The Philosophy Program aims to increase the number of faculty members who tenured or on tenure track.
Objective
Tenure-line Hire
The Philosophy Program seeks the addition of at least one new tenure-line faculty member.
Indicator
Tenure-line Hire
Budgetary approval and hiring process.
Criterion
Tenure-line hire
The criterion for success is the successful hiring of an additional tenure-line faculty member. This goal will not have been met if the Philosophy Program fails to hire an additional faculty member.
Finding
New Tenure-line hire
Dr. Diana Buccafurni accepted a contract to join the Philosophy Program as an Associate Professor.
Action
New tenure-line hire
The Philosophy Program must work with Dr. Buccafurni to ensure a successful tenure process. This will include ensuring a successful transition to the tenure track and appropriate support and consultation to provide clear path toward tenure.
Goal
PHL 261/364/365 Progression
Students will a acquire general competence in and knowledge of metaphysics, epistemology, and moral theory. This objective relates to the progression of students through the philosophy degree. The program is attempting to measure the success of students in the introductory course, then evaluate the acquisition of advanced knowledge in the upper-level courses.
Objective
PHL 261/364/365 Progression
Students will a acquire general competence in and knowledge of metaphysics, epistemology, and moral theory.
Indicator
PHL 261/364/365 Progression
Embedded assessment of PHL 361, PHL 364, and PHL 365 courses to measure student learning as they progress through our curriculum.
Criterion
PHL 261/364/365 Progression
75% of students in each course will successefully answer at least 70% of the embedded questions.
Finding
PHL 261-364 Findings
In PHL 364 81% of the students successfully completed the embedded assessment.
In PHL 261, several faculty did not report data. Based on the data reported for PHL 261, 75% of students successfully passed the embedded assessment.
There was been a substantial breakdown in the assessment process for PHL 261 during 2007-2008.
Finding
PHL 261-365 Findings
The objective was not met.
In PHL 261, several faculty did not report data. Based on the data reported for PHL 261, 56% of students successfully completed embedded assessment. There was been a substantial breakdown in the assessment process for PHL 261 during 2007-2008.
In PHL 365 66% of the students successfully completed the embedded assessment.
Action
Faculty Data Collection
The Philosophy Program must establish a system of accountability for all faculty members who are responsible for collecting assessment data.
The faculty and Program Coordinator must ensure that all faculty are aware of the Program''s assessment needs and their responsibility for collecting appropriate data.
Action
PHL 261 Assessment Revision
The Philosophy Program will alter its assessment for PHL 261 from an embedded assessment to the use of a pre- post-test method. All faculty who teach PHL 261 will be required to administer the pre- and post TACTS tests in all sections of PHL 261. The Program Coordinator will ensure that all faculty are aware of this requirement and the faculty members'' responsibilities.
Drafts of the new assessment are currently circulating among the Philosophy faculty. This test will be finalize prior to 8/1/08.
Action
Review of PHL 261-365
The Philosophy Program will undertake a review of the fit between its PHL 261-365 courses to identify and address the reasons for its failure to achieve satisfactory progress in PHL 261 sections during 2006-2008. It is recommended that the Program use the successful linkage between PHL 261 and PHL 364 as a model for establishing a better pattern for the PHL 261-365 linkage.
Goal
PHL 262
Students progressing through the logic course in our curriculum will develop broad-based skills in critical thinking and formal logic.
Objective
PHL 262
Students will acquire a general understanding of the application of logic and critical thinking.
Indicator
PHL 262 TACTS
Student scores on the Texas Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills
Criterion
PHL 262 TACTS
There will be a statistically significant difference between student performance on the pre- and post-tests.
Finding
PHL 262 TACTS
In both the fall and spring semesters of the 2007-2008 academic year student progress was measured using a new instrument ?????? the Texas Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills (TACTS) test developed at Sam Houston State University as a joint project of the Philosophy and Economics departments. This instrument consists of 35 items designed to tap various dimensions of critical and analytic thinking. The same instrument was administered both at the start and end of the semester. There were minor changes between the semesters.
In the Fall a total of 156 students took the Before test while 113 took the After test. One hundred and nine took both, and it is their results that are referenced in this document. In the Spring semester identification of the Before test takers was not complete, with the result that changes could not be adequately measured.
In the Fall, the Before measure was an average of 13.04 items scored correct while the After measure was 14.76. The improvement of 1.72 items was statistically significant with a p-value of .00001. The Before measure in the Spring semester was 12.18; the After score was 12.72. Although the movement in the scores was in the right direction, there was no way to determine the statistical significance of that change.
The inability to identify individual student scores from Spring 2008 resulted from an administration error. The students were told that they should not put their names or ID numbers on the Scantron forms to ensure anonymity. Thus, direct comparison of individual scores from pre- to post-test was not possible.
Action
Change PHL 262 assessment
The Philosophy Program will use a TACTS pre- post-test method. All faculty who teach PHL 262 will be required to administer the pre- and post TACTS tests in all sections of PHL 262. The Program Coordinator will ensure that all faculty are aware of this requirement and the faculty members'''''''' responsibilities (including the need to be able to match pre-test scores to post-test scores).