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Please
answer the following questions in the body of an e-mail and return to
rculbert@iusb.edu. CC a copy of the report to your department faculty
and to your dean.
a.
Program Name -
History.
b.
Report prepared by –
Isabel O’Connor.
c. Who
is the current assessment contact for your program?
Isabel O’Connor.
d.
Should assessment information be sent to anyone else in your department?
No.
N.B.: The data reported below serves as an update of the Third
Year Assessment Review report, which the department turned in to the Assessment
Committee on April 1, 2007.
1. What
are the program’s educational goals? (Please take goals directly from your
program’s assessment plan, and highlight any changes made this year.)
The major
goal of our program is to give students seeking degrees in History a broad
understanding of the varieties of ways of examining the past.
Students
should have the ability to read and understand primary and secondary sources,
including archival documents, journal articles, monographs and textbooks.
Students should have the ability to communicate multiple ways of
understanding the past, both in written and verbal form, to others.
Students should have a basic understanding of the workings of historiography.
Students should be able to apply historical reasoning and knowledge of the
past to other disciplines.
Changes:
The History Department did not make any changes to the department’s goals in
2006-2007. However, following our Third Year Review in early May 2007, we
decided that in the Fall 2007, we would follow up on the Assessment Committee’s
observation that the fourth goal listed above is very difficult to measure.
2. What
assessment techniques did the program use? (Please take assessment techniques
directly from your program’s assessment plan and highlight any changes made this
year.)
The
portfolio: Three
history majors who wished to take the pro seminar in the Fall 2007 turned in
their portfolios to the department chair in April 2007. As stated in the Third
Year Review document, in January 2007, the department extensively revised the
guidelines for the portfolio. In addition to reducing the number of
examinations that students need to include from 6 to 3, we also decided to
request that all documentation included in the portfolio should come from
history courses.
We were
happy to see that the three students who turned in their portfolios included
only history materials. In the past, students had difficulty fulfilling this
request and were forced to include papers from other disciplines. So, for the
past two years, we have been reminding our majors, starting at the first
advising appointment, that they should save all their history course materials.
Also, as a department we have discussed the role of undergraduate research in
all history courses at several department meetings and especially at our April
2007 departmental teaching retreat. We believe that it is important that our
majors be exposed to research and writing throughout the program.
The most
significant change in the portfolio, however, was regarding the self-analysis
essay. As stated in the Third Year Review, instead of simply asking the
students to reflect on their careers in the department, we broke down the
instructions into questions covering three broad areas: What have I learned?,
How?, and What are my areas of strength and weakness. The depth of the three
essays that the department members reviewed was of a much higher caliber. The
students provided detailed data concerning their own progress, as well as
specific courses and types of assignments that they found helpful as they
progressed through the major.
Exit
interviews: In
April 2007, we administered exit interviews for the first time ever to our
graduating seniors. The form, which was attached to our Third Year Review,
asked a variety of questions regarding the program. Two of the three students
who completed the interview told us that they were not satisfied with their
overall experience with advising in the department. The two students in
question stated that their assigned departmental advisor had changed often due
to instructors’ leaves. Moreover, all three students involved stated that the
advising that they had received from their different departmental advisors
varied significantly in terms of quality.
3. What
has your program done with assessment information this year? (i.e. communicated
results to faculty, staff, alumni and students, made changes in the curriculum,
made changes in the budget, added new courses. . .)
Teaching
retreat: At the
April 2007 retreat, all full-time faculty in residence and one part-time
instructor spent half a day discussing the issues that we face in the classroom.
Faculty exchanged syllabi, exams, writing prompts, etc. and offered suggestions
on how to help the students in our history courses develop good analytical and
critical thinking skills through reading and writing.
Records: We
started making copies of the self-analysis essay in the portfolio, which we now
keep in a binder in the history main office. The data collected in this manner
will help us analyze the long-term effects of the portfolio changes that we
implemented in January 2007.
Exit
interviews: Every
faculty member in the department received a copy of the exit interviews that our
three graduating seniors completed in late April 2007. We also kept copies for
the department records and placed them in the department’s main office. We
agreed to dedicate part of a department meeting in the Fall 2007 to analyze the
results.
4. After
reflecting on assessment activities in your unit, as a result of assessment what
are two issues you would like to address?
We are
happy to see that our students are engaged in research in many history courses.
However, as a department, we need to continue our discussion about the role of
research in history courses, as well as best practices and challenges. We
agreed to revisit the topic at our Spring 2008 teaching retreat.
The exit
interviews completed by our three graduating seniors in May 2007 showed us that
our majors thought that we needed improvement in advising. We will work on
developing strategies on how to address their concerns. |
