PROGRAM PLANNING REPORT 2012
POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
I.
BACKGROUND, EVALUATION & ANALYSIS
Program Description
The Political Science Department offers a number of introductory courses in American politics,
international relations, political theory and comparative politics that satisfy the requirements for both
Cabrillo’s A.A. and A.S. degrees. Our courses meet requirements for UC and CSU transfer in the major
with upper division standing and satisfy IGETC requirements. Additionally, for the CSU, both Political
Science 1 & 5 serve as requirements for graduation. As none of our offerings have prerequisites, all of
them are open to the full range of Cabrillo students. In order to reach as many students as possible, we
have provided instruction at both the Aptos campus, Watsonville Center, and in distance education
formats for many years.
During this planning cycle, the department consisted of two full time instructors, Rory O’Brien
and Bill Hill, until the fall of 2010, when Professor Hill retired. We also have four wonderful adjunct
colleagues who have taught with us regularly for many years. At this point, of the fourteen sections that
are routinely offered each semester, eleven are taught by adjunct faculty. And all of the courses we
offer in the areas of Comparative Politics and International Relations -- representing fully half of our core
-- are currently being taught by adjunct faculty. The department is desperately dependent on the good
work done by our part-time colleagues.
The Political Science Department has been
Department Offerings
steadfast in maintaining its strongest attributes: our
faculty, our use of innovative teaching techniques and
Political Science 1 (Introduction to
our dedication to campus-wide service. During the last
Government) an introductory course
five years we have worked to contribute to the college by
focused on the historical origins and
putting on programs such as the Model United Nations,
development of the U.S. government.
creating a hybrid version of PS 1 and developing PS 1
Political Science 2 (Introduction to
Honors.
Comparative Government) an introductory
The department’s current single full-time faculty
course to the comparative study of political
member has taken on various campus-wide
systems.
Political Science 3 (International Relations)
responsibilities over the years. At present, Rory O’Brien
an introductory course to the study of the
is acting as program chair for the Global Studies cluster in
international political and economic system.
HASS while serving as faculty lead on the 2013
Political Science 5 (American Political
Accreditation Self-Evaluation Project. During the period
Thought) an overview of the political
covered by this report, Dr. O’Brien finished the last part
theories at the basis of our political system
of his second term as Faculty Senate president and then
in the U.S.
served for a year as the senate vice-president.
Political Science 39A-Z (Studies in Political
For much of the period during this last planning
Science), an intensive analysis of particular
cycle, political science has been in a crisis mode. With
political issue, movement, or concepts.
cutbacks in teaching units, along with Dr. Bill Hill’s
reduction in teaching load followed by his eventual
retirement, a numerical analysis of our current state does not look particularly positive. The department
looks forward to a full-time hire allowing our contract faculty to cover the full range of courses we offer
in our program. With the differences in the sub-fields in our discipline, another full-time member
faculty member will permit the department, once again, to make the strongest possible presentation of
the entire scope of our transfer based course offerings.
Along with proposals to improve student learning, develop more innovative ways of delivering
course content and to create new opportunities for our students to compete in the job market, the
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
1
thrust of this report will revolve around the department’s plans for re-structuring after we have added
another full-time faculty member.
Relationships
Political Science has long enjoyed good relations with other departments and programs across
the campus. The fact that our faculty have regularly taken part in many of the shared governance
functions of our institution has helped us to make important connections with other programs. For
many years Dr. Rory O’Brien has served in a leadership role in the Faculty Senate, while also helping out
on the Assessment Review Committee, the Distance Education committee and the Staff Development
committee. Overall, political science has developed good relationships with other departments and
programs at the college.
The fact that we play an important role in general education, fulfilling the American institutions
requirement for the A.A. and the social and behavioral sciences requirement for the A.S. degrees has
also helped us to forge important connections with other departments. Furthermore, programs as
diverse as Education and Fire Technology list political science courses in their Suggested Model
Programs as either required or elective courses. History and Liberal Arts & Sciences also include our
courses in their programs.
The political science department has always been prepared to deliver courses to our students in
many different venues. Despite our staffing problems, the department has maintained a presence at
the Watsonville Center, with at least one section of PS1 being offered each semester. During much of
the last planning cycle, we also presented classes at our Scotts Valley location.
Since most four-year institutions offer at least the B.A. in Political Science, students majoring in
political science at Cabrillo have a wide variety of choice as to where to continue their education in the
field. Local CSU and UC campuses graduate many political science majors each year -- UC Berkeley alone
accounted for 475 Bachelor’s degrees in the discipline. The department is always interested in
establishing more formal contacts with regional UC and CSU political science departments in order to
enhance the in-state transfer opportunities for Cabrillo students.
Recently, the department has made outreach efforts to other campus programs by initiating
discussions concerning two important projects. One initiative would allow for the creation of a Poli-Tech
emphasis in the major that could eventually be developed into a certificate program aimed at preparing
students for jobs in local and state government. When public funding goes up again, local and state
government agencies will need qualified applicants to fill new jobs. Looking at a 3-5 year timeframe, the
Poli-Tech program could be well positioned to grant certificates to graduates who would be ready to
work in local, county and state government.
Secondly, in response to the needs of our distance education students, the department plans to
create faculty-produced, short video segments specifically for online courses. Dr. O’Brien has taught PS1
as a distance education course for more than eight years. With the addition of a new faculty member
who will probably want to develop one or more online courses, the department can make greater use of
this mode of delivery in the future. See our discussion on SLO for more details.
Costs and Revenues
Program planning data from the Cabrillo Fact Book (2010) will be used below to illustrate the
department’s level of productivity. Productivity is measured by the department’s weekly student
contact hours per full-time equivalent faculty (WSCH/FTEF).
Over the last ten semesters, political science’s WSCH/FTEF has been more often than not slightly
lower than that of the college in general. This is indicative of a program that has maintained a heavy
faculty load. For a number of years we have been presenting new courses and at the same time, we
have been offering courses in different formats. As noted below, many of those experiments resulted in
lower enrollments (PS1 Honors is a good example). However, as demonstrated in the following table,
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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our numbers have trended upward since our last program plan in 2007. The department's average load
for the ten semesters listed above is 561.39, which compares fairly well with the College's average of
570.90. However, the department has had to face a combination of, (1) fewer teaching units being
allocated to the program, (2) having full-time faculty serve the college in ways that reduced his teaching
load, and (3) teaching classes with initially lower caps (PS1 Honors, PS1 Hybrid). So the numerical trends
over the last phase of the planning cycle do not give a good representation of our program’s
contribution to the college.
Information from the Fact Book also shows how the political science department compares with
the rest of the college in terms of WSCH and FTEF.
Table 1
WSCH/FTEF
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Total College
Fall
571.9
546.1
551.4
610.3
627.0
Spring
536.9
516.9
535.3
609.3
604.0
Political Science Department
Fall
Spring
571.1
508.4
513.1
509.0
545.5
546.0
568.1
607.1
618.1
627.5
Table 2
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Political Science Department’s Percent of the College’s WSCH/FTEF
WSCH
FTEF
Fall
Spring
Fall
1.14%
1.15%
1.14%
1.11%
1.16%
1.18%
1.10%
1.22%
1.11%
1.17%
1.22%
1.26%
1.13%
1.20%
1.15%
Spring
1.21%
1.18%
1.20%
1.22%
1.16%
Table 3
FTES
Total College
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Fall
5,217.8
5,068.5
5,405.1
6,088.1
5,978.4
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
Spring
5,014.3
4,927.0
5,248.1
5,862.5
5,666.0
Political Science Department
Fall
Spring
60.1
58.0
56.5
57.5
60.0
64.3
71.5
71.8
68.1
69.1
3
Table 4
Percent FTES Political Science to Total College
Academic Year
Percent of FTES
2005/06
1.317%
2006/07
1.247%
2007/08
1.258%
2008/09
1.294%
2009/10
1.265%
Table 5
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Political Science Expenditures as a Percentage of College Totals
Program Base
College Base
Percent Political
Expenditures
Expenditures
Science
$254,086
$25,688,668
0.989%
$268,321
$26,934,725
0.996%
$300,335
$29,023,043
1.035%
$312,352
$28,658,802
1.090%
$273,207
$27,072,480
1.009%
While Political Science brings in an average of 1.19% of the college’s WSCH, the department
comprises, at the most, an average of 1.13% of the college’s FTEF. The department consistently
generates more revenue in terms of FTES (full time equivalent students) when compared to the college
totals, while costs remain low, indicating that political science is an efficient program. Table 4 above
demonstrates that we consistently represent above 1% of the FTES, while costing little more than that
number (see Table 5).
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
The full-time faculty members in the department have long been associated with helping to
develop and implement processes to assess student learning outcomes both in our department and
throughout the college. SLO assessment has given us an opportunity to apply new concepts to our
evaluation of our students’ work. This process has helped us gain insights as to how we can help more
of our students successfully complete our courses (see SLO appendix). As part of our last program
planning process, we worked to re-write all course curricula to include SLO. Since the middle of the last
planning cycle, the department has assessed learning outcomes on the College’s Core Four. Throughout
the current planning cycle we have assessed course level SLO in each of our classes as well as the Core
Four. In Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 we assessed course SLO for PS1. While in Fall 2008 we assessed our
other courses: PS2, PS3 and PS5. (Please see the attached SLO forms for particulars on our methods and
discussion.)
The political science faculty has worked to integrate our assessment of SLO into virtually all
aspects of what we do as a department. Our FLEX week meetings are generally consumed with
conversations about the outcomes we measured in the preceding semester and with our discussions of
what we will be assessing in the coming term. These department-wide conversations include both parttime and contract faculty.
During this cycle, we discovered that it was more difficult to clearly assess course SLO than the
core competencies – something we were not anticipating. We have been used to assessing the Core
Four for quite a while now, but when it came to analyzing what we were doing in terms of individual
course content, our findings seemed to be murkier. Faculty have discussed different strategies for
assessment of course SLO that we expect to employ during the next planning cycle. For example, when
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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assessing course level SLO there is no clear consensus as to whether we should use one form of testing
over another. Nor have we been able to agree on a single paper topic or exercise that might help us to
generalize our findings. Next time around, in advance of assessing course SLO, we plan to discuss forms
of testing and different ways to better think about the process.
Investigation of our SLO reports allows the reader to see the various areas in which we plan to
make changes in order to increase student learning. Overall, the need to provide our students with
more writing assignments to help them develop the skills they need became obvious.
Adding SLO to our program planning over time has significantly impacted the planning process
itself. The additional tasks of assessing outcomes based on the college Core Competencies and course
SLO has added new layers to our research. The time involved in conceptualizing how to apply this new
paradigm, taking part in the necessary training and actually implementing the assessment has been
significant. Although part time faculty members have been willing to participate, SLO assessment puts
an undue burden on them. Overall, members of the department think that studying SLO has provided
us with a basis for an ongoing discussion on we can work to increase student success. But the extra time
commitment involved should not be overlooked.
Measures of Student Success
Information taken from the Cabrillo Fact Book for 2010 indicates the following with regard to
levels of student retention and success in the Political Science Department. Percent retention measures
the number of students still enrolled at the end of the semester, as a percent of the total enrollment.
Percent success measures the number of grades equivalent to a C or better, as a percent of the total
grades given.
Table 6
Student Retention
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Total College
Fall
81.0%
80.6 %
80.6 %
85.7 %
85.3 %
Spring
80.9%
80.3 %
82.0 %
84.6 %
84.7 %
Political Science Department
Fall
Spring
79.0%
81.7%
80.1 %
84.5 %
79.7 %
80.1 %
86.3 %
86.6 %
85.6 %
84.5 %
Table 7
Student Success
Academic Year
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Total College
Fall
67.2%
66.7 %
67.3 %
68.5 %
69.7 %
Spring
67.8%
66.6 %
67.8 %
68.9 %
70.6 %
Political Science Department
Fall
Spring
66.5%
66.3%
67.9 %
70.3 %
68.7 %
68.6 %
65.0 %
71.1 %
66.9 %
71.0 %
The data indicate the department’s retention and success rates are generally consistent with the
college totals. While we have been in the current planning cycle, the department has aspired to keep
our numbers for both student success and retention as high as possible.
Results of the Student Survey
The student survey conducted by the college in 2010 shows that our students enjoy taking the
classes we present. Although most of the students surveyed were not political science majors, many of
them responded that they would be interested in taking more classes in the program.
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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Although only 21% of students had career plans in the area of political science, over 90% of
student respondents said that they would recommend Political Science courses to others. Additionally,
39% of those students report that they plan to take more political science classes. Our students are
largely under 21 years of age, male and taking our courses because they are required. Despite the fact
that we only graduate three to six majors per year, the courses presented by the political science
department continue to be both robust and popular.
Of the students surveyed, fully 96% of them described the overall workload assigned in our
classes as “Appropriate.” And 73% of the students in our classes felt that their performance was
assessed “Sufficiently” (Student Survey Fall 2010, PRO). The written comments on the Political Science
student surveys for Fall 2010 consistently reflect student perceptions that a high quality of instruction is
the major strength of the program.
The open-ended responses from students also indicate that they enjoy our political science
courses. We received the following answers in response to the question: What do you consider the
major strengths of this program?
“Great faculty.”
“Teachers are willing to meet with their students for extra help.”
“The teacher is very good, talks about current events, and intentionally talks about issues from
multiple perspectives.”
“The quality of teaching has been consistent and excellent.”
Curriculum Review
For the purposes of this review, the department faculty has taken a careful look at all of our
course curricula. Before his retirement, Dr. Bill Hill was willing to review and revise the outlines for our
comparative politics and international relations courses. In the meantime, Dr. O’Brien reviewed and reconsidered the other core courses in our program: PS1 Introduction to Government, and PS5 American
Political Thought. All of our courses have now been updated in CurricuNet.
As a consequence of our planning processes, the faculty decided to remove PS4 Paths to
Freedom from our curriculum. As we had not been in a position to put on PS4 for a number of years it
was appropriate to take this course out of our list of offerings. The department considers the future
development of a traditional course in political theory as a fitting replacement for PS4.
For our department, consideration of curriculum has to do with more than just revisions to our
course outlines. Internal research and discussion has helped us to discover what works best in terms of
helping students. As a result, throughout most of the last two planning cycles we have been able to
improve course content delivery by presenting many of our classes in a multimedia format, integrating
classroom lecture, discussion, videos, slide presentations, and internet-based readings into our teaching.
We are also interested in remaining a vital part of newer college initiatives. In this vein, when
the college launched the Honors Program, Dr. Hill developed the PS1 Honors course which was first
successfully offered in fall of 2008. His preparation for instruction of this course included compiling
primary source materials for an "issue-based" reader as a requirement for the course. Rory took over
the PS1 Honors course in the spring of 2011. The department will be offering PS1 Honors course every
other semester.
As an example of our desire to remain an important part of the Distance Education Program, the
department has continued to present at least one section of PS1 Online each semester. To keep up with
student demand and to experiment with new ideas about classroom use, we also developed a hybrid
version of PS1 that Dr. O’Brien began teaching in the spring of 2008.
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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II.
NEW DIRECTIONS
Program Directions Based on SLO
As mentioned above, each semester during FLEX week, the contract and adjunct political science
faculty meet as a group to discuss SLO. Our broad ranging discussions have helped us clarify our focus
on student learning and have allowed us to talk about teaching. Many different ideas have come up at
these meetings, some of which need financial support, while others require no additional funding. On
the basis of our discussions, we have concluded that our best course of action is to develop strategies
that we can implement in the classroom without requiring additional college resources. Most of our
concerns have to do with how well we present and then assess material in our classes. At one time or
another during the last five years, each of us has realized that a different approach or more careful
preparation might lead to more positive results in terms of SLO.
In the long-range, there is no better way for our department to increase student learning than
to add another full-time faculty member. In a small department like ours, it is often quite difficult for
adjunct faculty to fully participate in SLO assessment. Differing campus philosophies regarding SLO, long
distances and conflicting schedules have, in many instances hampered the ability of our adjunct
colleagues to engage in this important work. Many of our students will benefit from the expertise and
service that an expert on comparative politics and international relations will provide. The department
desperately needs to have another full-time faculty member with the time and energy to engage in the
assessment process. Therefore, a tremendous amount of pressure has been put on the single contract
faculty member of the department to organize and record discussions on SLO and prepare necessary
forms and documents.
Finally, the department believes that one of the best ways to increase student learning is to
bring all of the political science curricula up to the writing factor level. We have consistently noted in
our SLO discussions that improvements in student writing would lead to improvements in their success
in our classes. Ultimately, we believe that bringing students up to a 4000 word minimum in their political
science courses would help them be more successful in our courses and other courses at the college
level. The faculty will establish avenues of communication with other departments including English and
History, to establish a dialog about improving student writing. Our goal here is simply to help our
students improve their written expression so they will be better able to do the work demanded of them
in our classes.
New Ideas in Pedagogy and Approaches
As mentioned above, the department is committed to expanding and developing our use of
alternative formats to the traditional classroom. Rory O’Brien continues to teach PS1 Online each
semester. A logical next step in further developing the online course would be to add a video
component. That way, students would enjoy a more direct connection with their instructors and could
gain some of the benefits of in-person instruction even at a distance. There’s a lot of work involved in
creating even short segments of high- quality video. But with the addition of extra camera equipment
and editing software, Cabrillo could have a functioning video studio/classroom up and running for a
relatively low cost.
The possibility of having digital media students work with faculty to shoot and edit video
segments was suggested by the Program Chair of Digital Media. The ability for our faculty to present a
regular class lecture that then could be edited down to create a segment applicable to online courses
would be invaluable. Or, if faculty wanted to shoot a two-minute reminder to students to prepare for a
particular assignment, the facilities would be available.
The department has long considered building a certificate program in Poli-Tech, allowing
students to compete in the market for local, state and federal government jobs. This project could
easily begin with the creation of a public administration emphasis in our major and could include
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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existent courses from different disciplines including public safety, business, economics and sociology.
We have initiated conversations about the creation of this program with both Dean Rock Pfotenhauer of
Career Education and Economic Development, and Harry Bidleman of the Criminal Justice department.
The program would require little or no extra faculty or teaching units – most of the courses would
already exist. Poli-Tech would provide students with a core group of courses designed to prepare them
for careers in the public sector.
Connections with the Master Plan
Overall, the political science program reflects many aspects of the college Master Plan, as we
are committed to “helping all students achieve their academic, career, and personal development
goals.” Furthermore, our department is “passionate about developing critical thinking, honing oral and
written communication and enhancing global awareness, while cultivating personal and professional
responsibility in our students.” All of our offerings are designed to help get more students into our
transfer programs, which is rooted in Objective A4 under Goal A. Additionally, our courses help to
increase student knowledge of topics like “global sustainability, social justice and community service,” as
mentioned in Objective B4. The very reason that we exist as a program at the college is to foster better
citizenship. Our courses provide students with the requisite skills and knowledge to be participate in our
democratic institutions by teaching them about the essential features of our government and
governments around the world.
We also help to “provide students with the literacy, numeracy, communication skills necessary
for success in basic skills, CTE and transfer” (Objective C2). As a writing-factor course, PS1 is designed
around helping students hone their skills in written communication. And finally, all of the courses
presented by the department include SLO assessment on a regular basis (see SLO appendix and other
sections of this report).
In addition to our primary goal of hiring one full-time faculty member, the two proposals we’ll
put forward in this report are, (1) to buy the equipment necessary for faculty to create video products
that can be used as part of our online courses, and, (2) developing a Poli-Tech program. Both of these
ideas also tie directly to the Master Plan. Faculty from many different disciplines have expressed an
interest in our having the capability for creating and editing video segments that can be used in online
courses. The best possible version of this plan includes having a dedicated classroom equipped with the
proper video camera(s) and recorder that any faculty member from any discipline could use to create
short video productions. This project, which ties directly to Objective B3 as a way to “increase use of
current and emerging technologies for student support and for teaching….. via distance learning,” is
endorsed by the Journalism, Geography, History and English Departments and would benefit students in
classes across many more disciplines.
After Dr. O’Brien completes his current service in other areas, the department will research the
possibility of developing a Poli-Tech program. This transfer level curriculum would prepare students to
successfully compete for jobs at the levels of local, state or federal government, so it ties-in directly with
both Objectives C1 and C3 of the Master Plan. The courses included in this certificate program would be
made up of classes that students would take as lower division public administration majors. When
appropriate, we will reach out to the Sociology, English, History and Psychology departments, along with
the Business Department to see which courses might work best into the mix that would allow our
students the greatest opportunities in terms of the current job market. The department has been in
conversation with Dean Pfotenhauer about this idea for a program. The response has been positive, and
when time permits, Dr. O’Brien will pursue it further.
Summary
The department offers the lower division courses that students need either to transfer to a four
year institution as a political science major or to meet the needs of other programs at Cabrillo. The
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
8
courses are designed to give the student a thorough grounding in political science and to challenge them
to question and think critically about the subject matter under study. The department also encourages
the student to express and defend varying points of view, promotes an appreciation of the need to rely
on empirical evidence and sound logic when approaching questions about the political world, and helps
students to develop a tolerance and appreciation for differing points of view.
We consistently supply the core curriculum necessary for students to successfully transfer to
four-year universities. Over the years our faculty has worked to help improve our students’ ability to
transfer successfully. Now that we regularly offer PS1 Honors, we are able to assist even more students
in their efforts to transfer to four-year institutions.
Political science continues to offer courses that help students explore their interests in the
various sub-fields of our discipline and allows for the discussion of a variety of topics currently of
concern to our students ranging from the world’s economy and trade to the environment. With the
addition of another full-time faculty member dedicated to the teaching of PS2 and PS3, our department
has the opportunity to once again grow.
In the future, the college can look to the political science department to continue to take
leadership roles in terms of both campus governance and innovative teaching. By placing an emphasis
on new classroom technologies and alternatives to traditional instructional methods, we believe the
department has clearly positioned itself to better prepare our students for both the workplace and for
life. In keeping with the latest Governing Board Goals for 2011-12, we believe that the college ought to
use its “resources to creatively address student needs and increase achievement of student goals.” The
political science department is committed to addressing those needs and doing our best to help our
students succeed in achieving their goals.
III. GOALS and RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Our most important goal is to hire another full-time faculty member. The department has
suffered from a lack of a full-time instructor whose expertise covers the areas of
international relations and comparative politics. The absence of a qualified member of
our faculty in these important sub-disciplines has limited our program in terms of service
to our students. Successfully bringing on board a new faculty member will help to enliven
the department -- which is certainly in line with creating student success through a focus
on learning outcomes, as well as being consistent with the college master plan.
2. The department will continue to explore possibilities for improving student writing with
faculty from other disciplines. Through our SLO research we have learned that bringing
students up to a 4000 word minimum in their political science courses would help them be
more successful in all of their courses at the college level.
3. We would like to have the resources available to create videos for use in distance education
courses. This project ties directly to Objective B3 in our Master Plan as a way to “increase
use of current and emerging technologies for student support and for teaching….. via
distance learning.” The technology we asking for could be used in classes from many
disciplines.
4. Finally, the department is interested in exploring the possibility of eventually creating a PoliTech program that would prepare students for careers in local and state government.
Again, this concept is consistent with the Master Plan, in that it is based on the use of
emerging technologies to help our students get more out of their college experience.
Please see the attached Goals and Recommendations form.
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
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IV. REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form I
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Fall FLEX 2007
FULLTIME
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
2
ADJUNCT
3
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
1
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
6
PS1 Course SLO 1 & 2:
1) Demonstrate understanding of the structures,
interactions and functioning of the various levels of
government in the United States.
2) Analyze the dynamics of making public policy in the
United States
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
2-5 page papers on various topics in American
Politics
Essay Exams
Quizzes
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
1) Overall, students demonstrated a good understanding
of the structures and the functioning of the federal
government. In the area of interactions, however,
some students appeared to have problems with
integrating concepts dealing with checks and balances
and the powers of the different branches of the
government. Student need was most obvious in terms
of problems with clearly communicating complex
ideas.
2) Students seem to do better with assignments and
exams that focus on the more straightforward aspects
of government. Analysis tended to be somewhat
superficial and was not always clearly articulated.
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
o
o
State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
Revise content of assignment/activities
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
10
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
o
o
o
o
o
Revise the amount of writing/oral/visual/clinical or similar
work
Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities
Increase in-class discussions and activities
State criteria for grading more explicitly
Continue to collect more data
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Analyze course curriculum, so that the department can
build a progression of skills as students advance through
courses
o Faculty will work to devise strategies that help students
get more experience with the sort of analytical thinking
our course SLO require
More classroom time spent on modeling critical
thinking
More in-class writing exercises
Use of more visual aids
Tutoring for all students
Orientation course for all in-coming students
Require successful completion of English 1A as a prerequisite for PS1
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
These are all ongoing concerns. Faculty plan on working in
their own classes to help students gain a greater understanding
of the importance of the interactions between branches of
government and the different levels of government. Both of
these SLO tie-in directly with Communication and Critical
Thinking core competencies.
As this was our first opportunity to assess our course-level
SLO, we feel that as the project continues we will be able to
get a better understanding of what we’re really looking for
here, as well as what works and what doesn’t in terms of
assessment, analysis and implementation.
Timeline for Implementation
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities)
Faculty plan on working to improve classroom instruction and
assessment skills in an ongoing fashion. The concerns raised
in this review will be discussed at our FLEX week meeting in
the spring.
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
11
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form II
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Spring FLEX Week 2008
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
2
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
How might student performance
be improved?
1
PS1 Course SLO 3&4:
3) Synthesize knowledge and analysis of political events
and concepts to construct a personal political
viewpoint.
4) Write critical, analytical essays that link theoretical
arguments, empirical evidence and political events.
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
ADJUNCT
3
2-5 page papers on various topics in American
Politics
Essay Exams
Regular, in-class quizzes
A variety of responses were provided by the faculty in
attendance. Some thought that their students did quite well on
the assignments that they had been given, while others were
concerned about poor levels of achievement in terms of
written work. The group appeared to find consensus around
the idea that although some students struggled to produce high
quality essays and papers, there was a general sense that the
concepts involved were being absorbed well in our classes.
Most faculty found that it was more difficult than we had
expected to assess different levels of student learning when it
came to the sorts of synthesis and analysis that we are trying
to measure.
o
o
o
State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
Revise content of assignment/activities
Revise the amount of writing/oral/visual/clinical or similar
work
Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities
Increase in-class discussions and activities
o
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
o
the needs and issues that were
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
12
revealed by the assessment.
o
o
o
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
Provide more frequent or more comprehensive feedback
on student progress
State criteria for grading more explicitly
As an instructor, increase your interaction with students
outside of class
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Collect and share rubrics for assessment/grading
o Revise our syllabi to better help our students understand
the work we expect them to complete
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
Give students more opportunities to work on their
analytical skills
Spend more class-time on clearly explaining key
concepts
Provide tutoring for all students
Develop mandatory orientation/introduction for all
students
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
Timeline for Implementation
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities)
Faculty agree that most of our concerns can be dealt with on
an individual basis. Tutoring and orientation courses can be
added to our next program plan.
Faculty agree that we will review progress on the areas we
discussed at our next FLEX week department meeting.
Faculty will keep at least some records on course SLO when
we move on to assessing core competencies next semester.
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form III
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Fall FLEX Week 2008
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
2
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
ADJUNCT
2
1
Course SLO for PS2, PS3 and PS5
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
13
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
2-5 page papers used in all three courses
For PS3 – students were required to address 3
questions specifically tied to course reading materials
on the International Criminal Court
For PS2 – students were asked to apply concepts to
the analysis and comparison of political ideas and
institutions across selected county case studies
For PS5 – students must address 5 questions focusing
on the major reasons for the writing of the second
constitution. Topics include differences between the
viewpoints of the federalists and anti-federalists,
Madison’s conception of factions and the notion of
civic humanism.
For all three courses, instructors found that our students
performed as well on this assignment as on other assignments
throughout the semester. In the main, 25-30% struggled to
succeed on the assignment results analyzed here. The greatest
problems were in the areas of explanation, comparison and
depth of analysis.
In their papers our students were generally successful in being
able to present clear and detailed descriptions. However,
probing more deeply into student results in our classes have
lead faculty to consider going over the assignments we’re
giving more carefully in class and emphasizing the importance
of providing a critical analysis.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
Revise content of assignment/activities
Revise the amount of writing/oral/visual/clinical or similar
work
Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities
Increase in-class discussions and activities
State criteria for grading more explicitly
State goals or objectives of assignments more explicitly
Revise activities leading up to and supporting assignment
State criteria for grading more explicitly – revise rubric
Increase guidance for students as they work on
assignments
Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
Faculty will work to explain, emphasize and provide
greater examples of the sort of analytical writing that is
expected of students
Faculty will share results and successes at department
meetings
Use of more technology in the classroom
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
14
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
Individual faculty members will:
Work to revise their instructions to students,
Be more clear in how they explain their assignments
Spend more time working to greater guidance to our
students as they do their work.
These are strategies designed for faculty to carry out on their
own. Each of the priorities are things that we can do in our
classrooms.
We plan on sharing about our successes and challenges at our
next department meeting
Timeline for Implementation
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities.
This is an ongoing process and we continue to assess SLO
each semester.
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form IV
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Spring 2009
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
2
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
ADJUNCT
3
2
Communication
3-5 page papers
1. Comparing readings on topic in international
relations
2. Answering questions regarding social contract
theory
Essay exams
In-class writing assignment (1 page)
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
15
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
Timeline for Implementation
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities)
Many students unable to write critical essays. Their reading
and writing skills are really not at college level. Our students
can describe but they cannot analyze.
There is an extreme variation in the students in our classes.
There are significant language barriers for some. Participation
in class is often driven by how politically aware students
already happen to be. Those who seem to know more about
the current political scene tend to be much more responsive.
Faculty realize that we have to do a better job of training our
students to communicate their ideas more clearly. And many
students would benefit from attending study skills classes.
o State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
o Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities
o Increase in-class discussions and activities
o Increase guidance for students as they work on
assignments
o State criteria for grading more explicitly
o Increase instructor interaction with students outside of
class
o Recommended preparation for PS1 should be English 1A
o Offer/encourage attendance at seminars, workshops or
discussion groups about teaching methods
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Have binder available for rubrics and results
o Analyze course content and syllabus
o Encourage all political science students to attend study
skills classes
Work to give our students a more rigorous training in
critical thinking skills
Devise ways to re-think course content to better
reflect what we’ve discovered through assessing SLO
Have a representative from the study skills center visit
classes to introduce students to available assistance
These ideas will be implemented by faculty in their
individual classes
Faculty have already had study skills representative
visit some classes
Faculty will discuss the results of their endeavors at our next
departmental meeting.
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
16
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form V
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Fall 2009
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
2
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
3
Critical Thinking
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
ADJUNCT
4
3-5 page papers:
o Topics included: Political Socialization, the
U.S. Constitution, comparison of articles
focusing on International Relations
Essay exams
Quizzes
Take-home essay exam
Students in three sections of PS1 achieved average scores in
the C+ range. Differences between sections were quite small.
Few students earned A’s, accounted for by the fact that this
was the first assigned written work. Students did generally
well, overall.
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Students require better preparation for college writing; more
practice with basic analytical skills such as comparison and
evaluation.
Any areas where it can be
improved?
More in-class discussion on the paper topics in advance of the
assignment. However, spending more time training students in
these areas will reduce the time instructors have to cover
important course content.
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
o
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
o
o
o
o
State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
Revise content of assignment/activities
Increase the amount of writing work
Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities
Increase in-class discussions and activities
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
17
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
Timeline for Implementation
o Offer/encourage attendance at seminars, workshops or
discussion groups about teaching methods
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Analyze course curriculum
Faculty will concentrate on developing strategies designed to
help our students gain a greater understanding of the specifics
of the work we are asking them to do.
Examples:
Spend more time in class emphasizing what it means
to assess and analyze a concept or event
Recommend to students that they enroll in English 1A
to improve their written communication skills
Redesign in-class and homework assignments to help
students improve their written communication skills
Faculty discussed the possibility of introducing these
ideas and strategies in the upcoming semester (Spring
2010)
Faculty agreed to further discuss these and other
strategies to continue to improve our ability to aid our
students in becoming better prepared to communicate
clearly at our next department meeting
Please see above for implementation plan
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities)
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form VI
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Spring 2010
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
2
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
2
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
Assessment Tools
ADJUNCT
2
1
Global Awareness
3-5 page papers – Examples of topics:
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
18
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs)
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
1. Students were assigned two online readings that
assessed “free” and “fair” trade as alternative
approaches to reducing poverty. Students were
required to discern between the philosophies and
goals of these approaches, discuss the important
impacts as well as assess the strengths and
weaknesses of “free” and “fair” trade
2. Using assigned readings, students develop their
papers contrasting the ideas of slavery and liberty
with reference to the U.S. prior to the Civil War
In class essay exam
Take-home essay exam
Overall student performance on the assignments was
consistent with their work on other critical writing
assignments.
In general, the students with the lower assessments on these
assignments had more difficulty with the parts of the
assignment that required them to explain philosophies or key
concepts in their papers.
Most students were able to successfully summarize and
compare key concepts. These assignments produced very
productive classroom discussions with students expressing
greater understanding of the topics involved.
More opportunities for students to complete exercises that
allow them to explain and justify their judgments would
potentially improve student success.
o State goals or objectives of assignment/activity more
explicitly
o Revise content of assignment/activities
o Revise the number of writing assignments that students
need to complete in the course
o Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment
o Increase in-class discussions and activities
o Increase student collaboration and/or peer review
o Increase guidance for students as they work on
assignments
o Offer/encourage attendance at seminars, workshops or
discussion groups about teaching methods
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Continue our ongoing project to analyze course
curriculum, syllabi and materials to better improve student
success on writing assignments
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
19
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
Our research continues to indicate that although our students
have a great capacity to absorb, understand and verbally
articulate important concepts presented in our courses, they
demonstrate problems when it comes to writing papers/essays
on those topics. A viable possibility is that with more
assignments, our students would gain greater expertise in the
sort of written expression necessary to succeed in their studies
of political science.
Giving both PS2 and PS3 the writing factor would greater
enhance the chances for faculty to spend more time grading
critical written exercises.
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities)
Timeline for Implementation
(Make a timeline for
implementation of your top
priorities)
A request to give all political science courses the writing
factor designation would be a significant step in aiding our
students in writing stronger critical essays. By providing
faculty with the incentive to spend more time on grading
written work we would afford our students the opportunities
they need to develop their abilities to better articulate in
writing their ideas about politics.
Include request for the writing factor for PS2 and PS3 in our
upcoming (spring 2012) program plan.
Transfer and Basic Skills
Departmental Assessment Analysis Form VII
Department
Political Science
Meeting Date
Fall 2010
Number of Faculty/Staff
participating in dialogue
FULLTIME
1
Number of Faculty/Staff sharing
Assessment Results
1
Total number of faculty/staff in
department
6
Core Competency or Course
SLOs measured
Assessment Tools
(Give examples of major
assignments your faculty/staff
used to measure the
competency or course SLOs
ADJUNCT
3
2
Personal Responsibility
Multiple papers (at least 3, 3-5 page submissions)
Exams
Regular class attendance
Participation in on-going course
conversations/discussions
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
20
Assessment Results
(Summarize the overall results
of your department
What student needs and issues
were revealed?
Were there any areas where
student performance was
outstanding?
Any areas where it can be
improved?
Next Step in the Classroom
to Improve Student Learning
How might student performance
be improved?
Check all the items faculty/staff
felt would help them address
the needs and issues that were
revealed by the assessment.
Next Step in the Department
to Improve Student Learning
Check all that the department
felt would help them improve
student learning.
Priorities to Improve Student
Learning
(List the top 3-6 things
faculty/staff felt would most
improve student learning)
We have considered using various measures for this
competency, but have concluded that we should try to monitor
the same indicators that we had looked at earlier (see below).
(The faculty decided to continue our discussion which started
in Spring 2006 on this topic. We will continue to assess
students in terms of their ability to turn in work on time,
attend class regularly and participate in class discussions.)
Overall, our students seemed to be able to meet the standards
set by instructors. Although a number of faculty reported that
students only wrote the minimum number of pages required
for important papers.
There were problems noted in the areas of class attendance.
Additionally, some faculty (who accept late papers) found that
a small number of students (about 5%-10%) were prone to
submitting late work.
o State due dates of assignments ever more clearly
o Revise content of assignment/activities
o Revise activities leading up to and/or supporting
assignment/activities with more emphasis on
completeness and due dates
o Increase in-class discussions and activities
o Increase guidance for students as they work on
assignments
o State criteria for grading more explicitly in terms of due
dates and completeness
o Encourage faculty to share activities that foster
competency
o Develop more stringent policies regarding: tardy to class,
late papers, missed exams, excessive absences.
o Focus on communicating with students the need to attend
class regularly and participate in addition to turning in
projects on time.
Although this is very important for students, the fact is, the
more time instructors spend talking about what the students
should already know, the less time we have to cover course
material.
Spend more time explaining how important is to turn
in assignments when they are due
Throughout the semester, continually remind students
of due dates and the consequences of turning in work
late
Emphasize the fact that college work requires that
students take responsibility for their own action
Implementation
(List the departmental plans to
implement these priorities
Timeline for Implementation
Faculty agree to implement these strategies in their
classrooms.
As soon as we can!
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
21
Program Planning Report 2012: Political Science Dept.
22
May 31, 2012
PS Program Planning
Goals and Recommendations
1.
Description:
Hire full-time faculty member teaching Comparative Politics and
International Relations
Cost
$66,000
2.
Faculty will work with other departments to develop ideas to foster stronger
student writing
No Cost
3.
Purchase video camera and editing software to create video segments for
online classes
$3000 - 4000
4.
Explore development PoliTech course pattern leading to certificate program
No Cost
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Cabrillo College
5/31/2012 2:34 PM