Program Information
Name of Program: / History B.A. / College: / CHABSSPrepared By:
(Department Chair/Program Coordinator) / Anne Lombard (Assessment coordinator for the department) / Date: / May 25, 2012
Email Address: / / Extension: / X4106
PART A: Annual Assessment Report AY 11-12 Due by May 24, 2012
Jennfier Jeffiresto
1) Please describe:A. the program student learning outcomes you focused on for assessment this year.
B. the assessment activities you used to measure student learning in these areas.
C. the results of your assessment(s).
D. the significance of your results.
INTRODUCTION:
General learning outcomes for the undergraduate history major have been defined as follows:
1. Analyze historical processes that shape individuals and communities;
2. Research and think critically about varieties of experience found in the historical record, exploring diversity as a critical component of history;
3. Develop and defend historical arguments and articulate an understanding of the past clearly and convincingly;
4. Apply historical analysis as a framework to further both lifelong learning and civic engagement; and
5. Incorporate new digital and multimedia formats into the practice and presentation of history.
These general learning outcomes incorporate a variety of specifically assessable skills and types of knowledge that have been central to history teaching since the inception of the history major at CSUSM. By the time they graduate, students with a BA in history are expected to:
a. Demonstrate an ability to conduct historical research, evaluate historical evidence, analyze historical processes, and make logical and persuasive arguments about history in writing as well as in oral presentations.
b. Acquire a broad and basic knowledge of the events, people, places, institutions, phenomena, and trends that comprise the history of the world (not limited simply to one group of people or one geographical area).
c. Demonstrate an understanding that historical change is complex and multi-faceted, and historical causation involves multiple historical forces.
d. Demonstrate an understanding that the study of past has evolved over time and has been greatly influenced by the particular concerns of the people by whom and the eras and places in which it has been conducted.
e. Demonstrate an understanding of current trends in the study of history, including an awareness of the ways in which globalization, cross-cultural interaction, ethnic diversity, and changes in gender relations have affected the study of history. For example, students are expected to understand the purposes and questions associated with new focuses of investigation (in social history, intellectual history, cultural history, gender history, ethnic history, postcolonial history) and acquire a basic understanding of newer methods of analysis (cliometrics, interdisciplinary analysis drawing on methods from sociology, anthropology, and psychology).
f. Demonstrate an understanding of the various philosophies that have developed over time that attempt to explain in broad terms the forces that shape history over the long run.
In addition, since 2006, our learning objectives have included an expectation that students will acquire basic digital literacy skills, so that students can:
g. Demonstrate an ability to distinguish between reliable and unreliable online sources and to navigate and evaluate historical websites and databases.
Student achievement of these skills has been assessed through an assessment questionnaire since 2007, when the College began requiring a quantifiable annual assessment. In conducting our annual assessments each year, we have followed the advice of the provost and looked at distinct components of our learning goals, sometimes focusing on traditional skills in historical analysis and understanding, and sometimes on digital literacy.
In AY 2008/2009, we assessed student achievement in understanding the complexity of historical causation, philosophies of history, and the effect of current events on trends in the study of history. That assessment determined that most graduates of the history major had achieved a high level of competency in explaining the complexity of historical causation, but were less adept in their ability to explain historical philosophy or new approaches and questions in the field. As a result of that assessment, during AY 2009/10 the department changed the content of its required historical methods classes. History 301 classes are now required to include segments on historical causation and interpretation, philosophies of history, and recent trends in historical interpretation. History 400 classes, which are topical research and writing seminars taken by graduating seniors, are now required to include the historiography of the topic (that is, the evolution of historians’ approaches to the topic). **Note: The effect of the changes made to the curriculum has not been assessed since it took place. Our AY 2009/10 assessment reviewed digital literacy skills, and the university directed us not to complete an assessment during the department’s performance review in AY 2010/11.
FOCUS OF ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES IN 2011/12:
This year, our assessment begins to measure the extent to which these reforms have succeeded.
We have examined student achievement of 3 related skills: (1) ability to describe the complexity of historical causation, (2) ability to describe and explain various different ways in which historians approach the past, and (3) ability to explain how current events have shaped trends in historical interpretation. (Assessment of student understanding of philosophies of history will be undertaken in another assessment cycle.)
Our assessment this year, as in past years, is based on ungraded student responses to a series of questions, administered at the beginning of the semester in their History 301 class and at the end of the semester in their History 400 class. History 301 is a required methods, research, and writing class that students usually take during the junior year after completing lower division coursework. History 400 is a capstone course for graduating seniors. Questionnaires are distributed in these classes because they provide a practical mechanism for measuring students’ learning at or near the beginning of their upper division courses, and at or near the end of their studies, although in some cases students taking History 301 may already have completed several upper division courses (and a few of them are already quite sophisticated). Student responses are generally anonymous.
This year we analyzed 100 randomly selected questionnaires for History 301, out of 136 received from AY 2011/2012. The number 100 was chosen to simplify the process of comparing and assessing our data. We also analyzed 57 questionnaires for History 400, out of approximately 80 received during AY 2011/2012. 23 students, most of whom appear to have been in one section of History 400, mistakenly answered different questions than we were assessing this year, so their answers could not be used.
We evaluated students’ responses to these questions by looking at the extent to which they developed plausible, factually detailed arguments in response to each question, demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of the historical events, processes, or phenomena they chose to describe, and demonstrated a familiarity with commonly shared assumptions within the historical profession about historical analysis and interpretation. We scored the responses with a rubric from 1 to 5, with 1 for a very low or non-existent level of achievement, and 5 with a high level of achievement.
ASSESSMENT RESULTS:
Question 1:
1. Historians explain historical change by pointing to a wide variety of causes or historical forces. Give an example of an historical event or development and provide two examples of different kinds of causes or historical forces which historians might emphasize in explaining this event or development.
Entry-level students (in History 301) typically fared fairly poorly on this question. The median score was a 2. 43% (43 out of 100) of student responses scored 1 (poor) and 14% scored a 2 (barely sufficient). Another 27% of students scored 3 (adequate achievement). Only 16% of the respondents scored a 4 or 5 (very good to superior). We were not surprised by this low level of achievement among the entry level students, since these students are unlikely to be able to identify and describe multiple causes for historical events unless they have had exceptional teachers at the secondary or community college level. Most entry level students who answered this question chose examples from survey courses (the causes of the American Civil War or the causes that of World War I). Most provided very simple explanations of the causes of those events (like economic competition and debates about states rights). This level of achievement in our entry-level students was quite similar to what we found for our entry level students in 2008/2009: then, 86.5% of entry-level students scored 3 or below, and this year, 84% of entry level students scored 3 or below.
Advanced students (in History 400) overwhelmingly had very good or superior levels of achievement on this
question. The median score was a 5. 66% of students (38 out of 57) scored 5 (superior) and another 25% (14 out of 57) scored 4 (very good). Only 1 student scored a 3 (adequate) and 1 student scored a 2 (barely sufficient.) 3 students skipped this question. In other words, all but one of our students achieved proficiency and 91% of our students demonstrated a higher than expected level of achievement in understanding the multiple causes of historical change by the time they had finished History 400. Advanced students’ responses showed a much more sophisticated understanding of historical events and historical causation as well more developed ability to construct logical arguments. Paragraphs were more developed and arguments were more fully reasoned. For example, a relatively typical explanation of the causes of the American Civil War explains the breakdown of the second American party system, the debate about the extension of slavery into the West, Southern fears that abolitionism threatened their way of life, and the attack on Fort Sumter as precipitating factors.
Question 2:
2. Historians also use a variety of approaches in their investigation of the past. Choose two of the following historical approaches, and explain what kinds of research questions each of these approaches would raise: political history, diplomatic history, economic history, environmental history, social history, cultural history, intellectual history, Annales history, gender history, comparative history.
Beginning students usually fared poorly on this question. The median score was a 2. 31% of the respondents (31 out of 100) scored a 1 and 24% of students scored a 2. 23% scored a 3, 17% of responses scored a 4, and 5% scored a 5.
Typically when students attempted to answer the question (instead of saying “I don’t know”), their responses lacked development or specificity. They posed questions such as the following: How does gender affect history? Who are some of the more famous women in history? What is the economic history of this nation? Who were the major players in control of this economic development?”
Advanced students (in History 400) showed enormous gains in their ability to describe the kinds of approaches that historians take in examining the past. Once again, the media score for this question among the advanced students was a 5. 53% (30 out of 57) scored a 5 (superior achievement) and 30% (17 out of 57) scored a 4 (very good achievement). 9% (5 out of 57) scored a 3 (adequate achievement). Only 1 student scored a 1 and no student scored a 2. 4 students skipped this question. Typically when advanced students responded to this question they proposed questions that were far more specific and sophisticated, for example: How did traditional Victorian gender roles affect the colonization of Egypt in the late 19th century? Hid did film challenge traditional gender roles upon its creation at the beginning of the 20th century? How did Germany get out of hyperinflation? Did Germany’s hyperinflation lead to the Great Depression?
Question 3:
3. How have trends in the contemporary world affected the way historians approach
history? Give one example of how current events or current cultural developments have
produced a new set of questions about or new approaches to some historical subject.
Beginning students did exceedingly badly on this question, with the vast majority saying “I don’t know” or giving a response that demonstrated a virtually complete lack of knowledge about current trends in the study of history. The median score was a 1, achieved by 67% (67 out of 100) respondents. 10 % scored a 2, 12 % scored a 3 (adequate understanding), 5% scored a 4 (very good understanding) and 4% scored a 5 (superior understanding). When students attempted to answer this question, they often talked about their own newfound curiosity about the origins of the Iraq war, or explained that the internet offers new access to primary sources, instead of identifying the kinds of new questions and approaches that have emerged in the field. A small minority understood that questions about the history of race and gender, for example, emerged following the Civil Rights movement.
Again, the overwhelming majority of advanced students showed very good or superior levels of achievement on this question. The median score was a 5. 54% (31 out of 57) students achieved a score of 5 (superior), 19% (11 out 57) a score of 4 (very good). In other words, 73% scored very good or superior, and another 14% (8 out 57 ) scored 3 (adequate achievement). Only 1 student scored a 1 and no student scored a 2. 6 students skipped the question.
Advanced students displayed considerable curiosity, sophistication, and creativity about historical
Inquiry in their responses to this question. They pointed to things like climate change as a spur to environmental history, the men’s movement of the 1990s as inspiring the history of masculinity, and recent terrorist attacks as producing a wave of new scholarship on the history of violence by non-state actors. Some students continued to want to talk about new media and technology, but these students typically discussed the way the internet has become a force in historical change (for example, the contribution of Wikileaks to the Arab Spring), or talked about how new technologies might be used to present the past (for example, using “3D imaging through ultrasound technology to recreate what a dinosaur most likely would have looked like.” This answer scored a 3 because dinosaurs are not usually the subject of historical inquiry, but the author was clearly thinking creatively about the ways in new technologies could be used to help us re-imagine the