Program SLO Activity Details

Discipline African American Studies
Stage 4

Assessment Activities

Assessment Methods	Quizzes, exams, or homework items linked to specific learning outcomes Assignments based on rubrics (such as essays, projects, and performances) Direct observation of performances, practical exams, group work Pre & post surveys or exams
Assessment Description	AFAM 30 was assessed for the first time according to the updated course outline, including course SLO's. The methods of assessment included exams and "homework" assignments (in the form of brief paper assignments) based on learning outcomes. All learning outcomes were included in the series of assignments. Paper assignments ask, for example: How did Slaves compose their religious and secular music, and their folktales? How is this related to later examples of African American music and folk narrative composition? In what ways do these examples of composition exhibit the major elements of African American culture and consciousness? The brief paper assignments AFAM 55 employs the use of questions (addressed in essay form), one given early on in the first half of the semester, the other given later in the second half, that require students to synthesize course material that addresses all of the learning outcomes. This along with a term paper are the methods of assessment used. AFAM 60 employs the use of essay assignments, research assignments that require intensive research on a historical or contemporary African American woman of note. The types of questions that students are expected to explore are: The role of this woman in the struggle for "race uplift," her broader historical significance, how her experiences demonstrate the connections between gender and race bias, on the one hand, but how race bias creates a distinctive experience for African American women, on the other. Students are required to make a class presentation on this research. Included in the assessment of SLO's are exams. The combination of the two allows for all of the course SLO's to be assessed in a single semester. History 41A and 41B, the History of the African American in the United States, employ exam type surveys at the beginning of the semester, and again at the end. The same survey is used at the beginning and end of the semester. The question on the survey include all of the learning outcomes for History 41. For example, one of the questions might ask, "In what ways were the skills in tropical agriculture brought by enslaved Africans to the New World a major contribution to the economic development of New World societies." History 48, African History, employs exams and brief paper assignments as the means for assessment of learning outcomes. The paper assignment will typically cover such learning outcomes as those related to precolonial political systems, or indigenous technology and material culture, or issues of gender. Historical novels in conjunction with readings of an ethnographic and/or sociological nature are particularly useful for the papers focused on issues of gender. Original materials in archaeology, or early travelers reports, or oral traditions are useful for questions surrounding early political organization and the evolution of technology and material culture. In the case of gender, for example, an essay assignment might ask: What can we deduce about the political roles that women played in the early Mali empire on the basis of the portrayal of women, in particular Sunjaata Keita's mother and sister, in Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali? On the first exam, students are asked to identify the major climate/vegetation zones of Africa, the major regions of the continent (the Sudanic belt, the Maghrib, the Interlacustring region), the four African language "super-families," etc.
Learning Outcomes	AFAM 30: All. AFAM 55: All. AFAM 60: All. History 41A/41B: All. History 48: A) Consideration of the roots of African cultures: The geography, the peoples, and the institution involved in the shaping of African History. B) Consideration of the socio-economic and political organizations of some of the major states that evolved in precolonial Africa, and their relations with the world beyond. C) Consideration of the spread of the Abrahamic religions.
Number of Courses	Seven
Number of Students	350

Data Analysis

Data Shared With	Faculty and staff within the same program (at CCSF) Faculty and staff within the same department
Data Sharing Methods	Face-to-face meetings
Data Summary	The data suggests different outcomes for different courses. In the case of the AFAM courses, students passed the class with an 75-80% success rate. In the case of the history courses, the success rate drops by about 10%. But this is slightly misleading. The history classes have a higher rate of student withdrawal than the AFAM classes.
Data Analysis	In the case of all of our classes, students must get three-fifths of the material correct or accurate, in whatever format is used as a measure, in order to have achieved the learning outcome.
Next Steps Planned	Aside from the many changes made in instruction and evaluation in each of our classes, we decided to revise the entry and exit surveys/"exams" given to our students in History 41A/41B. After analysis of the survey results, we determined that the surveys that we were using did not give us truly meaningful data. There was not much difference in the exam scores from the semester's beginning and end, while we are certain that students had, in fact, achieved learning because of what we were seeing on the formal exam scores. We've devised another survey that we're using for this semester.
Learning Outcomes	All SLO's in History 41A/41B.

Changes

Details	Changes in the method of assessing learning outcomes in History 41A/41B.
Learning Outcomes	All.

Tentative Future Assessment Plans

Assessment Term	Fall 2013
Assessment Activities	Revision of outcomes and assessment methods (measurements) Assessment (measurement) of outcomes
Assessment Details	We will employ the new methods of assessing learning outcomes for History 41A/41B, and look closely at the outcomes of these new methods at the end of the semester.

ILO Alignment and Assessment Plans

I.A. Use reason and creativity...	No answer
I.B. Apply diverse viewpoints...	No answer
I.C. Locate, retrieve, and evaluate information...	No answer
Fall 2013 ILO Assessment Plans	We don't currently plan to be conducting any program-level SLO assessments in Fall (as indicated earlier)

SLO Details Storage Location

ELECTRONIC COPY - On a department web server or shared document system

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