Unit: Arts & Sciences, Colleges of
Program: Student Academic Services
Date: Mon Oct 20, 2014 - 3:57:44 pm

1) Below are your program's student outcomes (SOs). Please add or update as needed.

  1. Throughout their academic career, students can identify and explain their interests, strengths, values, and career/life goals.
  2. Students can develop and implement an academic and educational plan.
  3. Students understand how the A&S degree prepares them for success in their personal, academic, and professional lives.

2) Your program's SOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Program's Website. URL: http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/pages/academic_services/about.asp
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/docs/Advising%20Handbook%20Ch%201.pdf
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure. URL, if available online: http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/pages/academic_services/coresheets/
UHM Catalog. Page Number: 90
Other:
Other:

3) Provide the program's activity map or other graphic that illustrates how program activities/services align with program student outcomes. Please upload it as a PDF.

Activity Map File(s) from 2014:

4) Did your program engage in any program assessment activities between June 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning activities to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys, etc.)

Yes
No (skip to question 14)

5) For the period between June 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the student outcomes that were targeted, if applicable.

During AY 2013-14, CASSAS continued to collect Individual Advising Evaluations from students who attended same-day appointments. The evaluation form used a scale from 0 to 5: 0=No Opinion; 1=Strongly Disagree; 2=Disagree; 3=Neutral; 4=Agree; and 5=Strongly Agree. The form also provided room for students to add comments. For assessment results, see http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/pages/academic_services/stats.asp (“Individual Student Advising Evaluations 07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014” and “Written Comments from Individual Student Advising Evaluations 07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014”).

CASSAS also offered four programs that included assessment components:

  • SUCCESS Program is an intervention program for at-risk students in the Colleges of Arts & Sciences (http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/success/about.asp). The program assists students in clarifying educational goals and identifying barriers to academic success.  The program targets student outcomes #1, #2, and #3 and includes a survey to help students identify barriers and to assess the advising services needs of students on academic probation.
  • SO@R (Students Owning Academic Responsibility) is an intervention program for at-risk students in the College of Arts & Humanities, the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature, and the College of Natural Sciences (http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/soar/) . The program provides structured information, an opportunity for reflection, and connections to advising and other campus resources. It was launched at the end of the Fall 2013 semester and continues to evolve. The program targets student outcomes #1, #2, and #3 and includes a survey to assess the program’s impact.
  • A LA CAS (Accentuating Liberal Arts with the Colleges of Arts & Sciences) is a web program that highlights the value of a liberal arts education from a variety of perspectives (http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/ALACAS). The program targets student outcomes #1 and #3 and includes a survey to assess the program’s impact.
  • Explore Your A&S Major helps students assess their fit with their declared major by exploring personality types and by learning about transferable skills (http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/exploreA&Smajor).  The program targets student outcomes #1 and #3 and includes a survey to assess the program’s impact.

6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #5.

All five programs used student surveys to collect evidence. The Individual Advising Evaluations collected Likert-scale ratings and open comments. For results, see http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/pages/academic_services/stats.asp

The other four programs were administered by individual advisors, who collected and interpreted the data: SUCCESS by Dawn Nishida and Ryoko Sekiguchi; SO@R by Kate Normandin and Julie Terlaje; A LA CAS by Kay Hamada; and Explore Your A&S Major by Lisa Wong.

7) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

Individual Advising Evaluations – 4517 students

SUCCESS – currently unavailable

SO@R – 161 students

A LA CAS – currently unavailable

Explore Your A&S Major – unavailable at this time

8) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? Check all that apply.

Program faculty/staff member(s)
Faculty/staff committee
Ad hoc faculty/staff group
Director or department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean or Associate Dean
Advisory Board
Other:

9) How did he/she/they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? Check all that apply.

Compiled survey results
Used quantitative methods on student data (e.g., grades, participation rates) or other numeric data
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, or other open-ended response data
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used a rubric or scoring guide
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., Social Science Research Institute)
Other:

10) For the assessment questions/goals stated in Question #5, summarize the actual results.

For a summary of the data and results of the Individual Advising Evaluations, see the website cited above.

Data for SUCCESS, A LA CAS, and Explore Your A&S Major are currently unavailable: the advisors managing SUCCESS hope to have results by Fall 2015; Kay Hamada is on leave this year; and Lisa Wong has taken a position elsewhere.

Students who participated in SO@R improved their academic standing at just over twice the rate as students who did not participate: 36% of those who participated improved their academic standing compared to 17% of those who did not. Also, 60% of SO@R students improved their cumulative GPA, compared to 40% of non-participants. In the survey, 90% of students who responded agreed with the statement, “I am now more aware of UHM resources that can help me improve academically”; 93% agreed with the statement, “I am now more aware that poor academic performance (GPA) may affect financial aid/scholarships, student housing, student employment, etc.”; and 96% agreed with the statement, “I have a better understanding of academic policy and requirements to be in good academic standing.” 

Students described their SO@R advisors as “helpful and very knowledgeable,” “understanding and not judgmental,” and “enthusiastic.”  The advisors managing SO@R also conducted a survey requesting  feedback from their colleagues who participated in offering SO@R advising sessions; survey comments included the following:

  • “I had to keep flexible because the student reasons for poor academic performance were so varied.”
  • “I was constantly reminded of how hard our students have it these days.  These meeting have made me more empathetic.”
  • “Sometimes it’s easy to forget that these are not ‘usual’ students in the sense that what might come naturally (like time management, having study partners, reflection and self-assessment) for others can be a bigger struggle for SOAR students. Having a curriculum is a reminder of this.”

11) What was learned from the results?

From the Individual Advising Evaluations, the survey results indicate that a high majority of respondents (ranging from 97% to 98%) found their CASSAS advisor easy to talk to and were satisfied with how their CASSAS advisor handled questions. The survey results also indicated that CASSAS advising is meeting the student learning outcomes, especially #2 (“Students can develop and implement an academic and educational plan”): 85-91% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they better understand degree requirements, learned how to select courses and determine academic progress, and are more confident in deciding the next step in their academic plan.

See question #10 for the results from the SO@R program. What we learned is that the SO@R program appears to be effective in helping students recover from academic difficulty.

Conclusions as to what was learned from the other three advisor-led programs are currently unavailable.

12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.

While the Individual Advising Evaluations data for this report were compiled for the office as a whole, each advisor has access to his/her own evaluations. As an office, we monitor evaluations to track quality of advising appointments and to hear students’ feedback. Because CASSAS evaluations are already high, tracking quality consists largely of looking for anomalies, drops in numerical ratings, or suggestions among the comments. Individual advisors are encouraged to monitor, interpret, and use the data from their own evaluations to improve continually. They are also expected to present and analyze their individual evaluations for contract renewals, applications for promotion/tenure, and five-year reviews.

SO@R is still too new to make sweeping conclusions, but because of its initial success and its positive ratings by both students and advisors, we plan to expand and continue the program for another year.

Data for the other three advisor-led programs are currently unavailable, so there are as yet no results to use.

13) Reflect on the assessment process. Is there anything related to assessment procedures your program would do differently next time? What went well?

CASSAS remains in a state of transition, which will likely continue until the Reorganization is approved and implemented.  Although current assessment activities will continue, there are no further plans until the Reorganization has been accomplished.

The most positive accomplishments in assessment this past year have been:

  • Creating an advising evaluation form for the CASSAS Manoa Peer Advisors;
  • Creating an advising evaluation form for the CASSAS graduate student Advising Assistants who offer Express Advising;
  • Placing all three evaluation forms (Individual Advising, MPA, and Express Advising) online, which not only makes it easier for students to fill out the form but also for our office to compile the data; and
  • Updating and streamlining how we track students’ requests for advising, which we use to evaluate our services.

14) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.
Or, if the program did engage in assessment activities, please add any other important information here.

N/A