Appendix C: General Education Assessment Forms
Areas I, II, and III Essential Skills Assessment
Course Title:
Introduction to Political Ideologies
Course Number: Pols 117
Professors:
Dr. Maria Struble
This form is to be completed and submitted no later than the date that grades are due at the end of the semester.
1. Assessment of Essential Skills: REASONING1
The purpose of this form is to identify how the particular General Education essential skill of reasoning is being addressed in this GE
course, and how students’ development of reasoning skills is evaluated. In the center column, please list the learning experiences used
to foster development of reasoning skills, along with a brief description of how the learning experiences are aligned to the reasoning
indicators from the Curriculum Handbook (see table below). In the third column, please list the assessment tools used to document
evidence of student learning in this course.
Area I General Education Essential Skill:
REASONING:
Learning indicator(s) chosen:
(from attached Appendix III, 1-5, under
“reasoning”)
Student Learning Experiences and Alignment to Skill
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1
Readings are paired with comprehension as well as
analytical reasoning questions that test students’ ability
to retain and recall information as well make
connections between concepts, ideas and theories.
Students are asked to complete writing assignments on
a weekly basis that test their ability to respond to
questions on readings in a coherent, written format.
These assignments are intended to test their writing as
well as analytical/reasoning skills.
Tools Used as Evidence of Student
Learning
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Progressive in difficulty writing
assignments building on each other
Take home midterm exam (I do not
believe that learning involves
memorization but critical thinking
and evaluation and thus, I provide
my students the opportunity to
complete most of their assignment
with the help of all their materials).
My midterm exams demands that
For the academic year of 2011-2012, the Assessment Committee asks that faculty members assess the common essential skill of reasoning. For information on
this essential skill, see the attached Appendix III from the Curriculum Handbook. For a template for assessment of key assignments, see the “Critical Thinking”
rubric at:
\\wsc-srv\Assessment\Assessment Committee\VALUE rubrics.
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Oral discussions in class initiated by the instructor aim
at encouraging students to present arguments
accompanied by sound proof and ample textual
reference
Several in-class assignments require students to
evaluate each other’s work, provide constructive
criticism and, in turn, be able to incorporate these in
their own final writing assignment.
Students are asked to compose thesis and outline
assignments on a sample question provided by the
instructor in an effort to give them the opportunity to
practice making connections between ideas and
concepts engaged in class. These require students to
recall as well as critically analyze information and, in
turn, present it in a well-written, succinct, pointed way.
Students are required to complete a take-home midterm
exam consisting entirely of essay questions, aimed at
testing their ability to identify, analyze and critique
information beyond mere recollection.
Students discuss works of fiction and film by making
direct connections to relevant class material. This tests
their ability to think about political science through
different modalities of engagement with the discipline.
Students complete several compare/contrast writing
assignments as part their homework in an effort to
strengthen their logical, analytical and critical
reasoning skills, as well teach them to make
connections between disparate ideas and concepts.
Students build skills throughout the semester aimed
toward the completion of a short writing assignment,
aimed entirely at critical thinking and the development
of their reasoning, evaluative skills.
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students show good knowledge of
complex ideas and concepts and
the connections between them.
In-class final exam in pairs
(students are allowed to converse
and consult each other)
Mock debates on topics relevant to
current US politics
In class quiz and short writing
assignments
Student led class discussions (in an
effort to encourage students to selfteach)
Short paper entirely based on
critical evaluation of material
Assessment of Essential Skills
Reflecting on the essential skill of reasoning from the previous page, please complete the following:
A. Please explain how one of the learning experiences and assessment tools listed above creates opportunities for students to demonstrate the essential
skill.
1.
Here is one of the possible topics for the students’ short paper assignment: “If you were faced with a government that you felt was tyrannical and
oppressive of your personal freedoms, what would you do to change it? I want you to write a letter to a government representative you feel can address
your grievances by stating what they are and by supporting your position by referring to the work of at least two of the theorists studied in class. In a
word, do not opinionate or rant against the government – but express your ideas in a constructive and poignant way, or nobody will read your letter. It
would help if you could enumerate the specific grievances you have against your government first, before critiquing it. This paper will require outside
research.”
This assignment requires students to think about material studied in class and apply it to their perception and understanding of current political systems,
most notably ones in the United States. Students are not only required to refer to material studied in class, but they are also required to pick relevant
materials out of all theorists engaged in class, which demands that they clearly evaluate and understand the connections between the question above and
the ideas contained in each theorist’s work. I purposely do not specify material they are to engage in an effort to force them to make as many and as
varied connections between class material and what they understand “tyrannical government” to mean, thus also requiring them to think outside the box
of strict definitions and/or facts. Thus, in a way, this paper requires that they think for themselves and make their own choice about how to go about
completing the assignment. All I ask is that they support their statements and provide as much evidence for their arguments as possible, thus also asking
that they use social science methods. They are also asked to apply a certain level of creativity and strategic thinking in completing this assignment. A
good answer to the question will take into account the thought of various theorists studied in class, relate that to “tyranny” and make connections
between the two while also incorporating in their answer outside research related to relevant US political issues and politicians – which most students
have very poor knowledge of to begin with. The student would also employ good writing style, meet requirements for writing an official letter as well
as present their ideas in a coherent, critical and easy to follow way, without sacrificing depth of engagement. A poor answer would meet none of the
criteria above and, what is more, consist mostly of opinion, rant-like statements and very little to no engagement with readings. In the end, my aim in
asking this question is to teach and encourage students to develop critical citizenship skills and potentially inspire them to use them in their life after
College.
B. For the essential skill indicator and assessment tool identified in A, what does the faculty consider to be an acceptable level of performance? (Please include
grading criteria, a narrative, and if appropriate an example of corresponding student work in electronic form.)
1. Since this is a GE level course comprised of students directly interested in political science as well as of student having little direct interest in the
subject, it is important for me to keep in mind that the students’ overall performance will differ from individual to individual much more than in an
upper level class. The class has students of all different levels of engagement, comprehension, reading, reasoning and writing skills and my students
vary from freshmen all the way to senior and post-degree students. As an instructor, it is important for me to keep in mind that I will not be able to
“grab” every single student and that my goal in the course is not to make all of them into Political Science majors. However, I also take my
responsibility as their Politics and Government instructor very seriously and challenge them daily beyond their comfort levels. Sometimes I succeed and
sometimes, I don’t. Thus, in an effort to keep students engaged in the course, I provide them with opportunities to improve their writing, analytical,
comprehension and speaking skills while at the same time, doing this in the context of a discussion on political science.
2. I provide the students with lowest grades on papers the opportunity to re-write them, thus rewarding them to their effort and desire to improve rather
than punishing them for a finished product of not so great a quality
3. I meet with students before exams for study group sessions which have proved to be greatly successful and have, on the whole, improved student grades
4. I cannot ascertain what an “acceptable level of performance” means really. I do not consider my students to be all the same and so, while C for one
student might be a terrible grade, it could be great improvement for another student. Though I am asked to provide some acceptable performance level
criteria, I am really unable to do so. What I can say, however, is that by the end of my class, most students enrolled in it write better and are also able to
improve their reading comprehension quite substantively. Does this help them in classes related to their majors, I cannot say, but since this is a liberal
arts institution, I consider a student with good writing, speaking, comprehension and analytical tools to be generally better prepared to succeed than a
student without these skills.
5. All my assignments are specific, with clear instructions and deadlines. Students are encouraged to talk to me at all times and I have been able to clear
difficulties for them on more than one occasion.
I attach two documents at the end of this report: one is a grading rubric and the other is my short paper assignment. I trust they will provide you with
some more specific insights into the nature of my assignments as well as the criteria that guide and inform my grading.
C. For the essential skill indicator and assessment tool identified in A, what did the performance level of students reveal regarding students’
demonstration of reasoning skills?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students have some difficulty understanding how the issues discussed in class impact other disciplines and areas of their life (and society)
Students have some difficulty recognizing a problem, finding questions about the problem, and identifying arguments about the problem, though this
gets better toward the end of the course (see changes to be applied below by way of addressing this)
Students do a good job, for the most past, using appropriate methods of reasoning to state and support a position and to recognize other points of view,
though students will like top opinionate more than state fact and have trouble writing in good English. Their comprehension of the relationship between
quotes, facts, arguments and opinion seems to be somewhat muddled and takes a lot of effort to clarify.
Students are usually quite successful in identifying and considering other points of view, but I also work on that skill in every class period.
Students have some trouble drawing conclusions based on reliable information and evidence though for the most part, they do a good job of identifying
common ideas and threads and might sometimes have trouble combining their ideas into a comprehensible thought. I have observed this problem with
most incoming freshmen and have found it to be almost non-existent with upper level Politics and Government majors (I cannot speak for other
disciplines) which indicates that within the program, we work hard to provide our students with the tools and opportunities to practice their reasoning,
deductive, inductive and critical skills.
3. Overall, how will the discipline faculty consider changing the course given the information and analyses above?
I have to admit that this is one of the most difficult courses I teach here. This is mostly because every semester the students are vastly
different and, as I continue to make changes to the course as a result of past experiences, I find that this does not always make a
difference for the particular class of students I am engaging with. In a word, some students like homeworks and find that they make
them work harder, others do to. Some students find that quizzes force them to read, others do not at all. Some students like take-
home exams, others hate them, and the list goes on and on. Since my positive and effective engagement with this particular course is
largely dependent on student responsiveness and enthusiasm, I cannot ignore their specific requests for teaching methods that are
effective. And yet, every semester brings with it new challenges, new students and I have found that the changes I make every single
semester (based on evaluations and conversations with students), do not always work very well. So, in an effort to create a class that
is more coherent and builds, rather than deletes, on experience from past semesters, I have resolved to implement the following
changes for the Spring 2012 semester:
 Change some of the readings students do in order to make them easier for students to digest (believe it or not, a two page
reading can sometimes be challenging)
o I am not sure this will actually encourage students to do their readings, but I will also implement a reward system for
that
 Make sure students complete various reading assignments (from summary, to question response, to question write-up, to quote
comment) so that they can engage the readings in different ways and thus, develop their reasoning and comprehension skills.
This relates to point C.2 above and I believe it might help students become better readers as well as critical thinkers
 Provide student with more opportunities to make connections between the material engaged in class and their life outside the
College.
o I am putting together several service learning opportunities for students in hopes that these will engage them with the
community and take Political Science outside the classroom and to the world, which it directs and shapes.
 Provide students with more opportunities to interact with librarians and library resources
On the whole, I feel like I am an engaging and successful instructor and that I deal with the challenges a GE course offers by speaking
with colleagues from my as well as other discipline. While I do find teaching this course to be challenging, I also appreciate the
opportunity to engage students and interest them in Political Science. I am particularly glad to have the opportunity to work with
Heather Thiessen-Reily, the new GE coordinator, which hopefully will help systematize and create a vision for what the GE program
should look like in the future. I welcome any feedback you might have that would help me become a better instructor and build a
more engaging and collaborative classroom experience for everybody.
Domain
Thesis
Grading Scale
Unacceptable
Weak
The paper does not have a thesis or clear
The paper has evidence that
indication of what it is about. Evidence
could be developed into a
supporting the thesis is also missing.
vague thesis.
Citation
throughout
paper
The paper does not cite sources and/or it
has no Works Cited Page (0pts)
Introduction
/conclusion
The paper does not have an introductory
or a concluding paragraph.
Bibliography
The paper does not have a work cited
page.
Sentence level
errors
Multiple sentence-level errors that
impede meaning.
Coherence/Stru
cture
The paper is so disorganized that it lacks
meaning
Analysis and
Intellectual Risk
The paper is largely summary, does not
engage with readings, seriously misreads
texts, or takes them out of context. It
fails to respond to the essay question. It
reports rather than analyzes.
The paper cites sources with
difficulty and fails to
demonstrate that the student
understands where citation is
necessary.
The paper has an
introduction/conclusion that is
very rough.
The paper has a work cited
page that is incomplete or has
major errors.
Multiple sentence-level errors
that impede meaning but most
errors are patterns.
The paper is disorganized, but
contains some meaning
The paper is largely summary
with one or two moments of
analysis. It fails to select
appropriate passages seriously,
misreads them, or takes them
out of context. Connections
between ideas lack meaning.
Acceptable
The paper has a thesis, but evidence
and thesis do not match all the time or
the paper works toward a thesis but
does not articulate it clearly
throughout.
The paper uses some citation, though
with minor difficulty that may contain
errors in form.
Strong
The paper has a thesis with evidence that supports it
most of the time. An A paper does so all of the time.
The paper’s introduction and
conclusion meet the basic criteria for
an acceptable opening and closing to a
paper.
The work cited page is incomplete
and/or has small errors.
The paper has a coherent introduction and conclusion
that addresses the argument and sets up/concludes the
discussion in a thoughtful, concise and eloquent way.
Sentence level errors, for the most
part, do not impede meaning.
Some sentence-level errors that do not impede
meaning. An A paper has little sentence-level errors.
The paper creates coherent
relationship between paragraphs, but
still has basic organizational problems
The paper demonstrates coherence in its overall
organization, but may demonstrate disorganization
where student taken intellectual risks. An A paper
demonstrates coherence in its overall structure
The paper contains mostly analysis with little
summary. It demonstrates selection of key terms and
passages from readings that support and extend
analysis. An A paper demonstrates intellectual risk
by analyzing difficult ideas and making connections
between them.
The paper has more frequent moments
of analysis, but still contains more
summary than necessary. It
demonstrates selection of key
passages, but the analysis is weak.
The paper makes obvious connections
between ideas and readings.
One quality of the paper I found interesting:
One suggestion I have for improving the paper:
Other:
Dr. Struble’s most common abbreviations when commenting:
“WC” - your word choice is inappropriate or incorrect. Ex: using colloquial expressions in formal writing
“Explain” - the idea is unclear and needs a sentence or two more from you to back it up and show why it is so
“Support/Example” - student needs to cite or refer to primary material to back up and explain idea
“P” - new paragraph, please!
“SS” - single space (usually relates to longer block quotations that need to be single, not double, spaced)
“Tense” – grammatical tenses are incorrect or/and not consistently used throughout the paragraph
“Grammar” – your grammar is incorrect
“Fragment” – The sentence is a fragment, that is, either a subject or a verb (or both) is missing.
“Punctuation” – your punctuation is incorrect: too many commas, not enough commas, etc.
The paper uses citation correctly in form and
frequency.
The work cited page is done correctly and lists all
sources.
Pols 117
Essay topics
-
Double spaced, black ink, consistent format
1 inch margins
3 pages in length, excluding title and bibliography pages
Bibliography page must consist of at least three printed sources or no credit
Title page must include paper title, course name, your name, date (not counted toward required length)
-
I will not accept e-mailed papers under any circumstances.
Due Nov 21st
If you do not refer to readings done for class and/or your outside research by providing quotations, frequent examples and
textual analysis, you will receive at most C on your paper. Wikipedia, dictionary.com, sparknote and other such “brilliant”
sources of information will not be considered legitimate and will reflect negatively on the overall quality of the paper. As
always, do not turn papers that make you look like you do not know the English grammar at all, this will make me especially
grumpy and will also leave your grade in the C range.
IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM ASKING FOR IN THE QUESTION OF YOUR CHOICE, TALK TO ME
FIRST BEFORE PROCEEDING TO MAKE UP STUFF! THIS WILL IMPROVE YOUR GRADE, MY MOOD AND YOUR
OVERALL EXPERIENCE WITH THIS CLASS! I AM HERE TO HELP!!
2. Explain Marxism according to Marx (first half of paper). Make sure you point out at least four important points Marx makes
in his writings. Then, critique Marx from the point of view of two of the ideologies studied in class so far (1 pg each). In
answering this question, you need to be as specific as possible in your criticism and provide a very close reading of both
Marxism and its critics. This paper does not require outside research, but close reading of texts.
3. Pick one of the following ideologies studied in class so far (Welfare Liberalism, Neo-classical liberalism, Classical
Conservatism, Neo-Conservatism, Libertarian Anarchism, Communism, Fascism, and Anarchism (specify theorist(s)).
Explain what the ideology stands for. Then, find one real-world example/policy/law from current US or world politics that
supports/follows/exemplifies the beliefs of this ideology and one that does not. This paper will require that you do outside
research and provide evidence by referring to sources as often as possible.
4. How would Marx critique the current economic, political and cultural system(s) in the United States? In this essay, you will
need to begin with a very short intro of Marx and then pick several issues from current US politics/economics/culture to focus
on. This paper will require outside research. Be sure to refer to sources as often as possible.
5. If you could re-write Marxism, how would you do it? I will not accept opinionated rants as responses. The best way to go
about answering this question would be to pick several main points within Marxism, explain them and then change something
about them. Explain what the end goal of these changes is and what you are trying to accomplish with them. Try and provide
some working examples from the US whenever possible. This paper will require that you do some outside research.
6. What would conservatives (specify which ones you are talking about) say about two of the following five contentious issues in
American Politics today: progressive income tax, abortion, gun ownership, gay and lesbian marriage, euthanasia, and
censorship. In answering this question, I want you to be as specific as possible based on the readings done in class (with
reference to authors, their works, etc.). Then, I want you to briefly pick one of the two issues and tell me what the current
debate in US politics regarding this issue is (with reference to court cases, newspaper and other articles, laws). This will
require that you do some outside research.
7. Marxism and Leninism especially talk about inequalities extending beyond the domestic realm. Briefly explain where
Marxism sees these inequalities to originate and unfold. Then, pick an international example of inequality and tell me what
you think Marx would say about it nature and effects. This means you will have to give a brief background on the issue of
your choice before you proceed to analyze it from a Marxist point of view. This paper requires outside research.
8. If you were faced with a government that you felt was tyrannical and oppressive of your personal freedoms, what would you
do to change it? I want you to write a letter to a government representative you feel can address your grievances by stating
what they are and by supporting your position by referring to the work of at least two of the theorists studied in class. In a
word, do not simply opinionate and rant against the government – but do it in a constructive and poignant way, or nobody will
read your letter. It would help if you could enumerate the specific grievances you have against your government first, before
critiquing it. This paper will require outside research.
9. If there is anything else you would rather write on, check with me first.