B.S. History graduates will be prepared for successful careers and productive citizenship through high quality instruction in all courses.
Objective
Student Learning Outcomes
During the course of the semester, students enrolled in history courses will demonstrate significant improvement in their understanding of the historical content covered in their respective courses.
Indicator
Pre/Post Testing US History Core Curriculum
the course of a semester, students enrolled in US history courses will demonstrate significant improvement in their understanding of American history by taking pre and post tests in that subject matter. The test instrument is not nationally normed, but was locally constructed with the aim of monitoring change over time in basic knowledge of the major themes covered in the world history survey curriculum. The State of Texas Core Curriculum Component Area guidelines were consulted before the creation of this testing instrument.
Criterion
US History Student Learning
At least 20% of students enrolled in the US surveys will be given pre-post tests over content relevant to these courses. A statistical analysis of the results of this testing will demonstrate significant student improvement in knowledge of pertinent US history themes.
Finding
US History Student Learning-Fall
During Fall 2010, US history survey classes that included 539 HIS 163 students (representing 29% of the total number of students taking HIS 163) and 247 HIS 164 students (representing 38% of the total number of students taking HIS 164) took pre- and post tests on an instrument that was developed by the US history faculty. HIS 163 students averaged 52% correct on the pre-test and 62% correct on the post-test. HIS 164 students averaged 43% correct on the pre-test and 44% correct on the post-test.
Finding
US History Student Learning-Spring
During Spring 2011, US history survey classes that included 128 HIS 163 students (representing 21% of the total number of students taking HIS 163) and 444 HIS 164 students (representing 30% of the total number of students taking HIS 164) took pre- and post tests on an instrument that was developed by the US history faculty. HIS 163 students averaged 48% correct on the pre-test and 55% correct on the post-test. HIS 164 students averaged 44% correct on the pre-test and 51% correct on the post-test.
Finding
Summary Of US History Student Learning
The combined results for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 were as follows:
Course # Tested Pre-test Post-Test % Change
HIS 163 667 51% 61% +20%
HIS 164 691 44% 48.5% +9%
Improvement on the 163 examination was consistent across each of the mastery areas assessed by the evaluation instrument (i.e., understanding sources, chronology, factual accurancy). On the 164 examination, there were six questions (3 chronology questions and 3 factual questions) on which improvement was not demonstrated.
Indicator
World History Student Learning
During the course of a semester, students enrolled in world history courses will demonstrate significant improvement in their understanding of world history. The test instrument is not nationally normed, but was locally constructed with the aim of monitoring change over time in basic knowledge of the major themes covered in the world history survey curriculum. The State of Texas Core Curriculum Component Area guidelines were consulted before the creation of this testing instrument.
Criterion
World History Student Learning
At least 20% of students enrolled in world history surveys will be given pre-post tests over content relevant to these courses. A statistical analysis of the results of this testing will demonstrate significant student improvement in knowledge of pertinent world history themes.
Finding
World History Student Learning-Fall
During Fall 2010, world history survey classes that included 39 HIS 265 students (representing 30% of the total number of students taking HIS 265) and 33 HIS 266 students (representing 17% of the total number of students taking HIS 266) took pre- and post tests on an instrument that was developed by the world history faculty. HIS 265 students averaged 50 correct on the pre-test. HIS 265 data on post-testing was lost due to clerical error. HIS 266 students averaged 44% correct on the pre-test and 51% correct on the post-test.
Finding
World History Student Learning-Spring
During Spring 2011, world history survey classes that included 71 HIS 265 students (representing 34% of the total number of students taking HIS 265) and 46 HIS 266 students (representing 22% of the total number of students taking HIS 266) took pre- and post tests on an instrument that was developed by the world history faculty. HIS 265 students averaged 52% correct on the pre-test while data lost due to clerical error on the post-test. HIS 266 students averaged 41% correct on the pre-test and 66% correct on the post-test.
Finding
Summary Of World History Student Learning
The combined results for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 were as follows:
Course # Tested Pre-test Post-Test % Change
HIS 265 Incomplete owing to missing post-test data
HIS 266 79 45% 60% +33%
Review of the specific results showed HIS 266 students' greatest weaknesses were in the areas of African and Asian history.
Indicator
Senior Level Student Learning Outcome Assessments
During the course of the semester, students enrolled in 400-level (senior level) courses will demonstrate significant improvement in their abilities in historical scholarship and writing, as determined by a panel of history faculty.
Criterion
Senior Level Outcome Assessments
All students in senior level history courses will produce semester research papers. At least 20% of these papers from the total senior level course enrollment will undergo a quality and outcome assessment review by a panel of history faculty. The panel will not include faculty currently teaching senior level courses and will review the selected papers double-blind according to a 6-point rubric developed from norms promoted by the American Historical Association.
Finding
Spring 2011 Senior Learning Outcome Assessment
In the Spring of 2011, the history department randomly sampled 24 or roughly 20% of all research papers from the senior undergraduate level seminars. On a scale of 6 to 30 (18 being average), three evaluators ranked the papers according to the rubric with the following results:
Evaluator 1 gave scores averaging 19.25 Evaluator 2 gave scores averaging 18.95 Evaluator 3 gave scores averaging 17.80
The overall average was 18.67.
50% of papers received an average score of 18.0 or higher.
Among the papers failing to achieve 18.0 or higher, the most common problems (in order of prevalence) were poor writing skills, failure to frame a proper historical question, and failure to link interpretations to evidence actually offered.
Action
Student Learning Outcomes
Experience in the academic year 2010-2011 with HIS 265 showed that the History Department needed to improve its methods of distribution of assessment instruments and collection of the resulting data. The department referred the matter to its committee for undergraduate affairs to consider such reforms as making pre/post testing part of the syllabus grading for affected classes and creating a permanent work assignment for graduate student TAs to ensure systematic implementation of this policy.
Although the department met its benchmarks for its lower division survey courses, it did not meet its high expectations for its upper division courses. This was the first year in which the rubric for evaluating the quality of upper division research papers was used. The Undergraduate Affairs Committee will review the rubric and the results of this quality control assessment and make recommendations designed to increase the number of students with good to outstanding evaluations on their research efforts, particularly in the areas of writing skills, framing a proper historical question, and linking interpretations to evidence.