Assessment Report for Associate s and Bachelor s Degrees in Psychology

Transcription

1 Assessment Report for Associate s and Bachelor s Degrees in Psychology A.A. Degree In , eleven students completed e A.A. degree in Psychology. Two students have indicated intentions to continue toward bachelor s degrees at IPFW, one in Psychology (also double-majoring in Anropology) and e oer in Human Services. Of e eight students not continuing on, four also received anoer degree (i.e., B.A., B.S., or A.S.) from anoer program (i.e., Speech and Hearing, Biology, Chemistry, Political Science). The intentions of our 11 A.A. degree recipient are not known. The above students were ed a request to complete our online A.A. exit questionnaire. A second request was delivered to em personally by a professor in whose class ey were enrolled during eir last semester; a final was sent, again asking em to complete e questionnaire. Of e eleven students, ree completed e questionnaire (27%). Our goals for e associate degree are for students to learn basic content in child, social, and abnormal psychology, and to assist em in deciding eir future educational goals. Our exit questionnaire measures eir knowledge of content in ese areas and asks em how e A.A. degree assisted em in deciding eir future educational goals. The ree students who responded indicated at ey possessed basic knowledge about child, social, and abnormal psychology. One student stated at e A.A. degree helped e student achieve his or her future educational goals (which was e A.A. degree). Two said ey hoped e A.A. degree would be helpful to em in e future; one said Hopefully e A.A. instead of just a minor will help me when applying to grad schools next fall. That student did not indicate what kind of graduate programs to which he or she intended to apply. None of e exit questionnaire respondents indicated intention to complete e B.A. degree in Psychology. Findings and Conclusions (Associate s Degree) Alough very few students pursue e associate s degree in psychology, for some, obtaining e A.A. degree is eir educational goal. It appears at our associate s degree program is meeting its goals. Responses and Actions for Continuous Improvement (Associate s Degree) The associate s degree program in psychology seems to be meeting a need for a small number of students. We have no suggestions for improvement. B.A. Degree The Psychology Department Assessment Plan spreads e administration and analysis of e assessment measures over a ree-year period, wi a subset of measures being examined each year. This year we will be reporting on one measure, e psychology department exit exam.

2 Psychology Department Assessment Report Page 2 Assessment Instruments Scheduled in : The Exit Exam The Psychology Department has used The Major Field Test in Psychology (MFT) as our exit exam since Fall, The MFT is constructed and scored by e Educational Testing Service (ETS). This assessment instrument measures content knowledge in psychology, and as such, is a direct measure of students content knowledge in psychology (goals 1 and 2 in our mission and goals statement: knowledge of e major eoretical approaches, findings, and historical trends in psychology, and knowledge of research meods). The MFT is a nationally-normed test; e national norms (i.e., percentiles of departments mean scores) allow us to compare our departmental mean scores wi ose of all of e psychology departments at also administer e MFT (N= 332). Additionally, departments may request a customized report at allows for e comparison of our departmental average score (again, percentiles) to ose of psychology departments of comparable institutions. Our comparative sample for is assessment report comprised e 19 institutions listed in Table 1 below: Table 1 IPFW s Strategic Planning Peers Oer Indiana Institutions Oer Regional State Institutions University of Central Oklahoma Soueastern Louisiana University Ball State University Indiana University Kokomo Indiana University Sou Bend University of Sou Indiana Black Hills State University Central Michigan University East Tennessee State University Georgia Souwestern State University Kennesaw State University Minot State University Norern Arizona University Norwest Missouri State University Truman State University University of Central Arkansas Missouri Western State College SUNY College Cortland University of Michigan Flint In addition to an overall test score, four subscores reflecting knowledge in specific content areas are also available: Learning & Cognition, Perception, Sensory, & Physiology, Clinical, Abnormal, & Personality, and Developmental & Social. Additionally, reports for six assessment indicators are provided for e purposes of program outcomes assessment as follows: 1. Memory & Thinking; 2. Sensory & Physiology; 3. Developmental; 4. Clinical & Abnormal; 5. Social; and 6. Measurement & Meodology.

3 Psychology Department Assessment Report Page 3 Since our last report on e exit exam(i.e., at e end of e academic year), e MFT has been completed by 114 students, distributed in e academic years as shown below in Table 2: Table 2 Academic Year Number of Students Total 114 We continue to observe at students overall MFT score is significantly correlated wi eir GPA (r(114) =.62, p <.01). Not surprisingly, students wi higher GPAs tend to score higher on e MFT an do students wi lower GPAs. The average overall score for e most recent sample (i.e., Fall 2007-Spring 2010) as well as e four subscores (i.e., Learning & Cognition, Perception, Sensory, & Physiology, Clinical, Abnormal, & Personality, Developmental & Social) are presented in Table 1, along wi e average scores for e two previous ree-year periods (i.e., Fall 2004-Spring 2007, Fall Spring 2004). Also presented in at table are e percentile ranks of each score, as compared to department means in e national normative sample, and for e special comparison sample. (Note: normative data are not included for e cohort, as e meod of norming en used by ETS differs from e meod now in use since February, 2005). Averaged over e last ree years, our students mean total score was at e 80 percentile for departments nationally. Wi respect to e average subscores, our students have consistently scored better an 75% of students taking e exam nationwide. These findings essentially duplicate e ones we have observed and reported previously. Once again, our students compare favorably to e special comparison group. Our department mean total score is at e 85 percentile of e department mean scores for e special comparison group, and at e 80 percentile or better for e subscores. Compared to students at comparable universities, our students performance is very good.

4 Table 3 Psychology Department Assessment Report Page (n =128) (n = 169) (n = 114) MFT Total Score National %tile Comp Grp %tile Learning & Cognition Subscore National %tile Comp Grp %tile Perception, Sensory, & Physiology Subscore National %tile Comp Grp %tile Clinical, Abnormal, & Personality Subscore National %tile Comp Grp %tile Developmental & Social Subscore National %tile Comp Grp %tile We also compared e department means to national norms for e six assessment indicators (see Table 4). It is reasonable to take e 50 percentile as a benchmark, indicating at our department s performance would be at least as good as at of 50% of e national sample or e special comparison group. Our department scores were consistently above is standard for bo comparison groups. In fact, all of our indicators for e two time periods for which normative data are available show at our department performed better an at least 65% of departments across e country. Additionally, our departmental performance for e current time frame (i.e., ) has increased since on ree indicators (Memory & Thinking, Sensory & Physiology, and Social). When compared to departments at comparable institutions, our departmental performance is even stronger. Overall, ese assessment indicators demonstrate very good performance.

5 Table 4 Assessment Indicator Psychology Department Assessment Report Page 5 Scores and percentiles based on national norms* and as compared to our special comparison group norms** Memory & Thinking Sensory & Physiology Developmental Clinical & Abnormal Social Measurement & Meodology Note: Because a different norming meod was in use by ETS for e years, we chose to omit e norm comparisons for at cohort. *The national norms (Feb 2005-June 2009) are in e second row of each cell, below e score for each indicator **The special comparison group norms (Feb 2005-June 2009)are in e ird row in each cell of e table Thus, ese most recent data from our exit exam, e Major Field Test in Psychology, echo e findings we reported in 2007: The assessment indicators show at our students performance has been consistently above national averages, across e various areas assessed. II. Findings and Conclusions (Bachelor s Degree) Our students are doing well on e Major Field Test, a nationally-normed exit exam in psychology. No particular area appears to be consistently weaker an any oer area. This year we requested a special comparison sample of institutions which we felt were a good comparison to our student population. The initial comparison institutions were selected if ey were on e list of ose using e MFT in Psychology, and were among our strategic planning

6 Psychology Department Assessment Report Page 6 peer institutions (see e list in any recent copy of e Strategic Planning Reports), or if ey were among e regional state institutions in Indiana. This group included six institutions, but we were permitted to select 19 institutions for our comparison sample. The oer 13 institutions were selected from regional state institutions from across e United States, largely, but not exclusively, from e Midwest. As compared to is special comparison group, our students fared even better an ey did as compared to national norms, and again no area appeared to be significantly weaker an any oer area. These results lead us to conclude at e department is doing a very effective job in educating our majors in content knowledge in e discipline. They perform very well as compared to e normative comparison groups on e Major Field Test. III. Responses and Actions for Continuous Improvement (Bachelor s Degree) Given at is year s report based on e Major Field Test again highlights our students strong performance, we have no suggestions for improvement. Next year s report will be based on e alumni survey and an abbreviated version of our survey of majors (bo of which are being administered as part of our program review process), and we may have suggestions for improvement based on ose metrics en. We have decided to report on e assessment of senior papers e following year (i.e., 11-12). Report prepared by: Psychology Department Assessment Committee (Blakemore, Drouin, Lawton, Vartanian, Yoder) Lesa Rae Vartanian, Chair Approved by e Psychology Department, September 29, 2010

7 Assessment Report for Associate s and Bachelor s Degrees in Psychology ADDENDUM Our annual assessment report was drafted and approved by e department on 9/29/10. Thus, we are attaching e following addendum in response to e from e COAS Assessment Committee dated 10/7/10, which requested e inclusion of 6 key elements in at report. The key elements requested are largely present in e report already, but for clarity s sake we will address each one, point by point: List e learning goals and outcomes of e department/program and state e criteria for determining wheer e outcome has been achieved (e.g., 70% of our students are expected to meet is outcome); The learning goals for e B.A. program in Psychology are stated in our Assessment Plan. They are as follows: Upon successful completion of e B.A. program, students will demonstrate... G1....knowledge of e major eoretical approaches, findings, and historical trends in psychology. G2....e ability to understand e major research meods in psychology, including eical standards, design, data analysis, and interpretation. G3....e ability to ink critically and to use e scientific approach to understanding behavior. G4....e ability to apply concepts, information, and skills learned in psychology courses to eir lives and work. G5....e ability to effectively locate and evaluate sources of information. G6....e ability to express emselves effectively in e discourse of e discipline. G7....e ability to understand people from a diverse range of backgrounds and varying demographic characteristics such as age, race, disability, sexual orientation, class, enicity, religion, and cognitive abilities. G8....e ability to make decisions about future employment or graduate education. The above learning goals are assessed via multiple measures (e.g., The Major Field Test [MFT] in Psychology, Paper Assessments, Survey of Current Majors, Survey of Alumni), and us e criteria we use to determine wheer e outcome has been achieved vary. On e MFT, we look for average scores in e different content areas at are above e 50 percentile in national norms and in a special, peer institution comparison sample. For e Paper Assessments we look for ratings of satisfactory or better on our paper rubric. For items on our surveys, we look for look for high average ratings at indicate our students believe e program goals have been achieved. Indicate how e goals and outcomes reflect e baccalaureate framework; The table below shows how e PSY B.A. Learning Goals align wi e elements of e IPFW baccalaureate framework:

8 Baccalaureate Framework Element Acquisition of Knowledge: Students will demonstrate bread of knowledge across disciplines and dep of knowledge in eir chosen discipline. In order to do so, students must demonstrate e requisite information seeking skills and technological competencies. Application of Knowledge: Students will demonstrate e ability to integrate and apply at knowledge, and, in so doing, demonstrate e skills necessary for life-long learning. Personal and Professional Values: Students will demonstrate e highest levels of personal integrity and professional eics. A Sense of Community: Students will demonstrate e knowledge and skills necessary to be productive and responsible citizens and leaders in local, regional, national, and international communities. In so doing, students will demonstrate a commitment to free and open inquiry and mutual respect across multiple cultures and perspectives. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Students will demonstrate facility and adaptability in eir approach to problem solving. In so doing, students will demonstrate critical inking abilities and familiarity wi quantitative and qualitative reasoning. Communication: Students will demonstrate e written, oral, and multimedia skills necessary to communicate effectively in diverse settings. PSY B.A. Learning Goals (G1) Students will demonstrate knowledge of e major eoretical approaches, findings, and historical trends in psychology. (G2) Students will demonstrate e ability to understand and use e major research meods in psychology, including eical standards, design, data analysis, and interpretation. (G4) Students will demonstrate e ability to apply concepts, information, and skills learned in psychology courses to eir lives and work. (G5) Students will demonstrate e ability to effectively locate and evaluate sources of information. (G7) Students will demonstrate e ability to understand people from a diverse range of backgrounds and varying demographic characteristics such as age, race, disability, sexual orientation, class, enicity, religion, and cognitive abilities. (G2) Students will demonstrate e ability to understand and use e major research meods in psychology, including eical standards... (G7) Students will demonstrate e ability to understand people from a diverse range of backgrounds and varying demographic characteristics such as age, race, disability, sexual orientation, class, enicity, religion, and cognitive abilities. (G3) Students will demonstrate e ability to ink critically and to use e scientific approach to understanding behavior. (G2) Students will demonstrate e ability to understand and use e major research meods in psychology, including eical standards, design, data analysis, and interpretation. (G6) Students will demonstrate e ability to express emselves effectively in e discourse of e discipline. Describe e program assessment process, including what is examined (e.g., senior seminar, capstone courses). If different outcomes are assessed each year, e report should address at system; The Department Assessment Committee reports on progress annually. Each of e assessment measures are reported and analyzed in a ree-year cycle, focusing particularly on e information gained from e measure about how e program is meeting e goals outlined above. This year s assessment report was based on e Major Field Test.

9 1 Year One : Major Field Test as Exit Exam Year Two: Paper Assessments Year Three: Survey of Current Majors. At e time of Departmental Program Review: Surveys of current majors and alumni. The table below shows how our assessment instruments address our program learning goals. Assessment Instruments Goals MFT Senior Papers Major Survey Alumni Survey 1. Knowledge * * 2. Understand Research Meods * * 3. Critical Thinking * * 4. Apply to Life and Work * 5. Locate Information * * 6. Communicate * * 7. Diversity * 8. Plan Future * : Definitely measures goal *: May measure goal Provide clear results of e goals and outcomes assessment; We interpret is request as pertaining to e current year s report, and us refer e committee to at report. Address how learning outcomes are used in e department s general education (service) courses; At present, our department s Assessment Plan does not include a meod for assessing e department s general education (service) courses. As we are presently engaged in Program Review and examining our assessment plan and meods as part of at review, is is someing we may be able to include in future reports. It is certainly not someing we can include in is year s report on such short notice. Explain any changes to be made to e curriculum and/or assessment process based on results. We interpret is request as pertaining to e current year s report, and us refer e committee to at report. 1 Spring 07; Spring 10; Spring 13

10 Approved October 22, 2008 by Psychology Approved by A&S November 2008 Approved by Assessment Council April 2009 A. A. Degree A. Goals Department of Psychology Assessment Plan 1. Students will demonstrate basic knowledge in introductory, child, social, and abnormal psychology. 2. Students will demonstrate e ability to make a decision as to wheer ey wish to obtain a BA degree in psychology. B. Assessment Instrument Students will be sent an exit questionnaire concerning eir knowledge of child, social, and abnormal psychology, wheer e AA degree helped in achieving eir educational or career goals, and eir intent to continue in e BA degree in psychology or a related field. (Measures Goals 1 and 2) C. Evaluation of e A.A. Degree The analysis of e assessment measures for e Associate Degree will be undertaken annually by e Department Assessment Committee, which will use e information to modify e program to better meet e goals, if necessary. B. A. Degree A. Goals 1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of e major eoretical approaches, findings, and historical trends in psychology. 2. Students will demonstrate e ability to understand e major research meods in psychology, including eical standards, design, data analysis, and interpretation. 3. Students will demonstrate e ability to ink critically and to use e scientific approach to understanding behavior. 4. Students will demonstrate e ability to apply concepts, information, and skills learned in psychology courses to eir lives and work. 5. Students will demonstrate e ability to effectively locate and evaluate sources of information. 6. Students will demonstrate e ability to express emselves effectively in e discourse of e discipline. 7. Students will demonstrate e ability to understand people from a diverse range of backgrounds and varying demographic characteristics such as age, race, disability, sexual orientation, class, enicity, religion, and cognitive abilities.

11 Psychology Assessment Plan 2 8. Students will demonstrate e ability to make decisions about future employment or graduate education. B. Assessment Instruments 1. Major Field Test in Psychology (Measures goals 1 & 2) The Major Field Test (MFT) is a nationally-normed test measuring content knowledge in e discipline of psychology (and is available for many oer disciplines), constructed and scored by e Educational Testing Service (ETS). It generates one overall score, and four subscores: 1. learning & cognition; 2. sensation, perception, physiological, comparative & eology; 3. clinical, abnormal personality, and 4. developmental & social. It also provides reports for six assessment indicators, for e purposes of program outcomes assessment: 1. memory and inking; 2. sensory and physiology; 3. developmental; 4. clinical and abnormal; 5. social; and 6. measurement and meodology. All graduating psychology majors will be required to take e Major Field Test in eir senior year, and to score above a certain minimum score in order to be certified to graduate. 2. Evaluation of Seniors Papers (Measures goals 3, 5, and 6) All graduating seniors will be required to submit one research paper at e time ey come to e department to sign up for e exit exam. Preferably, is will be a paper written during e senior year. The students will be asked to submit e paper at ey believe best represents eir abilities to locate and use information on a topic in psychology, to ink critically, to understand e scientific approach, to write effectively, and to use APA style. Alough we will request a paper submission at e time of signing up for e exit exam (typically in e middle of e last semester), students will be given e opportunity to replace at paper wi anoer at ey complete by e end of eir final semester. The papers submitted may be written for any psychology class, but must be eier a term paper using scholarly sources, a research proposal using scholarly sources, a paper written in e research meods course (PSY 203), or an honors esis. Every ree years, a sample of 30 of ese papers will be selected randomly from e preceeding ree years papers, and will be evaluated by members of e Assessment Committee, using rubrics and a scale developed for is purpose. Each paper will be independently rated by two members of e assessment committee. The department secretary will assign each paper a number and remove student names before e papers are given to e members of e committee. 3. Survey of Majors (May measure any of e goals of e B.A. degree. It will always include items to measure goals 4, 7, & 8)

12 Psychology Assessment Plan 3 The department will conduct a survey of a random sample of at least 35% of currently enrolled majors every ree years and at e time of departmental program review. Program review is typically done every seven years. Should e normal ree-year cycle for e survey of current students lead to e survey being done two years in a row, it will be postponed one year to match e program review cycle. This extensive survey will assess students evaluation of many aspects of eir education, and eir satisfaction wi e program and services (especially advising) provided by e department. This survey will be adjusted and modified each time it is administered, in order to gain information needed by e department at at time, but will always include items to measure goals 4, 7, & Survey of Alumni (May measure any of e goals) At e time of departmental program review (typically on a 7-year cycle) e department will undertake a survey of alumni. This survey will be constructed to meet departmental needs at e time of program review, and may measure any of e goals above. Data from is survey may be included in e department s assessment report at e time it is conducted. C. Table Linking Goals and Assessment Instruments Assessment Instruments Goals MFT Senior Papers Major Survey Alumni Survey 1. Knowledge * * 2. Understand Research Meods * * 3. Critical Thinking * * 4. Apply to Life and Work * 5. Locate Information * * 6. Communicate * * 7. Diversity * 8. Plan Future * : Definitely measures goal *: May measure goal D. Evaluation of e Bachelor s Degree

13 Psychology Assessment Plan 4 The Department Assessment Committee will report on progress annually. Each of e measures above will be reported and analyzed in a ree-year cycle, focusing particularly on e information gained from e measure about how e program is meeting e goals outlined above. Year One 1 : Major Field Test as Exit Exam Year Two: Paper Assessments Year Three: Survey of Current Majors. At e time of Departmental Program Review: Surveys of current majors and alumni. The Department Assessment Committee will use e information to modify e program to better meet e goals, if necessary. Evaluation of e Usefulness of e Assessment Plan At e time of departmental Program Review e Department Assessment Committee will undertake a review of e usefulness of e Assessment Plan, and will modify e plan at at time, if necessary. 1 Spring 07; Spring 10; Spring 13