Chabot College Program Review Report 2015 ‐2016 Year 1 of Program Review Cycle History Submitted on October 24, 2014 Contact: Rick Moniz Mark Stephens Michael Thompson Jane Wolford Sherri Yeager 2 Program Review – Closing the Loop Form Course Level Student Learning Outcomes Course: History 8 Semester assessment data gathered: Spring 2014 Number of sections offered in semester: 12 Percentage of sections assessed: 50% Semester held “Closing the Loop” discussion: Fall 2014 Faculty members involved in “Closing the Loop” discussion: Rick Moniz, Mark Stephens, Michael Thompson, Jane Wolford, Sherri Yeager Course‐Level Outcomes (CLO) #1 Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them. #2 Demonstrate possessing a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras and events. In the context of the course as a whole, what scores for your CLOs would indicate success for you? (Example: 75% of the class scored either 3 or 4. ___________________________________________________ In the context of the course as a whole, we do not believe that these scores provide either a quantitative or qualitative indication of “success”. The fact that we are required to submit scores for individual students in one class in a single semester, but are not able to re‐
assess that same group of students in subsequent semesters renders the “data” meaningless. Qualitatively, depending on each individual student’s starting point (basic reading/writing ability, life circumstance, habits of mind, etc.), the definition of “success” is unique and complex in myriad ways. There are potentially positive learning “outcomes” that may not register for individual students until some time after their classroom experience has ended; outcomes about which we as instructors may never witness. Positive learning experiences may occur for some students who do not necessarily read, write or score well over the course of a semester class. We are not, therefore, prepared to “measure” a particular degree of student “success” based on a simply tallying of individual scores on a software system which is a mess. ___________________________________________________________________ How do your current scores match with your above definition of success? _____________________________________________________ The scores are what they are for every individual student, based on one assignment, during the course of a single semester. These scores alone offer virtually no meaningful information about what constitutes student “success” nor do they allow for generalizations about the “success” of this course or our history program. History instructors who entered “data” did so because this was mandated by a flawed 3 institutional process to which all of us are in opposition, and the essential premises of which we do not believe. We, a group of intelligent, experienced, committed teachers have been reduced to spending hours of precious time for the purpose of bureaucratic compliance. Based on the data gathered, and considering your teaching experiences and your discussions with other faculty, what reflections and insights do you have? Although we rarely have enough time to discuss and reflect amongst ourselves in meaningful ways because so much of our time must be spent entering scores for SLOs and filling out pages and pages of forms in a never‐ending cycle of mostly repetitious “program review”, in the limited time we do have we discuss in a very nuanced manner what “success” means for our extremely diverse students. We discuss the variety of assignments we employ to (1) assess students’ understanding of history, and (2) address the vast differences in individual students’ reading/writing abilities, and what kinds of tools and recommendations we may provide to help them improve in these areas. We share our insights and our ideas for interesting & effective assignments – as we have always done throughout our professional careers, long before the “outcome” movement took control over higher education. We discuss how individual students’ habits of mind and life circumstances are, without a doubt, the most important factors that determine whether or not a student is capable of or willing to commit the time/effort necessary to complete the preparatory work required to “succeed” on specific assignments and in the course throughout the semester. We share the stories our students tell us about their lives – stories which have everything to do with whether or not they will “succeed” in their college courses: We know that most of our students struggle economically, have difficulties making ends meet, and are frustrated by the demands of taking classes, making an income and caring for children and other family members. Many of our students endure various crises around their housing situations, and for some of them that includes homelessness. Some cannot afford textbooks and others fall behind while waiting for financial aid to be distributed. Others do not have access to a reliable computer or internet connection. There are students who have been the victims of random gun violence and young women who have struggled with domestic violence. Since there are no course prerequisites for history classes, many students do not really possess the necessary reading, writing, or vocabulary skills to excel in a transfer‐level history course. Many others do not seem to possess the intellectual curiosity, maturity or seriousness needed to adequately prepare for class and for assignments. All of these – and many other – life issues have everything to do with student “outcomes”, but these factors do not lend themselves to measurement. What course‐level and programmatic strengths have the assessment reflections revealed? _____________________________________________________ Courses have been developed to address the many basic skills issues faced by our students, along with individual tutoring in the Learning Center. Evidence indicates that students who avail themselves of these resources are more likely to succeed in their history courses. 4 However, since tutoring & remediation – in whatever form offered – are voluntary, many students who might benefit from such remediation do not choose to avail themselves of these institutional resources. Each of us – in our individual classrooms – provides our students with myriad tools & resources aimed at improving their ability to read, write, take notes, and critically think. We develop new assignments on a regular basis to promote critical thinking and to help our students learn more effectively. What actions has your discipline determined might be taken as a result of your reflections, discussions, and insights? _____________________________________________________ Without prerequisites and in the absence of mandatory assessment and placement, whether or not students avail themselves of institutional learning resources and whether or not students avail themselves of the tools provided by instructors is up to them. Everything is voluntary and everything depends on students being willing to make choices that will serve their learning interests. We as instructors will continue to discuss & reflect about effective pedagogy and will experiment with different practices and assignments to enhance our students’ learning outcomes. (Our efforts could be much more collaborative if we weren’t burdened and burned out by the non‐stop mandates of outcome‐movement compliance!) But we recognize that “outcomes” depend to a great extent on students’ ability to and/or willingness to take responsible action and to make sound choices for themselves. _____________________________________________________ What is the nature of the planned actions? __ Curricular X Pedagogical X Resource based __ Change to CLO or rubric __ Change to assessment methods __ Other: _________________________ PART I: COURSE‐LEVEL OUTCOMES – DATA RESULTS CONSIDER THE COURSE‐LEVEL OUTCOMES INDIVIDUALLY (THE NUMBER OF CLOS WILL DIFFER BY COURSE) (CLO) 1: (CLO) 2: Defined Target Actual Scores** Scores* (eLumen data) (CLO Goal) 5 (CLO) 3: (CLO) 4:  If more CLOs are listed for the course, add another row to the table. * Defined Target Scores:What scores in eLumen from your students would indicate success for this CLO? (Example: 75% of the class scored either 3 or 4) **Actual scores: What is the actual percent of students that meet defined target based on the eLumen data collected in this assessment cycle? 6 Appendix B2: “Closing the Loop” Assessment Reflections (See Attached forms) Course History 21 Semester assessment data gathered Fall 2013 Number of sections offered in the semester 2 Number of sections assessed 1 Percentage of sections assessed 49% Semester held “Closing the Loop” discussion Faculty members involved in “Closing the Loop” discussion Form Instructions:  Part I: CLO Data Reporting. For each CLO, obtain Class Achievement data in aggregate for all sections assessed in eLumen.  Part II: CLO Reflections. Based on student success reported in Part I, reflect on the individual CLO.  Part III: Course Reflection. In reviewing all the CLOs and your findings, reflect on the course as a whole. PART I: COURSE‐LEVEL OUTCOMES – DATA RESULTS CONSIDER THE COURSE‐LEVEL OUTCOMES INDIVIDUALLY (THE Defined Target Actual Scores** NUMBER OF CLOS WILL DIFFER BY COURSE) Scores* (eLumen data) HISTORY 21 FOR FALL 2013 (CLO Goal) (CLO) 1: Synthesize factual information and historical 41.4% 41 assessed: evidence from a variety of sources and identify the assessed at 3 7 assessed at 4 connections between them. or 4 10 assessed at 3 14 assessed at 2 7 assessed at 1 2 assessed at 0 1 assessed at NA
(CLO) 2: The students will demonstrate a body of 41.4% 41 assessed: knowledge about and critical understanding of assessed at 3 7 assessed at 4 historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the or 4 10 assessed at 3 process of change over time. 14 assessed at 2 7 assessed at 1 2 assessed at 1 7 (CLO) 3: Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change. (CLO) 4: 41.4% assessed at 3 or 4 1 assessed at NA
41 assessed: 7 assessed at 4 10 assessed at 3 14 assessed at 2 7 assessed at 1 2 assessed at 0 1 assessed at NA
Course‐Level Outcomes (CLO) #1 Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them. #2 Demonstrate possessing a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras and events. In the context of the course as a whole, what scores for your CLOs would indicate success for you? (Example: 75% of the class scored either 3 or 4. ___________________________________________________ In the context of the course as a whole, we do not believe that these scores provide either a quantitative or qualitative indication of “success”. The fact that we are required to submit scores for individual students in one class in a single semester, but are not able to re‐
assess that same group of students in subsequent semesters renders the “data” meaningless. Qualitatively, depending on each individual student’s starting point (basic reading/writing ability, life circumstance, habits of mind, etc.), the definition of “success” is unique and complex in myriad ways. There are potentially positive learning “outcomes” that may not register for individual students until some time after their classroom experience has ended; outcomes about which we as instructors may never witness. Positive learning experiences may occur for some students who do not necessarily read, write or score well over the course of a semester class. We are not, therefore, prepared to “measure” a particular degree of student “success” based on a simply tallying of individual scores on a software system which is a mess. ___________________________________________________________________ How do your current scores match with your above definition of success? _____________________________________________________ The scores are what they are for every individual student, based on one assignment, during the course of a single semester. These scores alone offer virtually no meaningful information about what constitutes student “success” nor do they allow for generalizations about the “success” of this course or our history program. History instructors who entered “data” did so because this was mandated by a flawed 8 institutional process to which all of us are in opposition, and the essential premises of which we do not believe. We, a group of intelligent, experienced, committed teachers have been reduced to spending hours of precious time for the purpose of bureaucratic compliance. Based on the data gathered, and considering your teaching experiences and your discussions with other faculty, what reflections and insights do you have? Although we rarely have enough time to discuss and reflect amongst ourselves in meaningful ways because so much of our time must be spent entering scores for SLOs and filling out pages and pages of forms in a never‐ending cycle of mostly repetitious “program review”, in the limited time we do have we discuss in a very nuanced manner what “success” means for our extremely diverse students. We discuss the variety of assignments we employ to (1) assess students’ understanding of history, and (2) address the vast differences in individual students’ reading/writing abilities, and what kinds of tools and recommendations we may provide to help them improve in these areas. We share our insights and our ideas for interesting & effective assignments – as we have always done throughout our professional careers, long before the “outcome” movement took control over higher education. We discuss how individual students’ habits of mind and life circumstances are, without a doubt, the most important factors that determine whether or not a student is capable of or willing to commit the time/effort necessary to complete the preparatory work required to “succeed” on specific assignments and in the course throughout the semester. We share the stories our students tell us about their lives – stories which have everything to do with whether or not they will “succeed” in their college courses: We know that most of our students struggle economically, have difficulties making ends meet, and are frustrated by the demands of taking classes, making an income and caring for children and other family members. Many of our students endure various crises around their housing situations, and for some of them that includes homelessness. Some cannot afford textbooks and others fall behind while waiting for financial aid to be distributed. Others do not have access to a reliable computer or internet connection. There are students who have been the victims of random gun violence and young women who have struggled with domestic violence. Since there are no course prerequisites for history classes, many students do not really possess the necessary reading, writing, or vocabulary skills to excel in a transfer‐level history course. Many others do not seem to possess the intellectual curiosity, maturity or seriousness needed to adequately prepare for class and for assignments. All of these – and many other – life issues have everything to do with student “outcomes”, but these factors do not lend themselves to measurement. What course‐level and programmatic strengths have the assessment reflections revealed? _____________________________________________________ Courses have been developed to address the many basic skills issues faced by our students, along with individual tutoring in the Learning Center. Evidence indicates that students who avail themselves of these resources are more likely to succeed in their history courses. 9 However, since tutoring & remediation – in whatever form offered – are voluntary, many students who might benefit from such remediation do not choose to avail themselves of these institutional resources. Each of us – in our individual classrooms – provides our students with myriad tools & resources aimed at improving their ability to read, write, take notes, and critically think. We develop new assignments on a regular basis to promote critical thinking and to help our students learn more effectively. What actions has your discipline determined might be taken as a result of your reflections, discussions, and insights? _____________________________________________________ Without prerequisites and in the absence of mandatory assessment and placement, whether or not students avail themselves of institutional learning resources and whether or not students avail themselves of the tools provided by instructors is up to them. Everything is voluntary and everything depends on students being willing to make choices that will serve their learning interests. We as instructors will continue to discuss & reflect about effective pedagogy and will experiment with different practices and assignments to enhance our students’ learning outcomes. (Our efforts could be much more collaborative if we weren’t burdened and burned out by the non‐stop mandates of outcome‐movement compliance!) But we recognize that “outcomes” depend to a great extent on students’ ability to and/or willingness to take responsible action and to make sound choices for themselves. _____________________________________________________ What is the nature of the planned actions? __ Curricular X Pedagogical X Resource based __ Change to CLO or rubric __ Change to assessment methods __ Other: 10 Appendix C: Program Learning Outcomes Considering your feedback, findings, and/or information that has arisen from the course level discussions, please reflect on each of your Program Level Outcomes. Program: ______  PLO #1:  PLO #2:  PLO #3:  PLO #4: What questions or investigations arose as a result of these reflections or discussions? What program‐level strengths have the assessment reflections revealed? What actions has your discipline determined might be taken to enhance the learning of students completing your program? Program: _____ 11 
PLO #1: 
PLO #2: 
PLO #3: 
PLO #4: What questions or investigations arose as a result of these reflections or discussions? What program‐level strengths have the assessment reflections revealed? What actions has your discipline determined might be taken to enhance the learning of students completing your program? 12