PAR QEP Impact Report Fall 2012
Contacts: Kevin Schilbrack, kschilbrack@email.wcu.edu, 227‐7262 Christopher Hoyt, choyt@wcu.edu, 227‐3972 Introduction
In 2009, The Department of Philosophy and Religion began to implement a series of changes to bring our goals and curriculum more fully in line with those of the QEP. Rather fortuitously, PAR had radically revised its mission statement and curriculum in 2002 in ways that anticipated four out of five student learning outcomes specified in the QEP: (1) integrate information from a variety of contexts (2) solve complex problems (3) communicate effectively and responsibly (4) and clarify and act on purpose and values. PAR then developed two main ways to improve our program and to better align it with the QEP. First, and most importantly, we added reflective writing assignments to several of our classes to foster intentional learning in all of our students, not just our majors. Second, we have begun capturing data to help us measure our real impact on students over time. Intentional learning, civic engagement, and clarification of values and purpose
Since 2010, PAR has helped foster the intentional learning of literally hundreds of students. Every student enrolled in “Western Philosophical Traditions” (PAR 101) or “Western Moral Traditions” (PAR 102) has written a guided reflection on his or her values and aims. In fact, the student response to the exercise has been so positive that PAR has decided, starting this year, to include the same exercise in its two foremost introductory religion classes, “Eastern Religious Traditions” (PAR 145) and “Western Religious Traditions” (PAR 146). PAR made more substantial changes to its curriculum by adding a sophomore seminar and two service‐learning classes. Our sophomore seminar, “Self, Society, and the Good Life” (PAR 295), requires students to integrate disciplined academic research with personal reflection on their values and goals repeatedly for the entire semester. Along with asking students who might have taken 101 or 102 to revisit the reflective essay they wrote the, PAR 295 is an extended exercise in intentional learning. We also added one class specifically designated as service learning course, “Religion, Suffering, and the Moral Imagination” (PAR 354), and we are working towards getting that designation for “Environmental Ethics” (PAR 333). Within the context of these two classes, PAR students participate in a variety of activities in which crucial moral and social conflicts come to life. Each spring, PAR 354 students participate in the annual conference of the international humanitarian organization CARE, the “Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere.” CARE is a non‐sectarian, BBB‐accredited charity focused on easing the suffering of women and children in the developing world. Students were enthusiastic in their statements about the impact the conference had on them: “I am able to use every single one of these topics [covered at the conference] in my classes as well as in my everyday life,” wrote one. Another said that “[being at the CARE conference helped] me to decide if it is a field I would be interested in working in.” The students were also asked to complete anonymous questionnaires to help assess whether their conference participation had specifically helped them achieve each of the five learning outcomes specified in the QEP. All either agreed or strongly agreed that it had made a valuable contribution to their education (except for one student regarding one outcome). In the context of their classes, PAR takes students on both day and overnight fieldtrips to give them exposure to the ecological, social, and political realities that constitute environmental ethical issues in modern America. PAR students have met with community members impacted by mountain top mining (mountain top removal), while others attended an EPA meeting in Charlotte to see our government in action developing policy. The students’ narrative accounts clearly show that the trips are helping to achieve the educational goals spelled out in the QEP: “I was able to apply what I have learned in class to an actual cause,” wrote one. Another says that she “planned to intern in Tennessee with a branch of Mountain Justice in order to further my personal fight against MTR” because she was so moved by what she learned and saw during a PAR 333 field trip. Faculty Assessment of Students
To evaluate the long‐term impact of our programs in each of the five educational outcomes spelled out in the QEP, we have implemented two main assessments. First, we have a Faculty Assessment of Student that directly evaluates the student’s level of accomplishment in each of the five dimensions. Second, we have a Student Assessment of the PAR Program that we obtain through exit interviews with graduating students, an interview that includes questions asking them to evaluate the impact of that our program had on them in each of those same five dimensions. Eventually, the Faculty Assessment of Student will be completed twice for each student: once at the sophomore level and again at the senior level. Working collaboratively with each student to do a fair assessment, a faculty member ranks each student’s level in several skills that translate directly to four out of five of the QEP learning outcomes. In the future, we hope to capture enough data to reasonably judge the impact of our program on individual students. However, PAR is a small program and we have not captured enough data to be reliable. Therefore, we tentatively share the following results: QEP Outcome PAR discipline Average sophomore level Average senior level specific measure of accomplishment of accomplishment Clarify and act Reflection on 3
3.9 on purpose and Values values Planning with 2.4
3.8 purpose Communicate Research skills
2.6
3.9 effectively and responsibly Communication 2.6
3.5 skills Integrate Integrating insufficient insufficient information extracurricular data data from a variety activities of contexts Solve complex Understanding 2.6
3.5 problems philosophical problems Identifying 2.6
3.4 strategies for making philosophical arguments Student Evaluations of Program
The data from the Student Assessment of the PAR Program has two parts. One part is quantitative. It asks the students to evaluate the PAR program that students have just completed on a scale from 1 to 4 (those results are reproduced here). The other part of the exit interview lets the students answer open‐ended questions in writing about the strengths and the weaknesses of the program. The PAR committee reviews both the quantitative and the qualitative elements at the end of each academic year. QEP Outcome PAR discipline 5/10
12/10
5/11
5/12 specific measure Clarify and Did we help you 3.6
3.7
3
3.3 act on reflect on your purpose and values? values Did we help you 3.6
3.7
3
3.3 plan with purpose? Communicate Did we help you 3.6
3
3.4
3.8 effectively develop research and skills? responsibly Did we help you 3.3
3.3
3.2
3.3 develop communication skills? Integrate Did we help you 2.3
3
3
3.3 information integrate non‐PAR from a activities? variety of contexts Solve Did we help you 3.9
3.3
3.2
3.8 complex understand problems arguments? Did we help you 3.75
3.3
3.4
3.8 make your own arguments?