Learning Assessment and Rowan Core Committee

The LARC Committee, which merges the previous Rowan Core and Learning Outcomes & Assessment committees, was created in Spring 2020.

[quick link: information on proposing a new Rowan Core course]

[quick link: list of current Rowan Core courses]

Committee Charge

The Learning Assessment & Rowan Core (LARC) Committee has the following responsibilities:

• Develop and approve changes to Rowan Core policy. (Significant changes will need Senate approval.)
• Coordinate with the Senate Curriculum Committee to ensure that proposals to create new Rowan Core courses include the information needed to begin managing and assessing these courses.
• Revise existing Rowan Core learning outcomes (or add new ones) as needed.
• Communicate regularly with departments regarding Rowan Core policy, the status of Rowan Core courses, and assessment requirements.
• Manage the Rowan Core program in coordination with the Director of Assessment (e.g., maintaining a shared database with information on approved Rowan Core courses).
• Manage existing Rowan Core courses, including review of proposed changes to assessment plans (e.g., changes to assignments or exam questions).
• Periodic review of existing assessment plans for Rowan Core courses, ensuring that they remain relevant and follow best practices in assessment.
• Revoke courses from Rowan Core if departments fail to do the approved student assessment.
• Ongoing review of Rowan University’s assessment principles and practices.
• Work with departments on programmatic assessment, including the review of proposals to use Rowan Core learning outcomes to assess program courses.
• Coordinate with the work of the Director of Assessment, including the systematic review and analysis of assessment data.

About Rowan Core

Rowan Core is the general education model at Rowan University that began running in Fall 2018. Students complete course requirements in six Rowan Core literacies: Artistic, Communicative, Global, Humanistic, Quantitative and Scientific. Student learning is assessed based on a set of outcomes for each literacy.

Rowan Core Updates (and a Potted History)

• Start of Fall 2021 set as the date on which incoming transfer students will begin following the Rowan Core requirements [see the full Senate resolution]
• Resolution establishing the review responsibilities of the Senate Curriculum and LARC Committees for Rowan Core, WI and LIT courses [approved by the Senate Nov. 20, 2020]
• Plan for the future of WI and LIT courses [approved by the Senate Nov. 20, 2020]
• New LARC Committee replaces the existing Rowan Core and Learning Outcomes & Assessment Committees [Fall 2020]
• New Rowan Core Transfer Credit Policy approved [April 24, 2020]
• New online alternative to Public Speaking developed [April 24, 2020, link includes FAQ]
• Full rewrite of the Rowan Core learning outcomes [Spring 2020, implementation in progress]
• Amended Rowan Core policy approved [a full rewrite of Rowan Core policy, Spring 2019]
• Initial Implementation of Rowan Core [Fall 2018, initially for first-year, native Rowan Students]
• Quasi-curricular proposal creating the Rowan Core Committee and model approved [Fall 2015; note: this policy document is fully superseded by the Amended Rowan Core policy above]
• (several years of contentious debates about the future of general education at Rowan)
• Original Rowan Core Literacies and outcomes approved [Fall 2011; superseded by the new outcomes approved above]
• Start of the initiative to reform general education at Rowan [Fall 2010]

How to Add Courses to Rowan Core

2020-21 Review Cycle

The LARC Committee welcomes your proposals to develop new Rowan Core courses—or to revise existing Core courses. There are four kinds of proposals involving Rowan Core courses. Below is a chart summarizing the submission and review process for each proposal type.

For proposals submitted using the new OnBase curricular software (types 1 and 4), please follow the detailed guidelines posted on the Curriculum Committee website: https://sites.rowan.edu/senate/curriculum/index.html.

For any proposal that will be reviewed by the LARC Committee (types 1, 2 and 3), you must submit a Course Assessment Plan. This document should follow the official template, which ensures that all information required for Core Committee review is included. If you are submitting your proposal using OnBase (type 1: brand new Core courses), the Assessment Plan should be attached (as an editable Word Document, not a PDF) in the Curriculum Review section, “Supporting Documentation: Assessment”. For proposals that are not going through OnBase (types 2 or 3), simply email the Assessment Plan to the LARC Committee chair—bauer@rowan.edu—again as an editable Word document.

A pre-formatted Word Document template of the Course Assessment Plan is available here:

• [blank template]

The following are also available to help you prepare your Assessment Plan:

• [sample assessment plan] (PDF with explanatory comments and advice)
• List of Rowan Core Outcomes for each Literacy [rewritten in Spring 2020]

The Rowan Core proposal and review process is meant to be collaborative, and the LARC Committee's goal is to help your department develop the best possible plan for including the course in Rowan Core—and for assessing the course effectively. You are welcome to send ideas, drafts, questions, etc. to the LARC Committee chair (bauer@rowan.edu) ahead of your official proposal submission.