Student Achievement Assessment Committee

Learning Outcomes:

At the completion of study for the baccalaureate degree, students in Women’s Studies are expected to:

1. Discuss the multiple types of feminisms that currently exist in the U.S. and internationally, as well as their histories and development.
2. Critically analyze and make profitable connections between feminist theories and feminist practices.
3. Explicate the basic debates or areas of contention within contemporary feminist thought.
4. Describe the multiple ways in which gender is intersected by other social relations such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and nation.
5. Identify the basic components that distinguish feminist methodologies from other approaches to inquiry, and the ways in which women’s studies approaches have transformed traditional disciplines.
6. Communicate clearly and effectively in written and oral expression.

Annual Report

1. Learning Outcomes assessed this year:

1. Discuss the multiple types of feminisms that currently exist in the U.S. and internationally, as well as their histories and development.
2. Critically analyze and make profitable connections between feminist theories and feminist practices.
3. Explicate the basic debates or areas of contention within contemporary feminist thought.
4. Describe the multiple ways in which gender is intersected by other social relations such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and nation.
5. Identify the basic components that distinguish feminist methodologies from other approaches to inquiry, and the ways in which women’s studies approaches have transformed traditional disciplines.
6. Communicate clearly and effectively in written and oral expression.

Goals of this year’s assessment:
• To examine whether the WS 200 courses provide: (a) an adequate introduction to WS, (b) that students have a sound learning experience, (c) that classes specifically address learning outcomes 3 (contemporary feminist issues) and 6 (effective written and oral communication), and (d) that classes provide an introduction to the remaining learning outcomes.
• To examine whether graduating seniors demonstrate a sound understanding of feminism specifically related to each of the learning outcomes.
• To develop a formal mechanism for graduate assessment.

2. Assessment Methods and Procedures:

Two primary forms of undergraduate assessment were conducted this year:

(a) The student portfolios of graduating seniors were assessed relative to the WS learning outcomes. Two seniors submitted their portfolios which were carefully analyzed by the Undergraduate Coordinator. The portfolios contain academic materials developed by students over a three to four-year period, beginning with their WS 200 class through their Senior Seminar capstone.

(b) The student evaluations of WS 200 courses were assessed. Student evaluations of instructors completed at mid-semester were compared to end-of-semester teaching evaluations. This assessment was completed for the spring semester courses. Since a number of our WS 200 sections are taught by graduate teaching assistants, we feel it is important to provide them mid-semester feedback as well as assess instructional improvement. In particular, the following items were examined:

a. if evaluations by students improved from mid-semester to end-of semester,
b. if instructors altered their teaching styles from mid-semester to end-of semester to accommodate various student learning styles (as reflected in the mid-term evaluations),
c. if student understanding of women’s studies improved from mid-semester to end-of semester,
d. if students’ ability to connect classroom learning to life experiences advanced from mid-semester to end-of semester, and
e. if students’ overall satisfaction with the course improved from mid-semester to end-of semester.

Primary focus of graduate assessment:

Much of the assessment focus this year was centered on how to better evaluate the progress of the Graduate Certificate program. As the graduate certificate program has been active since 2000, we now feel we can adequately examine the experiences of the graduate students. The Graduate Certificate Sub-committee spent this year developing a report that includes suggestions for future assessment of the program.

3. Inferences from Assessments:

Senior Portfolios

The two portfolios indicate that WS program learning objectives are being met, although perhaps not in as systematic fashion as would be ideal. One of the reasons for the apparent inconsistencies might be the lack of sufficient guidelines for the portfolio itself; for example, in this set, Portfolio A was approximately thirty pages long and Portfolio B was well over one hundred pages long. Perhaps, if students had a checklist of items that must be in the portfolio, there would be more consistency among the portfolios, and a better determination of program strengths and weaknesses could be made. At this point, it is difficult to determine, for example, whether Student A had no exposure to feminist history or whether she did not choose to include that information in her rather thin portfolio. Both students’ portfolios indicate that the internship experience was crucial to their educational development, particularly to their ability to articulate and evaluate the connections between theory and practice.

Another potential explanation for the inconsistencies in these portfolios could lie within the structure of interdisciplinary programs. Because Women’s Studies students take a variety of courses offered through other programs, it is possible that Student A did not have educational opportunities that exposed her to feminist history or to intersectionality. WS does have a course requirement that addresses intersectionality (ETHN 302 is required of all WS majors and minors), but this particular student did a year abroad and substituted a different course for ETHN 302 because of that.

WS 200 Instruction Assessment

Overall, it seems that the students are having positive experiences in the WS 200 classes. Most of the evaluations of the instructors improved from mid- to end-of-semester. As expected, the more experienced instructors had high ratings at both mid- and end of the semester. Two of the less experienced instructors had scores that remained relatively low.

Based on this assessment, most students in WS 200 felt that they learned about the types of feminisms (learning outcome 1) and learned about contemporary feminist issues (learning outcome 3). Across sections, about 75% of the students who completed evaluations agreed or strongly agreed that the courses were rewarding. All of the WS 200 courses included both oral and written assignments, providing opportunity for students to gain experience and feedback on presentation and writing skills. However we do not have data examining the students’ skills in these areas.

A problem encountered in comparing mid- and end-of-semester evaluations is that different questions were asked at mid- versus end-of semester. There was enough similarity among the questions that we could compare responses on questions aimed at similar content, but exact comparisons were not possible.

4. Actions Taken/Program Improvements:

Undergraduate Assessment:

• We will develop guidelines and a checklist to standardize the type of content in the student portfolios.
• We will further develop mechanisms to assist instructors who have low mid-term student evaluations
• We will ensure that the same student evaluation questions are included at both evaluation periods.

Graduate Certificate Assessment:

The Graduate Certificate sub-committee forwarded the following suggestions for future assessment of the program:

• Survey graduates of the certificate program to obtain their perspective on the effectiveness of the program in meeting our learning outcomes.
• Survey certificate students’ advisors to obtain their perspective on the effectiveness of the program in meeting our learning outcomes.
• Develop a formal mechanism for assessing the Capstone projects relative to the program learning outcomes.

Next year we hope to have the mechanisms in place to survey students and faculty before the end of the academic year.