Academic Assessment Report 2013 Calendar Year

Evidence collected in spring & fall 2013

Report due March 31, 2014

PLEASE NOTE: This template has been significantly revised. Please carefully read and
complete all sections.
Directions: Please complete a form for each of the programs within your department. This form was designed to provide a
format for assessment reporting and should not be used to limit the amount of information provided. Each box that is attached
to each of the sections is designed to adjust to varying lengths. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Dan Bubb at
x51506 or via email at dan.bubb@unlv.edu.
***Please email your completed form to assessment@unlv.edu (Academic Assessment/UNLV)
Program Information:
Program
Department(s) Sociology
College
Program Assessment
Coordinator
Report submitted by
(include phone/email)
Date Submitted

Liberal Arts
Dr. Christie D. Batson
Dr. Christie D. Batson 5-0258 christie.batson@unlv.edu
3/25/14

Purpose of Assessment Reporting at UNLV:

Annual assessment reports are designed to:
a) Articulate student learning objectives (what students will learn/what skills they will develop, and how they will be able to
apply what they have learned)
b) Demonstrate use of direct and indirect instruments to assess student learning outcomes
c) Evaluate student learning outcomes and making curricular and/or pedagogical changes to inform decision-making
12/2013
Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs
1

d) Align results with the Universitys Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (UULOs)

Departments use reports to improve student learning and to fulfill the requirements of the Northwest Commission on Colleges
and Universities (NWCCU), UNLVs accreditation agency.

1. Department Mission Statement. What is the departments purpose? What is it trying to achieve with students?
The Department of Sociology teaching philosophy calls for integrating students learning experience with civic engagement and scholarly
pursuits. We encourage our students to explore our region and prepare our graduates to work as well-trained, publicly engaged professionals
whose activities benefit the region and the country. The department of sociology's mission is to:

Study urban life

Help the region tackle its social problems

Integrate students' learning experience with civic engagement

Promote sustainability, cultural diversity, and social justice in Nevada and the United States

Our commitment to mentoring and professional socialization is evident in the active part our graduate students take in faculty-sponsored
research, the internship opportunities available to our undergraduate students, and the department membership in the national sociology honor
society - Alpha Kappa Delta.

2. Program Level Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)

- Please articulate student learning objectives by explaining what students will learn/what skills they will attain
- Please explain how they will attain them.
- Please number the objectives for later reference
1. Key concepts, debates, and trends in sociology Demonstrate an understanding of the discipline of sociology, key concepts,
debates and trends and how these contribute to our understanding of social reality.
12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

a. Students can demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of basic concepts in sociology: culture, social change, socialization,
stratification, social structure, institutions, and differentiations by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and class.
b. Students can articulate an understanding of how culture and social structure operate
c. Students can articulate the reciprocal relationships between individuals and society
d. Students can articulate the macro/micro distinction
e. Students can articulate the internal diversity of the United States and its place in the international context
2. Major sociological paradigms and theories Demonstrate the role of theory in sociology
a. Define theory and describe its role in building sociological knowledge;
b. Compare and contrast basic theoretical orientations and paradigms;
c. Demonstrate the historical/cultural context in which these theories were developed;
3. Methods used in sociological research Demonstrate understanding of the role of evidence and qualitative and quantitative
methods in sociology:
a. identify basic methodological approaches and describe the general role of methods in building sociological knowledge;
b. compare and contrast the basic methodological approaches for gathering data;
c. design a research study in an area of choice and explain why various decisions were made; and
d. critically assess a published research report and explain how the study could have been improved
Sociology students will be able to:
4. Show evidence of the development of a sociological imagination Apply sociological knowledge, principles, concepts and the
sociological imagination to their own projects, whether intellectual, personal and/or political.

12/2013

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

5. Exhibit confidence in expressing ideas orally and in writing

1. Students can demonstrate critical thinking
1. Demonstrate skills in recall, analysis and application, and synthesis and evaluation.
2. Identify underlying assumptions in theoretical orientations or arguments.
3. Identify underlying assumptions in particular methodological approaches to an issue.
4. Show how patterns of thought and knowledge are directly influenced by political and economic social structures.
5. Present opposing viewpoints and alternative hypotheses. Engage in teamwork where many different points of view are
presented
2. Students will develop values:
1. Articulate the utility of the sociological perspective as one of several perspectives on social reality;
2. Explain the importance of reducing the negative effects of social inequality.

2.a. SLOs/UULOs (UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS ONLY- graduate programs may delete this section)
List the number (assigned in section 2) of
the Student learning objective(s) aligned to
UNLV UULOs
each UULO
Intellectual Breadth and Lifelong Learning

#1, #2, #3, and #4

Inquiry and Critical Thinking

#1, #2, #3, and #4

Communication

#1, #3, and #5

Global/Multicultural Knowledge and Awareness

#1, #2, and #3

Citizenship and Ethics

#3 and #5

12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

3. Milestone Experience (UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS ONLY- graduate programs may delete this section): The
Milestone Experience should inform students of the learning objectives for the degree program and reinforce and assess the
communication and inquiry and critical thinking University Undergraduate Learning Outcomes.
- What is your Milestone Experience?
Department of Sociology Milestone Course Sociology 403, Techniques of Social Research
- How do you inform students of the learning objectives for the degree?
Our department learning objectives are available to students in three ways:
1. They are listed on our department website
2. They are provided to students at the Wilson Advising Center
3. They are provided to students in the Sociology Milestone Course, SOC 403.
- How do you reinforce the communication UULO in the Milestone Experience?
We use 3 primary forms of communication in the Milestone Experience, all reinforcing the communication UULO.
1) Students will engage in peer-to-peer communication in two forms:
a) Through the use of WebCampus discussion forums, students will be asked to comment and provide peer-to-peer
feedback on several course topics.
b) During the class lab period, students are placed in small groups and required to collaborate on class assignments.
2) Since the course is a research methods course, students are required to provide written communication with four homework
assignments. These written assignments require them to evaluate and analyze evidence and construct research based
arguments.
3) Students are required to present their final homework assignment to the class. This assignment requires them to produce
effective visual aids and deliver an effective oral presentation.

- How do you reinforce the Inquiry and critical thinking UULO in the Milestone Experience?
The Sociology Milestone Experience is the core research methods class in the degree program. This class reinforces the Inquiry
and Critical Thinking UULO in its entirety. We highlight 3 areas where this UULO is the most prevalent.
12/2013

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

1) The four homework assignments in the class involve research design. Each homework requires students to identify problems
and articulate questions based on previous literature. Each assignment involves an evaluation of previous research and an
ability to recognize how research can be improved with additional evidence.
2) Homework #3 and #4 require the collection of qualitative data (#3) and quantitative data (#4). Before the data collection,
students must create a research question and key hypotheses. After the data collection, students are required to interpret the
data and draw important inferences from the data. Students will construct and defend their research decisions and their
research conclusions. Each assignment requires students to evaluate and report their conclusions.
3) Homework #4 uses a peer-to-peer feedback system that requires students to evaluate their classmates research project. This
forces students to think critically about the research process, evaluate research, and provide critical feedback to a peer.

- How do you assess communication and inquiry and critical thinking in the Milestone Experience?
We plan to use Homework #4, the Milestone Content Analysis Project, as our assessment tool. This homework assignment
requires students to use both UULOs in their work. The assignment will have learning outcomes that correspond to a grading
rubric, with each item reflecting how the assignment meets the UULOs.

4. Planned Assessments: Methods, Instruments, and Analysis: Following up on the Assessment Plan for this program, what
direct instruments (e.g. exams, research papers, oral presentations) and indirect instruments (e.g. surveys) did the department
12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

use to assess student learning outcomes during the current period of data collection? Please do not include student course
evaluations or course grades as program-level assessment instruments. Contact Dan if you have questions.
Assessment Instrument (e.g.,
survey, exit exam)

Sociology 101 Assessment

Survey
Senior Exit Survey

Internship Survey

Briefly describe the instrument, sampling

strategy, and how the results are collected

30-item questionnaire from random

sample of students in SOC 101
classes. The survey is administered
through Qualtrics.
Questionnaire administered through
Qualtrics to graduating seniors. The
survey has many open-ended items.
Questionnaire administered through
Qualtrics to students participating in our
Internship program. The survey has
many open-ended items.

Learning outcome(s)
assessed (list by #)

#1, #2, #3, and #4

High Scores = greater

success
Positive feedback, postgraduation employment and/or
graduate school acceptance

#4 and #5

Positive feedback, oral

presentation at the Sociology
Internship Fair

#1, #2, and #3

5. Results, conclusions and discoveries. In this past year

- What have been the results of each planned assessment listed above?

12/2013

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

Expected Measures (results that

would indicate success)

12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

- Compared to your benchmarks, was the outcome at, above, or below what was expected?
1) For SOC 101, our outcomes were below what we expect.
2) For Senior Exit Survey, our outcomes are at what we expect.
3) For Sociology Internship, our outcomes were above what we expected.
- How do the current results compare to previous years results?
1) For SOC 101, our results are nearly identical to previous years.
2) For Senior Exit Survey, our results are very similar.
3) For Sociology Internship, our results are very similar, although much improved from previous year. We added an oral
presentation and poster visual aid to the Internship requirements. This addition has improved our student outcomes.
What conclusions or discoveries do you draw from this years results?
12/2013

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

1) For SOC 101, we expected to see similar results because we had not yet implemented our SOC 101 revised assessment
tool. Our results show that students who complete sociology 101 receive above average scores on Sociological Concepts, but
receive poor scores on Sociological Theory and Sociological Methods. We suspect the assessment tool was not capturing
the best measurement of these outcomes. We also suspect that our Sociology 101 classes are offering too wide and diverse
curriculum to accurately measure ULOs across multiple sections of the course.
2) For the Senior Exit Survey, we received very positive results from our graduating seniors. 100% of those replying to the
survey in Fall 2013 were satisfied with the Sociology Major. The scores are 91% or greater among the measures for our
student learning outcomes SLOs. Based on these results, the Department of Sociology is doing a very good job preparing
students to enter the world as sociology majors.
3) For the Sociology Internship, we received very positive results from those students participating in Summer or Fall 2013
internship experiences. Our Intern students are gaining important hands-on sociological experiences in these internships.

6. Use of Results (Closing the Loop over this past year)

- How were the student learning outcome results used to make curricular and/or pedagogical changes?
Based on the 2013 Academic Assessment results from our department, we needed to focus on improving our SOC 101
Assessment. The 2013 data suggested that our SOC 101 students were not adequately articulating their knowledge on
Sociology 101 concepts and/or were not being assessed properly.

- If no changes were needed, please explain why

- Who reviewed the results? Is assessment a shared responsibility in the department? Does the work rotate among
faculty? The Assessment Coordinator, Dr. Christie Batson initially reviewed the results. The work does not rotate among faculty
at this time. Dr. Batson is the primary person responsible for initiating assessment and reviewing the results.
- Who acted on the results and in what way?
At the May 2013 faculty meeting, Dr. Batson presented the results to the department faculty and proposed several ideas for
closing the loop on the immediate concern which was Sociology 101. In the summer of 2013, in consultation with Dr. Robert
Futrell, Chair of Sociology, they decided to form an ad-hoc Sociology 101 Committee tasked with making important substantial
12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

10

changes to the way we had been teaching this course. The Sociology 101 Committee was led by Dr. Barb Brents and consisted
of two other full-time faculty members, Dr. Simon Gottschalk and Dr. Robert Parker, and three graduate students. The first
version of our new SOC 101 Assessment will be implemented in Spring 2014 and reported in the 2014 Academic Assessment
Results.

7. Progress over this past year

- Please describe the program changes that have been recommended in past reports
1. We will be able to measure and assess our new Undergraduate Learning Objectives in the 2013 assessment period.
2. We planned to revise some of our assessment questions to directly measure our new Undergraduate Learning
Objectives.
3. We needed to implement more standardized department-wide Undergraduate Learning Objectives across classes
with multiple offerings and multiple instructors, especially for our 101 classes. The new Undergraduate
Coordinator, Dr. Christie Batson, is planning to offer a department workshop in August 2013 for all SOC 101
Instructors. The workshop will highlight the new ULOs and make a more concerted effort to educate each
instructor on the importance of connecting their course materials to the new department ULOs.
4. We planned adding a department Capstone Class to our undergraduate course curriculum. We believe the Capstone
class will allow a more comprehensive assessment to take place for our graduating seniors.

- What progress has been made since the recommendation(s)? Has the rate of improvement in pattern or trend been
what you anticipated?
In remarkable form, we were able to implement every single proposed program change mentioned above.
1. We revised our department UULOs and were able to assess them this year. We still need to modify our Senior
Exit Survey to be a stronger measure of the program UULOs.
2. We completely revised the SOC 101 Assessment tool, but it will reflect next years assessment report since it didnt
take effect until Spring 2014. However, the process of revising the tool began at our Department GA/PTI Retreat in
12/2013

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

11

August 2013. A committee was formed and has been working on SOC 101 improvements and revisions since then.
Their first task was to create SOC 101 ULOs. Their second task was the complete revision of the 101 Assessment
tool (to begin in Spring 2014). Their third task has been creating a standardized SOC 101 Online class, centered
around the SOC 101 ULOs. This version of the class will begin in Fall 2014.
3. In August 2013, the Department of Sociology hosted a one-day GA/PTI retreat at The Center that focused on
providing our non-faculty instructors (who teach almost 70% of our courses) with an instructional and educational
foundation to academic assessment, good teaching practices, changes in online education, and Core Sociology
course revisions. The workshop was an incredible success and we plan to continue this each year before the Fall
semester.
4. We formalized the Sociology Capstone Class and are offering it in Fall 2014.

8. Opportunities for Professional Development in Assessment Over this past year:

- How have faculty developed their knowledge of academic assessment (workshops, brown-bags, conference
attendance, etc.)?
Our faculty have developed their knowledge of academic assessment in three ways. First, they have attended
academic assessment workshops hosted by the Office of Academic Assessment. Second, we have placed
academic assessment items on our faculty meeting agendas. Several of our faculty meetings over the calendar
year have focused on items related to academic assessment (Revision of department ULOs, SOC 101
Assessment tool, the Milestone Experience, the upcoming Capstone course, etc.). Third, the creation of the AdHoc Sociology 101 Committee, with three full-time faculty members created multiple opportunities through
meetings and collaboration for important discussions about SOC 101 academic assessment.
Additionally, since nearly 70% of our instructors are not full-time faculty members, we hosted a one-day GA/PTI
retreat at The Center that focused on an instructional and educational foundation to academic assessment, good
teaching practices, changes in online education, and Core Sociology course revisions. The workshop was an
incredible success and we plan to continue this each year before the Fall semester.

- What opportunities did faculty have to publish assessment-related articles in assessment journals and other
12/2013

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

12

publications?
Our faculty have not published assessment-related articles.
Please note: This section is designed to help clarify ways in which faculty participate in assessment. These activities
are not mandatory; rather, they serve as examples in which programs develop faculty engagement in assessment.

9. Unit Leader Approval

Department Chairs and Deans must review this document and ensure that it meets both UNLV and NWCCU requirements (these
can be found on our website: http://provost.unlv.edu/Assessment/
Department Chair
By checking this box, I certify that I have read and reviewed this assessment document and that it meets the standards for
both UNLV and the NWCCU.
Name Robert Futrell

Phone 895-0270

Email rfutrell@unlv.nevada.edu

Dean
By checking this box, I certify that I have read and reviewed this assessment document and that it meets the standards for
both UNLV and the NWCCU.

Name Jennifer Keene

12/2013

Phone 895-3401

Email jennifer.keene@unlv.edu

Office Of The Vice Provost For Academic Affairs

13