UH Mānoa Sociology Department: Undergraduate Assessment in Action

Abstract

The Sociology Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) made significant changes to program assessment during Spring and Fall 2014 as a result of strong leadership from the undergraduate advising staff combined with increased communication with faculty and the direct participation of instructors. This poster offers three key pieces of information: the methods we used during Fall semester to increase faculty buy-in; an overview of results from our pilot undergraduate exit survey; and our program’s initial utilization of results. Key to increasing faculty participation in program assessment were strong leadership and improved intra-departmental communications. Our revised SLOs—now in alignment with University ILOs—allowed us to target our required methods and theory courses to assess student performances. Instructors reported data on students’ final class assignments based on rubrics developed specifically for that purpose. Streamlined data collection led to an increase in the accuracy of responses, a response rate of 100% from instructors, and data on the performances of 78 students. Results from the exit survey of students who had petitioned to graduate during Spring and Summer 2015 were reported to the Department, resulting in several actions. First, there will be ‘strategy workshops’ in which instructors share teaching practices that have helped students improve their written and oral communication skills. Second, instructors were urged to include more opportunities for students to discuss and apply research methods and more opportunities for students to hone their oral presentation skills.