Departmental Assessment Update - Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Report

Department: Food Science and Human Nutrition
Program: BS
Level: Undergraduate

1. List in detail your undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for each degree/certificate offered.

The FSHN faculty has developed a Table containing content competencies for nutrition and food science majors, organized under Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. It is a working document consisting of 28 pages elaborating on the various levels of Bloom's taxonomy (knowledge statements, comprehension and application, and analysis and evaluation). Our document also contains learning objectives for each competency and learning strategies for each course in the FSHN curriculum. The content competencies were developed by the faculty and for each knowledge, application and evaluation section, faculty members filled in what they were doing in their courses to accomplish the specific objective.

2. Where are these SLOs published (e.g., department web page)?

The learning outcomes are not"published" per se. Each faculty member has a copy of the document.

3. Explain how your SLOs map onto your curriculum, i.e., how does your curriculum produce the specific SLOs in your students?

Each faculty member is responsible for implementing the SLO's in the particular class that he/she teaches.

4. What specific methodologies were used to collect data? In developing your response, consider the following questions:

There is an on-going college-wide exit survey that is given to all graduating students.

Within the department, there were two instruments used until Spring, 2005: 1) an exit exam required of all graduating baccalaureate students and 2) and undergraduate alumni survey sent to students who has graduated 4-5 years previously. From Fall, 2005, the faculty voted to have all students have a student portfolio for the period they are students in the department. They are to place their exemplary work from each class into the portfolio.

To maintain CADE certification for the dietetics option, additional data is collected on student success in obtaining post BS dietetics internships, pass rate on the exam for registered dieticians, success of graduates in obtaining employment, and program retention. This data is collected by the dietetics program director. Pass rates are collected by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Employment status is obtained through a survey of the Hawaii Dietetic Association roster and personal communication with alumni.

The college exit survey asks students about their development of the following CTAHR Critical Skills and Competencies:
Written communications
Oral communications
Analytical/problem solving skills
Personal characteristics (e.g. curiosity, sense of humor)
Human relations skills
Business management skills
Real world experience
Leadership skills
Computer skills
Global perspective

The college exit survey is administered when students apply to graduate.
The portfolio is added to every semester during the junior and senior years.

The college-wide exit survey is required of all majors graduating from CTAHR.
The portfolio is required of all FSHN majors.

Portfolios are collected in pre-existing classes.
The CTAHR exit survey is collected on-line from graduating seniors.

All FSHN majors are assessed.

The exit survey data are collected by the CTAHR Academic Affairs office and provided to departments. The portfolios are assessed by a committee of FSHN faculty.

The exit survey is completed on-line. The portfolios are collected from the best class work in all FSHN classes. The student has the option of including class work from classes outside their major.

5. How were the assessment data/results used to inform decisions concerning the curriculum and administration of the program?

Program requirements were changed to require Math 140 rather than Math 100.

Schedule changes were made so students would take Organic Chemistry in the fall and Biochemistry in the spring semester.

Course changes were made to combine quantity foods and institutional purchasing into a single course to remove redundancy.

A new course was added that meets the E requirement.

The content in some key courses was upgraded to a higher level.