Program: History (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Thu Aug 30, 2012 - 5:29:08 pm
1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):
1) Students can explain historical change and continuity.
2) Students can develop a clear argument using recognized historical methods.
3) Students can write clear expository prose and present their ideas orally according to disciplinary conventions.
4) Students can interpret and use primary sources.
5) Students can identify the main historiographical issues in a specific area of concentration.
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/history/undergraduate
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: Some individual faculty share departmental SLOs on their syllabi. Other: Course listings on departmental website: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/history/courses Other: Our curriculum map is also published: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/history/undergraduate3) Select one option:
- 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) Did your program engage in any program assessment activities between June 1, 2011 and September 30, 2012? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning the curriculum to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys or tests, etc.)
Yes No (skip to question 14)6) For the period June 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
During this academic year (2011/12), we continued our five-year Assessment Plan and moved onto assessing SLO #3 : "Students can write clear expository prose and present their ideas orally according to disciplinary conventions." See below for the details of our Assessment Plan. Included in parentheses are the courses from which we take representative samples of work.
2009-10: SLO #4 (496 in fall, 400-level in spring)
2010-11: SLO #5 (496 in fall, 396 in spring)
2011-12: SLO #3 (496 in fall, 400-level in spring)
2012-13: SLO #3, continued (300-level in fall); SLO #1 (496 in spring)
2013-14: SLO #2 (496 in fall, 300-level in spring)
7) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #6.
We collected in Spring 2011 sample papers from HIST 496, which are the undergraduate students' capstone senior thesis courses and in which each student produces a lengthy piece of original work based on primary sources. We analyzed these sample papers in Fall 2011 for assessing SLO #3. We also collected a representative sample of papers from HIST 400-level courses in Fall 2011, which we analyzed in Spring 2012 for assessing SLO #3.
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
A total of 29 persons submitted evidence for evaluation (= 10 students in HIST 496 for the Fall 2011 assessment + 19 students in HIST 400-level for the Spring 2012 assessment). The sampling technique we used was to request each 496/ 400-level instructor to share a representative range of papers based on the scoring rubric we designed for this particular SLO.
9) 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: 10) 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: 11) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #6:
Summarize the actual results.
Fall
Our goal was to find 75% of the HIST 496 final papers would be either "Competent" (Level 3) or "Accomplished" (Level 4) using our scoring rubric for SLO #3 (see below). The result was 60% (6 out of 10 sample papers).
Scoring Guide for SLO #3:
Level Interpretation and Use
4 - Accomplished Communicates sophisticated analytical ideas and arguments
Clear and coherent narrative
Expressive grammatical use of language
Correct use of citations and formatting
3 - Competent Clear and coherent narrative
Grammatical use of language
Correct use of citations and formatting
2 - Developing Lacks clarity and narrative organization
Has some grammatical errors
Has errors of citations and formatting
1 - Beginning Unclear and incoherent narrative
Has grammatical errors
Has errors of citations and formatting
Spring
We applied the same goal as above when assessing sample papers that were gathered from HIST 400-level courses. The result was not so encouraging: 8 out of 19 sample papers--or 42% of the sample papers--met the criteria of Level 3 or above, falling far below our goal.
We will incorporate these findings and make recommendations in the final report, which we plan to produce at the end of the Five-Year Assessment Plan.
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
The results of last year's assessment activities will be reported to the department at large at our departmental meeting in Fall 2012, in conjunction with the ongoing discussion about capstone courses and majors, especially questions regarding the desirability or otherwise of retaining or modifying HIST 496 as our capstone course. Meanwhile, the assessment committee will continue to compile the records of its annual activities and findings so that it will be able to produce a comprehensive report for the Department at the end of the five-year Assessment Plan.
13) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.
We are generally satisfied by the effectiveness of our assessment procedures and feel confident that, by the end of our Five-Year Assessment Plan, we will be able to present to the department concrete recommendations about improving our history curriculum.
14) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.
Or, if the program did engage in assessment activities, please add any other important information here.
n/a