The web-based Global Competence Aptitude Assessment (GCAA) is used to directly assess all three SLOs and the overall objective of the QEP: Preparing Students for an Interconnected World. It is administered to incoming freshman students to exiting senior students upon application for graduation a pre/post assessment students traveling abroad in all programs. These assessments serve as direct measures of student learning in a wide variety of factors that have been shown to impact global competence.
The GCAA provides two overall scores for internal and external readiness and eight component scores to profile global competence. Internal readiness (green) characteristics encompass the personal traits and attitudinal drivers of global competence. External readiness (blue) characteristics are one’s acquired knowledge through education or life experiences. The maximum score for internal and external readiness is 100 each, for a total score of 200 points. The instrument comprises four distinct sections, each with a different question style.
Cross-referencing is utilized throughout the GCAA, whereby each of the eight identified dimensions of global competence is evaluated from a variety of angles, using different styles of questions and varying degrees of difficulty.
The GCAA provides a baseline measure of global competence for incoming A&M-Commerce students in a pre-assessment, while the post-assessment measure will reflect student learning over the student’s entire undergraduate experience. The summative post-assessment will allow A&M-Commerce to determine if the overall student learning outcomes and objective of the QEP program have been achieved for both the annual and fifth-year reports.