Learning Outcome Driven Curricular Improvement

An Example from Political Science

Introduction The Political Science faculty modified existing

departmental, undergraduate student learning outcomes

(SLOs), which informed assessment development and

curricular improvement. Using informal appraisal by

individual faculty of student performance at the senior

capstone level, the undergraduate curriculum committee

found that students’ writing skills need to be addressed in a

more cohesive and purposeful way in the curriculum. A 200-

level writing politics course was designed to address the

gap. In short, the discussions around the learning outcomes

revision resulted in faculty collaboration in assessment-

driven curricular improvement. These discussions and

innovations are part of a two-year plan to improve program

assessment in the department.

Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua

Political Science

Background

• Roughly 250 undergraduate POLS

majors

• About half are transfer students

• 30 credits for major, including 5

different capstone options

• 23 faculty members, plus graduate

student GTAs and instructors who

teach a significant part of the UG

core (30 – 40% of core courses)

Challenges

• Previously underdeveloped

approach to program evaluation

• No progressive path through the

UC curriculum

• Faculty critical of/resistant to

assessment, especially as process

imposed from above

• Limited time: assessment

coordinator = UG advisor

1. Don’t come empty-handed. Circulate drafts of

revised SLOs ahead of time.

2. Provide list of active verbs, so faculty can stay

focused on student learning.

3. Chunk conversations in intervals (15 – 45 min)

with concrete results each time.

4. Ask individuals to talk about successful students

and their core capacities.

Moving Forward

Revised BA Learning Outcomes

Students will…

1. think critically and historically about power and the

political.

2. craft and defend evidence-based arguments.

3. communicate effectively in public settings, with

attention to and appreciation of diverse cultural contexts.

4. cogently explain the interconnectedness of local and

global dynamics of power within the context of the political

and cultural specificities of Hawai`i nei.

SLO #2 (original)

Make a good argument. Both political phenomena

and scholarship generally require the capacity to

reason well. To make a good political argument

students need to learn to identify an argument, to

distinguish strong and weak ways of making

arguments, to analyze the arguments of others and to

offer their own. Through the careful reading of

important texts, scrutiny of available evidence, and

teaching methods that exemplify good arguments and

that engage students in the creation and testing of

their own knowledge, the department emphasizes

forms of expression key to academic excellence,

participation in the public sphere, and lifelong

learning.

SLO #2 (revised)

Students will be able to craft and defend evidence-

based arguments. This argumentative capacity is

built upon their ability to rigorously and respectfully

weigh competing views, synthesize multiple sources

and critically reflect on their own and others

assumptions. Students should be able to make

arguments in both written and oral forms of

communication.

SLOs Before and After: An Example

The Long-

Term

Plan:

Next

Steps

Successful Strategies

Long-Term Plan: Evidence for Program

Assessment Capstones • Teaching Assistant

• Government internship

• Community internship

• Senior thesis

• Senior seminar course

New Course Proposed: POLS 200

“Reading and Writing Politics”

Develop skills needed to read and write political

texts. Weigh competing views; read and analyze

texts for what they do and do not say; craft and

defend evidence-based arguments; practice writing

mechanics and style.

Helps POLS to achieve three main goals:

1. Provide stronger preparation in writing, reading,

argumentation and critical thinking.

2. Provides more of an “entry-point” into the

curriculum, so that there would be some

progression in the required courses.

3. Improve our program-level assessment, by giving

us a course in which we could really focus on

student writing skills at an early point in ones

undergraduate career.

Capstone student

work

Student surveys

(indirect)

Student work from

200 (direct)

Student work from

390

Revise SLOs

•Scaffold core according to new SLOs

Signature assignments

•Agree on signature assignments for POLS 110, 200, 390 and capstones

Develop program

assessment tools

• Information literacy rubric (in progress)

•Argumentation rubric

Collect data

•Dropbox set up for student work samples (high and low)

Analyze results yearly

•Who will do this over the summer?