Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2021-2022 Level: Undergraduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Core [UG]
Program Name: Sociology Core (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
During the spring term, the Assessment Committee distributed to all instructors of core Sociology courses (a) a list of the names of a randomly-selected 25% sample of students enrolled in their course(s), and (b) a rubric. The rubric is used to assess two of the eight general core formal learning outcomes. Instructors applied the rubric to a 5-page paper or essay exam question from each student in the sample.
Review Process:
The Assessment Committee consists of two full-time faculty members, who also work with the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The Assessment Committee is responsible for (a) creation of the rubric for student work, (b) data collection, compilation, and analysis, (c) provision of summary data and recommended actions to the full faculty, and (d) communication with administration, including annual reports to the Dean of Arts & Sciences.
Annually at the department’s spring retreat, the full faculty discusses the Assessment Committee’s internal report and decides upon programmatic changes.
Resulting Program Changes:
Overall, faculty members’ assessment of their students’ work produced in core courses was largely very positive; most students appeared to demonstrate solid skills in the areas we evaluated (see full data in the Appendix A). Last year (2021), we saw some improvements compared to the assessments we conducted in 2020; some of these gains have been preserved this year as well (also see the data in Appendix A), and we saw some additional improvements.
Specifically, compared to 2021, more students demonstrate an ability to consistently see the familiar as strange. Students’ ability to describe social problems as public issues and to address differences by race, class, gender, age, or sexual orientation remain largely unchanged.
While we saw improvements last year in students’ ability to situate the problems studied within their historical or cultural contexts, we saw a partial decline in how consistently students were able to do this in their work in 2022. We will renew our efforts to strengthen the historical and cultural content of core classes.
We also saw a significant decline from the prior year in students’ ability to strongly grasp the bigger picture (and not just the issue immediately at hand). The Undergraduate Studies Committee will work on developing ideas and suggestions for core instructors to strengthen students’ understanding of how specific topics of discussion relate to broader issues.
The faculty also plans to look into renewing our Introductory Sociology course over the next couple of years. This would be a long-term project requiring the kind of support that faculty receive for teaching Complex Problem and Enduring Question courses. Some of the ideas include creating a series of modules, recording some lectures that can be used for inverted classroom-style teaching, creating a syllabus template for graduate students to utilize, and gathering useful external sources. Next year, the Undergraduate Studies Committee plans to come up with a proposal, hold a wider departmental discussion, and submit the proposal to the Dean’s office the following year.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
Overall, faculty members’ assessment of their students’ work produced in core courses was largely very positive; most students appeared to demonstrate solid skills in the areas we evaluated (see full data in the Appendix A). Last year (2021), we saw some improvements compared to the assessments we conducted in 2020; some of these gains have been preserved this year as well (also see the data in Appendix A), and we saw some additional improvements.
Specifically, compared to 2021, more students demonstrate an ability to consistently see the familiar as strange. Students’ ability to describe social problems as public issues and to address differences by race, class, gender, age, or sexual orientation remain largely unchanged.
While we saw improvements last year in students’ ability to situate the problems studied within their historical or cultural contexts, we saw a partial decline in how consistently students were able to do this in their work in 2022. We will renew our efforts to strengthen the historical and cultural content of core classes.
We also saw a significant decline from the prior year in students’ ability to strongly grasp the bigger picture (and not just the issue immediately at hand). The Undergraduate Studies Committee will work on developing ideas and suggestions for core instructors to strengthen students’ understanding of how specific topics of discussion relate to broader issues.
The faculty also plans to look into renewing our Introductory Sociology course over the next couple of years. This would be a long-term project requiring the kind of support that faculty receive for teaching Complex Problem and Enduring Question courses. Some of the ideas include creating a series of modules, recording some lectures that can be used for inverted classroom-style teaching, creating a syllabus template for graduate students to utilize, and gathering useful external sources. Next year, the Undergraduate Studies Committee plans to come up with a proposal, hold a wider departmental discussion, and submit the proposal to the Dean’s office the following year.
Attachments (if available)