Both the History BA and the Cultural Anthropology BA will continue to pursue their separate assessment programs, and each year the Undergraduate Program Directors from each program will meet to discuss the progress of students enrolled in the joint program.
For History, the assessment process includes:
Each year, students in the freshman, middling, and senior seminars in History will be given a survey to determine how well they are achieving the learning outcomes desired by the Department. The freshman survey will be used as a baseline, in which students will be asked about both general content knowledge and skills. The middling and senior surveys will come back to these questions in order to gauge change over time in both content knowledge and skill level. The senior survey will also ask students to list their concentration area and the History courses that were part of their major. These surveys will be composed by the curriculum committee, administered by the faculty in each seminar, and collected by the committee.
The Department will create a student advisory council from among its majors and combined majors. The council will meet with the curriculum committee at least once each semester to discuss issues and problems in the major as well as progress toward learning outcomes. In year 1, 2 members will be chosen from each of the History seminars, so that the council will have representatives from freshman to senior year. Beginning in year 2 faculty will select 2 members each year from the freshman seminar, with the idea that as many of these members as possible will continue on the council through senior year.
As part of the requirements for completing the senior capstone seminar, students will assemble a portfolio that includes not only their senior research paper but also written work from both the freshman and middling seminars and at least one other history class. It will also include a brief self-assessment, in which students discuss their development over time in the History major, especially in relation to the four learning outcomes of the Department. In year 1 of the 5 year review period, the portfolios will only include the senior paper and the Co-Op write-up. In years 2 and 3 they will include work from the middling seminar, and in year 4 they will include work from all of the seminars. The Assembly of the portfolios will be verified by faculty members teaching the three seminars. Once collected, the curriculum committee will select portfolios to assess according to the Department’s four learning outcomes. These assessments will generally take place in the semester following the collection of the portfolios.
In addition to assessment measures focused on the History seminars, the Department will conduct one further type of assessment:
Every four years the Department will use the CSSH survey of alumni to determine where former students are employed, the degree to which they believe they attained the 4 learning outcomes of the Department, and how well they believe their degree prepared them for the challenges of the working world. The results of this survey will form part of the data for the 5th year curricular review.
The English Department will also use multiple methods to assess its learning outcomes, including:
- Student work: As part of the capstone, students produce a portfolio of materials representing their progression through the major, as well as providing evidence of achieving the department’s three primary learning outcomes for students in the major. Each year, three members of the Undergraduate Studies Committee will serve as members of the Assessment Subcommittee. They will evaluate randomly selected portfolios from each capstone course offered over the year, focusing on one learning goal per year.
- Current student survey
- Peer mentor survey
- Student advisory committee
- Senior exit survey
- Co-op assessments
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Type of Program
- Undergraduate Combined Major
