SJSU Annual Program Assessment Form Academic Year 2016 2017 Department: Humanities Program: Humanities BA College: Humanities and the Arts Program Website: http://www.sjsu.edu/hum/ Link to Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) on program website: http://www.sjsu.edu/hum/ba_program/learning_objective/index.html Program Accreditation (if any): n a Contact Person and Email: Scot Guenter scot.guenter@sjsu.edu Date of Report: 1 March 2017 Part A 1. List of Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) (PLOs should be appropriate to the degree and consider national disciplinary standards, if they exist. Each outcome should describe how students can demonstrate learning.) PLO 1. Demonstrate the ability to frame questions and pursue answers to aesthetic, social, cultural and global problems using interdisciplinary methods PLO 2. Demonstrate the ability to describe and compare the roles, impacts and ethical implications of ideas, texts, social movements, contemporary situations, and creations of the human imagination. PLO 3. Demonstrate skill in written and verbal communication, including argumentation. PLO 4. Demonstrate the ability to identify, select, use, and cite information sources appropriately. Additional PLO: American, Asian, European, and Middle East Studies Concentrations: PLO A-1. Explain how current events and contemporary issues are understood with knowledge of the historical and cultural background of a particular world area (e.g., America, East Asia, Europe, or the Middle East), including processes of cultural formation, historical development, and social change. Additional PLOs: Religious Studies Concentration PLO B-1. Demonstrate a high level of religious literacy, including the ability to articulate etic and emic perspectives for specific religions, and a functional understanding of at least five major world religious systems (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Jainism, a specific geographic set of indigenous religions [African, Australian, North American, South American, Pacific Islander, North Asian, pre-christian European], Wicca,
Afro-Caribbean religions) PLO B-2. Function adroitly within the interdisciplinary nature of comparative religious studies. Describe how religion, as a phenomenon, can be analyzed historically, philosophically, psychologically, sociologically, geographically, and artistically, as well as theologically. Demonstrate ability to write and speak about religions in a scholarly, civil, and respectful manner, using the academic discourses that have evolved for this purpose. Foster civil discourse about religion by encountering and engaging community members, faculty, and students who hold diverse views within and about religious traditions. 2. Map of PLOs to University Learning Goals (ULGs) (Please indicate how your PLOs map to the University Learning Goals below by listing the PLO under each relevant ULG, or including this map in table form (see examples here). Use the link above for a full description of each ULG.)
3. Alignment Matrix of PLOs to Courses (Please show in which courses the PLOs are addressed and assessed. The curriculum map should show increasing levels of proficiency and alignment of curriculum and PLOs. See examples here) Please See Humanities Program Assessment Schedule listed below under Planning Assessment Schedule. The course alignments are all embedded in the schedule itself for easier and direct reference. 4. Planning Assessment Schedule (Please provide a reasonable, multi year assessment plan that specifies when a PLO will be assessed (A), when you might plan to implement changes as a result of your assessment (I), and, if applicable, when you might reassess a given PLO (R) to gauge the impact of the change. All PLOs should be assessed at least once during each program planning cycle (usually 5 years). Add rows and columns as necessary.) PLOs 1. Demonstrate the ability to frame questions and pursue answers to aesthetic, social, cultural and global problems using interdisciplinary methods. 2. Demonstrate the ability to describe and compare the roles, impacts and ethical implications of ideas, texts, social movements, contemporary situations, and creations of the human imagination. 3. Demonstrate skill in written and verbal communication, including argumentation. Program Planning Cycle Assessment Schedule 2017-2018 (HUM 101) 2018-2019 (HUM 160) 2019-2020 (HUM 100W) 4. Demonstrate the ability to identify, select, use, and cite information sources appropriately. 2020-2021 (HUM 190) Additional PLO: American, Asian, European, and Middle East Studies Concentrations: A1. Explain how current events and contemporary issues are understood with knowledge of the historical and cultural background of a particular world area (e.g., America, East Asia, Europe, or the Middle East), including processes of cultural formation, historical development, and social change. 2016-2017 and 2021-2022 (AMS 169, HUM 114, HUM 128, RELS 145)
Additional PLOs: Religious Studies Concentration: B1. Demonstrate a high level of religious literacy, including the ability to articulate etic and emic perspectives for specific religions, and a functional understanding of at least five major world religious systems (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Jainism, a specific geographic set of indigenous religions [African, Australian, North American, South American, Pacific Islander, North Asian, pre-christian European], Wicca, Afro-Caribbean religions). B2. Function adroitly within the interdisciplinary nature of comparative religious studies. Describe how religion, as a phenomenon, can be analyzed historically, philosophically, psychologically, sociologically, geographically, and artistically, as well as theologically. Demonstrate ability to write and speak about religions in a scholarly, civil, and respectful manner, using the academic discourses that have evolved for this purpose. Foster civil discourse about religion by encountering and engaging community members, faculty, and students who hold diverse views within and about religious traditions. 2018-2019 (RELS 142, 145,or 155) 2020-2021 (RELS 124,130, or 131) 5. Student Experience (PLOs should be described with student-friendly terms. Provide a weblink that points to your PLOs. The weblink should be one-click away on your department/program homepage. Quick links on the right side panel, menu items on the top or side panel, or explicit links on your department/program homepage are one-click away links.) a. How are your PLOs and the ULGs communicated to students, e.g. websites, syllabi, promotional material, etc.? PLOs are posted at the home department s website. They are also included on some syllabi in courses taken by all in the major. This semester, in anticipation of upcoming transfer orientations and later new freshmen orientation, we are preparing department welcome packets that will be given to all incoming majors. These will cover practical essentials for them in this course of study, including a sheet highlighting and explaining the significance of ULGs and PLOs in their pursuit of a degree in our department at SJSU and in their self-development as lifelong learners. In the spring of 2016 a new brochure and poster campaign was created to promote greater awareness of this major and department s shared raison d etre, and we continue to highlight that imagery in posters located in our main office and department hallway. b. Do students have an opportunity to provide feedback regarding your PLOs and/or the assessment process? If so, please briefly elaborate. Instructors of all four core courses in the major (Hum 85, 101, 160, and 190) are encouraged to review
PLOs and ULGs with their students. Indeed, the earlier of the core courses, Hum 85 and Hum 101, are where instructors will introduce and discuss the ULGs as well as the PLOs for the Humanities BA. Although students are not given an opportunity to respond to the assessment process itself at this early juncture, (nor would that make good sense), they are invited right from the start to reflect upon and explain in their own words the meaning and value of these ULGs and PLOs. Part B 6. Assessment Data and Results For this year in the cycle, we are collecting data and evaluating it related to PLO A.1: Explain how current events and contemporary issues are understood with knowledge of the historical and cultural background of a particular world area (e.g., America, East Asia, Europe, or the Middle East), including processes of cultural formation, historical development, and social change. It should be noted that this is a specialized PLO, not required for all Humanities BAs, but only for those four in the Area Studies options for Concentration, which are American Studies, Asian Studies, European Studies, and Middle East Studies. Thus, those Humanities BA students with a Concentration in Liberal Studies or Religious Studies are not assessed for this particular PLO. The targeted classes selected for collecting data for this PLO were chosen at our last major curriculum revision to reflect the focus area described for the relevant students; thus, American Studies Concentration would be assessed in AMS 169 The American Dream; Asian Studies would be assessed in HUM 114, Legacy of Asia; European Studies would be assessed in HUM 128, Perspectives on the Twentieth Century: The West in a Global Context; and Middle East Studies would be assessed in RELS 145, Middle Eastern Traditions. In Fall 2016, RELS 145 was not offered due to department constraints, and HUM 128 was cancelled, which meant we only could collect data from two courses, one section each, for American Studies Concentration and Asian Studies Concentration students. We had only two students that qualified in the AMS Concentration in AMS 169 that semester, and there were no Humanities Majors with a Concentration in Asian Studies in the one section of HUM 114. In Spring 2017, with the date for data collection moved up from June 1 to March 1, we only have the first month of this spring semester from which to extract data, making it impossible to use material from a summative assignment or exercise at the end of the course, which would be more relevant and revealing of how well these students mastered this particular PLO. A review of enrollments in this current semester revealed one relevant major in AMS 169 for that Concentration, no relevant enrolled students in HUM 114 for the Asian Studies Concentration, one relevant enrolled student in the online (and only) section of HUM 128 for the European Studies Concentration, and there were no relevant enrolled students in the only offered section of RELS 145 for Middle East Studies Concentration. 7. Analysis (Please discuss the findings and evaluate the achievement of PLOs and/or progress on recommended actions.) So, given the limited number of sections, department cutbacks, and course cancellations, using these courses to pull the data from in this context, across two semesters, we end up with three students and their data to assess for the American Studies Concentration, no students to assess for the Asian Studies
Concentration, one student and her data to assess for the European Studies Concentration, and no students to assess for the Middle East Studies Concentration. For the American Studies Concentration, in the fall class students had four different units, and after each they had a summative essay assignment that spoke to PLO A1. The teacher reports on the two students in question: They were better able than average to connect the historical context to particular object at hand and to think through, critically, the object or topic s significance and its place in the development of American ideals and, specifically, the ongoing cultural struggle over the meaning of the American Dream. AMS students did particularly well on Summative 2-4. (The entire class struggled with the first exercise, asked to compare intellectually and ideologically the convention speeches of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, as they let their own political opinions and biases intrude and this drove their responses in a way the prompt wanted them to avoid.) For the AMS student in the spring section of AMS 169, taught by a different instructor, the assessment tool selected was an essay question integrating appraisals of three nuanced and iconic representatives of Upward Mobility in nineteenth century American culture with two different socio-economic critiques of the current status of that dream in 21 st century America. The student s response in this case demonstrated command of all three components: processes of cultural formation, historical development, and social change. However, he did not use enough contextual details to distinguish the nineteenth century variations with sharp insight to nuance, nor did he provide sufficient supporting evidence for the 21 st century position held and delivered by Noam Chomsky, to merit superior level. Thus, on the four tier scale from highest to lowest -- 4 - Exemplary, 3 - Accomplished, 2 - Developmental, 1 Emerging -- all three students assessed in American Studies this year achieve a ranking of 3, Accomplished. The one student assessed for European Studies Concentration is currently enrolled in an online version of the course. She was assessed using data collected from four weekly online quizzes and online discussions of the material, all dealing with analyses of elements of European culture going through shifts in the 20 th century. Her instructor reports: Overall: good grasp of material, but lacking in detail and support (improving, if a good week is a trend!). Much stronger in online discussion than the quizzes. She achieved a ranking of 3 Accomplished for work on this PLO so far at this point in the course. Therefore, while the Concentration Area students assessed for this PLO in this cycle could all improve in their use of supporting details and evidence in making cases for positions they adopt and assertions they make, they are doing fine and consistently in the top third of all the students in each class as a whole. 8. Proposed changes and goals (if any) While the students we did assess from American Studies and European Studies seem to be doing Accomplished level work in this PLO area, we were unable to assess any students from Asian or Middle East Studies using this strategy. The samplings from the two categories we did get data from do suggest that in our small department, where we try to emphasize human contact with all of our majors, the
Concentration students all get to know the cultural histories and contexts of their topic areas. However, such small samplings cannot provide truly meaningful data. It is recommended that, rather than shift any pedagogies currently being used to cover this PLO, we instead shift where and when we collect the data to analyze the work of these Concentration majors. As we are emphasizing even more the reflection and focus on PLOs in the HUM 190 capstone course, for a more meaningful and larger sampling of student populations that fit these four Concentration areas on this PLO A1, we should shift in future cycles to obtaining the data from HUM 190, following the completion of the capstone experience. Part C Proposed Changes and Goals Status Update 1. Establish use of shared rubrics across sections on relevant PLOs in HUM 190 when possible. (such as on PLO #4 next time around.) Spring 2017: Full time Faculty held a roundtable discussion on February on the use of shared rubrics in HUM 190, covering all PLOs, that all teachers in the capstone would agree to use. Interest was expressed and the model rubric to use as a starting point was distributed for study, evaluation, and deliberation. 2. Rephrase the two PLOs special to the Religious Studies Concentration in the Humanities BA (B1 and B2). Spring 2017: the current Coordinator of the Humanities B.A. has agreed to ask senior faculty in Religious Studies to revisit this issue, with a target date for possible change to be no later than summer 2017, with the hopes that this change could be reflected in the relevant assessment of one of these PLOs scheduled for 2017-18. 3. Include information on ULGs, shared department goals, and relevant major PLOs in a welcome packet for all new students in our department. Spring 2017: We are in the process of implementing this outreach activity as we welcome new students through Orientation this spring and summer! All full time faculty participated in deciding what goes into the packets and even what style cover to be used. 4. Update references to ULGs and include direct links to University catalog next to PLOs for all majors on the department website. Spring 2017: the Chair is checking with our department webmaster to make sure these modifications have been made.
5. Formalize student introductions to ULGs and PLOs in HUM 101 and final reflection/evaluation exercise in HUM 190. This was approved following a reflective, roundtable discussion held for all full time faculty in the department in February 2017 and will be integrated into the new Bylaws & Guidelines of the Department of Humanities currently in the process of formal revision. 6. Relocate Class alignments for A1, B1, and B2 PLO data retrieval from the currently scattered courses to HUM 190 once the shifts in #5 above become embedded in new Department Bylaws & Guidelines. (New: Added Spring 2017) 7. In the development of a new marketing video to promote this and other majors in the department, find a way to subtly embed shared department goals. (New: Added Spring 2017) Last updated: March 1, 2017