Table 5. Summary of New Areas For Assessment

1. The relationship between Women’s Studies and STEM learning.

• What courses are being developed that emphasize analysis of scientific research?
  
• When and where do Women’s Studies undergraduates use quantitative skills?
  
• What kinds of gender-related courses already teach “hard science”?
  

2. The structures of women’s studies programs and the sequencing of courses.

• (How) have we adapted our curriculum to students’ need for incremental skills development?
  
• What strategies have we found to build coherent programs rather than simply offering random collections of courses, given that our students pursue increasingly complex paths through higher education?

3. General Education and Women’s Studies.

• What can other disciplines learn from Women’s Studies’ leadership in general education?
  
• How do students become so engaged in large introductory courses?

4. Academic excellence and Women’s Studies.

• In what ways are Women’s Studies classes rigorous?
  
• How do Women’s Studies courses challenge students to do their best work?

5. Women’s Studies and career preparation.

• How do Women’s Studies courses prepare students for nontraditional careers for women, such as business and engineering?
  
• What can other disciplines learn about the progress Women’s Studies practitioners have made in engaging students in “real world” applications of knowledge?

6. Women’s Studies, social justice, and diversity.

• (How) does the emphasis on an “ethic of care,” hands-on learning, and social justice in Women’s Studies prepare students to engage as productive citizens?
  
• How does the insistence on cross-cultural and cross-class analysis in Women’s Studies courses prepare students for work or advanced study? In what ways could Women’s Studies programs improve in their inclusiveness of women from ethnic and racial minorities?
  
• What can other disciplines learn from the progress Women’s Studies practitioners have made in integrating knowledge about women of color (both in the US and internationally) throughout their courses? How can Women’s Studies faculty do better in this area?

7. Women’s Studies and new technologies.

• What are the effects of on-line courses and programs on learning in Women’s Studies?
  
• How can Women’s Studies promote digital literacy among women?
  
• How can the traditional social science/arts/humanities faculty base of Women’s Studies partner with colleagues in the sciences to promote digital and scientific literacy?

8. Women’s Studies and assessment.

• (How) has feminist assessment changed since the publication of Students at the Center?
• What new assessment techniques lend themselves to learning in Women’s Studies?
  
• How can Women’s Studies faculty involve students as partners in assessment and program evaluation?