Unit: Communications
Program: Communication (MA)
Degree: Master's
Date: Mon Oct 08, 2012 - 12:55:40 pm

1) Below are your program's 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.

In 2012, we created a formal list of SLOs (these are in draft format and still being discussed). 

We drafted a list of program SLOs

1.      Demonstrate subject mastery in areas of communication relevant to personal research interests.

2.      Identify research questions on a contemporary issue in communication, and perform a critical, written analysis of the relevant literature.

3.      Develop specific research questions related to personal research interests.

4.      Identify an appropriate, empirical methodology (or media approach) to address the selected research problem.

5.      Demonstrate mastery of the methodology and techniques specific to the field of study. Analyze and interpret research data.

6.      Present and discuss, in written form, the findings and relevance of the research project to the field of communication and to broader society.

7.      Present, discuss, and defend the findings and relevance of the research project to the field of communication in an oral defense.

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) Select one option:

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) 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.

All of the SLOs were targeted. The question was whether our graduates (i.e., those completing their theses) were able to do the following:

1.      Demonstrate subject mastery in areas of communication relevant to personal research interests.

2.      Identify research questions on a contemporary issue in communication, and perform a critical, written analysis of the relevant literature.

3.      Develop specific research questions related to personal research interests.

4.      Identify an appropriate, empirical methodology (or media approach) to address the selected research problem.

5.      Demonstrate mastery of the methodology and techniques specific to the field of study. Analyze and interpret research data.

6.      Present and discuss, in written form, the findings and relevance of the research project to the field of communication and to broader society.

7.      Present, discuss, and defend the findings and relevance of the research project to the field of communication in an oral defense.

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.

The assessment process for MAs is left to the student's committee (with some oversight of the Graduate Chair). Students must demonstrate that they have met each goal through the develoment of a graduate thesis or practicum and an oral defense of their work.

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

Ten students usccessfully defended theses during this period.

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: Graduate Chair

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.

Ten students successfully defended their thesis.

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

Currently, the assessment results are being used internally to judge the quality of our program and fine-tune course offerings. However, we recognize a need to better understand the impacts our graduates' work has in various communities. We are working to track our graduates more effectively. 

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.

See 12) 

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.