Unit: Communications
Program: Journalism (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Sun Oct 10, 2010 - 6:55:26 am

1) Below are the program student learning outcomes submitted last year. Please add/delete/modify as needed.

Students can:

  • SLO #1: gather, analyze and organize information, and to communicate it clearly, effectively and responsibly using multiple media platforms;
  • SLO #2: demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural and historical contexts of reporting on social institutions as well as on individuals and groups;
  • SLO #3: demonstrate an understanding of the importance of a free, vigorous and responsible press to the maintenance of an informed citizenry to exercise the rights of self-governance in a democracy;
  • SLO #4: contribute to lifelong learning through reports that enlighten and enliven audiences, whether in print, broadcast, online or other new media formats.

 

2) As of last year, your program's SLOs were published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://www.communications.hawaii.edu/journ/pages/academic.html
Student Handbook. URL, if available online:
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: NA
UHM Catalog. Page Number: See online: http://www.catalog.hawaii.edu/schoolscolleges/arts-sciences/departments/jour.htm
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:
Other:
Other:

3) Below is the link to your program's curriculum map (if submitted in 2009). If it has changed or if we do not have your program's curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2009:

4) The percentage of courses in 2009 that had course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is indicated below. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) State the assessment question(s) and/or goals of the assessment activity. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.

Assessment Question:

Can journalism students at the end of Journalism 302 (the second semester video/multimedia course that all journalism students must take) apply both writing and technical skills learned in Journalism 301 (Fundamentals of Journalism) and the first three-fourths of Journalism 302 to a multimedia project that must be completed in one 2.5-hour class period?

SLOs targeted:

1) ability to gather, analyze, and organize information and to communicate it clearly, effectively, and responsibly using multiple media platforms.

6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered.

1) Data based on observation of how students went about completing this timed task. (Process)

2) Quality (technical and storytelling) of the multimedia project completed at the end of the class period. (Product)

7) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected?

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:

8) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence?

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:

9) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated.
If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

A total of about 18 students participated in the task. These were the students enrolled in J302.

10) Summarize the actual results.

Working in teams, students were able to apply their learning (technical and storytelling) to producing a short multimedia story that required coming up with a story idea, writing a video script, going out on to campus and shooting raw video with a Flip video camera, returning to the computer lab to download raw video onto computer, editing with iMovie into a multimedia story, and uploading final product to a public folder for instructor and other students to view together for group evaluation/critique. In the instructor's opinion, all teams successfully accomplished the task and demonstrated their ability to apply technical and writing skills from J301 and J302 to a class project within a prescribed amount of time, although some students needed to revise or refine their projects beyond the 2.5 hours timeframe.

11) How did your program use the results? --or-- Explain planned use of results.
Please be specific.

The preparer of this report was the constructor of the assessment exercise discussed. I plan to repeat the task in the class the next time it is taught (Spring 2011) and will develop a rubric that students can use in the process stage of the task so they can see how the product will be evaluated. Changes and refinements to the exercise will be made based on previous experience and outcomes. For example, more time will be allotted for the exercise, perhaps using half of a previous class session to lay the groundwork and explain the exercise in detail, which would leave the students with more time to actually collect their "data" and edit their stories together.

12) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.

I think it is helpful to students to understand the purpose of an assessment exercise, so at some point in the process (probably at the end, but it could be at the beginning) they realize that learning is cumulative, and at certain steps along the way, we should assess -- not necessarily measure -- whether their incremental learning can be applied more globally to a project that requires "big picture" thinking and action. In other words, share with students the goal of the assessment exercise so that they can appreciate their own outcomes and the concept of a benchmark, or understand how the instructor comes up with recommendations for improvement: "At this point in the course of your learning here, this is what you should be capable of doing. Can you do it? If yes, demonstrated by this exercise, great. If no, what do you need to work on?"

13) Other important information:

Assessment does not have to be a large and complex exercise. You can assess at many different levels, while still being relevant to your program's SLOs.