General Education Annual Course Assessment Form

Transcription

1 Course Number/Title HIST 15A/B: American History & Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY # of sections: 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors: 5 historians (1 section by this instructor Gendzel) chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of the following academic year. SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. Based on a review of student performance on embedded questions on the HIST 15B final exam, approximately 80% of students demonstrated the ability to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, or regions in the United States in accordance with appropriate lectures and reading assignments. Class discussions also frequently compared historical events with contemporary developments. (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the No modifications are planned at this time. Yes.

2 Course Number/Title HIST 15A/B: American History & Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY # of sections: 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors: 5 historians (2 sections by this instructor Jerke) chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of the following academic year. D2--SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. D3 SLO 4: Students will be able to apply multidisciplinary material to a topic relevant to policy and social action at the local, national, and/or international levels. Based on the performance of students critical analyses in assigned writing assignments, 79% of all students in both sections have successfully demonstrated their ability to compare and contrast multiple ethnic groups/cultures/social systems by using multidisciplinary materials and primary sources relevant to the course. (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the This academic year, an internet-based program (Global Lyceum) will be used to offer students more critical analysis of the presented material. Instead of a traditional textbook, students will read essays prepared by leading US historians about the main concepts in American history.

3 Yes.

4 Course Number/Title Hist 15A/B US History and Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY this instructor McBane) # of sections 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors 5 historians (2 sections by chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by October 1 of the following academic year. SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. Methods used to assess SLO 4 in Hist 15B Spring 2013 included multiple choice and true/false questions in a midterm and final exam, and 2 three-four page essays comparing and contrasting the readings (the textbook, CREATED EQUAL and Ronald Takaki, A DIFFERENT MIRROR: A HISTORY OF MULTICULTURAL AMERICA) and class lectures and films. For the essays students were asked to address an essay prompt that asked students to compare and contrast the experience of multicultural groups living in America first from 1870 through the 1930s (Native Americans, Anglo Americans, Mexican Americans, Italian Americans, African Americans, Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans); then from World War II to the present (Anglo Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and more current immigrant groups since the 1970s). The essay papers provided a more accurate assessment of students critical thinking/analytic and writing skills. Several students experienced difficulty in reading comprehension, and writing, but those who were motivated improved with the help of The Writing Center. 84% of the students were able to compare and contrast the experiences of racial/ethnic groups in the 2 essays. (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the

5 This year I am using a different type of textbook, a digital platform, GLOBALYCEUM. I am still using A DIFFERENT MIRROR to use for comparison and contrast to GLOBALYCEUM (that provides a general historic overview). GLOBALYCEUM addresses the multiple modalities of learning by offering students not only a written format, but also imbedded short documentaries to further understand the essays' nuances. Students are given an essay prompt for each of the 3 units incorporated into the midterm, and 3 units incorporated into the final. To address each weekly unit prompt students must prepare a 2 page outline including citations. Right before the midterm and final, students will submit all three 2 page outlines to turnitin.com. For the midterm and final, students will bring in blue books and hard copies of their 6 pages of outlines and will each be randomly assigned one of the three prompts on which to write in class. In this way students will have done all the reading on multi-cultural history and must use their prepared analytic outlines to write their essays. During each week we meet in class, students are also given a multiple choice and true/false quiz covering that unit's readings to insure that they are getting the basic multi-cultural history. Yes.

6 Course Number/Title Hist 15B US History and Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY this instructor Wilson) # of sections 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors 5 historians (2 sections by chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of the following academic year. SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. This was assessed several times during the semester. An example is one of the questions on Exam 1: Discuss why and how blacks and poor whites become disenfranchised in Southern states after Reconstruction. The answer to this question involves discussing the outlook, fears and economic and social problems of three different Southern populations after Reconstruction: the white elite, the poor whites and the blacks. SLO 4: Students will be able to apply multi-disciplinary material to a topic relevant to policy and social action at the local, national, and /or international levels. The Political Science portion of the class focuses on contemporary policy and social issues including how to contact legislators. The history portion, which I taught, focuses on past successful and unsuccessful policy and social action movements including African-American suffrage, women s suffrage, prohibition, the League of Nations, and the Civil Rights Movement. One example: The students read primary sources against and for women s suffrage including political cartoons. On Exam 2, they needed to answer the question: Discuss the Woman Suffrage Movement. What were the arguments for and against suffrage and how did they change over time? The students needed to use the primary sources to answer this question. D2--Approximately 85% of the classes received a C- or better on this question. The students understood the social and political ties between the white elite and the poor whites and the ties between the poor whites and the blacks. They could compare and contrast the social implications of voting between the three groups.

7 D3--Approximately 78% of the classes received a C- or better on this question. Some students had difficulty with this question because they did not understand the visual sources. (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the D2--I will use this question again. It worked well. D3-- Next time, I will discuss the visual sources in my lecture instead of assuming the students read the information in the primary source book about the visual sources. Yes.

8 Course Number/Title HIST 15A/B: American History & Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY # of sections: 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors: 5 historians (2 sections by this instructor Jerke) chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of the following academic year. D2--SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. D3 SLO 4: Students will be able to apply multidisciplinary material to a topic relevant to policy and social action at the local, national, and/or international levels. Based on the performance of students critical analyses in assigned writing assignments, 79% of all students in both sections have successfully demonstrated their ability to compare and contrast multiple ethnic groups/cultures/social systems by using multidisciplinary materials and primary sources relevant to the course. (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the This academic year, an internet-based program (Global Lyceum) will be used to offer students more critical analysis of the presented material. Instead of a traditional textbook, students will read essays prepared by leading US historians about the main concepts in American history.

9 Course Number/Title Hist 15A/B US History and Government GE Area D2, D3 Results reported for AY 2012=2013 # of sections 11 of 15B in S13 # of instructors 5 historians (3 sections by this instructor Cirivilleri) chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of the following academic year. SLO 4: Students will be able to compare and contrast two or more ethnic groups, cultures, regions, nations, or social systems. History 15B requires students to compare and contrast different ethnic groups, cultures, nations and social systems by means of a) directed readings from the course textbook The Unfinished Nation, b) theme-directed lectures that focus on the evolution, influence and legacy of various ethnic groups and cultures in American society, and c) by in-class discussion exercises that challenge the students to think critically about how differing ethnic groups, cultures and nations have shaped the course of U.S. history. Specific subjects addressed include the impact of ethnicity and culture on American industrial development and the American labor movement, the significance of the participation of ethnic groups in the two world wars, and the significance of race, ethnicity and gender in the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s. Students are assessed by means of exams consisting of multiplechoice questions designed to gauge the student s grasp of important commonalities and differences between various groups, and by written essays, which require students to explain in detail the significance and unique contributions of those groups to American history. Students have shown a high degree of interest in, and comprehension of this SLO as measured by their enthusiastic participation in discussions, and more quantitatively, by the consistently high percentage (86 percentile) of students whose scores demonstrate a high level of understanding in specific questions and essays that address this category.

10 (3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the I believe that an important factor contributing to the high level of student interest and participation in this SLO is the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the students in my classes. I have found that by acknowledging and affirming the diverse ethnic makeup of the class and by inviting students to share experiences related to cultural or ethnic topics, they develop a much more solid grasp of commonalities and differences that exist between groups. I do not plan any significant modifications in course activities, schedule or assessment but intend to continue to pursue this strategy as it has produced significantly positive results. Yes.