SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Political Science BS
Political Science BS
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Develop Students' Knowledge Of Government And Politics |
| Objective |
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| Throughout their enrollment, students will explore the following themes in a national and international context: the structure and operation of various forms of government, political philosophies, informal and formal political organizations and actors, public policies, and political behavior |
| Indicator |
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| Each field of study will be assigned a team of 2 faculty members who have expertise in the particular field. Each semester the individual teams will receive and review 5 randomly selected papers from an upper division course in their respective fields. Faculty members from each subfield will evaluate the papers using a grading rubric designed and agreed upon by faculty in each subfield. Papers will be scored on a scale of 1 - 5 with 5 being the highest. |
| Criterion |
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| We expect that: (1) Faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single point. If faculty scores do differ beyond a single point, faculty will be asked to review the grading rubric and discuss its application. (2) At least 70% of the papers will score a 3 or above. . However, previous analysis indicated that although scores were consistently over a 3, students were losing a point related to analytical and theoretical development. |
| Finding |
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Using a scoring system of 1-5 to evaluate 5 random papers in our upper division offerings, faculty members evaluated 45 papers. Faculty scores differed in 11 of the 45 (24%), however, the difference in scores never exceeded a single point on the 5 point rubric. The average score was 4.09, a higher average than last year's 3.3. The departments efforts to identify areas to focus in 2009-2010 have been fruitful as scores have consistently increased over the last 3 years. Faculty found a need for further student instruction regarding plagiarism. |
Actions for Objective:
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The faculty agreed to revise the assessment rubric for 2012-2013 to focus more on the content, including instruction on plagiarism, and devise alternative writing assignments that focus on the content rather than grammar and formatting. Students will be able to conduct a literature review utilizing at least 5 resources. The students will complete a plagiarism tutorial. |
| GOAL: Develop Students' Skills |
| Objective |
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All political science majors are required to successfully complete POLS 3379. Upon completing the course students will be able to analyze scholarly writing, interpret empirical data, discuss argumentation, and write clearly and correctly. |
| Indicator |
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Faculty members teaching POLS 3379 Research and Writing will randomly select 5 papers from each course. All papers will be reviewed by the faculty members who teaching Research and Writing. Faculty members will evaluate the papers using a grading rubric designed and agreed by said faculty. Papers will be scored on a scale of 1 - 5 with 5 being the highest. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 70% of students will score a "3" (acceptable) or better. |
| Finding |
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Faculty teaching POLS 3379 used a scoring system of 1 - 5 to evaluate 5 randomly selected papers from each section of POLS 3379. Faculty scores differed in 9 out of the 10 papers sampled. However, the difference in scores never exceeded a single point. The average score was 3.8, a higher average than last's year's average. Although the findings indicate that we exceed our expectations for this particular goal, faculty teaching POLS 3379 courses believe students would benefit in the long run if faculty discussed ways to make the course content more consistent across all sections of POLS 3379 regardless of who is teaching the course. The findings indicate we exceed our expectation. However, in scoring the papers the low scores were in the area of writing. Thus faculty concluded that more emphasis needs to be placed on students’ writing skills. |
Actions for Objective:
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During Summer 2012 faculty responsible for teaching POLS 3379 will develop a syllabus template for the course to be adopted in spring 2013. In addition, curing summer and spring 2012, faculty teaching POLS 3379 will develop and adopt new pedagogical strategies designed to improved students’ writing skills. These strategies will be implemented in spring 2013. |
| Closing the Loop |
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In order to address students’ writing, faculty responsible for teaching POLS 3379 will develop a syllabus template for the course to be adopted in spring 2013 that emphasizes instruction in writing. In addition, the faculty agreed to revise the assessment rubrics for 2012-2013 to focus more on the content of the assignments and devise alternative writing assignments that focus on this content rather than grammar and formatting. The department will identify and implement a plagiarism tutorial for both POLS 3379 courses and all other upper division courses.
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