The team also designed a pre- and post-survey to assess student motivation in the GE section. This indirect method of assessment was implemented with much input from WASC workshops which Beth Lasky and Anu Thakur attended. Using the IDEA student motivation survey, the faculty developed a short pre-survey to be administered in their classes at the start of the semester essentially asking students for their motivation for selecting this GE course in the section and their expectations of the course. The survey administered at the end of the semester asked students about how their experience with the course material aligned with their expectations and how the course impacted their perceptions about the topic (see Appendix C). The survey was administered in Spring 2014 and results analyzed in Spring 2015. The preliminary data analysis from the is included in Appendix D. There are some significant findings to note from this survey about student motivation as well as the impact of taking the course on student attitudes about the overarching concept of Comparative Cultural Studies. Significant Findings The data from rubric rankings, although lacking heavily in interrater reliability, indicates that students perform well on the five criteria – reflection, empathy, observation, knowledge, writing and organization (a significant number of the ratings are between 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-4). In the absence of interrater reliability the team never reached the stage of identifying benchmarks and evaluating whether they are satisfied with students’ performance on each criterion. The survey of students regarding their motivation for taking the GE course provided good insights into student opinions and attitudes. The start-of-semester survey, although clearly has many idealistic responses from students, gives insights about the reasons students select a particular GE course to satisfy the requirement, and the survey explores students’ opinions of the course and its content. Of note is that over 84% students indicated they were glad they took the course and an even greater number noted that they have developed greater appreciation for people from different cultures. Dissemination and Take-aways The team presented their direct assessment work at the WASC ARC 2014 held in Los Angeles, CA; GE Rubric/Assessment at CSUN: Starting Small and Scaling Up. This was also presented at the CSUN Annual Assessment Retreat in May 2013. In Fall 2013, the team focused on disseminating the rubric they had created across campus. Beth Lasky approached all department chairs across campus to request time at their faculty meetings to present this rubric. The idea was that if the rubric could be widely adopted for the evaluation of reflection assignments across campus, a
The team also designed a pre- and post-survey to assess student motivation in the GE section. This indirect method of assessment was implemented with much input from WASC workshops which Beth Lasky and Anu Thakur attended. Using the IDEA student motivation survey, the faculty developed a short pre-survey to be administered in their classes at the start of the semester essentially asking students for their motivation for selecting this GE course in the section and their expectations of the course. The administered at the end of the semester asked students about how their experience with the course material aligned with their expectations and how the course impacted their perceptions about the topic (see Appendix C). The survey was administered in Spring 2014 and results analyzed in Spring 2015. The preliminary data analysis from the survey is included in Appendix D. There are some significant findings to note from this survey about student motivation as well as the impact of taking the course on student attitudes about the overarching concept of Comparative Cultural Studies. Significant Findings The data from rubric rankings, although lacking heavily in interrater reliability, indicates that students perform well on the five criteria – reflection, empathy, observation, knowledge, writing and organization (a significant number of the ratings are between 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-4). In the absence of interrater reliability the team never reached the stage of identifying benchmarks and evaluating whether they are satisfied with students’ performance on each criterion. The survey of students regarding their motivation for taking the GE course provided good insights into student opinions and attitudes. The start-of-semester survey, although clearly has many idealistic responses from students, gives insights about the reasons students select a particular GE course to satisfy the requirement, and the survey explores students’ opinions of the course and its content. Of note is that over 84% students indicated they were glad they took the course and an even greater number noted that they have developed greater appreciation for people from different cultures. Dissemination and Take-aways The team presented their direct assessment work at the WASC ARC 2014 held in Los Angeles, CA; GE Rubric/Assessment at CSUN: Starting Small and Scaling Up. This was also presented at the CSUN Annual Assessment Retreat in May 2013. In Fall 2013, the team focused on disseminating the rubric they had created across campus. Beth Lasky approached all department chairs across campus to request time at their faculty meetings to present this rubric. The idea was that if the rubric could be widely adopted for the evaluation of reflection assignments across campus, a