Program: Anthropology (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Thu Dec 15, 2011 - 2:05:50 pm
1) Below are your program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: 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(s) to your program's curriculum map(s). If we do not have your curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.
- 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.
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.
Our faculty discussed at meetings, informal and formal and interpersonally, the effectiveness of our undergraduate curriculum. One of the major considerations under discussion during the Fall semester of 2011 is revamping the Culture and Humanity 152 introductory course to standardize its content across teaching faculty and sections. This has everything to do with what we, to the extent there is a current mood afoot for agreeing on what that content ought or needs to be, also agree as to what those SLOs ought to be. Right now we are moving toward agreements as certain designated faculty are putting together new, more standard 152 agenda for discussion and ultimate implementation. Which won’t stop us from forever discussing what we are trying to accomplish and how well or poorly we do it.
Another shift in the 152 course is a faculty decision to change how the course is offered, that is by having larger sections with breakout sessions conducted by TAs. We will try this beginning in Fall 2012. The idea of breakout (smaller TA-led) sessions is supported by those who believe that they facilitate student learning.
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.
#5 simply states what we are doing to bring a higher level of standardization (and hopefully rigor and effectiveness) to the undergraduate learning experience. Our work thus far has involved a rather tedious process of reviewing and analyzing all the 152 documents of the past few years including syllabuses, exams, class handouts, etc. obtained from all those who have taught the course. Those materials have been analyzed to discern common themes and materials for purpose of designing a new more standard 152 curriculum.
7) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
All those who taught the 152 course in the last several years were asked to send as many of their materials as they could to the analyzer. He did a content analysis of all the exams, syllabuses, class handouts, etc.
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.
No results to report as of this date.
11) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
Already stated in question #5
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.
As always, the process depends on the good will and willing and agreement of the faculty. All faculty agree with the necessity and desire for course and program learning outcome assessment. It's part of what drives us as teachers! We are doing it constantly, informally, formally, in groups, interpersonally. There is always disagreement about what constitutes learning outcome and assessment methodology. We are trying to discover if we can find more common grounds for these activities.
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.
I am organizing an ad hoc volunteer assessment committee from among the regular faculty. We will continue to discuss the SLOs, their relevance to the program as a whole and to the subdisciplines. I have designated the History of Anthropology 490 course as the BA capstone course (mostly upper division students), until such time as we design a formal capstone course, which has been under discussion for a long time. I have asked this Fall 2011 semester students in the 490 course to respond to some of the SLOs that are currently in place. These were done during one of the last sessions of that course, a week ago. Now I will ask my little committee of assessors to assess these responses after we decide on the criteria (rubrics), which is going to be difficult because the learning goals are profoundly comprehensive. Anyway, we’re going to give it a try.