Degree Program Assessment Reports : View Reports

Unit: Anthropology
Program: Anthropology (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Sat Nov 03, 2018 - 5:24:26 am

1) Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs)

1. Learn to think anthropologically, specifically to include cross-cultural perspectives, especially in regard to issues of diversity and commonality in understanding human societies.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 1c. Understand Hawaiian culture and history, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture, 3d. Civic participation)

2. Gain a basic understanding of the origin and development of humanity.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture)

3. Develop the ability to think critically about cultural assumptions and use active learning modes in assessing their effects on social processes.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 1c. Understand Hawaiian culture and history, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture, 3d. Civic participation)

4. Acquire a holistic understanding of how biological evolution and cultural histories interact.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 1c. Understand Hawaiian culture and history, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture, 3c. Stewardship of the natural environment)

5. Understand how populations adapt to social and environmental change, especially in terms of human empowerment.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 1c. Understand Hawaiian culture and history, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture, 3c. Stewardship of the natural environment, 3d. Civic participation)

6. Become culturally literate with regard to the physical and cultural dimensions of the Pacific and Asian regions, including historical movements and connections among diverse populations.

7. Learn various methods employed by anthropologists from a variety of sub-disciplines and specializations.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture)

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update asneeded.

Department Website URL: The URL will be provided later. The Anthropology department is currently redesigning its website and the SLOs will be published at that time.

Student Handbook. URL, if available online: The SLOs will be published in the new handbooks that will be available in the near future both in print and on the website.

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

UHM Catalog. Page Number:

Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:

Other:

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2018:

File (03/16/2020)

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

1-50%

51-80%

81-99%

100%

5) Does the program have learning achievement results for its program SLOs? (Example of achievement results: "80% of students met expectations on SLO 1.")(check one):

Yes, on some(1-50%) of the program SLOs

Yes, on most(51-99%) of the program SLOs

Yes, on all(100%) of the program SLOs

6) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2015 and October 31, 2018?

Yes

No (skip to question 17)

7) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2015 to October 31, 2018? (Check all that apply.)

Create/modify/discuss program learning assessment procedures (e.g., SLOs, curriculum map, mechanism to collect student work, rubric, survey)

Collect/evaluate student work/performance to determine SLO achievement

Collect/analyze student self-reports of SLO achievement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups

Use assessment results to make programmatic decisions (e.g., change course content or pedagogy, design new course, hiring)

No (skip to question 17)

Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 7)

Other:

8) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place.

A faculty member who started teaching the Anthropology Capstone course 490 in Fall 2017 created a Signature Assignment and rubric to assess PLO 1, 'Thinking Anthropologically' and the results were analyzed.

Next, faculty in the department collaboratively evaluated five student papers of varying levels of achievement in October 2018. Three subskills related to 'thinking anthropologically' that were important for emphasis in the curricula were identified. Faculty brainstormed and exchanged teaching strategies and developed a pedagogical inventory to ensure the development of students skills in the degree program.

9) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 7? (Check all that apply.)

Artistic exhibition/performance

Assignment/exam/paper completed as part of regular coursework and used for program-level assessment

Capstone work product (e.g., written project or non-thesis paper)

Exam created by an external organization (e.g., professional association for licensure)

Exit exam created by the program

IRB approval of research

Oral performance (oral defense, oral presentation, conference presentation)

Portfolio of student work

Publication or grant proposal

Qualifying exam or comprehensive exam for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation (graduate level only)

Supervisor or employer evaluation of student performance outside the classroom (internship, clinical, practicum)

Thesis or dissertation used for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation

Alumni survey that contains self-reports of SLO achievement

Employer meetings/discussions/survey/interview of student SLO achievement

Interviews or focus groups that contain self-reports of SLO achievement

Student reflective writing assignment (essay, journal entry, self-assessment) on their SLO achievement.

Student surveys that contain self-reports of SLO achievement

Assessment-related such as assessment plan, SLOs, curriculum map, etc.

Program or course materials (syllabi, assignments, requirements, etc.)

Other 1:

Other 2:

10) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

The capstone instructor evaluated 20 papers of students majoring in anthropology, based on rubrics created for this assignment.

Next, departmental faculty collaboratively evaluated 5 papers at varying levels of achievement from the above assignment. The purpose of the exercise was to identify evaluation criteria important to each faculty. Faculty members highlighted criteria and sub-criteria important to them and the ones that were most influential in scoring the papers. They annotated papers by identifying samples of strong examples and those that could be improved to meet the evaluation criteria. Faculty members reviewed the curriculum map and updated SLOs, if applicable, for each course that they taught.

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

Course instructor(s)

Faculty committee

Ad hoc faculty group

Department chairperson

Persons or organization outside the university

Faculty advisor

Advisors (in student support services)

Students (graduate or undergraduate)

Dean/Director

Other:

12) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide

Scored exams/tests/quizzes

Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)

Compiled survey results

Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data

External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)

Other:

13) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 7. For example, report the percentage of students who achieved each SLO.

Among the 20 students in ANTH490, 11 (55%) scored A, 7 (35%) scored B, and 2 (10%) scored C, all acceptable grades, indicating that all the graduating students are meeting the minimal expectations for PLO 1: "Thinking Anthropologically", with 55% of them exceeding expectations.

14) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

Assessment procedure changes (SLOs, curriculum map, rubrics, evidence collected, sampling, communications with faculty, etc.)

Course changes (course content, pedagogy, courses offered, new course, pre-requisites, requirements)

Personnel or resource allocation changes

Program policy changes (e.g., admissions requirements, student probation policies, common course evaluation form)

Students' out-of-course experience changes (advising, co-curricular experiences, program website, program handbook, brown-bag lunches, workshops)

Celebration of student success!

Results indicated no action needed because students met expectations

Use is pending (typical reasons: insufficient number of students in population, evidence not evaluated or interpreted yet, faculty discussions continue)

Other:

15) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

The department faculty collaboratively scored 5 student samples and held a meeting to discuss student papers. In this meeting, the faculty reflected on what were important criteria in scoring student work and jointly prioritized three skills to scaffold student learning across the curriculum:

The student is able to see detailed connections across subfields/foci-/departments.
The student is able to identify themes/theories across the curriculum in detail.
The student is able to carefully weave in several different authors in their analysis.

Faculty shared pedagogical strategies in their teaching that can increase students' skills in these three areas. For example, assigning students to search news articles and use anthropological concepts/theories to explain the events, asking students to connect research articles with anthropological theories, asking students to reflect on an issue with perspectives from multiple subdisciplines, and using the 10-step writing process to scaffold students' writing.

The pedagogical strategies were compiled and made available to all faculty members as a teaching resource.

The capstone instructor will also use the rubric (reformatted) to assess students in future classes.

16) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

Faculty enjoyed the opportunity to discuss student work and exchange pedagogical strategies with colleagues. It became evident in the discussions that the faculty was clearly involved in assessment strategies based on the examples shared and that faculty had great pride in their innovative teaching strategies.

1) Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs)

1. Learn to think anthropologically, specifically to include cross-cultural perspectives, especially in regard to issues of diversity and commonality in understanding human societies.

2. Gain a basic understanding of the origin and development of humanity.

3. Develop the ability to think critically about cultural assumptions and use active learning modes in assessing their effects on social processes.

4. Acquire a holistic understanding of how biological evolution and cultural histories interact.

5. Understand how populations adapt to social and environmental change, especially in terms of human empowerment.

6. Become culturally literate with regard to the physical and cultural dimensions of the Pacific and Asian regions, including historical movements and connections among diverse populations.

7. Learn various methods employed by anthropologists from a variety of sub-disciplines and specializations.

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update asneeded.

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

5) Does the program have learning achievement results for its program SLOs? (Example of achievement results: "80% of students met expectations on SLO 1.")(check one):

6) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2015 and October 31, 2018?

7) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2015 to October 31, 2018? (Check all that apply.)

8) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place.

9) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 7? (Check all that apply.)

10) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

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

12) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

13) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 7. For example, report the percentage of students who achieved each SLO.

14) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

15) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

16) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

17) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please justify.