Assessment Summary: May 2015

Assessment Summary: May 2015

Date:

Faculty Participants: Maria LaPadula, Dina Karafantis, Susana Case, Emily Restivo, Blair Hoplight, Beth Adubato, Len Tester

1. Which program learning outcomes have been assessed for the planned academic year?

The focus for the 2014-2015 academic year was on assessing the NYIT Global competency outcome in our Behavioral Science courses. We assessed this competency in our psychology, criminal justice and sociology/social work courses. This is the second year that we did this assessment because last year we found that 13 to 20% of the students were in the failing range. We made minor changes to the rubric we used to assess this outcome and gave the students the rubric at the beginning of each semester, before the assignment was due, so they knew what they were being graded on.

2. Which measuring instruments were used for the assessment?

Data was collected during the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters in the following courses. In these courses the direct measures were either a paper, student presentation or exam questions as can be seen below. A rubric was used that was developed within the department to grade all of the papers/writing assignments. (see attached rubric).

Psychology:

PSYC 220 Child Psychology (Fall 2014): paper about an issue in child psychology from a global perspective

PSYC 235 Adolescent Psychology (Spring 2015): Paper about an issue in adolescent psychology from a global perspective

PSYC 370 Research Methods (Spring 2015): literature review for research project, exam questions

Criminal Justice

Sociology/Social Work:

SOCI 101 Introduction to Sociology (Fall 2014): exam questions

SOCI 301 Marriage and Family (Fall 2014): paper regarding gender roles in two societies outside U.S.

In addition, we planned to focus on the sociology/social work program and re-evaluate the program outcomes to be sure they are consonant with the standards of higher education and the discipline of sociology/social work, which would mean updating our program outcomes. We completed the psychology and criminal justice programs last year, and wanted to complete this one.

3. What were the important findings? How well did students achieve the targeted learning outcomes?

In all of the classes the direct measures were graded out of 100 so that we could assess the results. The following scale was used to assess student work:

Superior Work: 90-100 Very Good Work: 80-89 Satisfactory Work: 70-79 Poor Work: 60-69 Failing: below 60

Data was collected from 22 students in the Criminal Justice courses, 45 students in the Sociology/Social Work classes, and 55 students in the psychology classes.

The results are as follows for the Criminal Justice classes:

59.1% of the students’ work fell into the superior range (last year was 28.6%) 12.2% of the students’ work fell into the very good range (last year was 25.4%) 22.7% of the students’ work fell into the satisfactory range (last year was 25.4%) 0% 0f the students’ work fell into the poor range 0% (last year was 6.3%)

The results are as follows for the Sociology/Social Work classes:

42.9% of the students’ work fell into the superior range (last year was 35.9%) 20.2% of the students’ work fell into the very good range (last year was 17.2%) 21.9% of the students’ work fell into the satisfactory range (last year was 17.2%) 6.9% of the students’ work fell into the poor range (last year was 9.4%)

8.1 % of the students’ work fell into the failing range (last year was 20.3%)

The results are as follows for the Psychology classes: PUT NEW NUMBERS 43.6% of the students’ work fell into the superior range (last year was 16.7%) 29.1% of the students’ work fell into the very good range (last year was 33.3%) 16.4% of the students’ work fell into the satisfactory range (last year was 16.7%) 3.6% of the students’ work fell into the poor range (last year was 19.8%)

7.3% of the students’ work fell into the failing range (last year was 13.5%)

We were pleased that at least 70% of the students were in the very good range or higher, which was an improvement from last year. Moreover, between 6 to 8% were in the failing range, as opposed to last year when 13 to 20% of the students were in the failing range. Giving the rubric to the students before the assignment was due and modifying the rubric helped a great deal.

4. Select action items the faculty believes may enhance student learning. Decide who will be responsible for the action, and establish a timeline for completion.

Faculty will meet in August 2015 to look at these results in more detail. Since the results were analyzed after the end of the spring semester the department as a whole has not yet reviewed the results, only Drs. LaPadula and Karafantis reviewed the results. After reviewing the results we

will determine if we are now satisfied with the results of this assessment. The assumption is that all faculty will be satisfied with these results.

5. What’s the assessment plan for the next academic year?

The faculty will meet in August 2015 to discuss our assessment plan in more detail for the 2015-2016 year.

We had planned to also focus on the sociology/social work program and re-evaluate the program outcomes to be sure they are consonant with the standards of higher education and the discipline of sociology/social work, which would mean updating our program outcomes. We completed the psychology and criminal justice programs last year, and wanted to complete this one. We were not able to complete this goal, so we will do this during the 2015-2016 academic year so that we will have updated program outcomes for each of our three undergraduate programs. So, we will review the Subject Benchmark Statement for Sociology and Social Work from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, as we did for the psychology and criminal justice program two years ago.

Global  Rubric

1  (unsa0sfactory) 2  (novice) 3(Basic)   4  (Competent) Understanding  the  

interconnected   nature  of  modern   global  environment

Student  does  not   demonstrate  an   understanding  that   different  cultures  and   na0ons  impact  one   another

Demonstrates   basic  

understanding   of  the  modern   mul0na0onal   system,  but   knowledge  is   general  and   sparse.  

Student  is  aware   that  the  condi0ons   of  one  na0on  can   impact  those  of   other  na0ons.  Does   not  demonstrate   awareness  of  the   impact  of  global   interdependence.

Student  

demonstrates  a   level  of  cri0cal   thinking  and   analysis   concerning   poli0cal/social   and   environmental   issues  raised  by   the  

interconnected   nature  of  the   current  global   situa0on.

Cultural  Diversity Student  does  not   demonstrate  an   understanding  of   different  cultures. Demonstrates   basic  knowledge   of  major  cultural   differences.     Does  not   demonstrate   any  

understanding   of  the  reasons   for  these   cultural   differences. The  Student   demonstrates  a   working  knowledge   of  the  cultural   differences  and  the   factors  that  

contributed  to  the   differences. The  student   demonstrates   and   understanding  of   the  social,   historical,   religious,  and   environmental   factors  that   encompass  the   development  of   global  cultures.   Knowledge  of  Global  

trends  

Demonstrates  no   understanding  of   current  world  events

Demonstrates  a   rudimentary   understanding   of  current  global   events.  

Demonstrate  a   understanding  of   world  events  from   a  western-­‐ European   perspec0ve   The  student   demonstrates  a   deep  knowledge   of  current  global   events  and  the   factors  which   brought  about   these  events.