determine where or how particular Pathways learning outcomes are met and to what degree,” said Clements. “It saves an incredible amount of time not having to go backwards through documents that might be a little bit hard to track down, particularly for larger classes.”

Clements teaches LAR 1264: Seeing, Understanding, and Representing Landscape and the Built Environment. This course meets Pathways Concept 6, Critique and Practice in Design and the Arts, and the Integrative Concept Ethical Reasoning.

“Assessment can help inform all sorts of things, like if there are courses that are in sequence, it's important to know that students in the beginning course have learned that material so that they can succeed in the next course,” said Hall.

Although the Pathways Assessment Tool is new, having been implemented in Fall 2024, Hall stresses that help and resources are available for interested faculty.

“We've got plenty of staff and resources to help everyone that wants help,” she said. “There’s asynchronous training on the Pathways website, an Instructor Guide for using the new Pathways Assessment Tool, and FAQs, as well as one-on-one meetings available to anybody who has questions or needs more information.”

Ultimately, the goal of integrating Pathways assessment into Canvas course sites is to reduce the burden on instructors while identifying areas for improvement related to student learning and the student experience. Assessment plays a crucial role in ensuring the university maintains its accreditation and is delivering on the curricular promises we have made to students.