Unit: Communications
Program: Communication (MA)
Degree: Master's
Date: Sat Sep 03, 2011 - 12:24:14 pm

1) Below are your program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.

The current SLOs for the Master's Degree Program in Communication within the School of Communications are to build and exchange knowledge in areas relevant to the broad field of Communication and our specific foci in organizational and intercultural communication, global communication, information and communication technologies, social media, and communication policy and planning.  This knowledge is defined in our program as including both sociocultural and sociotechnical perspectives.  These SLOs are supported by our curriculum, research activity, and networking with faculty, fellow students and outside resources.  Our SLOs are published in varying wordings in our Program informational brochures, our Program website, our Student Handbook, and--most extensively--described and discussed in our new student orientation presented in August prior to each new academic year.  Note that these SLOs will be somewhat modified as a result of an internal review of our program by our graduate faculty conducted in spring, 2008.  That review led to changes in our program (in spring 2009) that have been approved by the College of Social Sciences and the Graduate Division and have been implemented in fall, 2010.

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

Department Website URL: http://communications.hawaii.edu/com/graduate/index.html
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: http://communications.hawaii.edu/documents/com/pdf/Student_Handbook.pdf
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: NA
UHM Catalog. Page Number: 108
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:
Other: new student orientation at the beginning of each academic year
Other: Communication Graduate list/forum in Laulima

3) Below is the link(s) to your program's curriculum map(s). If we do not have your curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2011:

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) For the period June 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.

The SLOs that were targeted were to build and exchange knowledge in areas relevant to the broad field of Communication and our specific foci in organizational and intercultural communication, global communication, information and communication technologies, social media, and communication policy and planning.  This knowledge is defined in our program as including both sociocultural and sociotechnical perspectives.

We always attempt to assess the degree to which all the SLOs described are being met in a valid and efficient manner consistent within the existing Program structure within the context for maximizing information relevant to necessary or desirable program modification.  This is most typically done--and was again this year--through the examination of student MA theses and practica in terms of SLOs and subsequent discussion by the graduate faculty of their perceptions of the degree to which the SLOs are being met.  Additionally, every few years we have a more general program review and discussion and--if found necessary or desirable--program modifications are made to better support the SLOs.  Such a general discussion was held by the faculty during a two-day retreat in spring, 2008 and the modifications agreed upon during that retreat were approved by the College of Social Science and the Graduate Division (in spring 2009) and were implemented for fall, 2010.  Because our program takes approximately two years (full-time) to complete, we have not yet had students complete the new curriculum. Thus, no additional review was held during the last year. 

6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #5.

Assessments were based primarily on student MA theses and practica, secondarily on faculty input with respect to student performance in courses, and on comparative descriptive data (e.g., graduate rates, retention rates, etc.) provided by the Graduate Division.

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

Evidence from the population (not sample) of student theses for each year--including the 7  that graduated the June 2010 to September 2011 assessment year--is considered.  Since Program modifications based on our extensive internal faculty review during spring 2008 are being implemented in fall 2010, additional evidence was not evaluated during the last year.

8) 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:

9) 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:

10) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #5:
Summarize the actual results.

Since Program modifications based on our extensive internal faculty review of our Graduate Program during spring 2008 are currently being implemented, additional evidence was not evaluated during the last June 2010 to September 2011 assessment period.

11) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.

Since Program modifications based on our extensive internal faculty review of our Graduate Program during spring 2008 were forwarded to the College of Social Science and the Graduate Division (in spring 2009) and were approved for implementation for fall 2010, additional information was not distributed for this year to those or other agents.  No addition modifications were proposed based on assessment of SLOs this last year. During the last assessment period, we focused on developing and disseminating new materials (brochures, student handbook, website) consistent with the Program modifications. 

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.

NA

13) Other important information.
Please note: If the program did not engage in assessment, please explain. If the program created an assessment plan for next year, please give an overview.

In April, 2010, we launched CommHive, an online community for communications professionals in Hawaii, School of Communications alumni, and students (http://www.commhive.com/).  We created a forum with program information for current students, and we anticipate that CommHive will also enable us to track the career paths of graduates in the future (providing additional assessment opportunities from alumni and employers). CommHive was developed in-house during with the aid of two graduate assistants. We are also reaching out to alumni through a LinkedIn group (August 2011). This is also intended to help us track the career paths of graduates.