Program: Interdisciplinary Studies (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 - 4:12:55 pm
1) Below are your program's 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) Select one option:
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.
Some of the goals of the 2012 Exit Survey was to find out:
How satisfied IS students were with the interdisciplinary focus of their program and if it opened them to different academic perspectives and helped them value new viewpoints?
Did the interdisciplinary curriculum helped them develop problem solving skills for life-long learning?
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.
Evidence gathered 2011-2012
1) perceptions by current students using a questionnaire consisting of 12 Likert-scale questions and 12 short-answer questions
Evidence gathered—Ongoing
Students’ IS proposals (each student must submit a detailed proposal containing a narrative statement and course plan)
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
Exit Surveys
80 graduating seniors completed the survey.
IS proposal review & monitoring (ongoing assessment)
Each prospective IS major submits an IS proposal before he/she can officially declare IS as a major. IS has 210 declared majors (Fall 2012). Student progress is then monitored throughout their IS degree.
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.
2010 Exit Survey results
- About 87% of graduating seniors agreed (7 and above on a 9-point Likert-scale) that the Interdisciplinary Studies Program developed problem-solving skills for life-long learning.
- About 92.5 % of graduating seniors recorded a score of 7 or above on a 9-point Likert-scale indicating that they felt the IS Program effectively helped them to open personal perspectives and assisted them in learning to value new viewpoints.
- About 96.25% of graduating seniors recorded a a score of 7 or above on a 9-point Likert-scale indicating that as IS majors they were able to explore different academic perspectives.
- About 92.5% of graduating seniors in their global appraisal rated IS Program as good or excellent.
- About 95% of graduating seniors agreed that the IS Program was a valuable contribution to their overall education.
Qualitative Results
IS proposal review & monitoring (ongoing assessment)
IS advising is critical to help students learn strategies to see connections between disciplines that encompass their interest. They learn to create an academically coherent interdisciplinary major, to use effective strategies in creating, revising, and editing a final proposal, and to acquire the basics of interdisciplinary thinking by choosing courses from different departments that help them develop an integrated perspective.
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
The response by students in the 2012 Exit Survey (Sept 2011-August 2012) was valuable both as a monitor of what aspects of the program needed attention as well as an indication of the success of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. As in our previous major assessment study, students commented on the benefits of their interdisciplinary programs. It helped them get a broader knowledge of many disciplines and thus prepared them better for their desired career goals.
Many students indicated that they would like the inclusion of an interdisciplinary course while a few felt that it would not be useful because student interests are so varied. A mandatory interdisciplinary course, taught by the IS faculty, has been introduced as a core course for all IS students starting from Spring 2013.