General Education Annual Course Assessment Form
Course Number/Title _____Ling 123_________________ GE Area _______R_________________________
Results reported for AY ______2011_____ # of sections ___5_________ # of instructors ___2___________
Course Coordinator: __Daniel Silverman______________ E-mail: ____daniel.silverman@sjsu.edu_________
Department Chair: Swathi M. Vanniarajan
College: _____Humanities And Arts____________
Instructions: Each year, the department will prepare a brief (two page maximum) report that documents the
assessment of the course during the year. This report will be electronically submitted, by the department
chair, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies, with an electronic copy to the home college by September 1 of
the following academic year.
Part 1
To be completed by the course coordinator:
(1) What SLO(s) were assessed for the course during the AY?
SLO 3: Students will be able to apply a scientific approach to answer questions about the earth and
environment
(2) What were the results of the assessment of this course? What were the lessons learned from the
assessment?
Students are repeatedly exposed to the Darwinian proposal that sound communication systems—
among those emphasized in our course are frog mating calls, birdsong, primate vocalizations, and
especially human language—develop and evolve passively, as a result of nature selecting those
variants that are most beneficial to the survival of either the individual organism, or the genes (we
entertain both theories). Due to our emphasizing that such systems evolve due to passive natural
pressures, and are not goal-directed at the level of the gene, organism, species, or otherwise,
students are better appreciating the nature of Darwinian thought. The essay involves students
characterizing various aspects of certain species’ vocal communication systems from a specifically
ethological vantage point: “How do these [differing vocal communication] systems compare in
terms of adaptation, mechanism (anatomy), and ontogeny?” As evidenced in students’ essays, they
are displaying a clearer understanding of the non-teleological basis to the evolutionary problem..
(3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the
upcoming year? (If no modifications are planned, the course coordinator should indicate this.)
Given the success we have achieved with respect to improving the quality of our student’s written
work (due to our now global policy of having all assignments submitted electronically), we are
taking a “wait-and-see” approach with respect to course outcomes. All is going very well in this
course, and we see no pressing need to tinker with the curriculum at this time.
Part 2
To be completed by the department chair (with input from course coordinator as appropriate):
(4) Are all sections of the course still aligned with the area Goals, Student Learning Objectives (SLOs),
Content, Support, and Assessment? If they are not, what actions are planned?
5 sections of this course were taught by two instructors and their greensheets were the same for both
semesters. The course materials and assessments were well coordinated by both instructors and
are in alignment with the SLOs. Still both faculties have been asked to work in unison and develop
additional materials to have deeper involvement from students.