Student Success and Engagement in the General Education Program
Faculty Grant Proposal
Grant Applicants:
Dr. Nikolai G. Wenzel ([email protected]), Dr. Carrie B. Kerekes
Department of Economics and Finance
Lutgert College of Business
Grant Summary:
Assessment of Written Communication and Critical Thinking in
Principles of Economics (General Education) Classes
Description of project objectives and plan for enhancing student success and engagement within
the General Education Program:
The economics faculty utilized funds from a previous General Education faculty grant to
incorporate the Test for Understanding College Economics (TUCE) into our Principles of
Microeconomics (ECO2023) and Principles of Macroeconomics (ECO2013) courses. This is a
nationally normed test that enables us to examine our students’ pre- and post-test scores, and
compare these scores with the national average. This test is administered in all sections of
Principles of Micro- and Macroeconomics each semester. Both of these courses are in the
General Education Program and assess critical thinking. The TUCE enables us to assess critical
thinking consistently across our courses. In addition to assessing critical thinking for the
purposes of the General Education Program, we also use these results each semester for program
assessment for the Lutgert College of Business.
The TUCE is a multiple-choice exam. The current proposal is to incorporate a supplementary
method to assess General Education Competencies and better to prepare students for future
courses. The plan is to administer and assess short writing assignments to each student in the
Principles of Micro- and Macroeconomics courses, with the objective of improving both critical
thinking and written communication skills.
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Although ECO2023 and ECO2013 do not formally assess written communication for the General
Education Program, we are concerned with the fact that many of our students have poor written
communication skills. Upon graduation, students are expected to be at benchmark 4 according to
the University Writing Rubric, yet many of our students do not practice writing skills following
Composition 1 and 2. Students enrolled in Micro and Macro Principles may be midway through
the General Education Program, and are just entering the Lutgert College of Business.
Description of plan and criteria for assessing enhancement of student success and engagement:
The plan is to develop short writing assignments that will be administered and assessed in
Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics (initially one section each
semester per participating faculty member, for a total of four sections, or roughly 200 essays, in
the first year). These assignments will require critical thinking skills and will assess written
communication. The plan is that the economics faculty will develop the assignments. Students
will likely be asked to read an article or book excerpt, and answer an essay question that pertains
to the reading and requires economic logic. Essays will be limited to one page (typed, double
spaced) in length.
Individual faculty members will determine their own criteria for assigning grades, as each
assignment is incorporated into the total class grade. In addition, program faculty will assess the
essays each semester for written communication according to the Lutgert College of Business
writing rubric (attached).
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Description of how the project will address and assess student achievement in one or more of the
FGCU General Education Competencies:
As this is a writing assignment, we will directly assess written communication. The structure
and nature of the questions will also enable us to evaluate critical thinking skills.
Detailed timeline and itemized budget:
Our timeline is the 2012-2013 Academic Year. We will incorporate these assignments in the fall
and spring semesters. The grant funding will be used to compensate faculty for the time spent
assessing this additional assignment. We are requesting a grant of $2,000 and would divide this
evenly between the participating economics faculty ($500/professor/semester x 2 semesters x 2
professors). As part of this pilot program, two economics professors (Dr. Wenzel and Dr.
Kerekes) will assess writing in their Principles classes. Both professors use research papers in
their upper-level economics classes, but have hitherto not used heavy writing in Principles
(General Education) classes. If this pilot program is a success and fits within the teaching and
assessment economics (within the Department of Economics and Finance), we will consider
expanding the program to the entire economics faculty.
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