Annual Assessment Report to the College 2008-2009
College: Humanities
Department: Gender and Women's Studies
Note: Please submit report to your department chair or program coordinator and to the Associate Dean of your College. You may submit a
separate report for each program which conducted assessment activities.
Liaison: Sheena Malhotra
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?
Assessment is done in a collaborative manner in Gender and Women’s Studies. As the Assessment Liaison, I am responsible for administering
and compiling results. However, department faculty, who were teaching the areas I assessed, were helpful in terms of administering surveys,
grading papers we were looking at as well as tallying results. Other faculty helped put together the program modification proposals to change
the GWS minor to allow for a more streamlined and efficient process which enhanced student choices.
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.
I had set out to assess SLO #2 this year. The SLO states: Students will have a level of proficiency in the discipline of Gender and Women’s Studies,
including knowledge of feminist movements, feminist theories, feminist research methods and women’s contributions to the production of
different knowledges. To that end, we developed a rubric and conducted surveys in GWS 301 “Feminist Theories” and GWS 302 “Feminist
Methods.” We also assessed the final papers of students in the classes to determine their level of knowledge about the field of Gender and
Women's Studies.
In terms of changes to the minor and to the program in general, we were able to pass changes to the minor where students now have a wider
choice of classes, the minor is constructed in a more simple and accessible manner. Given the recent drop in GWS student numbers, the
department decided to change our GWS 200 and GWS 210 to better reflect the introductory matter of the courses. They have now been
changed to GWS 100 to 110.
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2. Student Learning Outcome Assessment Project: Answer questions according to the individual SLO assessed this year. If you assessed an
additional SLO, report in the next chart below.
2a. Which Student Learning Outcome was measured this year?
I measured SLO #2, which says, “Students will have a level of proficiency in the discipline of Gender and Women’s Studies, including knowledge of
feminist movements, feminist theories, feminist research methods and women’s contributions to the production of different knowledges.”
2b. What assessment instrument(s) were used to measure this SLO?
1. I developed a survey instrument that was administered to students in GWS 301 “Feminist Theories”. The survey instrument was
particular to the course, and was designed to evoke responses relevant to the SLO I was measuring.
2. We also assessed final papers from GWS 302 to measure their levels of proficiencies in feminist methods.
Together these two classes allow us to assess the level of proficiency of students in feminist theories, methods, movements, and the production
of feminist knowledge.
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.
All students in GWS 301, “Feminist Theories,” and all students in GWS 302, “Feminist Methods” were included in the study.
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.
In GWS 301 we used a sample of the whole… in the sense that all students in the class were surveyed. The survey questions include a level of
specific knowledge of feminist theories that would not be available to students who had not taken the class.
In GWS 302, we measured the same students at different time points in the class.
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2e. Assessment Results & Analysis of this SLO: Provide a summary of how the data were analyzed and highlight important findings from the
data collected.
In GWS 301 (Feminist Theories), students were surveyed at the end of the semester, asking them about their understanding of Feminist
Theories. The average score on a 4 point scale for their enhanced understanding of feminist theories was 3.33. They reported learning over six
major feminist theories and demonstrated a proficiency in being able to describe key concepts of the class.
In GWS 302 (Feminist Methods), data were gathered at the start of the semester. Students were measured on their ability to identify and state
a research problem. We found that 62.5% achieved a level of proficiency in this task, while 37.5% of the students in the class did not. At the
end of the class, data were gathered by examining completed research proposal designs that was developed by students over the course of the
semester. We found that 95% of the students were able to demonstrate a proficiency, knowledge and skills in feminist research methods.
2f. Use of Assessment Results of this SLO: Think about all the different ways the results were or will be used. 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.
The main findings of the results on SLO #2 are that GWS 301 and GWS 302 are serving the teaching of SLO #2 very well. In some ways, these
results make sense given that those two classes are most the “specific knowledge” oriented classes in the major. By that, we mean that
students learn very specific theories in GWS 301, and very specific research skills in GWS 302. Therefore, it explains the ability of students to
demonstrate proficiencies in those specific knowledge and skill sets.
We believe that these two classes can be used as a model for other classes in the major which tend to suffer from a lot of “overlap” between
them, because the ability to clearly identify and assign specific knowledge and skills we want each class to concentrate on could lead to more
clarity and better distinctions between our GE classes.
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3. How do your assessment activities connect with your department’s strategic plan?
Assessment has helped GWS get feedback on our major and minor and led to significant overhauls of both. We believe that the assessment data
we have we have gathered over the years has led to a much more streamlined major and a more flexible minor.
4. Overall, if your program assessment project evidence indicates that new resources are needed in order to support student learning,
please discuss here.
N/A
5. Other information, assessment or reflective activities not captured above.
None.
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.
No.
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