Departmental Assessment Update - Arts and Humanities Report

Department: American Studies
Program: BA
Level: Undergraduate

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

Upon completion of an AMST BA, all students should have acquired: (1) Substantial knowledge of American history, society, and culture, as well as a basic appreciation of different scholarly approaches to American Studies; (2) critical thinking skills necessary to analyze a variety of cultural artifacts (literature, primary documents, film, music, etc.), as well as historical and present-day sociopolitical issues; (3) competence in scholarly writing and oral communication; and (4) basic research skills, including advanced research skills in one area of specialization (majors only).

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

SLOs are published online on our department website www.hawaii.edu/amst, the undergraduate brochure, and on handouts to prospective majors and minors. The undergraduate chair also conducts entry and exit interviews with every student, in which the department’s expectations and offerings, as well as the student’s experiences, are discussed.

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

AMST is an interdisciplinary program that students to a variety of research methods, cultural forms, and content areas. Our curriculum strikes a balance between program integrity and consistency, on the one hand, and individual creativity, flexibility, and cross-departmental exploration on the other. To encourage the latter, AMST allows students to take nine upper-division credits (out of thirty required for the major) outside of the department, subject to the approval of the undergraduate chair. A student particularly interested in U.S. women’s history, for instance, might supplement his or her AMST coursework with offerings in History, Women’s Studies, or Sociology. To ensure the former, AMST offers a sequence of courses that provides all majors a shared set of skills and content knowledge in accordance with our SLO objectives. Our main introductory course, America and the World (AMST 150), surveys North American-world relations over 500 years, underscoring pivotal events in US history and highlighting the global dimension to the American experience. At the upper-division, we require all minors and majors to take a year-long junior seminar, AMST 381 & 382, which introduces students to diverse approaches to American Studies and surveys a variety of cultural artifacts in examining major turns in American history from the eighteenth century forward. As advanced seminars, AMST 381 and 382 require students to engage in critical discussions, make oral presentations, and write regularly about the assigned readings, thus enhancing critical thinking, oral communication, and writing skills. Finally, all majors are required to complete our Senior Research Seminar (AMST 481), which requires students to conduct extensive primary research and write an original, analytically sophisticated, and polished research paper of approximately twenty-five pages. Working closely with the instructor, UH librarians, and one faculty advisor, students in AMST 481 substantially augment their research skills and develop considerable expertise in their area of specialization. Because multiple revisions are required, we have found that students’ prose improves considerably as well. AMST 481 is our capstone course and allows us to assess the SLOs of each graduating senior. In addition to these required classes, AMST aims to advance our SLO objectives in all of our courses. As a complement to our two large lecture courses (AMST 150 and AMST 310), we emphasize seminars and medium-size courses to foster critical engagement rather than passive learning. In most of these courses, we require critical analysis of primary documents and secondary readings, and in many of our upper-division courses, we require individual research papers and oral presentations. At the lower division, we offer a variety of courses that emphasize basic concepts and content knowledge in US cultural studies, history, world, and political affairs. Ph.D. students teach some of these sections, and the undergraduate chair works closely with GAs and lecturers to ensure that SLOs are being advanced. Overall, the AMST curriculum committee has carefully analyzed all of our offerings over the past few years, making significant adjustments to eliminate overlap, enhance complementarity, harmonize expectations, and maintain consistency with theoretical developments in the humanities.

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

Our assessment program includes several components that allow us to evaluate both the progress of our students and the effectiveness of our teaching. Because AMST is a relatively small department (which means faculty members generally develop close mentoring relationships with each student) and an interdisciplinary program (which, by definition, means there is no single set of methods or content that must be mastered by all of its practitioners), we have developed a qualitative rather than quantitative assessment protocol. First, the undergraduate chair conducts an entry and exit interview with each major and minor, thus providing an opportunity to explore student experiences v. expectations, general attitudes toward the program, and any comments on our strengths and weaknesses. Over the course of these interviews, the undergraduate chair makes a note of patterns and instructive comments and shares them in a presentation to the entire faculty each Spring. Likewise, during the Spring and Fall, the department chair shares any insights gleaned from reviewing student evaluations (both in the CAFE format and in our own customized forms). Second, we have implemented a midpoint assessment check in the form of a meeting between the two instructors of our junior seminar (AMST 381 and 382). As each section (generally taught in the Fall, then the Spring) generally includes the same students, these instructors meet to discuss each student’s qualities at the end of the Fall semester. Finally, every graduating student in AMST 481 works intensively with the instructor and one outside advisor in crafting their capstone projects. This course concentrates all of our SLOs (save content mastery covered by previous courses), and thus allows us to carefully evaluate the writing, research, and critical thinking abilities of each student as she or he exits the program. Because AMST bestows various awards to graduating seniors, the faculty awards committee also spends time scrutinizing the transcripts and selected written work of every graduating senior each Spring. Because our modest size means that students and faculty members have worked together quite closely, these awards discussions tend to be quite substantive, thus providing an additional level of assessment. In general, AMST faculty members assess the entire population of majors and minors in terms of performance, progress, and attitudes at three critical junctures in the program (entry, midpoint, and exit).

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

Since WASC’s initial expression of concern about student assessment in 1999, AMST has made significant adjustments to nearly every aspect of our program. These changes have been based largely on our assessment of student learning and our students’ assessment of faculty teaching, as well as the scholarly direction of AMST nationally and the evolving UHM strategic plan. In terms of the curriculum, after reviewing the work of our students in 400-level seminars, we felt that our students were not acquiring sufficient content knowledge of American history (particularly in its global dimensions). Nor were we entirely satisfied with the quality of student research and writing. In response, we redesigned our core curriculum, creating a new introductory lecture course, AMST 150, and our intensive senior seminar, AMST 481. In the Fall of 2006, Assistant Professor Vernadette V. Gonzalez joined our faculty. Part of her teaching duties includes shaping the future direction of the AMST 150 course as well as to help the department offer more sections of this part of our undergraduate curriculum. From 2003 to 2006, the curriculum committee reviewed every course offered by AMST, retooling syllabi, eliminating dormant or unpopular courses, and adding several new classes in emerging areas like performance studies, Filipino American studies, music cultures, globalization, diasporic studies, and criminal justice. Our newest course is a graduate-level seminar, Writing for Publication, which will assist in developing graduate students’ professional skills in writing for a variety of scholarly venues.

 

We have also added courses in historic preservation and museum studies to link undergraduate research in AMST to two graduate certificate programs offered by the department where students are encouraged to work in or with public institutions and organizations. With the addition of Prof. Gonzalez, we expect to further broaden curricular offerings in her areas of expertise and interest, including militarism, tourism, gender and sexuality studies. These curricular changes have made the AMST major more academically rigorous and have also installed checkpoints that make student assessment more systematic. Senior faculty members continue to guide key committees like hiring and personnel, but we have selected relatively new faculty members to serve as undergraduate and graduate chair, thus hoping to bring new energy and perspective to our teaching and advising. In the process of reworking our curriculum and attracting new students to the program, we have also made our undergraduate advising considerably more intense, extending our entry and exit interviews and encouraging all majors to meet with an advisor each academic year. In the process of designing a brochure and website (and also in preparing for our outside review), AMST also convened several focus groups of undergraduates (as well as alumni and graduate students) to discuss the student experience in the program. In terms of pedagogy, all faculty members have agreed to our stated SLOs and have endeavored to advance them in their courses. In addition, we have made personnel changes in certain required courses in response to student suggestions. Because some of our 200-level sections are taught by graduate students, we have also increased our supervision of these courses, carefully reviewing syllabi prior to instruction and meeting at least twice during the semester with GAs and lecturers to mentor and monitor their progress. More so than in the past, we have been selecting our GAs and lecturers based not only on their scholarly excellence and financial aid needs but also on their effectiveness as an instructor.

6. Has the program developed learning outcomes? Please indicate yes or no.

Yes.

7. Has the program published learning outcomes? Please indicate yes or no.

Yes.

8. If so, please indicate how the program has published learning outcomes.

Information regarding learning outcomes is available on the department's website, on course syllabi and recorded in the department's handbook.

9. What evidence is used to determine achievement of student learning outcomes?

Please see the response to question #4.

10. Who interprets the evidence?

Persons who interpret the evidence include the department chair, the graduate advisor, the undergraduate advisor, and, when appropriate, the program coordinators for Museum Studies and Historic Preservation. 

11. What is the process of interpreting the evidence?

Those listed in the response to question #10 discuss outcomes each semester and, when appropriate, engage the faculty to address any probems or issues.

12. Indicate the date of last program review.

September 2004