Annual Assessment Report to the College 2010-11
College:
MCCAMC
Department:
MUSIC
Program:
UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE PROGRAMS
Note: Please submit your report to (1) the director of academic assessment, (2) your department chair or program coordinator and (3) the
Associate Dean of your College by September 30, 2011. You may submit a separate report for each program which conducted assessment
activities.
Liaison:
DIANE ROSCETTI
1. Overview of Annual Assessment Project(s)
1a. Assessment Process Overview: Provide a brief overview of the intended plan to assess the program this year. Is assessment under the
oversight of one person or a committee?
Our goal for this past academic year was to finish a complete overhaul of all of our undergraduate and graduate SLOs, to get them published
in the current catalog, to get more faculty involved in the process, to require option coordinators to work with the faculty in their areas to
redo all course alignment charts for every course taught, to tie our new SLOs into strategic planning processes, and to stress the importance
of integration of assessment into all that we do on a regular basis. This to us meant goals of using assessment results to make our program
better, to change curriculum when needed, to inspire strategic/creative changes, and to increase effective student learning that prepares our
graduates to be more cross disciplinary and ready for the realities of making a living in this profession.
1b. Implementation and Modifications: Did the actual assessment process deviate from what was intended? If so, please describe any
modification to your assessment process and why it occurred.
The actual assessment process did not deviate from what was intended, except to add to our initial plans the creation of a new 5 year plan.
This included our college’s gateway/capstone requirements and increased assessment activities projected, to include more courses, all new
SLOs and both the undergraduate and graduate programs on a more regular basis. We also created an ad hoc committee to work on this,
consisting of the liaison, the head of Music Industry Studies, and most recently a new faculty member interested in assessment.
OUR NEW FIVE YEAR PLAN IS ATTACHED, AS WELL AS NEW COURSE ALIGNMENT CHARTS FOR 15 DIFFERENT AREAS IN OUR DEPARTMENT
AND ALL OF OUR NEWLY PUBLISHED UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE SLOS.
July 18, 2011, Bonnie Paller
2. Student Learning Outcome Assessment Project: Answer questions according to the individual SLOs assessed this year. If you assessed more
than one SLO, please duplicate this chart for each one as needed.
2a. Which Student Learning Outcome was assessed this year?
As explained above, we had to overhaul everything. This resulted in SLOs that fit new curriculum much better, in particular our business
related courses. Further, it addressed deficiencies in our pedagogical areas of teaching. Most importantly, it started our greatest number of
program modifications & curriculum proposals, many of them currently in the pipeline at the university. Our biggest changes occurred in
conjunction with our national accreditor concerns, with our graduate program showing the greatest need for revisions on many different
levels.
2b. What assessment instrument(s) were used to gather evidence about this SLO?
Explained above.
2c. Describe the participants sampled to assess this SLO: discuss sample/participant and population size for this SLO. For example, what type of
students, which courses, how decisions were made to include certain participants.
Explained above.
2d. Describe the assessment design methodology: For example, was this SLO assessed longitudinally (same students at different points) or was
a cross-sectional comparison used (comparing freshmen with seniors)? If so, describe the assessment points used.
Explained above.
2e. Assessment Results & Analysis of this SLO: Provide a summary of how the evidence was analyzed and highlight important findings from the
collected evidence.
Explained above.
July 18, 2011, Bonnie Paller
2f. Use of Assessment Results of this SLO: Think about all the different ways the resulting evidence was or will be used to improve academic
quality. For example, to recommend changes to course content/topics covered, course sequence, addition/deletion of courses in program,
student support services, revisions to program SLO’s, assessment instruments, academic programmatic changes, assessment plan changes, etc.
Please provide a clear and detailed description of how the assessment results were or will be used.
Our department curriculum committee has discussed and processed a lot of course and program modification proposals, in conjunction with
our assessment discussions, to more accurately reflect current and futures work. We have proposed a new graduate pedagogy course; we are
proposing a new graduate collaborative piano program; we made several major changes in our music education program; we made changes
in policy & student contact time in a major portion of our small ensemble program; we started changes in our graduate comprehensive exam
policies; we required SLO inclusion on all syllabi and got the message out to all faculty prior to classes starting this fall; we included
assessment discussions in more faculty meetings on a regular basis; we made feedback from option coordinators easier to give on new matrix
sheets; we actively supported current business classes in music to include discussions in 3 different options wanting to do program mods to
require a course actively using a new business SLO; we included outcomes to show rudimentary capability to create derivative music both
extemporaneously and in written form; we implemented plans for improvement in improvisation, conducting and all Musicianship course
outcomes; and we elected to drop two current options within our degree programs…the masters program in music ed and the piano
pedagogy program.
OUR NEW FIVE YEAR PLAN THAT IS ATTACHED INCLUDES COURSES AND SLOS TO BE ASSESSED EVERY FALL AND SPRING, INCLUDING OUR
COLLEGE’S GATEWAY/CAPSTONE CONCEPT WHICH WILL ENABLE BROADER PROGRAMMATIC OVERVIEW AND RESULTS.
3. How do this year’s assessment activities connect with your program’s strategic plan and/or 5-yr assessment plan?
Explained above.
4. Overall, if this year’s program assessment evidence indicates that new resources are needed in order to improve and support student
learning, please discuss here.
Not Applicable, because we have balanced dropping some things with adding others.
July 18, 2011, Bonnie Paller
5. Other information, assessment or reflective activities not captured above.
Not Applicable
6. Has someone in your program completed, submitted or published a manuscript which uses or describes assessment activities in your
program? Please provide citation or discuss.
Not Applicable
July 18, 2011, Bonnie Paller