Have formal Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) or Student Learning Outcomes (SLOS) been developed?
Yes.
Published where? (website)
See History SLOs, Curriculum Matrix, and Rubrics. SLOs are also published in the UH Hilo Student Catalog for History.
Do PLOs include or imply a link to Core Competency? (AY 2022-2023: Written Communication)?
Yes.
Process of Core Competency Assessment:
Course (400- level)
History 490 Historiography & Research Methods. For Fall of 2022, the Course was also designated as Writing Intensive (WI)
Type of Student Artifact
Draft of Senior Thesis
Assignment
These are the 15 pages of the students’ senior thesis papers that they will grow to 30 pages by the end of Spring semester in HIST491.
Rubric or other instrument
GE Rubric for Written Communication
Data (measurement of the competency)
Two readers external to the department served as evaluators and read seven (n = 7) papers using the Written Communication Rubric (WC) and the Writing Intensive Rubric (WI). Readers noted students in this course are mainly competent (3 students) in written communication elements, or slightly above emerging competency levels (3 students). Only one student fell below the level of emerging competency. It is noted that there seems to be higher levels of competency in terms of lines of reasoning in arguing perspectives and supporting theses, as well as in the use of language. Lower levels of competency are observed in organization and content. Although this assignment was to prepare half (15 pages) of what would be a 30-page senior thesis, allowing students to jump around to different sections produced some papers that were more disjointed and lacking in content than others when evaluating for these criteria. In terms of levels of competency for writing intensive courses, most students were evaluated to be competent in prose, vocabulary in the subject matter, and analysis of sources (6 students). For future evaluations, it might be easier for the reviewers if the assignment called for the first 10-15 pages of the thesis instead of just producing 15 pages.
Action Taken in Response to the Data (What will you do in response to the Findings?)
The History Department thanks the evaluators for their time and comments. Overall, the department concurs with their assessment. Moving forward, the department is considering several options to improve overall scores. First, Paper #4 was from a student that while universally well liked in the department, has a documented learning disability and receives services from UHH Student Disability Services. Given the relatively small “n” count (7), this paper had a greater impact on the overall categorical competency averages. That noted, what Paper #4’s scores also demonstrate is that the department needs to work more closely with Student Disability Services to ensure students are receiving sufficient assistance as well as accommodations to help ensure student success. Additionally, the department itself can provide better support to future students with similar disabilities by giving the student the option to take an independent study a semester prior to HIST490 so as to provide additional time to better develop the student’s topic, thesis, research, and first drafts. Second, the department is also sensitive to the evaluators’ comments regarding the difficulty in evaluating papers that are still in a stage of development as the evaluators were only judging the first 15-pages of a 30-page senior thesis that is not completed until the following semester in HIST491. While the department sees value in the formative assessment of HIST490 and then later HIST491 papers, it also appreciates the challenges this presents to reviewers who are tasked with core competency assessment. As such, the department is looking to change to a summative assessment model that would only evaluate completed papers, such as those students complete at the end of HIST491. The department believes that by doing so, and no longer evaluating papers that are still under development, that the lower scores related to content, language, and vocabulary, will improve as students will no longer see their papers as “drafts” in an intermediary state of completion but instead a finished, polished, final paper. To help ensure this outcome, faculty will stress and increase focus on students turning in more polished drafts as they write to reinforce the skills as well as idea that content, language, and vocabulary matter throughout the course of a paper’s development and not simply at the end.
Date of Last Program Review