Unit: Philosophy
Program: Philosophy (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Thu Oct 14, 2010 - 10:37:37 am

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

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 field in contemporary philosophy.

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

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

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:
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 2010:

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.

We wanted to determine how well students achieved SLO #1 & #5 and to create a curriculum map. 

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

Students' senior papers are collected and reviewed by our assessment committee. 

Students submit a 1-page narrative before graduation, on their experience within the program.

We are piloting submitting a course SLO questionnaire to students at the end of the semester to determine how well the objectives have been met. 

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.

10 seniors

70 students submitting course SLO questionnaires

10) Summarize the actual results.

Faculty have been satisfied with the quality of senior papers. 

Some questions have arisen in the curriculum mapping process that will be address at future meetings.

The course SLO questionnaire has been tested and this instrument can easily be extended to other courses and disciplines that use SLOs.  Will be glad to share. 

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

We are going to meet to discuss issues emerging during the curriculum mapping process.  We will be moving forward to look at our MA and PhD programs.  

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 faculty who go through the process are more likely to tolerate it.

13) Other important information:

We will look at the results of curricular changes made as a consequence of the mapping exercise.