Dragon Core



Assessment of Dragon Core

MSUM believes Dragon Core is the best path for meeting the general education needs of our students. But we dont want to just believe it is the best path, we intend to prove it is.

The mission of MSUM is to develop knowledge, talent and skills for a lifetime of learning, service and citizenship. The Dragon Core is constructed to provide basic knowledge and skills as well as breadth.  It is also constructed so that student learning in each area of the Core can be assessed against the Student Competencies to affirm students are meeting these goals.

The Dragon Core became the required general education program for all New Entering Freshmen (NEF) in the Fall of 2006. In the Fall of 2007, it will also be required for all entering transfer students who have not fulfilled the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum.

The Dragon Core Assessment process is in a pilot stage. It is critical that the assessment methods established fit the unique MSUM campus and provide meaningful data to all our stakeholders: students, faculty, parents, our community, the Minnesota system office, and the people of Minnesota. Since these projects are pilots, less attention is being paid to some of the technical areas of research, and more attention is being paid to utility and feasibility.

The assessment process began by focusing on the Foundation Four courses in Competency Areas : DC 1A - Oral Communication, DC 1B - Written Communication, DC 2 - Critical Thinking (fulfilled by the Critical and Multicultural Thinking courses) and DC 3 - Mathematics / Symbolic Systems.