Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Queensborough Community College
DEPARTMENT:
SOCIAL SCIENCES
A. DEPARTMENT SERVICES/ACTIVITIES REPORT IN 2014-15
1.
Department-sponsored services (fall and spring semesters combined)
Area of Service
Number
Served
not applicable
Area of service (for example): a department-run learning laboratory (not laboratories for which students register as part of their
courses), the reference desk or reserve area of the Library, department tutoring program, etc. (Note: Do not report courses or
laboratories for which students register.)
2.
Department-sponsored faculty/staff development activities
Type of Activity and Topic
Date Number
Attending
not applicable
Note: Faculty and staff development activities (grants, presentations, exhibitions, performances, publications, instructional
improvement activities, laboratory development, curriculum development, etc.)
B. COURSE CHANGES IN 2014-15
New,
revised, or
deleted
revised
revised
new
new
Course
number
Course title
Semester
approved
Comments
ECON102 Introduction to
Macroeconomics
ECON101 Introduction to
Microeconomics
PSYC245 Cross-cultural
Psychology
Spring 2015
SOCY285
Fall 2014
updated and expanded
scope of course
updated and expanded
scope of course
approved by QCC
Academic Senate and
CUNY BoT
approved by QCC
Academic Senate and
CUNY BoT
Spring 2015
Fall 2014
Human Behavior in the
Social Environment
C. PROGRAM CHANGES IN 2014-15
Program
Program change*
Effective Date
(Semester and
year)
Comments
not applicable
*Key: (a)=initiated, (b)=closed, (c)=renamed, (d)=modified
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Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Queensborough Community College
D. DEPARTMENT CHANGES IN 2014-15
Type (see menu
below)
Personnel change
Personnel change
Personnel change
Description of
Change
hired two fulltime Criminal
Justice faculty:
Celia Sporer,
George
Weissinger
retirement of
Patricia Spradley
resignation of
Elizabeth Bartels
Reason for
Change
increase
percentage of
criminal justice
classes taught
by full-time
faculty
she wanted to
retire
she wanted to
resign
Date/Semester
effective Fall
2015
end of Spring
2015 semester
end of Spring
2015 semester
Evaluation of
Change*
NA
NA
NA
*Please note that, if change has been too recent to evaluate, you may indicate NA.
Type of change
Personnel or
organizational change
Facilities/space
Equipment
Other
MENU
Description
New hires, retirees, resignations, promotions, department name changes, etc.
Renovations or development of office space or new facilities (i.e., computer laboratories)
Acquisition of new or disposition of old equipment
Other changes affecting the department not included above and including interactions with
other departments
E. DEPARTMENT ASSESSMENT IN 2014-15
1.
Departmental procedures for conducting assessment
The fundamental elements of standard 14 (assessment of student learning) of the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education include: clearly articulated statements of expected student learning
outcomes…at all levels (institution, degree/program, course) and for all programs that aim to foster
student learning and development; a documented, organized, and sustained assessment process to evaluate
and improve student learning; evidence that student learning assessment information is shared and
discussed with appropriate constituents and is used to improve teaching and learning.
Describe below the department’s ongoing procedures for assessing student learning and using
assessment results to improve teaching and learning. In your description, please explain how
the department fulfills each of the Middle States fundamental elements above.
Over the past three academic years, in response to the college's growing emphasis on the
assessment of learning and teaching, the Department of Social Science’s Committee on
Assessment has focused its efforts on clarifying student learning outcomes with the aim of
improving student success. To this end, the Committee has worked diligently to develop,
organize, and document our departmental, inter-disciplinary approach to assess, evaluate, and
improve student learning using both course and general education objectives. Currently, the
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Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Queensborough Community College
committee has nine members representing all but one of the disciplines in the department, and
over the past year it has focused on both following up and improving the general education taskbased assessments piloted in the 2013-2014 academic year (Sociology, Psychology, Criminal
Justice, and Economics). It also developed new general education task-based assessment
projects in Anthropology and Political Science (Fall 2014), and is in the process of completing
general education task-based assessment projects for upper level courses in Psychology and
introductory courses in Philosophy (Spring 2015).
From the beginning of the department’s general education task-based assessment project, the
learning assessments in each of these disciplines were ORIENTED TOWARDS ASSESSING
TWO OVERLAPPING GENERAL EDUCATION AND PATHWAYS OBJECTIVES: students'
use of analytical reasoning to identify issues or problems and evaluate evidence in order to make
informed decisions (General Education), and students' evaluation of evidence and arguments
critically or analytically (Pathways). GUIDED BY THE Critical Thinking Value Rubric
developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), as well as several
critical thinking AND READING templates from various colleges and universities, the
COMMITTEE developed a standard assessment rubric to rate students on four related criteria
(explanation of issues, evidence, influence of context and assumptions, and student's ability to
implement other perspectives and positions) from emerging understanding to mastery of the
material.
Using the standard departmental template, faculty members were asked to help design A 16
question multiple choice ASSESSMENT based on a reading selected by the faculty representing
each discipline.
Program review follow-up (from 2012-13 to 2013-14):
Anthropology 101
Action item from program review
Timeline for
completion
Add questions to bring the
December
assessment tool in line with the 2015
with the other disciplines in the
department.
Clarify Questions 2 and 3
Accomplishments during current year
Improved scores in two scoring categories
(Strong Development and Mastery), weaker
scores in two categories (Evaluating Evidence
and Drawing Conclusions).
The weakest category (Contextualizing) in the
previous assessment was significantly weaker
(13%) in the follow up assessment
Note: If your department was involved in a program review in the previous academic year, the table
above must be filled in.
Program Review follow-up assessments were also conducted in the Spring of 2015 for the
following courses: ECON 101 and 102, SOCY 101, PSYC 101, and CRIM 101. These reports
will be due September 2015.
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Queensborough Community College
3b.
Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Course assessment: current year
Course(s)
assessed (list
individually)
Relevant General Educational
Outcomes
Relevant
Curricular
Outcomes
Evaluation of
Assessment
Results
Action plan
PSYC 201
Use analytical reasoning to
identify issues or problems and
evaluate evidence in order to
make informed decisions
Not yet
available
Not yet
available
PSYC 202
Use analytical reasoning to
identify issues or problems and
evaluate evidence in order to
make informed decisions
Not yet
available
Not yet
available
PSYC 201
Use analytical reasoning to
identify issues or problems and
evaluate evidence in order to
make informed decisions
Not yet
available
Not yet
available
SOCY 101
Use analytical reasoning to
identify issues or problems and
evaluate evidence in order to
make informed decisions
Not yet
available
Not yet
available
POLI 101
Use analytical reasoning to
identify issues or problems and
evaluate evidence in order to
make informed decisions
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Low student
scores in
“Constructing
Meaning,” but
higher scores in
the categories
involving
higher order
reasoning.
Not yet
available
Balance
content of
course with
broader
educational
goals.
PHIL 101
Evaluate
evidence and
arguments
critically or
analytically
Not yet
available
2a.
Departmental participation in self-study/program review during 2014-2015, if
applicable
Program(s) reviewed: DUAL-JOINT A.S./B.A. DEGREE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE (WITH
JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE)
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Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Queensborough Community College
External Agency or Reviewers: TO BE DETERMINED IN FALL 2015
Date of site visit: TO BE DETERMINED IN FALL 2015
Major conclusions of self-study
The CJ1 program is successfully preparing students for the bachelor programs at JJC.
Performance measures for QCC students at JJC are respectable and also comparable to those of
transfer students from other CUNY Community Colleges.
Results of the student survey indicate a generally favorable perception of the program’s
curriculum, faculty and academic
advisement. Course assessment results have varied, but in general they show at least modest
success and sometimes higher in helping students to achieve the QCC General Education
Objectives.
Needs to be addressed in the future include: 1) improving retention and graduation rates; 2)
expanding scope of task-based assessment projects to all core and key courses in the curriculum;
3) increasing faculty communication of course objectives and learning outcomes to students; 4)
increase number of full-time Criminal Justice faculty.
Major conclusions of external reviewers not available
Resulting action plan not available
2b.
Program review follow-up (from 2013-14 to 2014-15)
Action item from program review
Timeline for
completion
Accomplishments during current year
not applicable
Note: If your department was involved in a program review in the previous academic year, the table
above must be filled in.
4.
Results of certification examinations, employer and alumni surveys, student surveys,
advisory board recommendations (if applicable, please use the table below) NA
5.
Other assessment activity (if applicable) NA
F. DEPARTMENT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
1.
Goals/objectives for 2014-2015
Departmental goals/objectives
2014/2015
Review and refine course assessment
methodology for introductory courses
Strategic
Plan Y/N
Y
Evaluation of achievement
Results of task-based
assessments of student
Resulting
action plan
in progress
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Year-end Report – Teaching Department
Queensborough Community College
and select elective courses
Conduct two faculty searches for
Criminal Justice positions
2.
Y
learning outcomes
Completion of search
process culminating in
hiring two faculty to begin
in Fall 2015
new hires
start Fall
2015
Goals/objectives for 2015-2016
Departmental goals/objectives 2015-2016
Curriculum Development: work to revise Dual/Joint
AA/BA Degree in Elementary Education with Queens
College; develop Dual/Joint AA/BA Degree in
Elementary Education with York College; explore
prospects for Dual/Joint AA/BA Degree in Secondary
Education with Queens College
Curriculum Development: develop A.S. Degree in
Psychology
New Course Development: Forensic Psychology
Mission/
Strategic Plan
Planned method of
evaluation
Y
Academic Program
Review as necessary
N
Academic Program
Review as necessary
Course assessment
as necessary
N
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