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Motlow State Community College
Program Student Learning Outcomes
Use of Assessment Results
Fall Semester 2012
Program Title: General Education, University Parallel Major
Course: SOCI 1010 Introduction to Sociology
Expected Student Learning Outcomes (SLO):
Students will be able to:
1.
Identify the key theoretical perspectives and explain how the insights generated by these perspectives inform sociology
2.
Identify and employ various research designs and their appropriate application to the study of social life
3.
Identify early theorists in sociology and their contributions to society
4.
Define deviance and identify theories as to why some people become deviant
5.
Describe the difference between race and ethnicity
6.
Identify and describe subculture and countercultures
7.
Define social class and explain the consequences of social class
Performance Measure(s): Pre-Test/Post-Test
Effectiveness Standard:
A pass rate of 70% or greater on the post-test will indicate achievement of the SLO. If either or both questions tied to the corresponding SLO meets or exceeds the effectiveness standard of 70%, achievement of the SLO is considered to have been accomplished.
Student Learning Outcome (SLO)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Assessment Results:
Pre-Post Test Questions
Questions 1 and 2
Questions 3 and 4
Questions 5 and 6
Questions 7 and 8
Questions 9 and 10
Questions 11 and 12
Questions 13 and 14
In the Fall 2012 semester 14 sections of SOCI 1010 Introduction to Sociology taught by two full-time and four part-time instructors participated in the assessment via an online administration of the pre-post test.
Evidently, the version of the pre-post test used online had only 11 questions. That would indicate that one question used to assess SLO 6 (question 12) and both questions (13 and 14) used to assess SLO 7 were omitted for some reason. The following overall results were reported:

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Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Question
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q11
Pre-Test
# Correct
323
235
169
278
220
168
178
94
78
220
98
Pre-Test
% Correct
89%
65%
47%
77%
61%
46%
49%
26%
21%
61%
27%
Post-Test
# Correct
241
182
192
218
173
204
151
114
74
146
60
Post-Test
% Correct % Difference
89%
67%
0%
2%
71%
80%
64%
24%
4%
3%
75%
56%
42%
27%
54%
22%
29%
6%
16%
6%
-7%
-5%
Effectiveness
Standard
Met and SLO
Achieved
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Based on the results, SLOs 1, 2, and 3 were achieved at the specified effectiveness standard while SLOS 4,
5, and 6 were not. SLO 7 evidently was not assessed. Generally there were fewer students completing the post-test as compared with the pre-test. Questions 10 and 11 actually showed a decline in percent correct from pre-test to post-test.
Use of Assessment Results:
These results were examined and discussed by the full-time sociology faculty. One faculty member thought that the SLOs were too narrow and should focus on larger sociological concepts. The wording of the questions was considered to be narrow and confusing by one faculty member and questions on important topics such as conflict theory and symbolic interaction were omitted. The faculty did not consider the course content or the teaching methodologies as responsible for the poor results. It was the consensus of opinion among the faculty that the results were severely confounded by methodological problems associated with student compliance with the pre-post test approach. These included relying on students to voluntarily complete the pre-post test online outside of class and ensuring that every student who completed a pre-test also completed a post-test. Another factor discussed was that because the score on both the pre and post test had no bearing on the student’s actual grade, many students may not have felt that answering the questions correctly was important to their actual grade. While the online pre-post test method offers some advantages, its validity and reliability is suspect.
The following recommendations were made:
1.
The full-time sociology faculty should meet to revisit the articulation of the student learning outcomes and conduct a redesign of assessment questions and methodology for this course.
Specifically, switching to an embedded assessment approach was recommended.