Campus Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

The WGS Program has 6 student learning goals for the intro course:

• Intersectionality of race, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality
• Social construction of gender
• White privilege, male privilege, heterosexual privilege
• Waves of feminism
• Major issues: domestic violence, abortion, motherhood, work
• A sense of personal power, and effectiveness

We have 5 student learning goals for the subsequent courses:

• Key figures and concepts in feminist theory
• Variations in women’s experiences across nations, cultures, times, class, race, etc.
• Applying knowledge for social transformation
• Women’s achievements in the relevant major field of research
• Building on foundations laid in intro course

Which outcome did you assess this academic year?

The Intro course goals.

How did you assess their skills before, during and / or at the end of the semester / academic year?

At a WGS Program Faculty Meeting Jan 27, 2010, we reviewed and revised our goals (see above) and explored means by which to assess them.  The National Women’s Studies Association website offers various suggestions and templates.  We weighed pros and cons, and determined to assess the intro students via an exit (end-of-semester) survey.

Please summarize the data you have collected this semester / academic year.

2 faculty members (Buckler and Balay) met to analyze the questionnaires.  To interpret the results, we read through the responses, assessing whether each student demonstrated superior, adequate, or minimal competence in each area. 

Summary results are as follows:

Intersectionality                                       Superior = 1, adequate = 14, minimal = 10

Social Construction                                 Superior = 11, adequate = 10, minimal = 4

Privilege (white, male, het)                     Superior = 14, adequate = 8, minimal = 3

3 waves of feminism                               Superior = 2, adequate = 6, minimal = 17

Women’s issues                                      Superior = 9, adequate = 11, minimal = 5

Sense of personal power                        Superior = 7, adequate = 15, minimal = 3

Balay will keep the completed questionnaires (which are anonymous) on file so that we can compare responses on specific questions to next year’s responses.

Please describe any programmatic changes you have made or are planning to make based on the data you have collected.

The intro class needs to spend more time on the history of American Feminism, since students are weak in that area.  Balay will encourage the new WGS 201 instructor to emphasize these areas.  Further, we will discuss how this historical information relates to current and future life.  An emphasis on why we learn about women’s history should give students more ownership of that material.