Program: Women's Studies (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Thu Sep 19, 2013 - 3:05:34 pm
1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
Our SLOs have been modified since last year. Our original eight SLOs have been concentrated into three. We cut down the number of SLOs to help improve the efficiency of evaluating our writing samples. Below are the new SLOs.
- Demonstrated ability to engage in critical and interdisciplinary thinking, analysis, and problem solving through effective written and oral communication.
- Evidence of ability to integrate key concepts in Women's Studies, including the social construction of gender; intersectionalities among gender, sexuality, race, class and other vectors of power and identity; social stratification; and how these issues manifest in a Pacific-Asia context in written and oral work.
- Demonstrated ability to connect the classroom with "real world" feminist issues through active engagement in citizenship and civic participation.
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: www.womenstudies.hawaii.edu
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: the same as department website UHM Catalog. Page Number: Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: NA Other: Other: 3) 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, 2012 and September 30, 2013? (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, 2012 to September 30, 2013: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
All of the SLOs above are addressed in our online survey and a questionnaire given to exit interview participants.
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.
All courses measure SLOs through exams, written assignments, oral presentations, among others.
The department also has standardized questions for all courses in e-CAFE.
In addition we conduct exit interviews with graduating majors and ask them to complete a questionnaire that focuses on our SLOs.
We also conduct a separate online survey that specifically asked about SLOs.
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
Exit interviewees: 4
Online survey participants: 68
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.
The results from the online survey indicated that our department meets the SLOs. Approximately 80% of students reported that they furthered their understanding of key concepts and how they intersect (SLO 2). Over half reported furthering their understanding of how key concepts manifest in a Pacific-Asia context (SLO 2). Nearly 90% of students said they were required to engage in class discussion 6 times or more during the semester and almost 70% of students reported having to write a minimum of 10 pages throughout the semester (SLO 1). Finally, nearly 88% of students reported that they used material from Women’s Studies courses outside the classroom (SLO 3).
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
Faculty, the chair, and other department staff will discuss the results at several meetings and determine how to best implement improvements and perhaps modify assessment materials if needed.
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.
Exit interviews generated useful suggestions for improving the department/program. Students’ concerns centered on department communication. They encouraged us to keep our Facebook page active and ensure that all students were included on our listserv. Also some students suggested that we establish a capstone and/or service-learning program.
Additionally, after meeting with the UH assessment office, we are planning to develop a rubric for evaluating our writing samples. These samples are term papers from one of our key courses, WS 439 Feminist Theory.