Student Achievement Assessment Committee

Political Science Learning Outcomes
1. Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, about the subject matter of political science.
2. Apply critical thinking abilities and disciplinary theories/frameworks to solve problems.
1. Learning Outcomes assessed this year:
Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, about the subject matter of political science.
Apply critical thinking abilities and disciplinary theories/frameworks to solve problems.
2. Assessment Methods and Procedures:
In Spring 2004, in addition to exit surveys of graduating seniors, the department conducted extensive assessment of the students in POLS 400, Capstone Seminar in Political Science, with the goal of evaluating the learning outcomes of the major.
The capstone seminar provided students with an review of research methods in the discipline, with presentations by 6 different Political Science faculty representing all the different subfields and methodological approaches. Because this class was taught as a topics course, senior status was not required; nevertheless, the vast majority of the 16 students were seniors. The course required students to do a significant original research project. Students wrote a 15-20 page paper, and presented the results of the project orally to the class and visiting faculty members who were able to evaluate the oral presentation for assessment purposes.
The criteria for assessment of the Department’s learning outcomes were developed from this course.
They are:
1. Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, about the subject matter of political science.
a. Organization (intro, body, conclusion; transitions to new parts of talk)
b. Clarity and Presentation Style (clear strong voice, eye contact, use of visual aids, gestures, etc.)
2. Apply critical thinking abilities and disciplinary theories/frameworks to solve problems.
c. Formulates research question
d. Formulates and tests a hypothesis
e. Displays a connection between theory/concepts and empirical data
In each category (a-e) students were rated as high/medium/low (or advanced/intermediate/novice). Our results, based on the oral and written presentation, are as follows:
For the course itself, the learning outcomes developed were:
1. Ability to integrate ideas, concepts and theories from more than one POLS course
2. Ability to formulate problems that can be solved.
3. Ability to retrieve and analyze appropriate data
4. Ability to connect theory to empirical data
5. Understanding of Theories/Concepts in Political Science
3. Inferences from Assessments:
From the written and oral presentations of the 16 students, we derive the following data:
l Oral Presentation:\
a. Organization: 8 high, 4 medium, 4 low
b. Clarity: 2 high, 12 medium, 2 low
c. Res. Question
d. Hypothesis
e. Theory-Data
f. Overall quality

Written Presentation:
a. Organization: 9 high, 4 medium, 3 low
b. Clarity
c. Res. Question: 7 high, 7 medium, 2 low
d. Hypothesis: 3 high, 9 medium, 4 low
e. Theory-Data: 5 high, 7 medium, 4 low
f. Overall quality: 6 high, 7 medium, 3 low

Data from the graduating senior surveys has consistently shown that of the three “skill” areas surveyed, (writing, speaking, critical thinking) students perceive themselves weakest in the area of speaking skills.
The department concludes that its students are strong in achievement of written communication skills, particularly in terms of organization, the ability to structure research questions, and the ability to connect theory to data to draw conclusions (the critical thinking). Areas of greatest weakness include students’ oral communication skills, which are adequate but not outstanding, and students’ ability to formulate and test hypotheses, which is an important “disciplinary framework” to apply in the process of critical thinking.
4. Actions taken
The department chair continues to encourage faculty members to include more opportunities for oral communication in their courses. This year, for the Fall 2004 semester, we are experimenting with a new approach to our POLS 110 Intro to American Government course, which is usually taught in large sections of either 90 or 150 students (except for the new values sections). With the encouragement of the General Education committee and Associate Dean Vickie Shields, the department has arranged to have 2 Ph.D. students in the American Cultures Studies (ACS) program act as leaders of discussion sections for the large POLS 110 course. We have assigned each of the 150 students to a discussion section which will meet on Fridays. Thus the course will have 2 lectures per week where 150 students meet together, and one discussion section with 30 students and either a TA or the professor to create more opportunities for interaction and oral presentation. The ACS students have been trained as discussion section leaders and have one year of experience leading these sections for an introductory ACS course. The department will assess the outcome of this experiment and make changes as necessary.
Plan for 2004-05:
The department will gain approval of the capstone seminar as POLS 499, and it will be required of all majors. The department will begin the development of a portfolio which contains the student’s research project in POLS 290, which is required of majors and usually taken in the sophomore year, and the research project in POLS 499. The two projects will provide data that can be evaluated to determine whether students are improving in their attainment of learning outcomes between the sophomore and senior year.
The department is also open to suggestions from this year’s program review committee and external evaluators with regard to additional or alternative assessment procedures.