Degree Program Assessment Reports

1. Students will be able to utilize sociological theories to understand aspects of the social world.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field)

2. Students will be able to collect, analyze, and interpret data, and draw valid conclusions from their analyses.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research)

3. Students will have clear and effective verbal and written communication skills.

(2c. Communicate and report)

• File (03/16/2020)

Instructors were asked to evaluate students' performances by responding to close-ended and open-ended questions. The Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee contacted (by e-mail) the instructors of 10 of our 400-level Sociology courses, asking them to complete a brief questionnaire on Survey Monkey.  (The instructors of our online courses were not included.)  A link to the on-line survey was included in the e-mail. Nine of the 10 instructors responded.  Six instructors responded via Survey Monkey, and 3 sent their results directly to the Chair.   The questionnaire asked instructors to report the following information for the students in their classes.

1.  All questions in the following survey pertain to one 400 level course that you taught in the Spring of 2014. What was the enrollment of this one course?

2.  VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS (Not applicable for on-line courses) In terms of the undergraduate students in your 400 level course this semester, please tell us what percent of students achieved exemplary, accomplished, average, or below acceptable levels of clear and effective verbal communication skills: [exemplary is A level, accomplished is B level, average is C level, and below acceptable is C- and below).

3.  In terms of clear and effective verbal communication skills, please tell us what specific challenges that you faced and/or any suggestions for student improvement that you want to share with the department this semester.

4.  WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS. The department currently has the following definition of clear and effective writing skills: Students’ written work is clear and the meaning of ideas is effectively conveyed. The author displays a wide vocabulary and proper choice of words and exhibits proper sentence structure, some sentence variety, and cohesion between sentences. There are few errors in grammar and the author observes conventions of standard written English. Q: Considering these dimensions of undergraduate students’ writing abilities, what percent of students achieved exemplary, accomplished, average, or below acceptable levels of clear and effective writing skills. [exemplary is A level, accomplished is B level, average is C level, and below acceptable is C- and below].

5.  In terms of clear and effective written communication, please tell us what specific challenges that you faced and/or any suggestions for student improvement that you want to share with the department this semester.

Combined, instructors submitted ratings for 195 students, but students' accomplishments could have been evaluated more than once, depending on how many 400-level sociology courses they were taking. 

Based on our assessment this year, we learned the following:

1.  Regarding verbal communication, we found that there was a fairly even distribution of students’ verbal clarity and effectiveness across the range of exemplary, accomplished, and acceptable categories. A clear majority (83%) of students were at or above acceptable levels of verbal skills. Specifically, instructors rated 34% of students as having verbal skills at the exemplary level, 27% at the accomplished level, 22% at the acceptable level, and 17% at the below acceptable level. 

Instructors' evaluations of the verbal communication skills of students in their classes were quite varied.  Instructors of two courses said that the verbal skills of all of the students in those classes were satisfactory, with 66% of the students in one class and 72% in the other class being at the exemplary level.  In contrast, one instructor said that the verbal communication abilities of 40% of the students in that class were less than acceptable, and only 10% were at the exemplary level. 

2.  Regarding writing clarity and effectiveness, we also found that students’ skills were fairly evenly distributed across the range of exemplary, accomplished, and acceptable.  Combining the instructors' responses, 76% of students were at or above the acceptable level in terms of writing skills. Specifically, 24% of students achieved at the exemplary level, 29% at the accomplished level, 26% at the acceptable level, and 21% were below the acceptable level.

Instructors' reports also varied considerably in their assessments of students' written communication skills.  The range of reported percentages of students whose work indicated a need for improvement was 0% to 40%, and the range of reported percentages of students whose written communication abilities were exemplary was 10% to 62%.

3.  There were 5 responses to question 3, which asked about challenges and/or suggestions for improvement with respect to verbal communication skills.  One Instructor observed, "many students have little experience speaking in public or speaking to groups" and one instructor observed that students were "more concerned with being effective and clear communicators when in front of their peers."  Two instructors commented that students were not prepared for class discussions.

In contrast, one instructor commented, "This class was excellent with discussions. There was a solid group of students coming to class prepared and participating with insightful comments on the readings."   That instructor stated that "small group discussions which joined into the larger class discussion at the end were most effective for getting shy students to participate regularly and build comfort with the rest of the class," adding, "The students who did poorly were frequently absent. " 

4.  There were 7 responses to question 5, which asked about challenges and/or suggestions for improvement with respect to written communication skills.  Two instructors indicated that students lacked preparation for the writing requirements of 400-level courses, with one saying " The 'average' students had poor research, organization, and writing skills - needs to be more solid preparation before they get to the 400 level."  Three instructors noted that editing and grammar were problems for some students, and one instructor observed that " Students really struggled with the research paper format this semester."  One instructor had the following suggestion for improvement: " I think we should direct students to the writing center and have them turn in a 'receipt' with their final drafts."

One instructor offered the following description of successfully encouraging students' development of their writing proficiency:  "... critical thinking skills began to emerge after [the]  first round of intensive editing ... and the peer-review. Many of these students commented on the usefulness of our feedback and about how reading each other's papers helped them see how to incorporate theory, formulate effective literature reviews, and advance their findings beyond the basic themes and into broader sociological connections. Students need to be encouraged to do less summary and more of their own thinking."  

The Udergraduate Studies Committee will endeavor to complete the following during the 2014-2015 academic year:

·       Less than 60% of our course syllabi contain explicit course Student Learning Objectives (SLOs).  To increase that unacceptably low percentage, the USC will distribute examples of course Student Learning Objectives, drawn from currently available Sociology syllabi, to facilitate the inclusion of course SLOs on syllabi.

·       The USC will revise the SLOs to bring them into better alignment with the ILOs that are in effect for the Manoa Campus and present them to the faculty for their review and approval.

·       The approved program SLOs will be published on the Sociology Department website. 

·       The USC will develop assessment procedures for the approved SLOs and pre-test them this academic year.

·       The USC will revise the Curriculum Map to bring it into agreement with the assessment procedures and present that to the faculty for their review and approval.

·       The USC will sponsor "Strategy Workshops" where instructors will share strategies that have effectively helped our students to hone their written and oral communication skills.