SJSU Annual Program Assessment Form
Academic Year 2013-2014
Department: HUMANITIES
Program: HUMANITIES BA
College: H&A
Website: <SJSU.EDU/HUM>
Program Accreditation (if any): NONE
Contact Person and Email: Chris Jochim (christian.jochim@sjsu.edu)
Date of Report: June 1, 2014
Part A
List of Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
1. Demonstrate the ability to frame questions and pursue answers to aesthetic, social, cultural and
global problems using interdisciplinary methods
2. Demonstrate the ability to describe and compare the roles, impacts and ethical implications of ideas,
texts, social movements, contemporary situations, and creations of the human imagination.
3. Demonstrate skill in written and verbal communication, including argumentation.
4. Demonstrate the ability to identify, select, use, and cite information sources appropriately.
Additional SLO: American, Asian, European, and Middle East Studies Concentrations:
1. Explain how current events and contemporary issues are understood with knowledge of the
historical and cultural background of a particular world area (e.g., America, East Asia, Europe, or the
Middle East), including processes of cultural formation, historical development, and social change.
Additional SLOs: Religious Studies Concentration
1. Demonstrate a high level of religious literacy, including the ability to articulate etic and emic
perspectives for specific religions, and a functional understanding of at least five major world
religious systems (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism,
Sikhism, Jainism, a specific geographic set of indigenous religions [African, Australian, North
American, South American, Pacific Islander, North Asian, pre-Christian European], Wicca, AfroCaribbean religions)
2. Function adroitly within the interdisciplinary nature of comparative religious studies. Describe how
religion, as a phenomena, can be analyzed historically, philosophically, psychologically, sociologically,
geographically, and artistically, as well as theologically. Demonstrate ability to write and speak
about religions in a scholarly, civil, and respectful manner, using the academic discourses that have
evolved for this purpose. Foster civil discourse about religion by encountering and engaging
community members, faculty, and students who hold diverse views within and about religious
traditions.
Faculty decided on PLO content and criteria for assessing levels of mastery during the 2011-12 Program
Planning process. Humanities BA advisors monitor ongoing assessment of levels of mastery.
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x
x
x
x
x
x
Social and Global Responsibilities
Applied Knowledge
Intellectual Skills
Broad Integrative knowledge
PLO/ULG
1. Ability to frame questions/pursue answers
2. Ability to describe and compare
3. Skill in written and verbal communication
4. Ability to identify . . . and cite information
A1. Explain current . . . w hist. knowledge
B1. Demonstrate religious literacy
B2. Function in interdisciplinary RelS context
Specialized knowledge
2. Map of PLOs to University Learning Goals (ULGs)
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
3. Alignment – Matrix of PLOs to Courses
See Humanities Program Assessment Schedule (University assessment website).
4. Planning – Assessment Schedule
See Humanities Program Assessment Schedule (University assessment website).
5. Student Experience
We are at an early stage in changing the way PLOs and the ULGs are communicated to students as
well as in the way student feedback is considered in the creation of the PLOs. We are placing all of
this information on the department website, but that is a mere starting point. What instructors do
in their courses is more important. Actually, the instructor of the main course targeted for AY 201314 (Ormsbee, Hum 160 instructor) set an example for others in his self-conscious approach to PLOs
in dealing with students in his course. Instructors of all four core courses in the major (Hum 85, 101,
160, and 190) will be encouraged to follow his example. Indeed, the earlier of the core courses,
Hum 85 and Hum 101, are where instructors need to introduce and discuss the ULGs as well as the
PLOs for the Humanities BA.
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Part B
6. Graduation Rates for Total, Non URM and URM students (entire department)
7. Headcounts of program majors and new students (per program and degree)
8. SFR and average section size (per department)
9. Percentage of tenured/tenure-track instructional faculty (per department)
Humanities
Fall 2013
% Tenured/Prob Tenured Probationary Temp Lecturer
47.8%
7.918
8.653
0
Part C
10. Closing the Loop/Recommended Actions
The report for AY 2012-13 was the first for the present program planning cycle (2012-2017)
and is was based on assessment of PLO #1 in a new course (Hum 101). The report’s author
and Hum 101 instructor (J. Rycenga) recommended to begin the course with a diagnostic
that would provide baseline knowledge about students in the major (many starting the
major as transfer students), since use of such a diagnostic had been successful. She also
recommended more self-consciously emphasizing PLO #1 while teaching the class, so that
its importance would not be lost on students. This recommendation was passed on to the
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Hum 101 instructor for Fall 2013 and will be passed on to the one for Fall 2014.
11. Assessment Data
Assessment for AY 2013-14 focused on level of achievement of PLO #2 by Humanities
majors in Hum 160 during Spring 2014 as well as on level of achievement of the
supplemental PLO for students in the area studies concentrations (e.g., American, Asian,
and European Concentrations) by majors in Hum 128.
In Hum 160 (Special Topics Seminar), which focused on cultural studies method and theory
during Spring 2014, instructor Ormsbee used the following assignments to assess
achievement of the relevant PLO:
ESSAY 1: Marx, Weber, & Benjamin
ESSAY 2: Post-Colonial Theory (Fanon & Anzaldúa)
ESSAY 3: Foucault & Critical Feminist Theory
COMPREHENSIVE ORAL EXAM: (includes all of the above texts, plus a separate question on
our final text of the semester by Appiah)
He added the following comment to explain how each assignment related to PLO #2.
Discussion: SLO2 was assessed with all writing and one examination assignment. All
assignments were comparative, and all included critical ethical analysis. Students applied
theory to contemporary concrete situations in all four assignments, but were only required
to do so and assessed on that part of SLO2 with Essay 3 and the Comprehensive Oral
Examination. Application to creations of human imagination was required and assessed in
Essay 1 (where students could apply Benjamin to contemporary art production) and Essay 3
(where students were required to analyze the production of a documentary film).
For data, he reported that out of 14 majors, one student was at the “emerging” level, one
at the “developmental” level, nine at the “accomplished” level, and three at the
“exemplary” level. In other words, students overall performed very well.
In Hum 128 (Twentieth Century: The West in a Global Context), instructor Scaff used the
following assignments (final exam questions) to assess achievement of the relevant PLO:
Identify the Arab Spring and discuss its importance in the Middle East. Draw upon material
from class lecture for your answer. Finally, give the date of the Arab Spring.
Discuss the issues that have stood in the way of resolving the peace process in Israel. Draw
upon material from class lecture for your answer. Also, give the year of the founding of
Israel.
Identify the numbered countries on the map of the Middle East. In your exam book, list the
numbers of the countries and give the corresponding name of the country. Spell the names
correctly.
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For data, she reported that out of 6 majors, three students performed at the
“accomplished” level, and three at the “exemplary” level. In other words, Humanities
majors in this upper division GE course overall performed very well.
12. Analysis
Ormsbee’s analysis was as follows:
I designed the course with the students’ current intellectual and writing skills development
in mind. The essays were independent work and some students did struggle with them, as
they required the most direct application of the ideas and concepts of the course, and they
required post-100W level writing, which several students were not prepared for. However,
essay assignments should be challenging and require students to reach and grow as they
write them; I would not change these assignments. The oral final exam was a new format
for me that I learned from a senior colleague—the format required students to work
together outside of class to learn and master the concepts in a comparative and applied
format. The performance on the oral final was astoundingly good, and again I would not
change it.
Given the success of the course, I would probably not change anything for the future,
except perhaps minor tweaks to the course calendar to allow more time for discussion of
difficult concepts. To that end I would cut out the “free discussion days” and plan in extra
days for Foucault, Appiah, and Benjamin instead—these three theorists were the weakest
assimilated and understood of the semester. Further, I would check the journals three times
during the semester rather than twice, as some students fell behind in their journal writing,
and more frequent check-ins would provide more goal-lines to encourage them to keep up
with the schedule. [Bold text added.]
Scaff reported that “no action is urgent for Humanities 128.” After all, the Humanities
majors in her class performed at such a high level relative to others.
13. Proposed changes and goals (if any)
The main suggestions provided by Ormsbee are excellent and will be passed on to
instructors of both Hum 101 (Fall 2014) and Hum 160 (Spring 2015).
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