Degree Program Assessment Reports : View Reports

Unit: Philosophy
Program: Philosophy (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Fri Oct 16, 2009 - 10:39:40 am

1) List your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs).

1. Students acquire the skills

1.1. of careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts

1.2. of writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers

1.3. of responding critically to the ideas advanced by others

1.4. of expressing ideas logically and coherently.

2. Students acquire a basic knowledge of the history of Western Philosophy.

3. Students are acquainted with at least one non-Western philosophical tradition.

4. Students are acquainted with at least one major topic in the contemporary study of philosophy.

5. Students demonstrate the ability to write a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research.

2) Where are your program's SLOs published?

Department Website URL: http://www.hawaii.edu/phil/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85:ba-learning-outcomes&catid=61:undergraduate-major&Itemid=59

Student Handbook. URL, if available online:

Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:

UHM Catalog. Page Number:

Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:

Other:

3) Upload your program's current curriculum map(s) as a PDF.

No map submitted.

4) What percentage of courses have the course SLOs explicitly stated on the course syllabus, department website, or other publicly available document? (Check one)

1-50%

51-80%

81-99%

100%

5) State the SLO(s) that was Assessed, Targeted, or Studied

Outcomes 1 and 5

6) State the Assessment Question(s) and/or Goal(s) of Assessment Activity

QUESTION/GOAL

1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?

2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?

3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?

4. Results from students’ exit comments

5. What are the ways we might use to assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?

6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course

7) State the Type(s) of Evidence Gathered

QUESTION/GOAL	EVIDENCE
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?	Syllabi
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	Papers written by seniors
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?	Essays written in PHIL 449
4. Results from students’ exit comments	Student comments
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?	Faculty were asked to submit suggestions for assignments and exams that could assess reading skills
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course	Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course

8) State How the Evidence was Interpreted, Evaluated, or Analyzed

QUESTION/GOALS	INTERPRETATION/EVALUATION/ANALYSIS
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?	Curriculum Committee checked for fit with course descriptions, etc.
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	Two readers applied a rubric
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?	A draft rubric was applied
4. Results from students’ exit comments	Comments reviewed for patterns
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?	Discussion of the assignments and exam that were submitted
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course	Quiz answer key

9) State How Many Pieces of Evidence Were Collected

QUESTION/GOALS	NUMBER
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	20 student papers (from majors who are seniors in all Fall philosophy classes)
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?	6 essays from PHIL 449
4. Results from students’ exit comments	9 students
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course

10) Summarize the Actual Results

QUESTION/GOALS	RESULTS
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?	Review revealed that very few syllabi contained statement of student objectives. The matter was discussed at the May department meeting at which time suggested statements of objectives for each departmental learning outcome were proposed
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	Findings were broadly very similar to last year but with a slight drop in overall quality. This could be explained by the fact that this time we excluded papers submitted in the capstone 449 class (all of which certainly met or exceeded writing expectations) because we wished to evaluate these for their evidence of research competence.What we found - sample size 20 2 exceeded expectations 5 M+ – at the upper end of meeting expectations 6 M – met expectations 4 M- – barely met expectations 3 NM – did not meet expectations
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?	Sample size – 6 1 M – meet undergraduate research standard 5 NM – did not meet
4. Results from students’ exit comments	This year for the first time we have a sufficient number (9) for review to possibly reveal some patterns. At least half of the students were double majors and these students clearly value the benefits that philosophy can bring to their engagement with their other major, taking it to another level.Students value the program for developing their thinking and writing skills, for instilling a sense of open mindedness and awareness of the diversity of traditions. There were few critical comments, even though suggestions for improvement are explicitly solicited. One of our best students did however express concern over the lack of offerings in twentieth century philosophy and suggested that a fourth 200 level history course be added explicitly to cover this period.
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?	Discussion of submitted assignments and suggestions
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course	As last year there is a considerable improvement of performance on the second quiz, suggesting that the first served to inform students about what sort of thing they were required to learn. On the first quiz only 25% of the students scored 75% or above, but on the second quiz 47% scored 75% or above. The class average improved from 60% to 73%.

11) Briefly Describe the Distribution and Discussion of Results

Faculty discuss the results at department meetings.

12) Describe Conclusions and Discoveries

QUESTION/GOALS	CONCLUSIONS/DISCOVERIES
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	The readers did note that in some cases, especially on the weaker papers, very little feedback had been given by the instructor and in some cases a quite generous grade awarded.
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?
4. Results from students’ exit comments
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?	Since students come to us with much weaker reading skills than in the past this is a matter of concern and we feel that developing mechanisms to focus explicitly on developing these skills is important.
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course	The reviewers were impressed by the structure of these quizzes and would like to suggest that others teaching 200 level history classes consider developing something similar for the periods they cover.

13) Use of Results/Program Modifications: State How the Program Used the Results --or-- Explain Planned Use of Results

QUESTION/GOALS	USE OF RESULTS
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?	The matter was discussed at the May department meeting at which time suggested statements of objectives for each departmental learning outcome were proposed (available upon request)
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?	We recommend that all instructors in writing intensive classes distribute the rubric to their students and make efforts to give students feedback on the extent to which they are or are not meeting the standards expected.
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?	The findings suggest that in this class more focus needs to be given on the distinction between conducting research and writing a philosophy essay in which the views of others are accurately represented. In several cases there was an adequate laying out of a problem or issue to be addressed, but then an almost complete disconnect between that and the subsequent, largely expository material. The committee will present its tentative rubric for this outcome for discussion at the next department meeting and suggests that once a rubric is agreed, the instructor for 449 should make students aware of its requirements and provide explicit advice and examples to help them understand what they entail.
4. Results from students’ exit comments	We suggest that to ensure uniformity in the instructions given to students, and brief draft be agreed and this attached to the top of the golden rod form.
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?	One kind of example submitted was the exercise of “briefing” a legal case – carried out by students in a pre-law course. Some thought might be given to possibly extending this format to non-legal texts. An assessment instrument (derived from sections of the LSAT exam) for reading comprehension was also used in this course. Again the department might consider using some such standardize instrument across courses for the purposes of assessment, while using other explicit reading focused exercises to strengthen reading skills.
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course	Instructors teaching 200-level history courses should develop similarly-structured quizzes for periods they cover.

14) Reflect on the Assessment Process

QUESTION/GOALS	ASSESSMENT PROCESS
1. Do course syllabi contain student objectives?	Presently they do.
2. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing clear, succinct, and well-argued papers?
3. To what extent do seniors meet our expectations for writing a paper on a philosophical topic on which they have conducted independent research?
4. Results from students’ exit comments	We suggest that to ensure uniformity in the instructions given to students, a brief draft be agreed upon and this attached to the top of the golden rod form.
5. How might we assess students’ skills in careful reading and interpretation of philosophical texts?
6. Quiz results from a 200-level history of philosophy course

15) Other Important Information

The work of a number of undergraduates received external recognition this year.

Shea Chang (David Hall Prize) was invited to join the honors program on the basis of her academic record.

(Aish) Alan Herbert (David Hall Prize), received the Ninash award 2009 and a 2009 RCUH Student Excellence in Research award.

Crystal Cooper Phi Beta Kappa 2009

Kathy Lundquist (Tau Sigma Transfer Honors' Society,2009, UH Summer Research Award 2009)

16) FOR DISTANCE PROGRAMS ONLY: Explain how your program/department has adapted its assessment of student learning in the on-campus program to assess student learning in the distance education program.

17) FOR DISTANCE PROGRAMS ONLY: Summarize the actual student learning assessment results that compare the achievement of students in the on-campus program to students in the distance education program.