Anthropology Department Assessment Plan
July 21, 2000
Elizabeth Chin, Chair
1. Please state the mission of your major or program.
The department of anthropology seeks to engage students in the critical exploration of human culture from a cross-cultural and diachronic perspective. We are committed to giving students a sound grounding in the history and methods of the discipline, we are equally committed to developing in students the ability to examine the world around them in a way that is engaged intellectually, politically, and personally. These are skills we believe are essential not just for anthropology majors, but for all students. In particular, we are concerned with expanding and transforming students' understanding of the quotidian and everyday, for instance: family, sexuality and race. Anthropology's long-standing engagement with the question of culture, the politics of race, and globally situated questions of social justice and inequality position it at the center of the college's mission. It is also our aim to prepare our majors for graduate study in their chosen fields, whether in anthropology or a related discipline or area of study.
2. Principal goals:
For majors:
1. Have a broad and nuanced understanding of major theoretical schools, the
history of the discipline, and at least one geographical area.
2. Have well developed research and writing skills, including the ability to
write fundable grant proposals.
3. Be able to apply anthropological ideas and knowledge to real world
problems, and/or analyze real world problems using anthropological ideas.
4. Develop a personal mastery of material and ideas as evidenced in a
"voice" or perspective unique to that student. This may be
demonstrated in the senior proposal, senior thesis, or a similar project.
For CORE:
1. Understand and be able to articulate the main concepts and perspectives
typifying current anthropological scholarship (for example: cultural relativism,
the culture concept, ethnographic research)
2. Have a clear and intellectually engaged understanding of the implications and
complexities of issues of multiculturalism, cultural difference, and cultural
politics.
3. Be able to apply anthropological ideas and knowledge to real world
problems, and/or analyze real world problems using anthropological ideas.
4. Have well developed research and writing skills appropriate to the level of
the course/s.
Assessment/measurement
The assessment will be conducted using an action research model, that is, the
assessment will be primarily implemented and analyzed by students, not faculty.
They will develop all required interview guides and evaluation forms; this
process may involve some shifts in emphasis at variance from this preliminary
plan outlined here. This, we believe, will involve students productively in
conducting "real world" research, as well as in shaping the
department, its direction, and concerns. Assessment will focus on senior majors
and minors, and students in the 100 classes. It will involve the participation
of a group of student researchers who will work throughout the year on
collecting and analyzing data. In addition, the department's peer advisor will
evaluate some of the key items. This will give the peer advisor valuable
experience in assessing student work. Student members of the research team will
be asked each year to review and critically assess their own work and its
relevance to the department as a whole.
The tools used will be: evaluations, in-class test and writing items, interviews. As a caveat: this is a rough estimate. When it is time for the plan to be implemented, the faculty will meet with student researchers to cooperatively decide on the most appropriate methods, the implementation, and issues to be addressed.
Evaluations. The department will develop its own course
evaluation forms. These will be used in the 100 course and 2 additional courses
per year, selected on a rotating basis. This form will be primarily qualitative
and modeled on the form currently in use by Professor Chin (see attached). These
forms will ask students to assess their own progress and standing as regards the
most critical areas of our department goals, for example: the degree to which
their research and writing skills have improved, specific knowledge about
anthropological theory and/or history that has been developed, etc. This will
allow us to get a sense of the degree to which students are "picking
up" the skills and knowledge we are trying to teach them. Additional
courses selected for evaluation will be rotated so that all faculty will have
their courses included in the evaluation process, and so that courses with
geographical and topical focus will be covered as the rotation progresses. The
occasional use of evaluations in these courses will allow us to get a broader
picture of how the goals of the major are being met across our curriculum.
Potential items for inclusion:
What specific research skills did you learn in this course?
If you needed to find resources for a paper on (________) what research tools
or reference materials would you go to?
What was the most useful anthropological concept you learned in this course?
How has this course changed your thinking about (relevant
topic/subject/area)?
The department will also develop an evaluation form for majors and minors, to be
completed by graduating seniors.
In-class items. These will be used in the 100 courses and
are aimed at students who are taking core requirements. These will include
discussions of critical concepts in anthropology, major figures in the
discipline, and knowledge of selected texts. We are currently revamping our
anthropology "core pak", the common articles taught in all the 100
courses, to serve these concerns. Test items will be the same regardless of
instructor. The results of this test will not be figured into student grades,
but rather be presented to them as partial preparation for their final exam.
These will be evaluated on a 3-point scale. These are to be graded by the
department's peer advisor (who will not be a member of the research team to help
ensure objectivity). This tool is developed primarily to address major and core
goal 1.
In-class writing exercise. In the 100 class one assignment will be to read and interpret anthropologically an item of popular culture (news, film, etc). This same assignment will be given in the advanced theory class each year. Thus, this assessment tool will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the department as it relates to our college-wide goals, since 100 is our more popular course for non-majors. In addition, majors will complete this item twice, though not necessarily in the same year (in fact they are likely to complete it one, two, or three years apart, in which case their progress can be measured and compared). This will allow us to compare, to some degree, the results of majors with non-majors, and we would expect students in the advanced theory class to have more developed and nuanced understanding of the issues. These essays will be graded on the following criteria: 1) use and understanding of anthropological concepts; 2) incorporation of analysis of both text and theory; 3) quality and consistency of writing. 100 students should achieve a grade of C or better on this assignment; in the theory class, the expectation would rise to a B. These are to be graded by the department's peer advisor.
This assessment tool primarily addresses goals 1, 2,and 3 outlined above, since it: 1) asks them to apply anthropological concepts to a real world problem (major and core goal 3); 2) requires them to do so in an in-class written essay that will be evaluated for its effectiveness as a piece of writing (major and core goal 4); 3) gives students a chance to show a knowledge of theoretical and historical material ( major and core goal 1).
Research proposals/theses. To assess goal #2 for majors, we
will track the number of majors who write and submit proposals each year for
fellowships and grants, such as Richter, Watson, Fulbright, and Ford. We will
establish an archive of all proposals submitted by majors for these (and other)
fellowships where all proposals for the preceding 10 year period will be housed.
We will also document which are successful. In addition, all majors are required
to complete a research design that is in proposal format. Separate from any
course grade or comprehensives related evaluation, faculty will assign each
proposal a "fundability" score. Our goal will be to have at least 80%
of student proposals rated "fundable" once they are in their final
form. By necessity, these also address goal 1 for majors, since fundable
proposals demonstrate a broad knowledge of theoretical material, familiarity
with a geographic area, and the history of relevant ideas in anthropology.
Interviews and surveys. The student researchers will conduct
2 focus groups annually with a sample of students from courses across the
department to address issues identified by faculty and the student research
team. These wide ranging discussions will cover all goals of the department,
though in a particular year certain areas may be targeted for more in-depth
coverage.
1 year and 5 year graduates will be contacted for phone interviews and/or, email or mail surveys, focused on discussion of the ways in which what they learned at Oxy has or has not been useful and/or important in their lives after college - specifically, for example: writing skills, research skills, knowledge about multiculturalism, anthropological knowledge specifically. We will maintain records of their employment and educational pursuits after graduating. Students whose responses are particularly thoughtful will be asked if they would be willing to post an essay discussing their experiences on the department web site. (We currently have several such essays by grads in the pipeline to be posted on our website within the next couple of months.)
Feedback
The assessment tools we are putting in place are primarily qualitative, and
designed to give us information on the level and breadth of student skills and
knowledge, as well as students' own perception and experience of their education
in the department and its relevance to their lives and pursuits. In concert with
the student research team he department chair will coordinate the assessment
process and review all materials. The research team will write a yearly summary
of results, issues, and action taken. This report will be delivered to the
department before the final meeting of the year (with some parts likely in rough
form) in order for faculty to respond to issues that arise as they plan their
teaching for fall.
Each faculty member who is teaching a course being assessed by the department
in a given semester will review the assessment materials and report to the
department. In cases where student performance on test items or written items
falls short of our expectations, the department will identify issues in
teaching, materials, students, and adjust the curriculum, approach, or perhaps,
expectations accordingly. The department and research team will meet to discuss
these issues once a semester. Additional meetings may be called as necessary.
Rough yearly timetable:
September: develop evaluation forms, focus group questions, and graduate interview (research team)
October: in class essay, 100 courses and advanced theory; focus group with current students (research team)
November: evaluation of in class essays (peer advisor);
analysis and summary of focus groups material (research team); in class test.
December: evaluation of in class test (peer advisor);
collection of departmental evaluations in 100 and other courses (research team)
March: in class essay, 100 courses; interviews with 1-year and 5-year graduates (research team)
April: evaluation of in class essays (peer advisor); in class test, anthro 100; analysis of graduate interviews (research team)
May: evaluation of in class test (peer advisor); Collection and analysis of spring course evaluations (research team). Submit summary report of year's findings.