Unit: Ethnic Studies
Program: Ethnic Studies (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Fri Nov 20, 2020 - 11:03:05 am

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

1. To demonstratethrough papers, exams, class discussions, service learning, et al.a grasp of the core concepts in the ethnic studies field. This includes ethnic and racial group dynamics, histories and identities, as well as challenges facing indigenous peoples and minorities, inter-group conflicts, racism and discrimination.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field)

2. To demonstratethrough class discussions, papers, exams service learning, et al.the ability to make explicit connections between ethnicity/race and other aspects of social life (i.e. economy, politics, cultural values and gender relations).

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2b. Conduct research)

3. To demonstrate an understandingthrough class discussions, papers, exams, service learning, et al.of the unique history of Hawaiis multi-ethnic working people and the importance of social justice everywhere.

(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)

4. To demonstrate through the use of reading, writing and thinking skills the ability to critically analyze both historic and contemporary patterns and issues in multi-ethnic societies.

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

5. To demonstrate the ability to connect classroom ideas and knowledge to current events and processes in both Hawaiis communities and the world beyond.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 1c. Understand Hawaiian culture and history, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research)

6. To demonstrate an understanding of civic engagement and the skills involved in change-oriented democratic citizenship.

(1a. General education, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth, 3b. Respect for people and cultures, in particular Hawaiian culture, 3d. Civic participation)

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

Department Website URL: https://ethnicstudies.manoa.hawaii.edu/student-learning-outcomes/
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) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 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.

0%
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):

No
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 November 1, 2018 and October 31, 2020?

Yes
No (skip to question 17)

7) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period November 1, 2018 and October 31, 2020? (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)
Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 8)
Other:

8) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place since November 2018.

We gathered papers and research projects representative of SLO 6, "To demonstrate an understanding of civic engagement and the skills involved in change-oriented democratic citizenship." DIstribute projects among faculty, come together to discuss at meeting of full faculty Nov. 10, with group writing to summarize our findings.  ES Dr Ulla Hasager also collected survey results and co-wrote a report on service learning that depended heavily on participants from ES and shared the results and the report with us.  Updated Curriculum Map.

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.

About 35 surveys results, subset of that number participated in focus groups in assessment research project that ES faculty member Dr. Ulla Hasager conducted, ES faculty closely read about ten student projects, including traditional papers and non-traditional research engaging civic participation such as musical pieces with carefully researched and produced words, direct action through making student-centered COVID-19 resources accessible to students and the community (about 6 of the 14 participants in the COVID site are ES majors).

Overall: 45 students total, 10 intensively.

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 from the evaluation, analysis, interpretation of evidence (checked in question 12). For example, report the percentage of students who achieved each SLO.

Dr. Hassager and colleagues conducted research on "Pedagogies To Support Civic-Mindedness" at UHM and Salzburg University Of Teacher Education and found ES at UHM, with its close working relationship over many years with Service Learning, to be a model for civically engaged higher education.  The survey results and focus groups bore this out.  ES collaboration with service learning over the years results in graduates who are well known to take up civic minded careers, and the sense of actually doing things that matter to our communities instills a high morale and team spirit among the students.  Our focus is on SLO 6 this year, "To demonstrate an understanding of civic engagement and the skills involved in change-oriented democratic citizenship."

Hassager, et al found that ES students who partook of the service learning did show a growing critical understanding, developed through practice in addition to reading and writing, of civic engagement and change-oriented democratic citizenship.  Here are two charts summarizing the results. Of the fifty-five UHM students, the majority were from ES.

CIvic Participation Survey

"SL" = service learning, the UHM model
"ACL"=active-citizenship learning, the Salzburg model
From "Pedagogies To Support Civic-Mindedness in HE"
Ingrid Geier, PhD, Salzburg University Of Teacher Education
Ulla Hasager, PhD, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
 

ES majors  participated in the North Shore Field School directed by Dr. Ty Tengan, chair of ES, which is recording the historical geography of the North Shore through multiple media, including map-making and video and audio interviews with Kupuna there.  Others are working to continue building the extensive archive of local knowledge as part of the ES Department's Center for Oral History, directed by Dr. Daviana McGregor. Students regularly take up service learning projects with UniteHere/Local 5.  Dr. Monisha Das Gupta led student research that included outreach to agricultural workers, deemed essential workers during the pandemic but grossly underpaid and ill-treated.  She and her students, with some technical help from Dr. Richard Rath, created the Justice4Farmworkers Gallery, where they used photography to send messages of solidarity to crucial but often forgotten agricultural workers.  Dr. Rath, running with an idea started by Dr. Ethan Caldwell of ES, worked with students on both traditional and more directly engaged research, with students working on COVID-19 support through and for their communities and fellow students on a web platform as well as one major working on a hip hop history of the struggle to protect Mauna Kea.  The ES majors on the COVID-19 project took the lead and  learned how to get a nimble project off the ground, working, and publicized within two weeks of the UHM Campus shutting down during Spring Break 2019. This site drew  thousands of visits  praise from numerous students, who found the resources useful and timely.  

While this does not provide a percentage of those meeting the SLO, it does provide a good indicator that SLO 6 is being met in a robust and sustainable fashion.  

 
 

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 its findings/results.

We had a series of lively discussions and trained our focus on active indicators of learning success for this SLO, coming up with the following list which we employed in our qualitative analysis:

  • Communicating publicly and in advocacy work
  • Providing access to information
  • creating historical knowledge
  • conducting interviews
  • transcribing
  • documenting our history our way through film, audio, and web media.
  • organizing events
  • testifying publicly, writing letters to editors of publications 
  • Collaboratingwith communities
  • Direct participation in democracy
  • mālama ‘āina and aloha ‘āina
 

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.

We discussed the possibility of creating an opportunity and training for students to create a portfolio of some of their work as ES majors.  Portfolios are becoming increasingly as relevant as resumes in the multimedia environment of today's professional workforce, and leaving UHM with a good portfolio of the great work are students are doing in civic participation but in all the areas ES focuses on sends them off prepared with materials to present and to keep developing as lifelong learners after leaving the University..  

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

NA