2017

This poster shares results of a survey conducted in Summer 2016 to individuals eligible to participate in the Come Back to Mānoa program. In addition to an evaluation of the program itself, the results provide an overview of why seniors left UH Mānoa so close to finishing their degree and their reasons for returning. This poster adds to the extant research, which largely concentrates on first year and sophomore students, by bringing light to senior attrition and how to support those students to persist to degree (Hunt et al., 2012). Practical applications for utilizing the information obtained from the survey in order to help improve the Come Back to Mānoa program are discussed.

Assessing the Come Back to Manoa Program: Why Seniors Leave and How to Help them Graduate

This poster shares results of a survey conducted in Summer 2016 to individuals eligible to participate in the …

In Spring 2016, the General Education Office identified a need to improve its indirect assessment efforts. Working with the co-creators of the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) instrument, the office developed and piloted an assessment plan beginning with the Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Focus requirement. Through the pilot, the General Education Office aimed to increase familiarity with SALG in order to educate others about its value in improving the quality of instruction; recruit faculty to pilot the use of SALG in HAP-designated courses; and identify how meaningful, usable assessment data could be extracted from SALG to address programmatic and learning needs within the General Education program. This poster provides information on the SALG instrument, outlines the process taken and challenges involved in implementing a new assessment plan, and identifies important next steps in the process.

Adopting a New Assessment Approach: Using SALG to Evaluate General Education Learning Outcomes

In Spring 2016, the General Education Office identified a need to improve its indirect assessment efforts. Working with …

The UH Manoa Anthropology Program, established in 1934, is the leading department of anthropology in Hawai'i, the Pacific, and Asia with full subfield offerings in archaeology, cultural anthropology, and biological anthropology. Presently, it offers BA, MA and PhD degree programs. In 2016, twenty-six (26) students were enrolled in the doctoral program. This poster describes the processes by which assessment procedure/tools were selected and/or developed to measure SLO achievements of these doctoral students. Building on the assessment activities conducted during 2014-2015, specific efforts that led to programmatic improvements and enhanced student learning outcomes are outlined, including faculty engagement strategies that were employed. Faculty expectations of students were better clarified in the newly developed PhD dissertation defense rubrics. Next steps involving close-the-loop strategies to further enhance student learning are also described.

The Anthropology PhD Dissertation Defense Rubric: Enhancing Student Learning

The UH Manoa Anthropology Program, established in 1934, is the leading department of anthropology in Hawai’i, the Pacific, …

Given the complex nature of the requirements for the 6 degree programs offered by the department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL), the issue of student and advisor concern over the accessibility of accurate information regarding these requirements is addressed. This poster describes the strategies and effort taken by the EALL graduate chair and faculty to merge the 6 graduate programs into two: one MA and one Ph.D. program in EALL through powerful program assessment processes: consolidating student learning outcomes (SLOs) and unifying curricula through curriculum mapping (CM) activity. The poster first highlights the enormous challenges in the merge process: consolidating 13 sets of SLOs and unifying 13 sets of courses/degree requirements while leveraging diverse input and preferences of graduate faculty. SLOs consolidation and CM development process are then detailed along with how faculty were aided in seeing the big program picture and focusing on program commonality instead of individual differences. Faculty engagement strategies, such as meeting with senior faculty individually, SLO content analysis, research of peer institution, and developing mock products first are provided. With the unified degree programs and revised assessment tools, EALL is becoming a unified department sharing common educational goals across different languages and tracks.

Merging graduate degree programs with the Program Assessment tool set

Given the complex nature of the requirements for the 6 degree programs offered by the department of East …

This poster describes the program student learning outcomes development process in the Dental Hygiene BS degree program. It details the challenges that the program faced in the past, the success strategies to engage faculty, and the benefit of assessment process. The Dental Hygiene BS degree has 16 faculty members, most majority of whom are practitioners as dental hygienists or dentists. Project objectives and the methods of revising Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are outlined, a detailed description of Program SLOs is provided, and follow-up actions along with next steps are provided.

From revising program SLOs to a culture of open communication in Dental Hygiene

This poster describes the program student learning outcomes development process in the Dental Hygiene BS degree program. It …

The undergraduate programs from two departments, Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS) and Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS), merged into a single, new program that began in Fall semester 2016. In this poster, the development of grading rubrics for the signature assignments associated with the various tracks of this new program, named Tropical Agriculture and the Environment (TAE), are presented. The signature assignments used were: (1) an internship; and/or (2) an internship plus a capstone course (PEPS 495). Rubric assessment, review, revision and subsequently approval by the TAE curriculum committee in November 2016 are outlined. Findings of the assessment project are provided including successful strategies using a top-down approach. Action plans and next steps are also described.

New Grading Rubrics for Signature Assignments: Tropical Agriculture and the Environment

The undergraduate programs from two departments, Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS) and Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences …

The development and implementation of surveys to assess learning within the College of Education (COE) for students in the final semester of their programs and for mentor teachers who supervise teacher candidates in their final semester of student teaching are detailed in this poster. Outlined through the use of text and data visualization are: (a) the utilization of surveys as indirect evidence of student learning, (b) key considerations and principles when developing new survey instruments and survey scales, (c) recommendations for successful administration of surveys, (d) methods for interpreting survey results, and (e) suggested ways of using survey results for program improvement and assessment reporting.

Program Completion and Mentor Surveys as Indirect Evidence of Learning: From Development to Use

The development and implementation of surveys to assess learning within the College of Education (COE) for students in …

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the seeds for faculty collaboration and engagement in program assessment within the newly formed Astronomy BA & Astrophysics BS program in an effort to address the challenge of the difficulty students face in engaging faculty in discussion and planning of teaching and learning due to the nature of the program schedule. This poster provides personal insights and observed impact from efforts to effect change. In addition to providing examples in skill mapping, writing rubrics, curriculum alignment, and course deisgn, effective ways to engage willing faculty in using course assignments to investigate progress towards key student learning objectivese are also outlined.

Engaging science faculty in program assessment – planting seeds and cultivating growth

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the …

The Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) is nationally accredited and trains future speech language pathologists. This project aims to evaluate and improve the curriculum map for the program. A curriculum map shows how each course contribute to the student learning outcomes (SLO). To facilitate the process, the department’s educational coordinator met individually with each instructor to complete a “Course Map” for their course(s). Each course map aligned the class assignments with the SLOs, as assignments are the meaningful and measurable deliverables of students learning. Faculty also indicated how each assignment emphasized the target SLOs by assigning a weight. All weighted course maps were then merged to create a weighted curriculum map, which provided information on which SLOs were significantly addressed in the program and which were addressed with less emphasis. Outcomes of faculty discussions of weighted curriculum map included: recognizing course redundancy, combining courses to increase learning opportunity and using faculty time more effectively, rewriting of SLOs to better match accreditation standards and required student competencies, as well as a new assessment project focusing on the SLO related to professionalism.

Use of a Weighted Curriculum Map for Programmatic Improvements in Communication Sciences and Disorders

The Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) is nationally accredited and trains future speech language …

This poster outlines the process through which faculty examined how the embedded assignments, field components, and signature assignment across a three-course sequence aligned. The course sequence of the three Learner in the Environment courses are outlined. Faculty utilized the federal funded Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEEDAR) Center tools to ensure that across the three courses students engaged in meaningful course and field assignments aligned with current research. Scoring criteria are provided along with initial and post-implementation ratings and a sample report. The courses were examined using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices, the Classroom Management, and the High Leverage Practices rubrics. Finally, from identified areas in need of additional clarity or additional coverage, this poster highlights how results from the report were utilized toward syllabi revision, which increased the number of elements addressed across the course sequence.

Course Series Alignment: Examining a Three Course Sequence

This poster outlines the process through which faculty examined how the embedded assignments, field components, and signature assignment …

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, this poster reports an action study using IPAs in an undergraduate beginning Mandarin program. The poster first features a review of IPAs, followed by an overview of curriculum redesign and IPA test reconstruction. The poster then presents a concrete model for IPAs in a Chinese 101 and 102 Beginning Mandarin. Successful teaching activities and assessment task samples will be presented. The effects of this adaptation are demonstrated using quantitative and qualitative data, including oral assessment videos, writing samples, supplementary listening and reading materials, rubrics for scoring, test scores, student self-reflections, and more. The data show that students (1) generally favored using IPAs, (2) took initiative to review the IPA rubrics and to reliably engage in filling out "can-do" checklists, (3) demonstrated a positive correlation between IPAs and traditional test scores. The poster concludes that IPAs can be equally successful, and can offer more, in university foreign language classes.

Implementation of Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) in Beginning Level Chinese Language Classes

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and …

This poster presents examples of academic programs in higher education using learning assessment results for program improvement. The poster defines excellent-use-of-assessment at a large research intensive higher education institution, summarizes ways of using assessment through the content analysis of 238 academic programs assessment reports, provides low-hanging fruit examples in of ways to use results, maps excellent example programs on campus, and illustrates excellence with nine concrete program examples. Not only does the poster show possible ways for programs to use results, it also serves as a showcase of excellence in using assessment results on campus, thus promoting the assessment-for-improvement concept and culture.

Excellent Uses of Assessment Results: A UH Manoa Showcase

This poster presents examples of academic programs in higher education using learning assessment results for program improvement. The …

This poster presents the assessment of curriculum through the Interprofessional Education committee, which was created in 2015 with the support of the Deans of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, the Daniel K. Inouye School of Pharmacy and Director of the Office of Public Health Studies in order to help prepare students for working collaboratively in complex healthcare settings. The process through which the curriculum is assess against the Interprofessional Education Collaborative competencies is outlined. In addition to discussing the identified curriculum gaps and plan for action, a detailed curriculum map is provided.

Working Across Professions to Develop the Interprofessional Education Curriculum Pathway

This poster presents the assessment of curriculum through the Interprofessional Education committee, which was created in 2015 with …

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), the undergraduate geoscience programs are housed within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). In this poster trends in student and programmatic data from the undergraduate Global Environmental Science (GES) Program in SOEST were analyzed. It was determined that additional support was needed for the following: (1) students in their first year of the GES program; (2) a geoscience pathway from the local UHCCs to UHM; and (3) a process to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of geoscience majors in general and Native Hawaiians in particular. Initial results from a multifaceted approach are presented in order to address these issues including curricular changes, geoscience pathways from UHCCs to UHM, summer geoscience research program, and an early warning student performance monitoring system.

Assessment in Paradise: Using Data to Drive Undergraduate Geoscience Initiatives and Programmatic Changes

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), the undergraduate geoscience programs are housed within the School of …

This poster presents undergraduate assessment results for critical thinking, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and written communication based on a 2015-2016 qualitative review, led by the Assessment Office, of WASC-defined core competencies using the VALUE Rubrics and the expertise of instructional faculty from across campus. These results are presented as baseline data as well as the jumping off point for faculty and administrators regarding discussions about how to ensure all students graduate with the knowledge and skills we intend them to have. Suggestions for utilizing the findings toward improvement as well as next steps are discussed.

The Institutional Learning Objectives and Undergraduate Assessment

This poster presents undergraduate assessment results for critical thinking, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and written communication based on …

Department of Mathematics Program Assessment via Exam

Department of Mathematics Program Assessment via Exam

Department of Mathematics Program Assessment via Exam by Heiner Dovermann

Faculty and doctoral students of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) initiated a review of their PhD program requirements and curriculum. This poster highlights the usefulness of faculty-student collaboration for program assessment to enable program improvement. The assessment coordinator organized a colloquium in which PhD candidates presented their dissertation research. Faculty evaluated the presentations based on the PhD program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Written comments from faculty evaluators were then coded as strengths and weaknesses corresponding to each SLO component to generate a preliminary qualitative assessment. At a subsequent meeting, faculty and doctoral students reviewed the preliminary qualitative assessment, PhD curriculum, core course syllabi, and PhD guidelines. They identified shortcomings in the existing curriculum, mapped degree requirements and program SLOs, and proposed revisions to better align the curriculum with program SLOs. They also outlined next steps toward improving the curriculum such as increasing the number of core course credits and providing more teaching opportunities for PhD candidates through summer school and online courses.

An Assessment-Informed Collaborative Initiative: Curriculum Mapping for PhD Program Improvement

Faculty and doctoral students of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) initiated a review of their …

In this poster, assessment activities in Natural Resources and Environmental management (NREM) were designed to address three critical questions: (1) Are NREM graduate degree program student learning outcomes (SLOs) still appropriate?; (2) Do current core departmental graduate courses adequately address graduate degree program SLOs?; and (3) If current core and elective courses do not adequately cover the existing SLOs, how can they be modified to do so? The NREM Curriculum Committee gathered answers through multiple, collaborative activities inclusive of both graduate students and faculty. In total, the assessment process and implementation included input collected during departmental faculty meetings, faculty and student meetings, collaborative Google documents, faculty workshops, and departmental retreats. This poster describes the concrete strategies and steps through which facilitated collaboration occurred over key milestones of the overall program assessment process. This poster summarizes challenges encountered, such as engaging instructional, research and extension faculty from Oahu and neighbor islands and outlines success strategies and suggestions for other programs to utilize a facilitated collaborative process to move program assessment forward.

A Collaborative Assessment Process for Sustained Curriculum Improvement in Natural Resources and Environmental Management

In this poster, assessment activities in Natural Resources and Environmental management (NREM) were designed to address three critical …