Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 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). Moreover, these appeared to be much improved as compared to the assessment we conducted last year (also see the data in Appendix A; it is possible, however, that this was the function of collecting the data in the Spring rather than in the Fall). One aspect of students’ work that we saw last year as being somewhat weaker than others was the ability to situate the problems studied within their historical or cultural contexts. We were happy to see an improvement in that area, and we hope that this means that our efforts to strengthen the historical and cultural content of core classes are indeed successful. We will continue these efforts in order to solidify and preserve these gains while simultaneously maintaining the emphasis on current topics/connections with current facts in the department core classes, which serves the purpose of boosting student engagement with the topics discussed.
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). Moreover, these appeared to be much improved as compared to the assessment we conducted last year (also see the data in Appendix A; it is possible, however, that this was the function of collecting the data in the Spring rather than in the Fall). One aspect of students’ work that we saw last year as being somewhat weaker than others was the ability to situate the problems studied within their historical or cultural contexts. We were happy to see an improvement in that area, and we hope that this means that our efforts to strengthen the historical and cultural content of core classes are indeed successful. We will continue these efforts in order to solidify and preserve these gains while simultaneously maintaining the emphasis on current topics/connections with current facts in the department core classes, which serves the purpose of boosting student engagement with the topics discussed.
Attachments (if available)