Assessment of SS110 Anthropology
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Date Submitted: 9.14.12
Course No./Title: SS 110 Introduction to Anthropology
Course Description Anthropology, is an entry-level introductory course that provides students with an overview of research and theory in the four fields of anthropology: biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. This course also provides students with an introduction to the biological and cultural diversity of the human species, as well as a historical perspective on the development of anthropology and the relevance of anthropology to contemporary human problems. Satisfies a Social Sciences requirement in any curriculum.
General Education Objectives (GEO) Assessed:
GEO1: communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening, and speaking
GEO2: use analytical reasoning to identify issues or problems and evaluate evidence in order to make informed decisions
GEO5: integrate knowledge and skills in their program of study
GEO6: differentiate and make informed decisions about issues based on multiple value systems
GEO8: use historical or social sciences perspectives to examine formation of ideas, human behavior, social institutions, or social processes
Individual Course Objectives (ICO) Assessed:
ICO1: Students will read anthropological texts effectively.
ICO2: Students will discuss theories, concepts and debates in anthropology.
ICO3: Students will write about theories, concepts and debates in anthropology.
ICO4: Students will critically evaluate theories and concepts in anthropology.
ICO5: Students will understand ethnographic research methods.
ICO6: Students will apply the anthropological perspective to the understanding of human behavior.
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Currently ANTH 101.
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ICO7: Students will understand how anthropological concepts can be applied to social problems.
ICO8: Students will learn how the anthropological perspective is applied to the study of human biological and cultural diversity.
ICO9: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical and cultural construction of ideas, human behavior and social processes.
Participants
No. Sections Assessed: 7
No. Students Assessed: 194
Course Assessment Method: See Appendix A for SS110 Anthropology Outcomes Survey
Course Assessment Results: Narrative Summary
Seven sections of SS 110 Introduction to Anthropology with a total of 194 students completed the assessment survey at the end of the semester in Fall 2011. This survey was designed to measure how well the course succeeded in meeting the General Education Objectives (GEO) of QCC as well as the Individual Course Objectives (ICO) for SS110. The survey consisted of 10 statements, and respondents were asked to select whether they agreed, were neutral or disagreed with each statement. All 10 statements were keyed on the Scantron so that “agree” signified that the learning objective was met.
As depicted in Table 1 and Table 2, the survey results indicate that a majority of students agreed that the General Education Objectives and the Individual Course objectives had been met by their current anthropology courses. The percentage of student agreement across the ten statements ranged from 64 to 81%, indicating that some objectives are being better addressed than others. At least 80% of the respondents were in agreement with five of the statements (See
Appendix A. #1, 7, 9, 10). Between 74 and 79% of the respondents were in agreement with four of the statements (See Appendix A. #2, 5,6, 8). And 64% of respondents agreed with statement
#3: This class helped me to use the anthropological perspective to understand issues in my major area of study.
If we look more specifically at the General Education Objectives assessed by this survey, we find the most consistently high scores under GEO8: use historical or social sciences perspectives to examine formation of ideas, human behavior, social institutions, or social processes. Each of the statements used in the assessment of GEO8 elicited agreement by 80% or more of the respondents. The other four Gen Ed objectives were positively assessed by a majority of the respondents, but there is variation across the individual statements used in the measurement of each of these objectives. Overall, the assessment results for the General Education Objectives
(77.2% agreement) did not significantly differ from those of the Individual Course Objectives
(78.7% agreement).
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Table 1 General Education Objectives Results
Gen Ed Objective Survey Question Agree N (%)
GEO1 Q1 81
Q2
Q5
GEO1 Mean
75
79
78.3
GEO2
GEO5
Q1
Q2
Q6
Q9
GEO2 Mean
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q7
81
75
74
81
77.7
64
80
79
81
GEO6
GEO8
Q9
GEO5 Mean
Q4
Q6
Q8
Q9
GEO6 Mean
Q4
Q9
Q10
GEO8 Mean
81
77
80
74
78
81
78.2
80
81
80
80.3
GEO Overall
Mean
Table 2 Individual Course Objectives Results
Individual
Course
Survey
Question
Agree (%)
Objective
ICO1 5
77.2
79
ICO2
ICO3
ICO4
ICO5
ICO6
ICO7
1
2
6
7
9
4
81
75
74
81
81
80
ICO8
ICO9
ICO Overall Mean
8
10
78
80
78.7
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Conclusions
How did SS110 help students achieve the General Education Objectives and Individual Course
Objectives? The answer depends on the level of analysis that we focus on. If we grade the overall score for each objective, we find that GEO 8 receives a B- and GEO 1, 2, 5, and 6 each receive grades of C+. When analyzed at this level, the Individual Course Objectives appear to fare better, with ICO 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9 receiving grades of B-; ICO 1 and 8 receiving grades of C+ and ICO 3 and 4 receiving grades of C.
Letter Grades for General Education Objectives
B- GEO 8
GEO8: use historical or social sciences perspectives to examine formation of ideas, human behavior, social institutions, or social processes
C+ GEO 1, 2, 5, 6
GEO1 (78.3%): communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening, and speaking
GEO2: (77.7%) use analytical reasoning to identify issues or problems and evaluate evidence in order to make informed decisions
GEO5 (77): integrate knowledge and skills in their program of study
GEO6 (78.2): differentiate and make informed decisions about issues based on multiple value systems
Letter Grades for Individual Course Objectives
B- ICO 2, 5, 6, 7, 9
ICO2: Students will discuss theories, concepts and debates in anthropology.
ICO5: Students will understand ethnographic research methods.
ICO6: Students will apply the anthropological perspective to the understanding of human behavior.
ICO7: Students will understand how anthropological concepts can be applied to social problems.
ICO9: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical and cultural construction of ideas, human behavior and social processes.
C+ ICO 1, 8
ICO1: Students will read anthropological texts effectively.
ICO8: Students will learn how the anthropological perspective is applied to the study of human biological and cultural diversity.
C ICO 3, 4
ICO3: Students will write about theories, concepts and debates in anthropology.
ICO4: Students will critically evaluate theories and concepts in anthropology.
An analysis of the variations in agreement to the statements within each objective can help pinpoint where the strengths lie and where adjustments and improvements could be made. Given that the greatest discrepancy was found within the responses for GEO 1, 2, 5, and 6, we will focus on these four objectives.
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1. The GEO1 scores indicate that SS 110 helped students communicate through reading (Q5 -79%) and speaking (Q1 – 81%). There was less agreement with regards to writing. This could be an indication of the variation in writing requirements for the individual sections.
2. The GEO2 scores indicate that the course helped students use analytical reasoning skills to identify problems and evaluate evidence. Students expressed high levels of agreement that the course helped them discuss theories, concepts and debates in anthropology (Q1) and that the class helped them apply anthropological perspectives to the understanding of human behavior. These are all activities requiring and using analytical reasoning skills. The low agreement with statement # 6
(74%) indicates that students may not have made the connection between the activities they were engaged in and the analytical skills they were applying while engaging in these activities.
3.The GEO5 scores demonstrate that the course did help students integrate knowledge and skills in their course of study. They learned how to understanding the readings in anthropology (Q5), an inherently multidisciplinary field of study. They learned how to apply anthropological concepts to social problems (Q4), a skill that can be usefully translated across many of the majors in the college. The class helped them to understand ethnographic research (Q7), a process which requires skills useful in a wide range of fields including education, nursing, business, etc. And the students indicated that the course helped them to better understand human behavior (Q9), which is another skill with broad application across the disciplines. The overall score for GEO5 is brought down considerably by the low agreement with statement number 3, indicating that students are not making the connections between what they are learning in the class and their own chosen majors.
Given that they are indicating high agreement with statements about understanding human behavior and social problems, this may be a matter of making the connections more explicit.
4. The GEO6 responses indicate that students learned to differentiate and make informed decisions based on multiple value systems. This is demonstrated in their high agreement with Q4, Q8 and
Q9. Anthropology is the study of human behavior in all of its cultural, historical and social diversity. The low score for this objective is again found with Q6 and the notion of critical evaluation. This could indicate that students were not challenged to critically evaluate the multiple value systems or that they were not explicitly taught that the activities and discussions they were taking part in involved critical evaluation skills.
In summary, the students were engaged in reading, discussing, debating and understanding human behavior, social problems, diverse values and beliefs and were involved with learning ethnographic methods, but they were not made aware that these activities involved critical thinking skills and analytic reasoning, and many were not able to find a connection between these learning activities and the skills and knowledge necessary for their own majors. Furthermore, there was discrepancy with regard to the amount of writing involved in the courses.
Action Plan
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Given the high improbability that critical reasoning skills were not part of the individual SS 110 course sections, steps should be taken to help students understand when they are learning, using and applying these skills. It could be a simple matter of semantics or clarification of terms.
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Faculty could also be advised to indicate when these skills are being developed in the classroom. We could do a better job of explaining the learning process and pointing out when critical thinking and analysis are taking place. When students are engaged in classroom activities such as debates, discussions, projects and research, they are asked to weight evidence, analyze situations and draw conclusions. Efforts could be made to point out these analytical processes when they take place.
2.
While students agreed that the course SS110 helped them learn how to apply anthropological methods and ideas to social problems and human behavior, many did not see how this information connected with their own majors. Anthropology is an inherently multi-disciplinary field, touching on the physical sciences, social sciences and humanities. This suggests that more efforts could be made to connect how the issues, skills, and knowledge acquired in the course could be applied to areas of study outside of anthropology. One area where this could be developed is in connection with ethnographic methods. Students reported a high level of agreement with this question – ethnographic field methods can be applied across many different disciplines and majors – the faculty could present these connection more clearly, helping students understand the application of this method to a wide range of majors and career choices.
3.
In connection with point 2, there could be more coordination with other social science faculty in order to identify key points of intersection that could be highlighted to students from the range of disciplines – helping them to see how knowledge and skills from one field can be applied and integrated into another.
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Coordination between the anthropology faculty on the General Education Objectives – to discuss what steps are being taking to address these objectives in the individual courses. It should be noted that connecting the course to individual majors is not a part of the course objectives for the SS 110 standard syllabus template. Faculty could discuss whether or not to add this point to the syllabus and whether efforts should be made to make these connections more explicit.
5.
The introduction of more writing intensive sections of SS 110. This could help address the mixed assessment of the writing objective.
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The introduction of online sections of SS110 with Discussion Board, Wiki, Blog and other interactive features which would help build student writing skills.
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Appendix A. SS 110 Assessment Outcomes Survey
SS-110 Anthropology Outcomes Survey Fall 2011
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with these statements by marking the Scantron form in the following way:
A = You agree with the statement.
B = You are neutral about the statement. (You do not agree or disagree.)
C = You disagree with the statement.
1.
This class helped me to discuss theories, concepts and debates in anthropology.
2.
This class helped me to write about theories, concepts and debates in anthropology (e.g. writing assignments, discussion board, etc.)
3.
This class helped me to use the anthropological perspective to understand issues in my major area of study.
4.
This class helped me to learn how anthropological concepts can be applied to social problems.
5.
This class helped me to understand readings in anthropology (e.g. articles, ethnographies).
6.
This class helped me to critically evaluate theories and concepts in anthropology.
7.
This class helped me to understand ethnographic research.
8.
This class helped me to understand human biological and cultural diversity.
9.
This class helped me to apply anthropological perspectives to the understanding of human behavior.
10.
This class helped me to understand the historical and cultural construction of ideas, human behavior and social processes.
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