faculty engagement

In Spring 2013, the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (MIPCR) began a program review process by completing a curriculum map of the Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution (GCCR). The 15-credit interdisciplinary certificate is designed to address a set of program-level student learning outcomes (SLO). A curriculum assessment would determine if the GCCR’s Peace and Conflict Education (PACE) courses, as well as GCCR-approved courses from other programs, aligned with these outcomes. It would also reveal whether students had adequate opportunities to achieve the outcomes. This initiative would open dialogue among faculty, administrators, and students to discuss student success and program improvement. Instructors of PACE and GCCR-approved courses received a survey listing each program-level SLO and were asked to indicate the degree to which their course addressed each outcome. Responses to the surveys were recorded in a curriculum map and presented to a volunteer review committee for interpretation and discussion. This committee made recommendations for the program, including clarifying program goals and positioning to guide program-level SLOs, and further clarifying SLOs to ensure collective understanding by faculty members. Committee members also noted that there are limited opportunities for students to focus on professional ethics. It was further recommended that faculty and staff ownership of the review process be fostered through transparency and collaboration. Challenges of meeting SLOs through interdisciplinary programming were also revealed. The MIPCR Curriculum Committee discussed the results and recommendations and concluded that a more complete curriculum map and continued discussion was needed before making any curricular decisions.

Starting the Curricular Conversation through Mapping: A Curriculum Review of the Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution

In Spring 2013, the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (MIPCR) began a program review process by …

Assessing the Planning Practicum: Lessons for Engaged Scholarship

The planning practicum is a required course in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program in …

Capstone Signature Assignment Development in a History BA Program

The Department of History has been engaged in assessment work of our undergraduate major, identifying how we can …

Graduate Program Learning Assessment: Processes, Tools, and Resources

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Assessment and Curriculum Support Center, Graduate Division, and the Graduate Council. Wondering …

The Road to Institutional Effectiveness: Cultivating Partnerships for General Education Assessment

Chaminade University of Honolulu has restructured General Education in recent years. Various faculty committees have been spearheading a …

Strength in Numbers: Facilitating Faculty Learning Communities for General Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Reaching consensus on curricular issues and learning outcomes is challenging, especially in attempting to achieve campus-wide agreement on …

Life Sciences Uniting in Assessing Student Writing

Student learning outcome (SLO) statements made by an educational program serve as targets for achievement and openly communicate …

Integrated Planning for Student Success: Kapi‘olani Community College’s Continuous Improvement Journey

In early 2019, ACCJC reaffirmed Kapi‘olani Community College’s accreditation status, but mandated a follow-up report and provided an …

Assessing Civic and Community Engagement in Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies was born out of community demand and community engagement has had a central place in the …

The Assessment Office supports programs as they engage in program-level assessment of student learning. Program assessment is undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and guiding program development. It is faculty-driven and faculty-supervised. It involves establishing student learning outcomes, measuring/observing and documenting the extent to which outcomes are achieved, and finding ways to improve programs so effectiveness is increased. This poster describes how the Assessment Office assessed its Program Outcome #3: “Academic degree programs complete the assessment cycle, which includes faculty members using assessment results to improve student learning.” Data were collected through the Annual Assessment Reports submitted by program in Fall 2009. Results suggest that while the number of programs engaged in assessment activities has increased since 2008, not all programs have completed an assessment cycle. The Assessment Office used the results to develop the spring 2010 workshop series, improve the on-line Annual Assessment Report system, and schedule consultations with programs.

Annual Reports: Assessment Status Across Campus

The Assessment Office supports programs as they engage in program-level assessment of student learning. Program assessment is undertaken …

Anthropology is a four-field discipline that encompasses historical, humanistic, biological, linguistic, and psychological approaches to a holistic study of humankind. This disciplinary diversity poses problems for assessment. Quite distinct methods are used in each subfield, and assessment must be targeted to the specific courses in which particular methods are emphasized and mastered. During this review period a pilot assessment activity focused on one of the most important methodological approaches in cultural anthropology (one of the four fields) to help determine effective techniques that might apply to assessments of the other major methods categories. The goal of the activity was to transcend course specific and instructor specific evaluation (as provided already by exams and papers) and allow faculty specialists in each subfield to participate in the focused assessments. In this case members of the “cultural caucus” (one of the three faculty subgroups in the department) focused on linguistic anthropology methodology.

Pilot Test of an Assessment Method

Anthropology is a four-field discipline that encompasses historical, humanistic, biological, linguistic, and psychological approaches to a holistic study …

TIM school began to build the program assessment frame in 2009 and have developed the student learning outcome, curriculum map, and experienced a couple of rounds of actual assessment. We would like to share the process and learning of TIM school as we engaged in the assessment process and how the Assessment office helped every step of the way. The poster will be designed to illustrate the steps TIM school went through and types of help provided by the Assessment office as well as the learnings we acquired along the way in regards to the program assessment.

How TIM School Began and Progressed with Program Assessment

TIM school began to build the program assessment frame in 2009 and have developed the student learning outcome, …

This poster describes the effort of the Ph.D. Committee in Social Welfare in investigating and improving students’ performance in the qualifying exam. Motivated by an analysis of students’ (cohorts Fall 2010 – 2014) pass rate, faculty reviewed the exam questions, analyzed the course syllabi and exam questions. The committee changed the exam timeline and revised the exam questions so that the exam better reflected the curriculum.

Improving Qualifying Exam Performance—From Assessment Data to Curriculum Alignment

This poster describes the effort of the Ph.D. Committee in Social Welfare in investigating and improving students’ performance …

After analyzing the university’s needs and researching best professional development practices, the UHM Assessment Office initiated an exciting project to build assessment leaders on campus through its inaugural Assessment Leadership Institute in summer 2013 that had 10 participants. The model features extensive support after the initial intensive 4- day institute. The model has shown great success. A longitudinal study has been planned to monitor its institutional impact.

Building and Sustaining Assessment Leaders: A Successful Model at UHM

After analyzing the university’s needs and researching best professional development practices, the UHM Assessment Office initiated an exciting …

The Master of Early Childhood Education Program is a 2-1/2 year, 30 credit hybrid program is primarily delivered through intensive summer sessions and once a month hybrid seminars. It was conceived in 2003 to meet a statewide need for a graduate level leadership degree in the field. This interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty across three departments in the COE and the CTAHR has graduated four cohorts (90 students). The culminating assessment for the program is a Plan B Portfolio that demonstrates competency in light of five mandatory standards and two student chosen elective standards. The context surrounding ECE has changed dramatically in the past few years as has our student demographics. Our first cohort was composed primarily of long-time practitioners leaders statewide. In contrast, current students are a diverse group ranging from earlier career professionals to "second chancers" with limited involvement in the broader profession. The program also attracts more applicants from non-resident students and has seen decreasing applications from disadvantaged minorities and neighbor island residents. This poster looks at the faculty steering team's process of revisiting program documents, standards, SLOs and Key Assessments in light of our current student demographics. Multiple data sources were used to identify barriers and to develop supports that scaffold student transitions into graduate level academic writing and to more intentionally support the Plan B Capstone. Proposed revisions to the overall program promote opportunities for active involvement in the profession and broader community and place-based experiential learning to inform community specific Plan B professional contributions.

Revisiting the Plan B Capstone of the MEd ECE Program

The Master of Early Childhood Education Program is a 2-1/2 year, 30 credit hybrid program is primarily delivered …

The M.Ed. program in Special Education is an interdisciplinary program that includes core courses and electives. The core courses include two special education content related courses and three research courses. The elective courses are aligned with the emphasis area identified by each M.Ed. candidate. Faculty have been extremely supportive in working together to identify student learning outcomes that are aligned with the specialized standards established by experts in the field of Special Education (e.g. the Council for Exceptional Children). Collecting data and inputting data into the College of Education data system, Student Information System, has also been a relatively smooth process. Data analysis of courses and the program has been challenging for course instructors and program faculty prior to the Department’s adoption of a data analysis and reflection process. In Fall 2013 we developed a data analysis and reflection process that was used by the instructors of each core course. We also developed a process for analyzing and reflecting on program data. These processes have been extremely successful in facilitating discussions and analyzes that have resulted in program improvement based on data. This poster session will provide information regarding the Department’s data analysis and reflection processes we now use to facilitate decision-making regarding the Special Education M.Ed. program. We will include the guiding questions and forms we use to facilitate analysis and reflection on individual courses and on the program. Other graduate programs may find our process useful.

IA Process for Facilitating Program Improvement: Is There a Data Analysis Process That’s Faculty Friendly?

The M.Ed. program in Special Education is an interdisciplinary program that includes core courses and electives. The core …

Undergraduate programs in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) are typically managed solely within a single department. For some programs, the numbers of graduating students each year are low and not considered viable. There is administrative and legislative pressure to dissolve small programs at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, including the agriculturally-focused BSc programs in Tropical Plants and Soil Sciences and Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences. The two departments within CTAHR that manage these programs conjoined to proactively revise their undergraduate programs. The outcome was a merged, redesigned program in agroecosystems having a common core, five areas of specialization and a focus on issues in the tropics. From the inception, developing an operable plan for program assessment was a priority. Consequently, even before selecting the program name, the program-level student learning outcomes (SLOs) were created to form the basis for program construction. A combined departmental meeting generated a curriculum map identifying how each of the core courses articulated with the SLOs, evaluated gaps and issues in the curriculum. Potential signature assignments were identified as indicators for assessment and templates for these were drafted. A number of opportunities and challenges arose throughout this process. Key to the successful creation of this program was encouraging faculty to think more broadly about the content of and rationale for what we teach and the anticipated knowledge and skills of graduating students.

An Interactive Approach to Curriculum Mapping

Undergraduate programs in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) are typically managed solely within a …

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, …

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 …

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 …

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) utilized historic program data to identify potential gaps in campus awareness of and participation in UROP funding opportunities. Using this information, UROP launched a targeted information campaign, which increased the overall number of applications and the number of student applicants from select underrepresented units.

Using Data to Promote Awareness of and Participation in Undergraduate Research & Creative Works

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) utilized historic program data to identify potential gaps in campus awareness of …

Faculty have difficulty in clarifying how their assessments and instructional strategies are aligned with both course and General Education learning outcomes in the Instructor-Based designation process. The low number of clear proposals proves the need for the General Education Office to offer an alignment framework with guiding questions.

Developing an Alignment Framework to Support General Education

Faculty have difficulty in clarifying how their assessments and instructional strategies are aligned with both course and General …

Increasing Faculty Involvement in Program Assessment

In this workshop, you can learn how assessment champions and coordinators can increase faculty colleagues’ participation in program …