Outcomes Assessment of Student Learning (See end of report for program matrix for each subject area)

  1. Describe the process used to determine your competencies. List the internal and external sources you used to determine them. –

Political science -- competencies were developed by full time and part time faculty based on requirements for citizenship.

Human Relations - Graded Portfolio containing five sections of job-specific competencies

Sociology and Psychology - We continue to collect data related to understanding of the scientific research process with use of the scenarios developed during the 2003-2004 academic year. They have been administered to students in many sections – both on campus and online – throughout the year.

History – two modes of assessing outcomes have been intiated, primarily by permanent faculty.

- Upon completion of the World Civilization courses, students are asked to chose one of the world’s civilizations and intelligently write about the geopolitical, social, cultural, economic and religious dimensions of that society. This requires them, among other things, to articulate their understanding of the differences between “culture” and “civilization”, and the similarities and differences between the world’s civilizations down through the ages.

- Upon completion of the American history courses, students are asked to select one of the many eras that make up American history and discuss the era in terms of its geopolitical, social, cultural, economic and religious dimensions.

Geography – does not currently utilize course level outcomes assessment.

  1. How/Why did you select your measurements?

Political science -- complete matrix dividing responses into no acceptable, acceptable and excellent.

Human Relations -- Process that evolved over time combining business and social science theory and practice.

Sociology and Psychology - A general session of department faculty has been (and will again be) held to read and assess scenario results. A three-point scale is assigned from complete – inadequate mastery. The group will also develop a scale against which to review diversity/multicultural submissions.

History – derived over time in an effort to determine what students have learned and understand beyond rote memory of names, dates, etc. A three-point scale is assigned ranging from “excellent mastery” to “adequate mastery” to “inadequate mastery.

  1. Are you currently measuring all of your outcomes? If you are not presently measuring all of the outcomes, what process do you have in place to include measurement of the remaining outcomes?

Political Science - We are presently measuring the competencies.

Human Relations -- Yes – through portfolio assignments and classroom activities.

Sociology and Psychology - Increased emphasis on research/scientific process has not significantly changed student response on the assessment tool at this time. We feel that the outcome data may be improved with:

continued emphasis on teaching this process with adjunct faculty

incorporation of additional class activities that emphasize scientific process and critical consumerism of findings.

The ability of students to see how they influence and are influenced by the social world has been adequate as measured by scenarios and selected terminal class assignments.

History - am not sure whether the desired competencies are being adequately measured at this point. A longer experience base should help clarify this issue.

  1. How did faculty in your program analyze results? What did you find/discover about student learning? Describe the process used.

Political Science -- Division into non acceptable, acceptable and excellent.. Results indicate that students have trouble with responsibilities.

Human Relations -- Individually through graded portfolios / discussions with peers / faculty mentoring internships / peer evaluations

Sociology and Psychology - We plan to continue to incorporate outcomes activities into departmental meetings and departmental development activities. How does that compare with your expectations? –

Political Science -- Results are about as expected

Human Relations - Falls short of a true quantifiable random survey

History – because the data base is still small, it is too early to determine success and failure rates. It seems clear, however, that students are significantly better informed in the subjects than they were upon entry into the classes.

  1. Comment on your recommendations. Where are you in implementing your recommendations? Will you improve your measures? If you are improving your measures, how will you change them?

Political Science –Jim Van Arsdall’s sections have a portion of the final exam devoted only to responsibility.

Human Relations - Random sampling and review of portfolios (full-time instructors) / increased mentoring and evaluation of adjuncts in conjunction with Assistant Dean are being implemented.

Sociology and Psychology - Input from faculty will be encouraged as we develop the procedure to assess the diversity/multicultural outcome and consider additional general education outcomes to be measured.

History – after completing the current cycle at the end of Spring quarter, efforts will be made to seek involvement by adjunct faculty and have them become participating members starting Fall 04.

Assessment Implementation Matrix

Program/Department: Social Science

Departmental Faculty:

Psychology and Sociology: H. Lynn Bradman, Jenni Fauchier, Ann Greathouse, Ralph Grippin, Joe Ociepka

History, Political Science and Geography: Art Durand, Dennis Smith, Jim VanArsdall, Amy Forss

Human Relations: Nancy Conrad, Rose James, Al Motley, Gary Toth

Program Goals:
Although not specifically a program, it is the goal of the Social Science Department to provide general education support courses for the College’s Public Services Programs (specifically, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Human Services and Chemical Dependency), Academic/ Transfer Degrees, Health Care and other vocational-technical certificates and programs.

Student
Outcomes / Measures / Expected
Results/
Standards
(What’s good enough?) / Actual Results
(What did you find?) / Analysis
(What does it mean?) / Recommendations
(What will you
do/ changes?) / Results of Recommendations
(Did it work?)
Comprehension of
the Research
Process* / Scenarios
#1 or #2
(See attached A) / Students will identify hypothesis, independent and dependent variables and implications of the findings / see attached findings / It appears that at the end of the social science general education class, at least 85% of students have complete or partial understanding of the concepts
(Attachment C) / 1) incorporate activities that identify research elements throughout the course
2) provide a standard power-point resource for all faculty to use when teaching the content
3) provide periodic faculty development activities to share strategies among full and part time colleagues / 1) Quia flash card activities have been posted and linked to the PowerPoint presentation
2) the standard PowerPoint has been posted on the social science faculty website ( (see attached B)
3) fall departmental development was held on 8-24-02
Outcome / Measure / Expected results / Actual results / Analysis / Recommendations / Results
Awareness how they are influenced by and how they influence the world around them** /
To date, no standard measure has been created; faculty have selected projects and papers which allow student to relate course work to major /
Students will be able to see how the general education requirement relates to the field of study /
Using the question, “What is something that you learned in the course that you can take with your into your family life and your career? Be specific about the topic and cite an example of how it will be useful.”, several faculty have found that nearly 100% of students can provide an adequate answer.
(see attached D) /
For the courses where polling has taken place, students seem to be able to articulate a clear application of some part of the course content /
1) Involve additional in the use of the terminal question
or assignment
2) Collaborate with program faculty to establish needed connections between curricula
3) identify additional assignments that could replicate the assessment /
yet to be completed
Newly identified for 2003-2004
Appreciation for the role of diversity in one’s
personal, community
and cultural spheres*** /
not yet identified /
not yet identified /
not yet
completed /
unknown at this time /
not yet identified /
yet to be completed

*Outcome #1: In 2000 – 2001 the Social Science Department specified this outcome: Demonstrate verbally or in writing an understanding of the scientific method (including a. observation, b. hypothesis formation, c. testing/experimentation, d. drawing conclusions from evidence or data, e. documentation f. reexamination and replication) as applied to the social science general education class and or topics from one’s major field of study.

** In 2001 –2001, relative to the competencies that were identified as a rationale for the General Education Core for Social Science – “Explain how each of us shapes and is shaped by and reflects our culture and society.” Catalog: 38 -- this second outcome was included: Demonstrate awareness in writing or verbal report the foundations created by the study of social science (psychology, sociology, history, etc.) which underpin the applied areas of the intended major area of interest or program of study.

*** In our initial meetings for the 2004- 2004 academic year. It was proposed to add an outcome relative to awareness and appreciation of diversity. At this time, exact wording of the outcome has not been completed. However, it is our plan to finalize the wording and pilot test some measurement instruments during the fall quarter. Formal measurement will begin during winter and spring quarters.

Included in the Social Science Department are the faculty who teach the general education requirement entitled HMR 101 Human Relations Skills. The matrix for the Human Relations core competency is given here.

Student
Outcomes / Measures / Expected
Results/
Standards
(What’s good enough?) / Actual Results
(What did you find?) / Analysis
(What does it mean?) / Recommendations
(What will you do/ changes?) / Results of Recommendations
(Did it work?)
HMR 101:
Demonstrate the human relations skills needed to function as an effective team member in the modern workplace. /
student
portfolios
and
group
presentations or
projects /
a rubric
was developed for
portfolio
assessment
/
to date only pilot testing of the rubric has been completed /
preliminary assessments seem to indicate that the contents may provide an adequate demonstration of job-seeking skills and reinforces the need for all faculty who teach the course to implement the assignment and randomly select portfolios for assessment. /
Continue to use the portfolio assignment as an ongoing an terminal activity for the course; regularly review the contents and revise options and expectations. /
yet to be determined

Rubric -- Political Science - Rights and Responsibilities

ExcellentAcceptableUnacceptable

Five rights and responsibilities are listed and explained / Five rights and responsibilities are addressed. Paper neglect or distorts one or more of the rights or responsibilities. / Paper does not list rights or responsibilities
All issues are addressed demonstrating thorough explanation of the topics, complexity of thought, focus and organization / Moderate, complexity, thought , focus and organization / Lacks, complexity, thought, focus and organization
Excellent control of vocabulary and sentence structure. / Moderate control of vocabulary and sentence structure / Little control of vocabulary and sentence structure
Language is clear / Language is moderately clear / Language is very difficult to follow

Pilot study done during the summer of 2003 showed 30% of students fell in the excellent category, 50% in the acceptable category and 20% in the nonacceptable category.

Study was based on the following question given in POS 201 classes

Chapter 4 of your text discusses American’s preoccupation with our rights. The implication is that we don’t take our responsibilities as citizens very seriously. Please write below and on the back if necessary a short list of five rights and responsibilities we have as citizens or legal aliens of the United States. For each right discuss what responsibilities are associated with that right. Don’t list a right if you can’t list a corresponding responsibility.

Developed by Dr. James E. Van Arsdall, Political Science, MCC

Rubric -- History – Eras Or Centuries

ExcellentAcceptableUnacceptable

Five essential concepts or questions for an era or century are listed and explained / Five essential concepts or questions for an era are addressed. Paper neglect or distorts one or more of the concepts or questions / Paper does not address the question.
All issues are addressed demonstrating thorough explanation of the topics, complexity of thought, focus and organization / Moderate, complexity, thought , focus and organization / Lacks, complexity, thought, focus and organization
Excellent control of vocabulary and sentence structure. / Moderate control of vocabulary and sentence structure / Little control of vocabulary and sentence structure
Language is clear / Language is moderately clear / Language is very difficult to follow

Study was based on the following question given in History classes

Choice from the following essential questions or concepts and apply five to an era or century.

Rubric – HMR 101 – Portfolio

Excellent
All issues are addressed demonstrating thorough explanation of the topic, complexity of thought, focus and organization, control of vocabulary and sentence structure.

Acceptable
All issues are addressed, although not as effectively as the excellent papers. Papers lack complexity. These portfolios may neglect nor distort one of the writing tasks.

Unacceptable

These papers fail to address the writing tasks and demonstrate marked problems in organization and mechanics. Language is difficult to follow.

Excellent / Acceptable / Unacceptable
  1. portfolio can be used as a career tool
  2. complete with all the information gathered throughout the course
  3. depth of introspection
  4. complexity of thought -- impact on writer
  5. writing at college level, e.g., grammar, spelling, pagination, citation of references
  6. lots of detail
  7. aesthetically pleasing
  8. very well organized
/
  1. all sections complete and in order
  2. minimal introspection
  3. less complexity
  4. minimal detail and organization
/
  1. incomplete portfolio – missing parts
  2. problems in organization and mechanics
  3. no introspection demonstrated
  4. sloppy appearance – thrown together
  5. not indicative of college-level work

STop of Form
Scientific Method Outcomes Assessment Scenario
Read the following scenario and answer the questions below - (copy)
The manager of Acme Widget’s Incorporated notes that assembly line workers always appear to be working productively when she walks through the area, yet overall quarterly production of the assembly plant is lower than she expected it to be. She hires a research team to discover what might be influencing the rate of production. It is the manager’s habit to walk through the production area at twenty minutes after the hour, every hour and then return to her office. The researchers observe that production increases at 15 minutes after the hour and steadily drops off at 35 minutes after the hour. They thought that possibly the increase in production was due to the presence of the boss. They decided to test their idea by having the boss walk in at random times during the hour. They measured work production 5 minutes before and again 5 minutes after each time she walked through the workplace. They found that the amount of work had increased after she had walked through. They concluded that the presence of the supervisor was related to the amount of work produced.
/
Name (optional):
1. What was the researcher’s hypothesis?

2. What was the independent variable?

3.What was the dependent variable?

4. Assuming you were the manager, knowing the findings of this research, what influence might this research have on the way you manage your people at work?

5. How could the findings of this research influence people in general?

What is your sex
/ Female
/ Male
Have you taken a college-level science or life-science class?
Yes
No
Please tell us which of the following English courses you have taken. (Check all that apply)
English not needed for my program
097 or 098
101
102
Approximately, how many credit hours have you completed (counting the current term)?

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