AFAM Program Assessment Report
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Date submitted: ___May 25, 2013_____________
Degree Program(s):
Department:
B.A.
African American
Studies
Department Chair:
Ruth Wilson
Phone:
45861
Report Prepared by:
Ruth Wilson
Phone:
45861
E-mail:
Ruth.wilson@sjsu.edu
Next Self-Study due:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Location:
216A
Person to Contact:
Simrat Dhadli
45871
Understand the role of African Americans in the development and history of the United States (#1)
Use critical reading, viewing, and thinking skills to reflect on historical records, documents, and
audiovisual materials (#2)
Develop critical thinking skills through collective learning processes (#5)
Initial Evidence of Student Learning: [Spring 2013]
At the beginning of the semester we provided students with an opportunity to respond to a buzz essay.
Students wrote for 15 minutes in response to a prompt regarding the content of a lecture from the
previous class session. Most students did not structure their response coherently and they made
common grammatical and spelling errors. The instructors marked and returned these papers to the
students along with suggestions on how to organize their response to essay questions, how to avoid
common errors in writing, and how to use exam time wisely and allow for proof reading.
Change(s) to Curriculum or Pedagogy: Improving student writing through
the use of primary documents and more explicit instructions
[SPRING/2013] Rather than use a written question as a writing prompt during the midterm for AFAM 2B,
we used a 1911 photograph of what was a common occurrence in the early 20th century, a hanging of a
woman and her son at a bridge in the Deep South. This bridge scene included spectators of all ages and
both genders, demonstrated the social positions of people of different races, and suggested power and
hierarchy in these social dynamics. We asked students to observe and describe the dynamics of gender,
race, age, and power and the impact these types of events had on socialization and power in such
communities. Additionally, we gave explicit instructions on how the students should structure their
response to include three paragraphs: an introduction, a body that included their observations, and a
summary.
Evidence of Student Learning after Change
[Spring/2013] The more explicit we are in our instructions, the better students organized their essay
responses. At midpoint in the semester, students wrote more coherent essays than in the previous years.
The photograph prompted students to be more observant and give a more careful study to gender
(women, children, and men were spectators and victims in this era), race, and the power dynamics of the
Deep South during this era.
Page 1 of 1