SS 610 Assessment – 2011
Queensborough Community College/CUNY
Department of Social Sciences
Individual Course Assessment Report
Date Submitted: June 29, 2011
Course No./Title: SS 610 (Introduction to Philosophy)
Course Description (from QCC Catalog or course Master Syllabus)
Fundamental philosophic problems presented through the study of several major philosophical
writings, such as those of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hume, Mill, and Whitehead.
General Education Objectives (GEO) Assessed (from course Master Syllabus)
GEO 2: Use analytical reasoning skills and apply logic to solve problems.
GEO 5: Integrate knowledge and skills in their major field and across disciplines.
Individual Course Objectives (ICO) Assessed (from course Master Syllabus)
ICO1. Identify concepts and methods of philosophy to examine perennial issues in the
discipline.
ICO2. Students will read philosophical text effectively
ICO3. Students will critically evaluate theories and concepts in philosophy
ICO4. Students will analyze arguments and conclusions made in philosophy
Participants
No. Sections Assessed: 11
No. Students Assessed: 269
Course Assessment Method (attach copy of course objectives survey as an attachment)
See appendix A for the SS610 Philosophy Outcomes Survey
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SS 610 Assessment – 2011
Course Assessment Results: Narrative Summary
In the Fall Semester of 2010, 269 students in 11 sections of Introduction to Philosophy (SS 610)
we asked to complete a course assessment questionnaire (see Appendix A). The survey asked
students to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of 12 statements designed to
measure either a General Education Objective or a Course Objective. To facilitate ease of
scoring, all items were keyed such that “agree” signified that the objective was met.
In the General Education Objectives Results Summary Table below, the results indicated strong
agreement with all of the statements pertaining to the GEO of the course (Overall GEO
Mean=75% agreement). There was strongest agreement with statement #4, “This class helped
me to apply philosophical methods and practices to current events” (79%). 71% of students
agreed with statement #3, “This class helped me to analyze arguments and conclusions made in
philosophy.”
In comparing GEO results with CO results, 75.5% of students agreed with the statements
pertaining to the GEO, whereas 75% agreed with the statements reflecting the CO. The lowest
level agreement in the CO results summary was statement #6 (“This class helped me to identify
correct and incorrect statements based on class readings”) at 69%. The highest level of
agreement was with statement #9 (“This class helped me identify features of different
philosophical positions”) at 82%.
NOTE: Two of the questions on the survey were not included in the final results. Upon further
review, it was determined that questions #1 (“This class helped me read philosophical text
effectively”) and #2 (“This class helped me to critically evaluate theories and concepts in
philosophy”) were either redundant or did not accurately reflect either the GEO or the ICO for
the course.
I. General Education Objectives Results
General Education Objectives (GEO) Results Summary Table
Gen Ed
Objective
GEO #2
Survey
Question
Q#3
GEO #5
Q#4
Overall GEO Mean
2
Agree
N (%)
71
Disagree
N (%)
29
79
21
75
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SS 610 Assessment – 2011
Individual Course Objectives (ICO) Results Summary Table
Individual
Course
Objective
ICO #1
Survey
Question
Q #5
70
Agree
N (%)
Disagree
N (%)
30
Q#6
Subtotal
67
68.5
33
31.5
ICO #2
Q #7
Q#8
Subtotal
77
82
79.5
23
18
20.5
ICO #3
Q #9
Q#10
Subtotal
Q #11
Q#12
Subtotal
82
79
80.5
18
21
19.5
77
69
73
23
31
27
75.5
24.5
ICO #4
Overall ICO Mean
Conclusions
The results of the assessment showed strong student agreement with regards to their courses
meeting the stated GEO and ICO (75.5%). On the Queensborough grading scale, this correlates
to a strong “C” grade: clearly passing, but still only an average score. Using the same scale, we
can rank grades for each of the objectives as follows:
1. 80.5% (B-) for ICO 3 (Students will analyze arguments and make conclusions made in
philosophy).
2. C+ (79%) for GEO 5 (“Integrate knowledge and skills in their major field and across
disciplines”) and 79.5% for ICO 2 (Students will read philosophical texts effectively).
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SS 610 Assessment – 2011
3. C and C- for ICO 4 (73%)(“ Students will analyze arguments and conclusions made in
philosophy), and GEO2 (71%) (“Use analytical reasoning skills and apply logic to solve
problems”).
4. D+ (68.5) for ICO 1 (“Identify concepts and methods of philosophy to examine perennial
issues in the discipline.”).
While there is room for improvement in all areas of both the GEO and the ICO, every category
earned a passing grade. But of special concern are the low percentages evidenced in areas of
indentify philosophical concepts and relating them to the history of the discipline. This sort of
task is heavily dependent on advanced analytic reasoning skills, and the lower than average
scores in meeting the objectives of analyzing arguments and applying logic only supports the fact
that students are struggling with the level of critical thinking expected of them in a philosophy
class.
However, this conflicts with the above average score given to ICO 3 (Students will analyze
arguments and make conclusions made in philosophy). One possible explanation for this
discrepancy might be that students feel confident when understanding specific theories, but are
less confident in their ability to apply those theories and draw connections between them. And
again, this would support the observation that students are struggling with higher-order critical
thinking and analysis.
Action Plan
As the data indicates, more attention needs to be paid to the development of critical thinking
skills, as well as student competencies in philosophical analysis and logic. To address this issue,
the philosophy faculty agreed on several points:
1. Often, many of our students are coming to Queensborough with little or no basic training in
the type of critical thinking, analytical, logical skills and training an introductory philosophy
assumes. Faculty agreed that there needs to be more time spent in the classroom to bring our
students “up to speed” regarding these skills.
2. Because all philosophy courses are “Writing Intensive” courses, instructors are often forced to
spend quite a bit of time helping students with their writing assignments in class, often at the
expense of developing the skills outlined in Action Plan item #1. Therefore, we believe that the
college should consider switching SS610 to a 3 credit/1 conference hour course to allow
instructors the extra time at the end of each class session to give our students both group and
individual instruction/conferencing so that they may reap the full benefit of introductory courses
in philosophy.
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SS 610 Assessment – 2011
Appendix A
The City University of New York
Queensborough Community College
Department of Social Sciences
SS-610 Introduction to Philosophy Outcomes Survey
We assess how well the instruction in this course is producing the intended results or outcomes. As
students you are in the best position to determine how well the course has produced these results. This
assessment is not about individual students or individual faculty. It is about the course itself. There is
no need to place your name on the response sheet.
We thank you for your participation in this effort.
Please indicate on the Scantron sheet whether you agree or disagree with these statements by marking
the Scantron form in the following way:
For each of these 12 items simply fill in the circle for your response:
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 read philosophical text effectively
2. This class helped me to critically evaluate theories and concepts in philosophy
3. This class helped me to analyze arguments and conclusions made in philosophy.
4. This class helped me to apply philosophical methods and principles to current events.
5. This class helped me to summarize passages from assigned readings.
6. This class helped me to identify correct and incorrect statements based on assigned
readings.
7. This class helped me to discriminate between different kinds of theories.
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SS 610 Assessment – 2011
8. This class helped me to define key concepts from specific theories.
9. This class helped me to identify features of different philosophical positions.
10. This class helped me to identify the arguments presented in support of various
philosophical positions.
11. This class helped me to identify practical application of philosophical methods and
theories.
12. This class helped me to indicate current issues and events where philosophical analysis
is needed.
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