COURSE ASSESSMENT REPORT (CAR)
Revised 08/01/2011
Course Prefix, Number and Title: ANTH 101-Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Thomas J. Kies
Contributing Faculty:
Academic Year: 2011-1012
Complete and electronically submit your assessment report to your Department Chair/Coordinator/Director. As needed, please attach supporting documents and/or
a narrative description of the assessment activities in your program or discipline.
Course Outcomes
In the boxes below, summarize
the outcomes assessed in your
course during the year.
Outcome #1
Key Concepts: Cultural
Relativism vs. Ethnocentrism.
Assessment Measures
Assessment Results
Use of Results
Effect on Course
In the boxes below, summarize
the methods used to assess course
outcomes during the last year.
In the boxes below, summarize
the results of your assessment
activities during the last year.
In the boxes below, summarize
how you are or how you plan to
use the results to improve student
learning.
Based on the results of this
assessment, will you revise your
outcomes? If so, please
summarize how and why in the
boxes below:
Essay and short answer responses
from all course sections in fall
2011 and spring 2012. Total
course sections=16.
Measure 1—Cultural Relativism
2009-2010— 87.17%
2010-2011—83.83%
2011-2012—86.53%
One issue with 101 sections is
the variety of instructors teaching
the course and the wide array of
means of assessment used by
these instructors. We might
borrow from Psychology who
has implemented standard
assessment techniques in all 101
course sections. A similar
technique might improve
assessment efforts.
This outcome does not need
revision rather we need to further
contemplate how to best improve
student learning of the concept.
Sharing of teaching resources,
developing a common
assignment, or increasing time
spent on this area all may
contribute to increasing scores in
2011-2012.
A slight increase is noticeable
from 2010-2011. Cultural
Relativism is a core concept of
anthropology and there is more
work to be done especially in
light of the fact that we are still
below the 2009-2010 results.
Page 1
COURSE ASSESSMENT REPORT (CAR)
Course Prefix, Number and Title: ANTH 101-Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Thomas J. Kies
Contributing Faculty:
Academic Year: 2011-1012
Course Outcomes
Outcome # 2
Social vs. Biological Construct of
Race.
Assessment Measures
Essay and short answer responses
from all course sections in fall
2011 and spring 2012. Total
course sections=16.
Assessment Results
Measure 2—Race Social
Construct
2009-2010— 79.28%
2010-2011—80.98
2011-2012—75.51%
A decrease is noticeable within
findings of this measure. The
drop of 5.47 percentage points
illustrates a strong need for
reinforcing this concept within
our classes. The variance is
significant though ranging from
56.3 to 97.1.
Outcome #3
Cross Cultural Comparison on
Key Anthropological Topic.
Essay and short answer responses
from all course sections in fall
2011 and spring 2012. Total
course sections=16.
Measure 3—Cultural
Comparison
2009-2010—85.18%
2010-2011—72.44%
2011-2012—77.73
An increase of 5.29 from the
previous year is noticeable.
Though this is still significantly
lower than the average from
2009-2010.
Use of Results
Effect on Course
In one course section, a
significant number of enrolled
and active students did not
complete the assignment as it
was only 10% of the total grade.
Perhaps increasing the weight of
such assignments would increase
the student participation and
improve the lower sections.
During spring semester full-time
instructors shared a common
assignment and future
standardization may help to
rectify the decrease present in our
finding. A common measure
would be a better starting place
for comparative analysis
individually and collectively of
this measure.
Improvement is positive.
Interestingly the majority of
outliers include online courses
and one specific live section of
the course 101 1003 Fall at
56.7%.
Revision of outcome warranted.
Revise outcome/measure during
the 2012-2013 Program Unit
Review.
Several faculty question the
ability of 101 students to have
the proper preparation to address
this measure sufficiently.
Others claim that his measure is
difficult to assess because it is
purposefully vague to cover the
breadth of anthropology.
Page 2
COURSE ASSESSMENT REPORT (CAR)
Course Prefix, Number and Title: ANTH 101-Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Thomas J. Kies
Contributing Faculty:
Academic Year: 2011-1012
Course Section Assessment
Note: Percentages represent the number
of students reaching benchmarks
Measure I
Measure I
Measure II
Measure II
Measure III
Measure III
60%
70%
60%
70%
60%
70%
101 1001 Fa
85.7
85.7
97.1
97.1
96.7
93.3
101 1002 Fa
94.4
88.9
96.7
96.7
93.5
93.5
101 1003 Fa
67
67
83
83
75
56.7
101 1004 Fa
100
90
90
80
87.7
87.7
101 1005 Fa
100
86.7
93.3
70
93.3
80
101 1007 Fa
100
100
78.1
68.1
87.5
65.6
101 1008 Fa
91.4
84.3
71.4
67.9
78.6
60.7
101 1009 Fa
93.8
93.8
75
75
62.5
56.3
101 1001 Sp
101 1002 Sp
101 1003 Sp
101 1004 Sp
101 1005 Sp
101 1006 Sp
101 1007 Sp
101 1008 Sp
Averages
90
100
100
83.3
94.4
93.5
87.5
91.7
92.04
86
100
78.6
83.3
83.3
83.9
81.3
91.7
86.53
93.05
100
76
58.3
69.4
89.3
81.3
66.7
82.42
77
88
76
58.3
69.4
78.6
56.3
66.7
75.51
95
100
100
91.7
86.1
75
87.5
75
86.57
Page 3
95
100
82.1
69.4
86.1
71.4
87.5
58.3
77.73
COURSE ASSESSMENT REPORT (CAR)
Course Prefix, Number and Title: ANTH 101-Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Thomas J. Kies
Contributing Faculty:
Academic Year: 2011-1012
Please enter your name and date below to confirm you have reviewed this report:
Title
Name
Date
Department Chair/Coordinator/Director
Thomas J. Kies
5/17/2012
Dean
Armida Fruzzetti
8/10/2012
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services
John. G. Tuthill
8/24/2012
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