Clare College

St. Bonaventure University

 

 

Program Self-Study

 

 Report

 

 

 

submitted to

 

`

 pursuant to application for program accreditation. 

 

Michael Chiariello, Dean, Clare College

  

Clare College Self Study

 

Table of contents:

 

 

Preface.  The Elements of This Self-Study:  Process and Contributors..................................... 3

 

Section I.  Introduction:  How We Address AALE Standards................................................. 7                       

 

Section II.  Overview:  The History of Clare College............................................................ 18

           

Section III.  Narrative:  Assessment in Clare College............................................................ 27

 

Section IV.  Planning the Future of Clare College ................................................................ 77

 

Appendices.................................................................................................................. 81

• Rubrics for Assessment of Clare 101, The Intellectual Journey........................................... 82

(Dr. Anthony Murphy)                                                                                     

 

• Intellectual Journey Assessment Report.............................................................................. 86

(Dr. Patrick Panzarella (Coordinator), Dr. Anne Foerst, Dr. John Mulryan, and Professor Sandra Mulryan)

 

• Report on Assessment of Clare 401, University Forum...................................................... 90

(Dr. Patricia Parsley)

 

• A Report on Faculty Well-Being in Clare College (Jessica Foley with Dr. Charles Walker) 97

 

• Using the Emotional States Assessment Technique: 

Guidelines for Instructors and Faculty Developers (Dr. Charles J. Walker)......................... 117

 

Preface:  The elements of this self-study: 

process and contributors

 

In 2001, as the University was undertaking a strategic planning process, several faculty advocated for a review of Clare College by the American Academy for Liberal Education.   Their view was that a successful accreditation review would set a standard to measure the implementation of the new curriculum and would ensure University commitment to academic excellence in the liberal arts.  The final version of that plan, ultimately approved by faculty referendum and the Board of Trustees, “A Blueprint for the Future:  Aspirations and Expectations,” declared the University’s intention to “seek endorsement of the quality of our academic programs through national, professional, and specialized accrediting bodies. . . . For example, . .  AALE for Clare College.” (2/10/03)

•  The Assessment Process

When our new core curriculum, Clare College, was established in 1996, we were determined that it be accessible to continuous assessment and review.   The specification of courses in the curriculum was preceded, conceptually and temporally, by agreement on a set of goals and a list of core area objectives.  Beginning with such an “assessment infrastructure,” the planning and implementation of Clare College proceeded concurrently with a process of reflection and review.   So even before the strategic planning decision was made, the self-study process was already well underway on several different but related tracks:  Dr. Anthony Murphy was granted a Pew Fellowship in Accreditation in Summer, 2001, following the preparation of an “Institutional Profile”  by Scott Lee, of the Association for Core Texts and Courses.  Even earlier, in February, 2001, the St. Bonaventure University Faculty Senate had directed the dean of Clare College to begin a process of course and program review, the response to which was the “Collaborative Assessment Program,”  (CAP) funded by  grants from the Martine Endowment for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning in Clare College in May, 2002.  CAP established an assessment and review structure comprising Course Committees in each of the twelve Clare College courses, and an Assessment Committee comprised of the twelve committee chairs. Each committee was asked to report on the qualifications for instructors of their course, the common learner outcome expectations, common readings, assignments, handouts, as well as such questions as the treatment of diversity issues, and the use of technology.  An additional year of this program focused on synthesizing these results and promoting further curriculum integration, and most importantly,  the design and planning of outcome assessment processes for each Clare course based on the learner outcomes identified by CAP.

Another dimension of program review in Clare College has been the work of Dr. Charles Walker, Psychology Department, who has studied the impact of the new curriculum on faculty well-being and conducted several faculty workshops to review his findings.  Walker is currently engaged in the study of student emotions and dispositions toward learning in Clare College courses.

In addition, there are many course-specific assessment processes, summative and formative, and we employ standard “Student Opinions of Instruction” that provide evidence of student perceptions regarding the satisfaction of common course objectives. This data will be noted in our discussion of the individual Clare College courses to follow.

• Faculty Participation:

The self-study process, and other preliminary assessment efforts, have occasioned a high level of faculty participation and discussion.  It is fair, therefore, to regard this report as reflecting a broad consensus of faculty opinion. 

Direct participation in this study included a Self-Study Steering Committee, and two teams of assessors listed below. 

•  Self-Study Steering Committee:  Chair, Dr. Michael Chiariello, Dean of Clare College; Dr. Anthony Murphy, Pew Fellow and Site Visit Liaison; Dr. Patrick Panzarella, Dr. Patricia Parsley, Dr. Anne Foerst, Dr. Charles Walker.

•  101 Assessment Team:  Dr. Panzarella, Chair, Dr. John Mulryan, Professor Sandra Mulryan, Dr. Anne Foerst.

•  401 Assessment Team:  Dr. Parsley, Chair, Dr. Zawicki, Professor Adam Tressler.

 

Moreover, this report relies heavily on the earlier participants in the Collaborative Assessment Project, which includes members of the Course Committees, and the committee comprised of Course Committee Chairs, the Clare College Assessment Committee.

•  Clare College Assessment Committee Members:  Chair, Dr. Anthony Murphy (Clare 101),  Dr. David DiMattio (Clare 102), Dr. Thomas Schaeper (Clare 103), Dr. Russell Woodruff (Clare 104), Dr. James Moor (Clare 105), Dr. Chris Stanley (Clare 106), Dr. Mary Gurley, O.S.F. (Clare 107), Dr. Lauren De La Vars (Clare 108), Dr. Michael Jackson (109), Dr. Patrick Panzarella (Clare 110), Dr. Roderick Hughes (Clare 111), Dr. Patrick Dooley (Clare 104).

•  Clare College Course Committees:

101:  Dr. A. Murphy, Chair, Dr. Joseph Tedesco,  Dr. P. Panzarella, Dr. Jeffrey White, Fr. Peter Schneible, Ph.D.,  Fr. Allen Weber, Ph.D.

102:   Dr. David DiMattio, Chair, Dr. Walter Budzinski,  Dr. Lawrence Wier, Professor James Miller, Dr. Joel Benington.

103:  Dr. Thomas Schaeper, Chair, Dr. Steven Brown, Dr. Edward Eckert,  Dr. Joel Horowitz, Dr. David Matz, Dr. John Mulryan.

104:  Dr. Russell Woodruff, Chair, Dr. Barry Gan, Dr. Steven Nuttall, Dr. Richard Reilly.

105:  Dr. James Moor, Chair, Dr. Neal Carter, Dr. Josiah B. Lambert, Dr. Robin Valeri, Dr. Charles Walker, Dr. Kathy Zawicki.

106:  Dr. Christopher Stanley, Chair, Dr. James Vacco, Fr. Michael Montgomery, OFM, Dr. Jeffrey Robbins.

107:  Sr. M. Gurley, Ed.D., Chair.

108:  Dr. Lauren De La Vars, Chair, Dr. Alva Cellini, Dr. Samuel Sheldon,  Dr. K. Sundararajan, Dr. Kathy Zawicki.

109:  Dr. Michael Jackson, Chair, Dr. Oleg Bychkov,  Dr. Charles Gannon, Dr. John Mulryan,  Professor Laura Peterson, Dr. Joseph Tedesco.

110:  Dr. Patrick Panzarella, Chair, Dr. William Wehmeyer, Dr. Lauren DeLaVars, Dr. Michael Jackson, and Dr. Joseph Tedesco.

111:  Dr. Roderick Hughes, Chair, Dr. Anthony Murphy, Dr. John Mulryan, Dr. Russell Woodruff.

401:  Dr. Patrick Dooley, Chair.

 

One final goal of CAP, was to consider how well integrated are the separate courses that constitute the core.  We have made some initial steps in that direction: 

(1) A project initiated by Drs. Bychkov and Mulryan is exploring esthetic experience as an integrating theme across at least six of the Clare College courses; (2) Dr. Anne Foerst is exploring ways to integrate Clare 101(Intellectual Journey) and Clare 107 (Catholic-Franciscan Heritage) as the beginning of a continuing effort to connect 101 to the rest of the curriculum; and

(3) Drs. Hughes, DiMattio and Chiariello are participating in a three-year NEH project “Bridging the Gap between the Humanities and the Sciences.”  The CAP grant helped support our application for participation in that project that will further the integration of Clare 101 (Intellectual Journey), Clare 102 (Inquiry in the Natural World), and Clare 111 (Composition and Critical Thinking II).

 

Looking to the future, in May, 2003, the Martine Endowment approved a grant to fund a continuation of our assessment programs in the two courses, Intellectual Journey (101) and University Forum (401).  Stipends will be available to train and compensate faculty who undertake the actual assessment review, to sponsor workshops that will discuss assessment methodology, interpret data, and plan course/program responses.   Further, a grant was given to Dr. Walker to continue his work on affective states and learning outcomes, “Training Clare College Faculty in the Use of Emotion Assessment Techniques.”

 

The development of Clare College is the story of our University’s commitment to excellence in liberal education.  This is no where more evident than in the quality of our assessment processes, and the degree to which it helps to create a continuous cycle of self-study and self-improvement within a community of committed professionals. This self-study therefore focuses on the history and assessment of Clare College, but we begin with an Introduction addressing the AALE Accreditation Standards and guiding the readers of this Report to the data necessary to determine our satisfaction of them.  Following that is an overview of the history of Clare College, its implementation and assessment, and an account of our needs and future plans.

 

Section I.  Introduction:

How We Address AALE Standards

 

 

The story of Clare College is one of broad, energetic and continuing faculty participation. So when composing this self-study report, we decided to focus on our brief history, and the various assessment projects that have been launched as we have completed the earliest stages of program implementation. 

 

            In the next two sections of this report, you will find chapters devoted to the history of Clare College, and our several assessment projects respectively.  In several cases, primary sources, such as faculty committee reports, have been incorporated directly into this study.  In order to assist the work of the Academy as it reviews our application for program accreditation, this introduction will address AALE Standards directly and briefly.  In some cases, reference is made to the place in the text where the reviewer will find relevant information.

 

            The concluding section of this report will make further reference to these Standards as they guide our plans for future program enhancement. . 

 

In the case of Standards not addressed elsewhere, and not requiring extensive discussion, we hope the account below will suffice.

  

 

Liberal Learning Assessment Standards:

 

The Liberal Learning Standards were addressed in our Pew Project report, incorporated into this Self-Study above (31 ff.).  Further information relevant to the application of those standards is also found in our student surveys and Collaborative Assessment Program reports that are compiled in the review of particular courses, included in the above narrative and referenced in parentheses below.

 

Standard One -- Effective Reasoning.

 

Clare College is committed to developing effective reasoning skills among all undergraduates at St. Bonaventure University.  This commitment is evident in the design of the core and the orientation of many of the courses, particularly those taken in the first year, The Intellectual Journey (55-56), our first year seminar, and our sequence of Composition and Critical Thinking courses (57-60).  In many of the core area courses, particularly Inquiry in the Natural World (61-62), Inquiry in the Social World (67), emphasize scientific methodology, in others, such as World Views (72) and the Good Life (65-66), students are encouraged to explore questions from alternative points of view. 

Effective reasoning is viewed not only as a valuable skill for general utilization, but also as a crucial tool of global citizenship, and necessary, in the words of our Goals (21), necessary for “intelligent and principled participation in the moral conversation of a democratic society.”  Indeed, in our senior capstone course, The University Forum (74), students are expected to write and present essays exploring current global issues from a variety of perspectives while presenting evidence and counter-examples.  These essays are regarded as evidence of student learning, and their mastery of effective reasoning, within our program assessment process.

 

Standard Two -- Broad and Deep learning.

 

            The courses in Clare College explore a wide range of learning in the traditional liberal arts and beyond.  We cover the natural and social sciences, the classics of philosophy, theology, literature and the arts, in Western thought and history. Particular emphasis is placed on the Catholic and Franciscan intellectual traditions both for their substantial contributions to human learning and as a framework for the appreciation of intellectual endeavor.  Our first year course, The Intellectual Journey introduces students to the Franciscan intellectual framework, and engages that tradition with contemporary issues and perspectives (55-56).

Moreover, significant attention is paid to the contributions of other cultures, traditions and voices, and our World Views course calls for students who are exposed to one or more non-Western perspectives to reflect on their own cultural presuppositions (72).

All of our courses are interdisciplinary and therefore the need for synthesis and common ground prompts an emphasis on the mode of inquiry and history of the disciplines.  The best realized example of such interdisciplinarity is our core natural science course, Inquiry in the Natural World (61-62), which includes one credit of laboratory experience.   As mentioned above, we expect students to bring their substantive learning and skills to bear on contemporary global issues in our senior capstone and assess their ability to do so (74). 

All students must complete requirements in mathematics and quantitative reasoning as determined by their major programs (75-76).

Although not a part of the Clare College requirements, all undergraduates, other than those in the School of Business, must satisfy language requirements to the intermediate level.

            All undergraduates are required to complete a three course sequence that builds on at least one of the core area courses taken in Clare College (77-79).  The sequences insure the opportunity for a deeper and more focused exploration of a discipline or special area of study.  Most major programs have begun to use the sequences as a connection to the Clare program.

 

Standard Three -- Inclination to Inquire.

 

 According to our patron, St. Bonaventure, learning is inadequate without love. Pursuing that intellectual and spiritual vision we take very seriously the Franciscan commitment to learning informed by values and the affective dimension of human experience.  From the beginning of their undergraduate experience, students are encouraged to regard themselves as intellectual journeyers, and reflect on that in the final essays of the Intellectual Journey course, which we examine in our assessment process (39).  Our emphasis on modes of inquiry, and such elements as our three course sequences are intended to encourage that inclination.  Students are taught problem solving and research techniques in their Natural World course.  They are encouraged to think critically about the nature of the Good Life, in our ethics course which bears that name (65).  Their senior capstone asks them to bring the range of their core learning to bear on a contemporary question, and this  work is part of our Program Assessment (43 ff.).

We have also begun to institute a process that will allow faculty to monitor student emotional states in their classes, and to promote the affective states most conducive of enthusiasm for learning (41, 127).

Finally, the very nature of the Clare College program requires a faculty with an enthusiasm for learning as well as teaching.  Most of the faculty who have come to teach in Clare find themselves teaching material beyond their primary professional preparation.  Faculty not only are required to keep learning, but also to teach and learn from each other as collaborators in course development and preparation. Our faculty thereby model an enthusiasm for life long learning.  (See also the support for faculty development discussed in Standard 12.)

 

Mission Standards

 

Standard Four -- Program’s Mission Statement.

            The statement of the mission of Clare College is found in “The Goals of the Core” discussed in the next section (21).  These Goals were formulated after long campus wide conversation, and very explicitly guided the development of our courses.  These Goals are presented in our catalog and promotional materials.  Discussion of these Goals is an explicit objective of our first year seminar (39) and is part of our freshman orientation program.

 

Standard Five – Freedom of thought and speech.

 

  Below I quote St. Bonaventure University’s academic freedom, as found in its governing documents policy in full:

 

Academic Freedom Policy

This Academic Freedom Policy is intended to assure the protection of freedom of inquiry,

thought, expression, publication, and peaceable assembly at St. Bonaventure University.

1. The terms “faculty member” and “faculty members” as used in this document are

understood to include the following individuals: all faculty as defined in the Faculty

Status and Welfare Handbook; all adjuncts, lecturers, researchers, trustee

professors; all members of the professional library staff; and anyone else engaged

in teaching, including graduate students, whether tenured or not.

2. Faculty members are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of

results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic duties.

3. Faculty members are entitled to full freedom in discussing their subjects in the

classroom or in any other venue of teaching.

4. Administrative personnel who hold academic rank are also entitled to full academic

freedom in their capacity as faculty members. Such administrators who allege that

a consideration violative of academic freedom contributed to a decision adversely

affecting them as administrators are entitled to pursue redress through faculty

grievance procedures as specified in Section 6 below.

5. Faculty members perform in various capacities other than that of teaching. When

they speak or write outside the classroom or other venues of teaching, they are

entitled to full freedom from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special

position in the community imposes special obligations. Hence, they should strive to

be accurate, exercise appropriate restraint, show respect for others with differing

opinions and not suggest that they are speaking for the institution when they are not.

6. If any faculty member believes that (a) his or her academic freedom has been

violated, or (b) his or her exercise of academic freedom has been the basis for

neglect or action against him or her, that faculty member or other faculty members

on his or her behalf shall be entitled to pursue redress through faculty grievance

procedures.

7. When clarification of the Sections above is necessary, the following AAUP

Statements, to the extent that they are relevant, shall be used in interpreting these

Sections:

A. Statement on Professors and Political Activity

B. Academic Freedom and Artistic Expression

C. On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes

D. Statement of the Association’s Council: Freedom and Responsibility

E. On the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom

(February 4, 2000)

http://intranet.sbu.edu/govdoc/govdoc.htm

 

 

General  Education and Curriculum Standards:

 

Standard Six -- Entrance requirements.

Entrance requirements are determined at the University level  and therefore not something directly germane to this program accreditation process.  Information regarding these requirements, and other academic policies are clearly defined in the University Catalogue and Student Handbook that accompany this Self-Study.

 

Standard Seven -- Baccalaureate requirements.

All candidate for baccalaureate degree must complete thirty-six hours of Clare College courses, nine hours in a three course sequence, and three hours of mathematics (as determined by students’ major program). These forty-eight credits constitute more than a third of the one-hundred and twenty total hours required for the baccalaureate degree.  (Other general education requirements, such as foreign language, may be imposed by major fields or schools.)

 

Standard Eight --  Basic knowledge requirements. 

The courses that comprise the general education requirement include an interdisciplinary course in natural science (60-61) that covers elements of physics, chemistry, biology and environmental science, and includes a laboratory experience.  Mathematics is required of all students, although the specific requirement is determined by major program (74).  Specific courses cover the historical foundations of Western Culture, and  explore the foundations of American society and its role in the world (62-63). There are courses that cover art and literature (72) , Hebrew, Christian and Muslim Scriptures (67), the Catholic and Franciscan tradition (68), ethics (64-65), social science (66)  and other world views (71).  The latter two courses also attend to the nature of American society.

 

Standard Nine -- Assessment. 

One of the fundamental concerns that prompted the creation of Clare College was the difficulty posed by our pre-Clare curriculum regarding assessment.  The proposal for a new curriculum, ultimately Clare College, included a set of Goals (21) and Core Area Objectives (23).   These Goals, by which we justify our place in the baccalaureate requirements, were the product of a long and searching campus conversation.  This made possible the stipulation of specific course objectives instrumental to these Goals, and the invitation to particular departments and disciplines to develop core courses to reach them (23).  Most importantly, they provided a clear guide and foundation for Assessment.  In this supportive environment, several assessment projects have been implemented, at both program and course levels.  This Self-Study devotes much attention to these efforts:  The Pew Project for learner outcome based program assessment (31-42).  Dr. Anthony Murphy, Pew Fellow, whose report is reproduced herein, crafted a simple but informative model program assessment.

Working with Murphy, Dr. Patrick Panzarella and Dr. Patricia Parsley supervised the assessment of the first-year seminar, the Intellectual Journey, and the senior capstone course, The University Forum, respectively, and their reports have been incorporated into the narrative as well (33-51). 

Initial results of these assessment efforts, and the recommendations that they suggest (45-48) have been disseminated among Clare College faculty via email, and discussed at a meeting of faculty who teach The Intellectual Journey, and a general event for Clare College faculty as well, both in May, 2003.  Parsley’s findings will be discussed among faculty teaching the University Forum this fall, and the University Forum planning committee as well.  The implications for program development suggested by assessment results drawn from these two courses remain to be developed, and need to be considered in the light of our efforts in the other courses of the Clare College curriculum.

Information regarding the other courses comes through several sources:

The Collaborative Assessment Project (CAP), gathered course assessment information, and broadened faculty participation in assessment activities, by establishing committees in each of the Clare College courses, (29-30).  The reports of these separate committees have been compiled, and appended to this Self-Study.  This study revealed a wide range of practices related to course assessment, and documents serious efforts at learner outcome assessments in several courses, especially Composition and Critical Thinking, and Inquiry in the Natural World, initiated by their faculty acting independently of program wide initiatives.  Faculty teaching Clare College courses have been encouraged to adopt a consistent student survey instrument based on the model, “Student Opinions of Instruction,” adopted by the Faculty Senate in its Summative Evaluation Policy.  That instrument elicits student opinion regarding the completion of course objectives, and thereby provides some evidence useful to the assessment of courses. 

We have devoted a section of this Self-Study to reviews of each course combining CAP data and a analysis of student survey responses from one recent semester (52-73).

Two other projects are discussed in this Self-Study, Faculty Well-being Inventory (98-126) and Emotive State Assessment (127-129).

Finally, assessment processes have become modes for interdepartmental faculty collaboration in Clare College. Faculty who teach in Clare College are drawn from every corner of the University and represent widely disparate disciplines and professional callings.  Yet the expectation is that Clare College will promote a consistent and coherent general education for all St. Bonaventure University undergraduates, and this requires an unusually high degree of faculty collaboration.  The various assessment processes documented in this report are best understood as occasions for important faculty conversations regarding pedagogy and intellectual standards.  We are pleased to note the high degree of faculty participation in our assessment efforts. Support has been granted for continuing assessment activities, especially in areas piloted by the Pew Project and Walker’s work with Student Emotive State Assessment.

 

Standard Ten--Orderly progression of courses. 

The Clare College curriculum was adopted with little view of the appropriate sequencing of course taking by students.  Generally, the recommended sequence of study varies for students according to their major programs of study.  Commonly, students complete The Intellectual Journey and Composition and Critical Thinking I and II in their first year, and The University Forum is reserved for seniors.  Students enroll in the remaining eight courses as they decide in consultation with their advisors.  At the prompting of several faculty, we have begun a discussion of renumbering the Clare courses in order to suggest a best order of progression, but there is a wide range of opinion of whether and how to best do this.  Many faculty and students believe it would be better to renumber the courses to indicated differences in difficulty among the courses.  No resolution of this issue has been decided yet.

 

Standard Eleven--Student writing. 

When Clare College was first proposed, it was assumed that there would be an emphasis on student writing, following a “writing across the curriculum” model.  After faculty discussion, it was agreed that there would be at least two courses, Composition and Critical Thinking I and II (56-59), that would focus directly on the skills necessary to write and think well, and that these skills would be reinforced by writing assignments in the other courses.  (There are also pre- and post- tests administered in the two Composition and Critical Thinking courses.)  The Intellectual Journey was also designed to develop skills in oral and written communication with a mandated fifteen page writing requirements (54-55). It is generally understood that students will write essays in all of the remaining Clare College courses, with the exception of Inquiry in the Natural World.  The senior capstone seminar, the University Forum requires a ten-page paper and oral presentation of all students (73).  Our program assessment process comprises reconsideration of student essays submitted in the first year and senior capstone seminars (33-51).

 

Teaching and Educational Resources Standards

 

Standard Twelve -- Importance of Teaching.

At St. Bonaventure University and Clare College, we regard the faculty’s primary responsibility to be undergraduate instruction.  To support this, two endowments were established in 2000, “for the enhancement of teaching and learning.”  One of these, the Martine Endowment is specifically dedicated to faculty development in Clare College (28). This is most often seen in support for summer workshops for course and faculty development.  A complete report of projects funded by Martine, and its companion Keenan Endowment, will be made available.  Another indication of our commitment to undergraduate instruction is the development of a program wide system of student evaluation.  We have encouraged all faculty in Clare courses to adopt standard forms, “Student Opinion of Instruction.”  The dean’s office scans and compiles these surveys into reports that faculty may use toward their own annual self-evaluations.  We are also committed to the enhancement of “faculty well-being,” supporting a study of faculty attitudes towards teaching Clare College courses, and a workshop that reported and discussed study results.

 

Standard Thirteen -- Appropriate Class Size. 

The size of classes in Clare College was set by the Faculty Senate resolutions approving the new curriculum, and we have been faithful to these limits within reason.  The limits are as follows:  The Intellectual Journey and the University Forum are seminars limited to fourteen students to maximize opportunities for faculty attention and student participation.  Sections of Composition and Critical Thinking I and II are limited to twenty-five students to allow careful attention to student writing.  Inquiry in the Natural World limits section enrollments to thirty-two, with two sixteen member labs for each sections.  We try to limit the other Clare College courses to thirty-two students but that number has risen to thirty-six because of unusually high first year enrollments in the last two entering cohorts.  Overall, the average section size in Clare College is approximately twenty-five.

 

Standard Fourteen -- Regular faculty members teach general education. 

Faculty teaching in our core are drawn from all areas of the University, and no faculty, including adjuncts, are appointed directly to Clare College.  The preponderance of faculty are drawn from Arts and Sciences. Therefore all of our faculty must meet the appropriate standards for appointment to one of our other schools or departments.  In addition, CAP committees suggested further standards to advise the dean in assignments for specific Clare courses.  Currently, St. Bonaventure University is implementing a policy mandating that tenure track faculty constitute 3/4 of faculty in section coverage by school or department, and has extended that policy to cover Clare College as well.  The most recent compliance study (12/02) shows 2/3 of faculty teaching Clare courses are on tenure track.  If we calculate the proportion of full-time faculty teaching in Clare (adding visiting appointments and full-time lecturers to tenure track faculty) compared to part-time or adjunct sections the rate is at 3/4.

 

Standard 15 -- Library Resources

Friedsam Memorial Library, the central repository and dissemination point of recorded information on St. Bonaventure University's campus holds a basic book collection that exceeds 250,000 volumes. The periodical back use collection numbers more than 30,000 volumes. The University subscribes to approximately 1,200 current periodical titles, representing all academic disciplines.

Aside from the main collection, the Library also has three separate, specialized collections. The Curriculum Center maintains a collection of materials for education majors, which includes elementary and secondary school textbooks, along with books for children and young adult readers. The Library is also a selective depository of U.S. federal documents and has been since 1937. Part of this collection includes New York State documents. The last collection is that of the Franciscan Institute. This unique collection centers on Franciscan history, theology and philosophy, along with auxiliary materials about the Middle Ages.

The library's mission statement includes support for “a globally aware, liberal education grounded in the Franciscan tradition.”

The library offers information instruction sessions which are specially tailored to the needs of the two Composition and Critical Thinking courses (CLAR 110 and 111).  This insures that all students receive a common basic grounding in the library resources available to them.

 

 

 

Section II.  Overview:  The History of Clare College.

 

 

 

St. Bonaventure University is a small Catholic university, in western New York State, affiliated with the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) of the Holy Name Province.   Enrollment includes 2229 undergraduate and 550 graduate students, and 80 percent of our undergraduates live in on-campus housing. 

 

The University offers 36 majors through five divisions:  the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Journalism and Mass Communication, Business, Education, and Franciscan Studies.  The last is a graduate program and research institute, whose faculty have contributed to Clare College both through faculty and curriculum development, and occasional undergraduate teaching.  All undergraduate students, regardless of major field of study are required to complete the Clare College curriculum for any St. Bonaventure University baccalaureate degree.

 

Clare College is St. Bonaventure’s core undergraduate curriculum, which we instituted as an undergraduate degree requirement in 1998. Clare was first established as a subdivision of Arts and Sciences and, later, changed to an independent unit.  Originally under the purview of the dean of Arts and Sciences, the dean of Clare College now reports directly to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs. Core courses comprise a series of twelve interdisciplinary courses that cover the traditional arts and sciences, including the contributions of non-Western cultures, and with a special focus on our Franciscan intellectual tradition.  In addition to these core courses, all students must complete a mathematics/quantitative reasoning requirement of at least one course, and a “three-course sequence” related to one of the core courses.  A minimum of 16 courses or 48 credits, or 40% of 120 total baccalaureate credits, are required in Clare College. Calculating the minimal, general education credits that St. Bonaventure requires for graduation is done without reference to the credits which Clare will allow a small number of students to place out of.  The number does not take into account the foreign language requirements of the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Journalism and Mass Communication, or Education, since these requirements are not universal to the institution.  The program spans all four years of a student’s matriculation through St. Bonaventure.

Clare College is the common ground that unites the undergraduate experience for students in all of our programs, including the traditional liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional studies. We have also found that it provides an academic home for those students, particularly in first year, who are not yet ready to commit to a major field of study.  Such students are usually assigned as academic advisors faculty teaching their first year  Intellectual Journey course.

Our courses are interdisciplinary in nature, and strive to maintain common syllabi while drawing our faculty from all corners of the university. Clare College serves as a point of interaction and collaboration for a major portion of our faculty. We have employed approximately 130 different faculty over our five year existence.

The beginnings of Clare College are several.  According to the account of John Apczynski, our first dean,  in 1994, “ a group of faculty from St. Bonaventure University met regularly to consider possibilities of integrating features of the Franciscan intellectual heritage into the university curriculum,”  the ultimate result of which was a proposal for “a foundational course whose aim was to introduce students to an enduring appreciation of the pursuit of wisdom,” [with the assumption that] “the Franciscan heritage could provide a unique and stimulating perspective for accomplishing this”  (The Intellectual Journey, Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002, xiii).

This coincided with the University’s  response to a recommendation by the Middle States Association, in 1994,  that it review its curriculum “to ensure its quality and integrity.”  The curriculum at the time included requirements in Philosophy, Theology, English Composition, and distribution requirements in Mathematics and Natural Science, Social Science, and Culture and Civilization.  A review was undertaken by the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee, which held a series of public meetings to discuss the then current curriculum.  In 1995, a Summer Curriculum Commission (“summer commission”) was established with representation from all the schools of the University, and charged with formulating a core curriculum proposal for campus wide discussion and Faculty Senate consideration. 

The concerns voiced by Middle States and many of the faculty who participated in the review were three-fold:

(1) The curriculum lacked coherence.  This meant that there was little in common among the ways students chose to complete their requirements; 

(2)  the curriculum was not justified by some unifying set of goals and purposes;

and therefore

(3) the curriculum could not be confidently assessed for effectiveness.  

Many faculty, less persuaded of the value of liberal education, believed that the curriculum demanded too large a share of undergraduate study and interfered with the development of specialized programs of study.  Additional concerns were voiced regarding how long it had been since the curriculum had been brought up-to-date to address newer interdisciplinary approaches to learning and more culturally diverse sources of knowledge. 

The Summer Commission worked to address these concerns, including an effort to appeal to those whose conception of the university would favor either a expansion of student discretion in choice of courses, or more specialized programs of study.  We needed to make a case for continuing our commitment to liberal education as the foundation of all our baccalaureate programs.  This was where the work of the Summer Commission and the faculty study group came together. 

Within the wider Catholic community, institutions of higher education were reflecting on their identity and relationship to their spiritual and intellectual traditions. More importantly, the St. Bonaventure University was in a period of transition, and a retrieval of the Franciscan tradition was viewed as a source of renewed vitality.  This tradition could give us the common language by which to articulate and understand our Mission and guide the process of curriculum reform into the next century.

The faculty study group had been raising a most intriguing question:  Could we develop a curriculum for the next century on a foundation going back eight centuries?  It would not be too fanciful to read this self-study as a response to that question.

            The Summer Commission’s first decision was a list of Goals that would guide the remainder of the curriculum reform process and that would provide a basis for a future program review.  The data informing this process included extensive comment gathered from faculty at several meetings throughout the preceding year.  Faculty were asked what they thought ought to be the components and purpose of a St. Bonaventure University education.  Guided by these data,  the commission sought to address the perceived shortcomings in the old curriculum and the positive aspirations that faculty had identified for a renewed curriculum.

In September, 1995, the summer commission released its report, “A proposal for the renewal of the curriculum at SBU.”  It proposed  the following “Goals of the Core Curriculum:”

 

 

1. To promote an understanding of the major achievements and the modes of inquiry which have contributed to the intellectual and aesthetic developments of Western culture.

 

2. To explore the origins and history of humanity.

 

3. To address ultimate questions regarding the nature of God, persons, and the world with particular reference to the Catholic and Franciscan traditions.

 

4. To advance intelligent and principled participation in the moral conversation of a democratic society.

 

5. To promote an awareness of other cultures, traditions and voices.

 

6. To identify and address the future challenges confronting humanity.

 

 

[Motion approved by Faculty Senate, October 13, 1995]

 

            When these Goals were presented to a series of meetings of faculty and students that Fall, three objections were common:  Too much emphasis was placed on Western Civilization in the first goal; the fifth goal relegated non-Western cultures to the margins of the curriculum;  and the final goal placed undue emphasis on the present and anticipated future, thereby replacing the enduring questions with transient concerns.  Yet the prevailing view was one that welcomed the first attempt to provide some coherent rationale for our core curriculum, and that saw the emphasis on Western Civilization as traditional and appropriate, while properly balanced by the globalist and multicultural values in the last two goals. 

Apart from agreement on Goals, the Summer Commission was unable to resolve differences regarding the number of credits or courses to be required.  As an alternative, the Commission sought and reached agreement on the areas we thought the curriculum ought to address, and the objectives we ought to achieve within each core area. We decided that the curriculum ought to pursue eight distinct “core areas,” some of which would be directly translated into a corresponding course, while others required more development before a course or courses would be proposed.  The chart (Table 1) that resulted showed that the commission had reached general agreement regarding some areas and had left others to be decided by further faculty deliberation.  For example, the idea that was proposed by the faculty study group, a seminar informed by the philosophical framework of our patron St. Bonaventure’s classic, The Mind’s Journey to God was unanimously accepted, as was the idea of an interdisciplinary senior capstone course addressing future issues confronting humanity. For each course or “core area” a list of faculty disciplines was indicated as principal participants in future decisions regarding the final details of the courses that might be needed to achieve these objectives.  The basic form of this chart survived intense Faculty Senate deliberation, and discussion shifted to the many core area committees that were formed by interested faculty.  

The core areas were spelled out in chart form.  Below is a version of the chart that passed after much discussion but little modification of the original:

Table 1 -- Core Areas and Objectives approved the by the Faculty Senate on 2/2/96

 

 

Core Areas	Core Area Objectives	Disciplines to be Consulted
The Intellectual Journey [First Year Seminar]*	1. To examine major issues in the context of the spiritual vision of Bonaventure. 2. To analyze readings in light of the Bonaventurean themes as developed in The Mind's Journey into God. 3. To enhance writing ability and speaking skills and foster a close student- professor  relationship in a seminar environment. 4. To introduce the rationale underlying the core curriculum at St. Bonaventure University.	All disciplines  within the  University
Inquiry in the Natural World	1. To introduce the mode of inquiry of the natural sciences. 2. To enable students to understand and apply basic investigatory skills in a problem-solving context. 3. To examine a sample of fundamental discoveries of the natural sciences.	Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science,   Psychology
Foundations of the Western World	1. To examine the historical, intellectual, and religious roots of Western culture, as a basis for developing a global perspective. 2. To examine the United States within the context of the Western world.	History, Classics, Philosophy, English, Modern Languages, Theology, Economics, Political Science, Geography
Ethical Foundations	1. To develop the ability to pose and critically analyze personal and societal issues from a moral perspective. 2. To foster systematic reflection on the nature of a moral life as addressed through major traditions, including the Catholic and Franciscan traditions. 3. To address a commonly selected set of moral problems.	Philosophy, Theology, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Classics
Inquiry in the Social World	1. To introduce modes of inquiry in the social sciences. 2. To enable students to understand and apply investigatory skills in the social sciences in a problem-solving context. 3. To examine a sample of relationships in the social world.	Sociology, History, Political Science Economics, Education, Mathematics, Psychology, Modern Languages, Geography
Inquiry in the Religious World	1. To introduce a critical approach to foundational religious texts of Western culture. 2.  To develop a critical understanding of the Catholic and Franciscan heritage.	Theology, Philosophy, History, Classics, English, Anthropology, Franciscan Studies Modern Languages
World Views	1. To introduce the diversity of experiences and perspectives within the human story. 2. To compare Western culture with at least one other perspective. 3. To encourage students to examine their culture from other perspectives.	History, Theology, Psychology, English, Anthropology, Women's Studies,  Sociology, Economics, Fine Arts, Political Science, Geography, J P & C Studies, Modern Lang.
Arts and Literature	1. To read and to develop the ability to critically analyze some classic literary works within the Western canon. 2. To develop the capacity to appreciate other forms of aesthetic expression.	Fine Arts, Modern Lang. Philosophy, English, Education, JMC,History, Classics
University Forum *	1. To examine a contemporary issue in depth, and from a perspective of more than one discipline. 2. To develop an informed position on a contemporary issue. 3. To present a position demonstrating use of analytical, oral, and written skills.	Entire University Community

  * Courses required of all St. Bonaventure University graduates [not to be waived]

 

In addition to a list of Core Goals and Core Areas and Objectives, the commission’s report made some recommendations regarding mathematics, writing, and the need for deeper study within the core areas.   Moreover, it was proposed that a dean’s position be created to oversee the development and administration of the new core, to be called Clare College.  The first dean, Dr. John Apczynski, set to work establishing committees to further develop and refine the plans for a new curriculum.   It was left to faculty committees to work out the details of the courses that would fulfill the core areas and its objectives.  One important change that occurred as a result of independent faculty initiative was a proposal for specific skills courses in writing and reasoning to be incorporated into the curriculum.   This replaced a rather vague “writing across the curriculum” recommendation that had been offered by the Summer Commission.  By late 1996, most of the core area courses had been drawn up and adopted, and the university began to offer pilot versions of some core courses.  Although many of the courses had not yet been offered, or even designed, a decision was made that all students admitted starting in Fall, 1998 would be required to fulfill the new Clare College requirements.

The new requirements included twelve new courses: 

Clare 101, The Intellectual Journey; 

Clare 102, Inquiry in the Natural World, with laboratory;  

Clare 103, Foundations of the Western World; 

Clare 104, The Good Life; 

Clare 105, Inquiry in the Social World;

Clare 106, Foundational Religious Texts;

Clare 107, The Catholic and Franciscan Heritage; 

Clare 108, World Views; 

Clare 109, Art and Literature; 

Clare 110, and 111 Composition and Critical Thinking I & II; 

Clare 401, The University Forum. 

 

 

 

In addition, every student was required to take a three-course sequence to be connected to the core courses specified above, and a mathematics course to be determined by a student’s major program.

 

In the fall of 1998, we admitted the first undergraduate cohort that would be required to complete the new Clare College requirements. The new curriculum was being phased-in and the previous curriculum phased-out.  At that point, few of the courses had been piloted, and some had not even been fully developed. Most Clare courses were being taught for the first time, and many by an ambivalent faculty that was unsure of how prepared it was to meet the challenges of teaching new material and working with other faculty in new and unfamiliar ways.    The phase in/out period suffered a shortage of sections, there were few approved three-course sequences, and no proposal yet for the University Forum. The result was uncertainty, among faculty and students, regarding the viability of this curricular experiment. The new initiative represented a considerable investment of faculty energy and a bold departure from past practice.  Clearly, without a considerable element of good will among faculty and students success would not have been possible.

 

The Martine Endowment

 

At this critical time, a major alumni gift from Les and Eileen Quick established The James Martine Endowment for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning in Clare College.  (This was matched by The Leo Keenan Endowment for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning at St. Bonaventure University, which benefited all university academic programs other than Clare College.) In the summer of 2000, disbursements from this endowment began to fund significant efforts in faculty and program development and assessment.  Nearly every initiative contributing to the eventual success of Clare College has been supported by this fund, which functions as a grantor to support faculty and dean initiated projects. The primary use of these grants has been to fund faculty workshops dealing directly with the improvement of courses and preparation of faculty to teach them. 

Among the more notable, early applications of this funding was the workshop in “Faculty Well-being in Clare College,” organized by Dr. Charles Walker, and follow-up studies done as collaborative research projects with students on issues involving faculty morale.

Similarly, a Martine Fund grant supported the preparation and presentation of an Institutional Profile, by Dr. Scott Lee, of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, in the summer of 2001.  Lee’s constructive report highlighted the real potential for academic excellence in the design of the new curriculum.   Although it was too early to measure the success of realizing that potential, the Institutional Profile did give us a real sense of what had already been accomplished in the six years of curriculum reform.   Further encouragement came in the offer of a Pew Fellowship in Accreditation by AALE, and the support for that initiative that was incorporated in the University’s strategic planning documents.  

 

In spring, 2002, St. Bonaventure University graduated the first cohort of students to have completely satisfied the new Clare College requirements.

.

 

Section III.  Narrative:  Assessment in Clare College

 

This narrative section will look more closely at our efforts to develop, assess and strengthen the Clare College program and its courses.  We begin with our program wide efforts at assessment and development.  Following that is a course-by-course review of the curriculum citing the available assessment data and its meaning.  Where relevant we will indicate the courses that are the strongest and those that require more work and what is being done to improve them.   We will also review other features of the curriculum such as the quantitative reasoning requirement, and three-course sequences.

 

The Collaborative Assessment Project

 

In February, 2001, the St. Bonaventure University Faculty Senate had directed the dean of Clare College to begin a process of course and program review. In May of the following year, the Martine Endowment funded the ”Collaborative Assessment Program” (CAP), which gathered course assessment information, and broadened faculty participation in assessment activities by establishing committees in each of the Clare College courses. CAP established an assessment and review structure comprising Course Committees in each of the twelve Clare College courses, and an Assessment Committee comprised of the twelve committee chairs.  The names of participating faculty are listed in the Preface to this Report (3-6).

Each committee was asked to respond to the following questions:

1.  What are the qualifications for instructors of this course?

2.   Identify a common set of learner outcomes.

3.   Identify common readings, assignments, handouts etc.

4.   Prepare a bibliography for potential instructors.

5.   How are diversity issues treated in this course?

6.      How are computers used in this course?

The reports of these separate committees have been compiled, and is available for review.  This study revealed a wide range of practices related to course assessment, and documents serious efforts at learner outcome assessments in several courses, especially Composition and Critical Thinking, and Inquiry in the Natural World, initiated by their faculty acting independently of program wide initiatives.

Another Martine grant funded a second year of this program.  This focused on synthesizing these results and promoting further curriculum integration.  Regarding the latter, several initiatives have begun to further dialogue among faculty teaching different Clare courses, and to look for areas of integration.  Anne Foerst designed several workshops and surveys with a view towards integrating The Intellectual Journey (101) and The Catholic and Franciscan Heritage (107) Dr. Oleg Bychov and Dr. John Mulryan lead a summer workshop “Aesthetics  as a Uniting and Integrating Element in the Clare College Curriculum,” placing Literature and Arts (109) in dialogue with five other Clare courses.  Finally, Clare College was selected to participate in the three year program, “Bridging the Gap between the Sciences and the Humanities,” developed by the Association for Core Texts and Courses, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, providing an opportunity to explore integration of Composition and Critical Thinking II (111), The Intellectual Journey (101), and Inquiry in the Natural World (102) around primary core texts.  The latter will result in development of a three-course sequence, an Honors Program course, and most ambitiously, a learning community for incoming but undecided science students.

Most importantly, the second year of CAP was devoted to the design and planning of outcome assessment processes for Clare courses, and program, based on the learner outcomes that had been identified in the committee reports.   This coincided with a Pew and Knight Foundations Fellowship in Accreditation offered us by the Academy, and subsequently granted to Dr. Anthony Murphy, who had won support for that initiative in the University’s strategic planning documents.

 

 

The Pew Project

 

The first undergraduate class to have completed the entire Clare College curriculum graduated in May of 2002, and we had also completed the initial CAP effort.  To advance our intention to seek AALE program accreditation, Pew Fellow, Dr. Anthony Murphy began to devise a model process for program and course assessment that focused on Clare 101, The Intellectual Journey, and worked with other members of the CAP Assessment Committee to develop further learner outcomes based approaches to assessment in the various courses of Clare College, particularly the senior capstone course, Clare 401, The University Forum.

Dr. Murphy made two strategic decisions:

(1) To make the assessment of The Intellectual Journey (Clare 101), our first-year seminar, the model for course and program assessment throughout Clare College.  This gave rise to our first effort at overall program assessment in terms of learning outcomes.  A faculty team, headed by Dr. Patricia Parsley, and advised by Murphy, developed and piloted a similar process of assessment in our senior capstone seminar, The University Forum, Clare 401. The design of 401 invites interpretation of its assessment results as reflective of overall program effectiveness. Clare 101 and 401 constitute the first and last courses of the Clare College curriculum. This particular pairing of courses seems most apt as indicators of program effectiveness, and as models for course assessments throughout Clare College.

(2) To use the occasion of Clare College assessment to raise and explore pedagogical issues related to the conception of learning embodied in the tradition of Franciscan scholarship.  For this, he drew upon Dr. Walker’s work on emotion assessment processes and other affective state elements in teaching and learning (discussed below).

Among the more gratifying results is how well assessment has supported the development of a lively community among Clare College faculty. The thrust of our various assessment initiatives has been to involve as many faculty as possible in an ongoing conversation regarding the quality of our program and the well-being of our faculty and students.

In March of 2003, we organized an Assessment Workshop to discuss the proposals of Drs. Murphy, Parsley and Walker, and to foster a consistent understanding and the use of their assessment processes.  The proposals for assessment processes, including rubrics, were presented, discussed, and amended at this well-attended event.  Separate groups of faculty planned the first efforts to assess these two courses, 101 and 401, and trained themselves to do so.  Following Murphy’s proposal we decided to utilize the results of these assessments for an assessment of the Clare College curriculum as a whole.   At that workshop, Dr. Charles Walker’s proposal to begin a process for student emotional state assessment as an ongoing feature of Clare College was adopted and initial planning began.

The actual learner outcome assessment process for 101 and 401 was conducted later that spring.  The results of the 101 assessments were disseminated and discussed at a luncheon meeting for the faculty of that course in May, 2003.  The results of the 401 assessments were compiled after classes had ended and dissemination of results awaits the resumption of class in fall, 2003.  Those results will be reported in the next section.

What follows is an edited version of the report that was drafted by Pew Fellow Murphy to provide a conceptual framework for curriculum-wide assessment, using both the Liberal Education Standards articulated by AALE, and the Franciscan intellectual tradition, what he calls “Bonaventurian learning.” Murphy’s report describes a process that was later applied to our first-year course, The Intellectual Journey.  Murphy also recommended a similar process for our senior capstone course, the University Forum, and suggests that the assessment of these two courses, with some related student emotive-state data constitute our initial assessment for the purposes of this self-study and application for accreditation.  Murphy’s report is followed by the report of the Intellectual Journey assessment team, headed by Dr. Panzarella, and the proposals, report of Dr. Patricia Parsley who headed the Forum assessment team.  Murphy also contributes comments for each of these latter reports.

 

 

A Report on the Assessment of Clare College

Pursuant to AALE Accreditation

 

Submitted by Anthony Murphy, University Pew Fellow. 

(February 3, 2003)

 

A plan for the assessment of the Clare College curriculum

          Clare College is now completely implemented and we have already graduated two cohorts of students to have satisfied the entire requirement.  We have undertaken many early efforts to assess parts of the curriculum, and we have been carefully articulating the bases for a more thoroughgoing review.  We should now undertake an initial review of the curriculum, its strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.  In order to facilitate the first program-wide assessment of Clare College, the following proposal is suggested.  We should begin by looking most closely at the first and last courses of the core: The Intellectual Journey (101) and The University Forum (401). 

Clare 101 is the foundation of the entire core, an introduction to its requisite skills, foundational content, and unifying values.  A successful outcome for this course significantly advances the Goals of the Core. 

Clare 401 is the senior capstone course for the curriculum.  It is taken in the final year of the curriculum, after all other Clare courses have been completed, and its purpose is to bring together the diverse skills and knowledge that students are exposed to over the entire Clare College experience, and to examine our students’ ability to synthesize diverse areas of inquiry, while forming and expressing a position on a contemporary global issue. 

Both 101 and 401, especially the latter, were designed to be opportunities for program assessment and offer common student assignments for assessment review. Individual assessment of the remaining core can be done later on the model of the Journey and the Forum, on a schedule to be suggested below.

 

 

 

 

(1) Prologue:  Assessing Bonaventurian Learning and the Three-fold

Cognitive Domain for Clare Curriculum

 

          As was noted earlier, from the outset the effort to create a new curriculum was inspired and guided in a significant part by the Franciscan intellectual tradition.   A liberal arts curriculum that reflected that tradition would have some distinctive elements and we have used the occasion of this self study effort to identify those elements and assess our work to bring them to life in our students’ education.  First we explicate this notion by relating it to a more contemporary discussion of learning, and second, we will explore the consistency of this view of knowledge with the education standards required by AALE accreditation.

The cognitive domain we are attempting to assess includes three areas:

(i) knowledge, (ii) skills, and (iii) intellectual and affective values.  We chose to emphasize such attitudes as the love of and desire for learning, intellectual enthusiasm, an appreciation for both the subtleties of thought, the beauty of literary expression, and a sense of wonder at the world. Such an affective component mirrors Bonaventure’s theory of learning as expressed in the Prologue to the Itinerarium, where he speaks of the inadequacy of “investigation without wonder,” “knowledge without love,” and “understanding without humility.”   The lovers of wisdom, he tells us, are those inflamed with desire.  A true Bonaventurean education must have a place for affect: desire, admiration, appreciation, wonder, enjoying, and savoring.  [1]

            Such a set of objectives is consistent with Bloom’s six-fold taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.[2] Our simpler taxonomy has combined Bloom’s comprehension and application under knowledge and has expanded his evaluative area to include an affective component.  This honors the three  AALE Liberal Education Standards:  broad and deep learning (knowledge), effective reasoning (skills), and the inclination to inquire (an evaluative/affective component).

            A brief summary of the three AALE Education Standards might be in order. 

(i) Broad and Deep Learning (knowledge):  “A liberally educated person should possess a rich fund of meaningful knowledge, as well as the ability to compare and integrate new and diverse areas of knowledge in fruitful ways.” 

(ii) Effective reasoning (skills):  “An education in the liberal arts always seeks to develop students’ abilities to recognize and to think clearly about important issues and questions.  The ability to reason effectively includes certain foundational skills or abilities (e.g., fluency in reading, writing, and oral communication, mastery of the basis principles of logical, mathematical, and scientific reasoning), as well as higher-order capacities for formulating, analyzing, integrating, and applying arguments and information.” 

(iii) The inclination to inquire (values): “An education in the liberal arts and sciences is more than the mere accumulation of knowledge and skills.  It fosters the student’s desire for seeking out and acquiring important knowledge and skills, both for their own sake and for the good they contribute to our common and individual lives.”    

Such a threefold assessment schema (knowledge, skills, and values) is most appropriate for assessment in terms of the Goals of the Core, which call for the study of the traditional arts and sciences, including non-Western cultures, with a special focus on the Franciscan intellectual tradition. The overall aim is the formation of skilled and knowledgeable persons grounded in intellectual, moral, and spiritual values. Since knowledge of the arts and sciences includes both content as well as method, we have decided to assess both knowledge and skills, including methodological skills, separately. Since all liberal modes of knowing have a material content (knowledge), a methodology (skills),  as well as underlying value assumptions (intellectual and affective values), it would appear to be the case that all the above goals should be assessed at the level of knowledge, skills, and values.

We can assess Clare College’s effectiveness in meeting its six goals under one or more categories of the schema: Goal 1  “to promote an understanding of the major intellectual and aesthetic achievements and modes of inquiry of Western culture;” Goal 2 “to  explore the origins and history of humanity;” Goal 3, addressing “ultimate questions” with reference to the Catholic and Franciscan tradition; Goal 4, “to advance intelligent and principled participation in the moral conversation in a democratic society;”  Goal 5, “to promote an awareness of other cultures” and finally, Goal 6, “identify and address future challenges” would appear to be best assessed by the use of the categories of knowledge, skill, and intellectual and affective values.

 

(2) ASSESSMENT of ‘The Intellectual Journey’ as a model for the

assessment of individual courses.

 

One of the distinctive characteristics of Clare College is that it is goal-based, and its courses have explicit objectives.  These objectives may be further refined into identifiable learner outcomes, as has already been done in most courses through the Collaborative Assessment Project.   The method described below, applied first to Clare 101 and later to Clare 401, can be transferred to other Clare courses provided they have common and well-designed artifact-producing student assignments, and agreement on a set of rubrics by which to assess them.

If done properly the process should not only generate information helpful for program improvement, but also foster a seriousness of purpose and a sense of community among instructors.  Assessments should be done by teams, and assessment data should be shared and discussed widely.  In a separate section we shall make some further recommendations regarding the administration of such ongoing, collaborative processes.

Thus we begin our efforts to develop an assessment processes for Clare College with the expectation that the process we adopt for the ‘Intellectual Journey’ course should provide a template to develop similar approaches to the other courses in the curriculum.  The elements of our assessment process include identifying desired learner outcomes, and developing objective assessment techniques including rubrics by which to measure such outcomes in a common and consistent manner.

2. A. Identifying Learner Outcomes for the Intellectual Journey

When the Summer Commission first proposed the adoption of a first year seminar based on themes from Bonaventure’s Itinerarium , it identified four objectives:

(1) To examine major issues in the context of the spiritual vision of Bonaventure.

(2) To analyze readings in light of the Bonaventurean themes as developed in The Mind’s Journey into God.

(3) To enhance writing and speaking skills and foster a close student-professor relationship in a seminar environment.

(4) To introduce the rationale underlying the core curriculum at St. Bonaventure University.

These objectives are manifest in the design of the course itself and in the following three-fold schema of learner outcomes we developed:

Outcome I.  Skills:  The successful student will demonstrate an ability to read, analyze, comprehend, interpret difficult readings, and communicate this analysis, comprehension and interpretation orally and in writing.

             a.  Reading, analyzing, comprehending: The successful student will be able to identify a central idea of each reading and demonstrate how that idea is developed in the reading.

             b.  Interpreting: The successful student will demonstrate an ability to relate the significance of the ideas in the readings to the topics being discussed, to the basic themes of the Itinerarium, and to her/his life.

c. Writing:  A successful student must demonstrate an enhanced ability to         

write a developed, unified, and coherent essay. Specifically he or she must be able to articulate a clearly focused central idea or theme, arrange it such that all the elements of the essay contribute coherently to the development of this single unified thought, and be able to elaborate and develop that thought by a discussion filled with direct reference to lines, examples, metaphors, and by indicating the relationship between this single thematic idea and other ideas and themes from the readings. etc. Demonstration of improvement of written skills will be based on a comparison of the pre- and post- test.  In addition to measuring developmental achievement and progress by means of the pre and post test, current attainment may be demonstrated by class essays, analyses, journals, interpretations, extended papers, etc.  

d. Discussing: The successful student will make frequent and meaningful contributions to class discussions of the material and will frequently submit essays, analyses, and interpretation based on the readings. Based on this experience, the student will show evidence of an improvement in communication skills. Demonstration of improvement of oral communications skills would appear more difficult to assess.  Given the seminar nature of the class it is expected that the successful student will make frequent and meaningful contributions to class discussions of the material.  An objective measure of improvement of student’s oral skills might be demonstrated by video taped presentation; such a procedure would appear to rather complicated.  Perhaps an easier mode of assessment would be to rely on the student’s own perceptions, as in responses given in “Student Opinions of Instruction.” 

 

Outcome II.  Knowledge:   The knowledge objectives of this course includes general cultural knowledge,  a broad familiarity with a wide range of texts, the views they represent and their relation to the philosophical vision of St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium, and an understanding of the underlying rationale for the Clare College curriculum.

             a.  General Cultural Knowledge:  The successful student will have a general and introductory knowledge of many of the classic works of the western literary, philosophical, and theological tradition, having been exposed to the works of Cicero, Newman, the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Thoreau, Arnold, Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, Sartre, Plato, Milton, Eliot, Dickinson, Euripides, Dante, Bonaventure, and others. The successful student will demonstrate an understanding of some of the central themes of  this tradition, e.g., that Cicero placed a value on cultural memory, that Newman believed that the purpose of education was the cultivation of the intellect, that Plato distinguished the realms of appearance and reality, that Dante sought to describe the beatific vision, that Dillard believes that learning often involves a new way of seeing, that Augustine experienced what might best be described as a conversion of will in his garden, that Francis and Bonaventure might be described as  contemplatives, that the Darwinian theory of evolution is sufficient to explain the harmonious interaction of  plant species, and  that Sartre places a premium on freedom, the stoics on tranquility, etc.  Moreover, he or she will have a general understanding of the themes of the Itinerarium and be able to discuss those themes in relation to the particular readings. 

             b.  Knowledge of Core Curriculum Rationale: The student will have a general understanding of the rationale underlying the Clare common core curriculum, i.e. he/she will be familiar with the Clare sequence as well as the stated objectives of the entire core. Again, such an objective might be assessed on the final teacher evaluation wish a question like “Was I presented with a clear articulation of the objectives both of the core as a whole as well as for this particular course?”

Outcome III.  Intellectual and Affective Values: The student will show evidence that he or she has begun to develop a love of and desire for learning, intellectual enthusiasm, an appreciation for both the subtleties of thought, the beauty of literary expression, and a sense of wonder at the world.

 

2. B. Developing  an Objective Assessment Technique for The Intellectual Journey.

Since its inception, there has been common final exam for The Intellectual Journey.  This was adopted to insure a consistency of content across sections, and to provide an opportunity for course assessment.  Each semester Journey instructors meet to select a passage for the common examination essay.  The students see the passage for the first time at the exam and are expected to write an essay that responds to a set of questions, that students have already reviewed:

 

Please read the passage below and write an essay answering the following questions:

(1) Explain what this passage means. 

(2) Show how it relates to the Bonaventurian themes of the journey and

(3) Explain how it relates to at least four other readings discussed in the course.

(4) Explore how it might relate to your own personal intellectual journey

 

Each instructor will continue to grade his or her own exams/papers for purposes of assigning course grades to individual students.  The assessment of 101 will involve a collaborative second reading of these final essays.  Following their primary grading, steps will be taken to remove  any indicators of the identity of students and instructors and a and a statistically significant number of random sample of papers will be available for re-reading.  (In this case it appears that we could read 30-35 paper that are number coded and selected by a set of randomly-generated numbers.  The latter can be obtained using MS Excel.)   

This re-reading will seek evidence of desired student learning signified  by the outcomes I, II, and III as determined by the application of a common set of rubrics.

Thus we will assess the effectiveness of instruction in this course taken as a whole.  But more importantly, because of the foundational nature of this course, a careful assessment will indicate the degree to which the curriculum  is achieving its stated goals, particularly in areas captured by AALE’s Educational Standards discussed above.

2. C. Rubrics, Standards and Criteria

According to Seely, “A rubric is an articulated set of criteria on a scale.  It is a method of evaluating a student’s work using a defined criterion.”[3] The aim of the rubric is simply to determine whether a particular student work demonstrates the accomplishment of a particular learner outcome. Equally important, rubrics articulate standards and therefore invite dialogue and collaboration among instructors regarding their standards and how they are applied.  It is most important that rubrics be developed collaboratively and with the intention of establishing a shared understanding of standards and expectations regarding student work and course objectives.

We have decided to measure student outcomes using three generalized four-point rubrics.  The particular set of rubrics developed for Intellectual Journey assessment are included in the Appendix.

 

(3) Assessment of Students Intellectual and Affective Attitudes: Desire and enthusiasm to learn:

 

The fourth rubric by which student essays are assessed seeks evidence that students have demonstrated an appreciation for the subtleties of thought, the beauty of literary expression, that the student is beginning to develop a love and desire for learning, and that the student is beginning to forge his or her own personal and critically reflective perspective.   Nonetheless, although this gives us some evidence of learner outcomes in regards to the affective and intellectual attitudes we hope to achieve, we believe it important that an additional instrument be developed and applied in further assessments.

 

A possibility worthy of consideration is Professor Charles Walker’s classroom assessment instrument: “The Emotional States Assessment Technique,”  which was designed specifically to assess student enthusiasm for learning.  To cite Dr. Walker directly, “It should be of interest to any institution that wishes to complement performance outcomes assessment with emotion outcome assessment, that is, institutions that not only want their students to be more skilled and knowledgeable, but also enthusiastic about learning itself.” Walker’s instrument  not only measures student desire and interest in learning quantitatively but also since it is content free is can be used across the board for all Clare courses.

Instructors in all Clare sections should be encouraged to learn and apply Dr. Walker’s instrument in every Clare course every semester.  If used in mid-course, the feedback will have some immediate usefulness to the individual instructor. Walker presented his instrument and discussed its significance at last Spring’s Assessment Workshop.  Following that,  Walker  received a Martine grant in May, 2003, and is beginning  to schedule training workshops for Clare faculty regarding the use of his technique.   We hope to see this process become a regular  part of Clare College.  We look forward to discussing our findings from this process as well as the essay readings at gatherings of Clare faculty each semester.  What do they tell us about student enthusiasm and desire to learn?   How might we encourage such affective outcomes.  Dr. Walker has also prepared a series of three questions relating to enthusiasm that could be given to students at the time the instrument is used. 

See the Appendices which includes the following:  1) Dr. Walker’s short paper “Using the Emotional States Assessment Technique:  Guidelines for Instructors and Faculty Developers.” 2) Data and student narratives collected in a pilot study using the Emotional States Assessment Technique.

 

(4) Institutional Procedures for assessment feedback

and the need for coursecoordinators.

 

   Ongoing institutional follow up procedures:  So that this data will be put to use in the furtherance of improved instruction, faculty should meet at least once at the start of each semester to evaluate the results.  If for example performance on one particular learning objective is inferior, the tutors can decide either on ways to improve that performance or perhaps modify the learner outcome if it proves to be unrealistic. This ongoing institutional follow up is most crucial; it is the reason for the entire assessment procedure. It must be understood that assessment is an unending process, continually subjecting the college to both outside and internal review.  Our aim ought not to be proving that  we are doing everything right but rather that we know what we are doing, assessing what we are doing, and continually modifying our offerings, in the light of such assessment data, to improve what we are doing. 

             This step would appear to demand that each Clare course have a coordinator to facilitate such matters. Specifically it is recommended that the coordinators for each course, together with the committee of evaluators annually write a “Strength and Weakness Report” on each course.

             It is suggested that such committee reports be financed by Martine funds. The aim of this report would be to:  1. arrive at an overall evaluative score for aggregate student performance and attitude;  2.  interpret those scores to highlight both strengths and weakness as they relate to all learning objectives;  3.   make recommendations and to develop criteria for improvement in order to better attain our objectives.  It might be the case that committees recommend modification of the objectives themselves.

             This is to be understood as an ongoing procedure for assessment.  Assessment procedures only make sense if there is an institutional mechanism by which to evaluate such data and make appropriate recommendations to the teaching faculty on a regular basis. It would be the task of the coordinators of each course to make sure that such data is properly interpreted and disseminated so as to be the basis of ongoing instructional improvement.

 

Assessment of CLARE 401, The University Forum.

Based on the report of Dr. Patricia Parsley, March, 2003.

 

Dr. Murphy’s proposals for the initial program assessment of Clare College included an assessment of the first and last courses of the curriculum.  An assessment process for Clare 401, The University Forum, our senior capstone course was drafted by Dr. Patricia Parsley, in consultation with Dr. Murphy and others, and a proposal was put before those Clare College instructors who attended the Assessment Workshop in March, 2003.  

The proposal made two assumptions, consistent with those made earlier in the development of assessment procedures for 101.  First, it was assumed that the objectives that had been adopted for the course, by the Faculty Senate, in 1996, were reflected in the standard final paper assignment for the course.  [This was analogous to the connection that was drawn between the objectives of 101 and the final exam common essay for that course.]  Secondly, it was assumed that the goals of the University Forum course, as examined by the final paper assignment, were reflective of the central goals of the core curriculum as a whole.  Such that course assessment would logically entail program assessment as well.

Clare 401 is the capstone for the Clare College curriculum. It is the culmination of our students' liberal arts education at St. Bonaventure aimed at outcomes including the development of knowledge about a broad range of cultural issues, of intellectual skills and of a strong desire for  inquiry as a means to sustain learning throughout their lives. 

Further,  all students seeking a baccalaureate degree from St. Bonaventure must take this course. In developing the Clare College curriculum, only the Intellectual Journey (Clare 101) or the University Forum (Clare 401) cannot be waived . The chart of  “Core Areas and Objectives”  (see Table I above), adopted by Faculty Senate meeting of February, 1996, included the following three objectives for the University Forum: 

Objective 1:   To examine a contemporary issue in depth, and from a perspective of more

than one discipline;

Objective 2:   To develop an informed position on a contemporary issue; and 

Objective 3:   To present a position demonstrating use of analytical, oral, and written skills.

Moreover, when the final format for the course was approved by the Faculty Senate in November, 2000, the proposal that had been submitted by the dean included the following:

 “Most importantly, the work assigned to students in the capstone experience must be crafted to provide outcomes data necessary to assess the entire curriculum experience.”  (emphasis in original)

Students in 401 are required to write an essay on a contemporary global issue.   If the objectives of the course comprise the kinds of skills, knowledge and affective values that are both at the heart of the Clare College mission, as expressed in the Goals of the Core, and consistent with AALE liberal education standards, a review of student work in light of those objectives would advance our program assessment. 

Parsley and her committee developed the following list of learner outcomes that follow from the objectives of the course listed above:

Learner Outcomes (Course objectives given in parentheses)

1. Students can identify and describe a contemporary problem  in depth (Objective 1).

2.  Students can describe the issue from the perspective of more than one discipline (Objective 1).

3.  Students can articulate and support their positions on an issue using appropriate and multiple sources of information (Objective 2, Objective 3).

4.  Students demonstrate skills at analysis and interpretation of arguments supporting and not supporting their positions (Objective 2, Objective 3).

5.  Students demonstrate skills at writing and developing a coherent paper which is focused, demonstrates their ability to synthesize ideas and observes conventions of good writing and documentation (Objective 3).

6.  Students demonstrate skills at oral presentation of their positions in a forum of their peers (Objective 3).

When these were considered at the Assessment Workshop of March, 2003, it was agreed that we should consider using the 401 student position paper as a learning artifact to test our effectiveness toward learner objectives 1 through 5 above.   A discussion of this proposal included a “trial  run” of  a set of rubrics, which Parsley had devised, on three sample papers.  (Parsley’s rubrics are appended to this report.)

 

Assessment Findings:  Clare 101 and 401

 

We completed formal assessments of Clare 101 and 401 as described above, in May and June of 2003. In some ways the results were disappointing because we did discern some pervasive shortcomings in our students’ learning, particularly with respect to skills that were part of the objectives of those courses.  Yet we were gratified by evidence adduced in support of the success of our efforts relative to other intended outcomes. 

 

[What follows are edited versions of the two course assessments.  The Intellectual Journey assessment section is based on a report delivered by Dr. Patrick Panzarella in May, 2003 and reported to the faculty.  The section on the assessment of The University Forum is based on the report prepared by Dr. Parsley in July, 2003.  Both were edited for inclusion in this Self-Study. Detailed breakdowns, in terms of rubrics used and specific scores, as well as statistical analyses will be appended to this report.]

 

Assessment Results for Clare 101, The Intellectual Journey

 

The Intellectual Journey was assessed by applying a set of four rubrics to a randomly selected set of student papers.  Students had written essays after reading a common passage.  The passage was not part of any earlier assignment, and we assumed that probably none of the students would have had any occasion to read the passage previously.  In their essays students were expected to display skills of reading comprehension, clear writing, a knowledge of St. Bonaventure’s thought in relation to other ideas, and an appreciation for learning.

 

Rubric 1.  Reading Comprehension: 

This proved to be the weakest outcome in our study.  Only a handful of the students displayed any real understanding of the reading.  The basic problem was that the students had not carefully read  the passage chosen for analysis.  Secondly, they did not discuss or interpret the passage as a whole.  Thirdly, they did not maintain a consistent interpretation of the passage in their responses to each of the four parts of the essay.

 

The assessment team’s report recommended that the course put more emphasis on reading comprehension and consistent interpretation.

 

Rubric 2.   Ability to Relate the Passage to the Itinerarium and Four Readings from the Text.  Applying this rubric, we found that reading and comprehension skill were weak; and understanding of the Itinerarium as a whole and the ability to find interpretative value in the related  works were weak.  Finally, the attempts to relate the materials to the personal lives of the students were superficial.

 

    To strengthen these weaknesses reading, comprehension, and interpretation as well as more focus on understanding the Itinerarium as a whole must be emphasized; and more class time must be spent on encouraging the students to relate the materials studied to their personal lives.

 

Rubric 3:  Quality of Writing

     The students dutifully responded to each of the four parts of the essay, and they stuck to the question, but their writing revealed difficulty in developing a unified theme, insufficient illustrative detail, monotonous sentence structure and diction, and spelling and punctuation weaknesses.

 

     To strengthen these weaknesses the rubric outlining the criteria by which the writing will be evaluated should be given to each student and instructor early in the course so the students can work on their writing throughout the semester.  On the final exam itself, the students should be asked to write four essays instead of a single essay with four parts.

 

Rubric 4:  Aesthetic Appreciation

Students evidenced knowledge of the basic "story lines" of the readings and showed evidence of discovering themselves and thinking about their spiritual journey.  However, there was little evidence of the students appreciating the beauties of literary expression and developing a love and desire for learning.  They seldom distinguished poems from plays or personal essays from philosophical treatises.  Efforts to relate the readings to personal experience were minimal.

 

     To strengthen these weaknesses more emphasis should be placed on the beauty of language and the joy of discovery.  Perhaps, students should be required to keep a journal recording their understanding of and personal experiences with the literature.

 

Overall Assessment

Student responses were weakest for the first (comprehension) and fourth (aesthetic appreciation) rubrics.  Only nine (9) of thirty (30) essays scored above the middle point for comprehension, and only ten (10) of thirty (30) essays scored above the mid point for aesthetic appreciation.  As the assessments by each rubric indicate, there were significant weaknesses and fewer strengths for each of the rubrics, but rubric I (comprehension) and rubric IV (aesthetic appreciation) had significantly fewer students scoring above the mid-point.

 

Recommendations

1. Revision of the Rubrics:  The committee recommended several ideas for revisions of rubrics, but none significantly affecting the conclusions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the course or program itself.

2.  Pedagogy: 

The committee report listed the following recommendations regarding the way the course is taught:

1.  Give the rubrics to the instructors and students to clearly indicate how their efforts will be evaluated. 

            2.  Require closer reading of the texts.

            3.  Focus more on the students' reading and understanding of the texts.

4.  Offer more opportunities for the students to relate the reading to their personal experience.

5.  Apply the criteria of the third rubric (Quality of Writing) to the students' writing throughout  the semester.

The committee’s report and recommendations were presented during a luncheon for Clare faculty who teach Intellectual Journey.  In addition to the recommendations offered by the committee, faculty suggested a reconsideration of the number of readings assigned during the semester as part of an effort to get students to read more carefully.  Clare faculty will be meeting again in the early part of the Fall, 2003 semester to consider these and other suggestions for improving the course and student learning in it.

 

Assessment findings  for Clare 401, The University Forum

1.  Results on the individual rubrics. It appears that on average there was no significant variance among the judgments of individual assessors and the numeric values they assigned to the student work that they reviewed.  This indicates a reliable degree of consensus among the reviewers regarding the standards and expectations of this course and the program that it completes.  There was, however, a significant variance among students’ papers, which indicates a cause for concern. 

 

The rubrics were scored according to either a 3 or 4 value scale.  The assessment team used the mid-point of that scale to indicate good to adequate student performance, and although Dr. Parsley, the team coordinator refers to this as “arbitrary” it does appear reasonable in the light of the terms used to describe the mid-range judgments for most of the rubrics they employed.  On that basis, the mean score for all student work assessed was only 33.72, a bit short of the mid-point value of 34, and little more than one-half of all student work met that modest standard.  Judged in a different way, if we doubled the scores so that we might compare them on a 100 point scale, the average student score was 67.44, short of a very modest target of 68.

 

Rubric 2 seeks evidence of students’ abilities to understand and explain an issue from multiple disciplinary perspectives, using multiple sources of information.  Here the results were more encouraging:  the average score was above the mid-point, which was exceeded by more than half the sample papers, and where more than one-third of the papers were rated at the 80% mark or above.  Most gratifying is the fact that this rubric is a significant test of the efficacy of the program’s efforts to promote an multidisciplinary knowledge and skills.

 

Rubrics 3, 4 and 5 yielded somewhat disappointing results. Here we were looking for evidence that students could clearly state a position, adduce support, and consider contrary views and possible weaknesses in their positions. The average score was below the mid-point score which most papers failed to achieve. 

 

Rubrics 6, which concerned  evidence of the appropriate use and citation of source material, and Rubric 7, which assessed the overall quality of student writing in terms of grammar, presentation, clarity and the synthesis of viewpoints yielded the most gratifying results.  In both cases, the average sample scores were well above the mid-point target, and in the case of Rubric 7, 30 of 35 papers reached that mark.  This supports the claim that the preponderance of students completing our program can write adequate to good college level essays, and is an important  measure of program quality. 

 

The assessment team report concludes that “student position papers averaged the mid-point or better for four of the seven rubrics parts” and concludes that “most of the students had written satisfactory position papers as assessed by the rubric.”  The committee recommended further use of this assessment process.

As of this writing, these results have not yet been shared with the faculty teaching The University Forum, but as in the case of the assessment of the Intellectual Journey, we expect a fruitful discussion of these results, an appraisal of the process used, and some resolve to pursue the areas of concern noted above. 

The results of the 401 Assessment were reviewed by Dr. Murphy who was asked to comment for the sake of this report.  His remarks follow:

 

            The assessment findings indicate that we are meeting with some success at reaching our learner objectives:  Students are doing quite well with overall paper quality, grammar and spelling, neatness, presentation, clear and consistent focus, etc. as well as addressing the issue from several perspectives, diversity of sources, etc.  They are doing moderately well in stating their position and citing relevant literature.  They are doing less well in supporting their positions and in recognizing the limitations of the sources used. 

 

Have the learner outcomes of Clare 401 been achieved?

            There were 6 learner outcomes articulated at the March 2003 workshop:

1)     Students can identify and describe a contemporary problem in depth.

2)     Students can describe the issue from the perspective of more than one discipline

3)     Students can articulate and support their position on an issue using appropriate and multiple sources of information.

4)     Students demonstrate skills at analysis and interpretation of arguments supporting and not supporting their position.

5)     Students demonstrate skills at writing and developing a coherent paper, which is focused, demonstrates their ability to synthesize ideas and observes conventions of good writing and documentation.

6)     Students demonstrate skills at oral presentation of their positions in a forum of their peers.

 

It is clear, based on the rubric scores, that students have met to a satisfactory degree outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5.  The report, since it concerned itself only with an analysis of the written papers, is silent on outcome  6. There is good reason to believe that we may be doing less well at  meeting outcome  4. More work needs to be done in developing logical and analytical skills, especially with knowing how to support a position with argument as well as recognizing when more information would be appropriate for such support.  I would offer two suggestions for improving student performance regarding outcome 4, which expects students to support positions they advance:   (1) All instructors in Clare 401 should meet in the early fall to discuss means of more effectively accomplishing this objective.  One possibility might be to incorporate a section on logical argument and the support of a position.  (2)  Since this is a skill that should be learned in CCT 111, the instructors in this core course should be presented with these findings and asked to more effectively stress the articulation and defense of positions within a written context.

 

A note on the problem of “cross-section” plagiarism and a possible solution:

     The most immediate success of  random selection of papers across sections was the discovery of a serious problem of plagiarism.  Since the random sample turned up some identical papers, it is reasonable to infer that there is a good deal of plagiarism of Clare 401 papers.  Since these course have multiple sections writing papers regarding the same issue, the temptation is for a student to turn in a paper already submitted in another section. Because this practice could not be detected by an individual instructor, without the random sampling technique we may never have detected it. We have  discussed this problem at length at a Clare College Advisory Council.  There it was suggested that the College might demand that all papers we submitted with an electronic copy to be scanned by appropriate “anti-plagiarism software.”

 

 

The Clare College Courses:

 

            In this section, we will review the elements of the Clare College curriculum:  the twelve Clare College courses, the three-course sequence requirement, and the quantitative reasoning requirement.  Our object is primarily descriptive, and only indirectly address assessment questions regarding these elements.

 

            In addition to the program assessment reported above, individual courses are assessed by various methods, most of which are designed and executed by the instructors within the courses, and used for the improvement of the individual courses themselves. One assessment indicator that is used across the curriculum is a series of questions embedded in student evaluation questionnaires completed at the end of each semester.  Each questionnaire has several questions that ask students whether they agree that the objectives of the course have been served. At the conclusion of each semester, students respond to a series of questions on a five-valued ascending agree/disagree scale.  Although it is not possible to infer the successful learner outcome that would be a more valid measure of course effectiveness, these student agreement indicia do allow us to monitor the commitment to common objectives as experienced by students.  Where recent data is available, we will provide the results for each course in turn.

            We have also encouraged faculty to practice “formative assessment,” or mid-course student feedback, in individual sections.  Dr. Walker has organized workshops to train faculty in the use of such techniques, and most recently has begun a program to train Clare College instructors to use assessment instruments the track student emotional states tied to learning.  (This was also discussed in the section on program assessment.)

            What follows is a course-by-course account of Clare College, including a catalogue description for each, and information provided by CAP committees regarding the assessment practices specific to these courses.  We will also refer to data regarding student awareness of course objectives as indicated on course evaluation questionnaires.

 

 

CLAR 101.  The Intellectual Journey. An introduction to the life of intellectual inquiry based on themes from Bonaventure’s The Mind’s Journey into God. By means of a seminar format, Clare College faculty and students engage in reflective discussion, informed by the Bonaventurian spiritual vision, of substantive issues posed by the human community. In this manner writing and thinking skills are developed, verbal expression is encouraged, and foundational questions are explored with a view toward integrating the core area courses. 3 credits.

 

            When the new curriculum proposal was first discussed by the Summer Commission, there was unanimous agreement that we ought to adopt a first-year seminar similar to ones that had become increasingly popular in many institutions that had renewed their curricula recently.  The potential benefits of a small seminar-format course early in a student’s experience seemed obvious: an opportunity for more personal instruction and attention would allow us to focus more intensively on basic academic skills and to introduce the culture of academic life.  We were however mindful of the fact that such courses require substantial use of faculty resources, which were already heavily taxed at our university.  Consequently we agreed that this course ought to justify the heavy investment of faculty resources needed to staff it adequately.  Therefore it was most opportune to draw upon the work that had been done before us by the faculty study group that had been looking into ways to incorporate the Franciscan tradition into our curriculum.  Thus was proposed a course that would introduce students into the life of intellectual inquiry based on themes from Bonaventure’s  The Mind’s Journey into God, or Itinerarium mentis in Deum.

 

The course, required of all students, is seminar in format and each section is restricted to 14 students. The course moves  through a Prologue and six stages of inquiry akin to Bonaventure’s  own spiritual journey.  Where Bonaventure’s  own journey concludes with a rapturous mystical experience of God, the course concludes with the joyful experience of intellectual discovery.   At each of these eight stages, a wide-ranging selection of edited texts, which are related to the Bonaventurean schema, are read and discussed.  The result is exposure to a broad range of texts, both classic and contemporary, and a dialogical engagement between the Bonaventurean perspective and the wider culture.  The combination of small class size and a diverse reading list enables instructors to focus on student’s reading and writing competencies, and oral communication skills as well.  All students are required to write a minimum of 15 pages during the course (to be divided per decision of instructors), and to make at least one oral presentation.

This course introduces students to the Franciscan intellectual tradition, as embodied in the classic work of our patron, to the rationale of the Clare College curriculum itself, and most importantly to the life of liberal intellectual inquiry itself.  In doing so, this course makes the case for the centrality of general liberal study in the education of our students, and in the mission of the University.  We are fortunate indeed to be able to tie the value of liberal education to the specific intellectual tradition of the Franciscans.  Indeed this course has the widest range of faculty participation including faculty from our professional programs in education, business, and our graduate program in Franciscan Studies.

Because this course is so central to the curriculum, we have tied its assessment to assessment of Clare College as a program, and refer the reader to the preceding sections where this course is addressed.

Student responses indicate agreement with the following claims.

•  This course examined major issues in the context of the spiritual vision of Bonaventure.

•  This course analyzed readings in light of the Bonaventurean themes as developed in The Mind's Journey into God.

•  This course enhanced writing ability and speaking skills.

•  This course introduced the rationale underlying the core curriculum at St. Bonaventure University.

CLAR 110-111.  Composition and Critical Thinking I and II. Composition and Critical Thinking I and II are usually freshman, first and second semester courses. Both courses emphasize reading examples of what is later to be produced by the students.  The extensive use of diagnostics, in both courses, coupled to progressively skilled themes offers several well-focused  assessment opportunities as explained below. 3 and 3 credits.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following claims:

 •  This course helped me to improve my writing skills.

 •  This course helped me to improve my reading.

•   This course helped me improve my critical thinking skills.

 

Composition and Critical Thinking I  (CLAR 110) focuses upon exposition. Methods of development (narration, description, definition, and analysis) are explored by studying examples  from the reading, and students are required to write essays exemplifying each method.  Elements of critical thinking considered in this course include valid objective and subjective uses of language, construction of definitions, and misleading uses of language, such as slanting, doublespeak, loaded definitions, informal fallacies and fallacious appeals. 

Students write a minimum of 12 pages distributed over 6 graded compositions.

The CAP committee for Clare 110 reported the following twelve learner outcomes :

1.  Students will be able to write well focused, well structured, and well developed essays.

2.  Students will be able to write introductions that make the central idea of the essay clear and that engage the reader’s attention.

3. Students will be able to select and order information essential to developing the central idea of the essay.

4. Students will be able to skillfully link the major sections of the essay  together, and they will be able to make smooth transitions between the major sections.

5. Students will be able to write paragraphs with clear topic ideas related to the central point of the essay and adequate facts, details, and information to develop the topic ideas.

6. Students will be able to use a variety of sentence structures.

7. Students will be able to choose words that show precision, clarity and vigor.

8. Students will be able to write effective conclusions.

9. Students will be able to successfully select, edit, and integrate materials from outside sources into their papers.

10. Students will be able to correctly and completely document source materials used in their papers.

11. Students will demonstrate an ability to think critically in the selection, organization and presentation of their ideas.

12. Students will be able to read critically.

 

Faculty teaching Clare 110 agreed to employ the following processes to assess their effectiveness in producing the intended outcomes:

1.  Students will write a diagnostic essay at the beginning of the semester that will be assessed for the learner outcomes 1-8 and listed above.

2. Students will take a diagnostic test in grammar, punctuation, and mechanics at the beginning of the semester.

3. Students will write an essay at the end of the semester on the same topic as the diagnostic essay.

4. Students will take a post semester diagnostic test in grammar, punctuation, and mechanics at the end of the semester.

5. Students will write six essays during the semester several of which will require documentation.  These essays will be evaluated according to the outcome criteria.

6.  Students will have a minimum of two individual conferences with the instructor focusing on a paper and the progress the students are making in achieving the outcomes.

7.  Students will analyze and discuss assigned readings.

 

Composition and Critical Thinking II (CLAR 111) develops more extend arguments and the first research papers.  Logic, formal and informal, deductive and inductive, is studied.  Diagnostics and sixteen pages of composition follow with three assignments: a critique of a study, a position paper on an ethical or public policy issue, and a propounding of a law, proposition, or policy.

Learner outcomes listed by CAP committee:

1.  The student will be able to construct and critique definitions.

2.  The student will be able to recognize various types of statements, i.e., analytic, empirical, evaluative, etc. and be able to assess their truth.

3. The student will be able to evaluate simple deductive arguments for validity and soundness.

4. The student will be able to distinguish an inductive (analogies, statistical arguments, etc.) from a deductive argument and be able to appraise it for correctness.

5. The student will be able to both construct and evaluate an extended logical argument.

6. The student will be familiar with the basic concepts of logic: statement or proposition, definition, validity, soundness, truth, argument, inference, syllogism, belief, knowledge, etc.

7.  The student will be able to analyze a complex piece of prose illustrating a knowledge of the intricate interplay of rhetoric, persuasion, and argument.

8.  The student will demonstrate the ability to write an extended argumentative paper.  This paper will evidence the ability to construct a clear thesis statement, the ability to construct 2-3 arguments in support of that thesis, and an ability to critically evaluate one’s own arguments being able to construct counter arguments and replies.

 

Instructors teaching Clare 110 agreed to employ the following processes to assess their effectiveness in producing the intended outcomes:

Evidence regarding the satisfaction of these outcome criteria is given primarily through a pre-  and post- course essay assignment. During the semester each student will be asked to write a minimum of 16 pages distributed over 5 compositions as outlined below.  Additionally, the student will be introduced to a variety of critical/logical tools by which to assess these compositions.

 

Diagnostic entrance theme: This two-page or 500-word theme will be graded and counted in the student’s final grade.  Since this semester focuses on writing argument and studying formal and informal logic, this essay will direct the student to take a position on an issue (The right to bear arms, Miranda rights, censorship of the media, or some other ethical or public policy concern).  The 2-3 page diagnostic exit theme will use a similar issue in an attempt to ascertain what kinds of improvements in writing have been gained over the course of the semester.  This theme will likewise be graded and counted in the student’s final grade.

 

Two specific areas will be addressed in both the entrance and exit essays:

·        Review and reassessment of pertinent writing mechanics and organizational elements (from CCT 110).

·        Assessment of the elements of a position paper (attacking and defending positions, identifying and critically assessing the parts of arguments and the relationship of the premises to the conclusion).

 

 

 

CLAR 102. Inquiry in the Natural World. An introduction to what we know about the physical universe and how we have discovered it. The process of scientific discovery is explored using major discoveries in the history of science as examples, Topics include the fundamental properties of matter and energy, the nature of chemical reactions, the use of energy by living things, the nature and property of DNA and its role in biological evolution, and the evolution of the human mind/brain. The course includes a combination of lecture, classroom discussion, and an experimental laboratory. 4 credits.

 

According to the common syllabus, Inquiry in the Natural World introduces you to the mode of inquiry that is used in the natural sciences.

 

Inquiry in the Natural World is not a run-of-the-mill science course. We know that you have already had a number of years of science courses in high school, and we don’t expect a one-semester college course will be able to introduce the content of modern science in much more depth than you have already had it.

Instead, we will be focusing on the process of scientific inquiry. We will be using key discoveries in the history of Western science as examples through which we can explore how scientific advances happen. Since we are focusing on process, there will be a minimum of traditional lectures. Instead, you will be actively involved in discussions and group projects in class. And your performance in this work in class will have an effect on your overall course grade.

Inquiry in the Natural World is organized in 13 one-week modules each of which is organized around a specific question.

 

Topic 1 – How do we find out about the world? 

Topic 2 – Where are we in the Universe? 

Topic 3 – Why do heavy things fall and planets revolve? 

Topic 4 – What is energy? 

Topic 5 – What is matter?

Topic 6 – What are atoms?

Topic 7 – What is light and what are electrons? 

Topic 8 – What is life? 

Topic 9 – How do living things evolve? 

Topic 10 – Why do we resemble our parents? 

Topic 11 – How does life use energy? 

Topic 12 – Earth and the Environment 

Topic 13 – How do we view the Universe now? 

 

A keynote lecture provides the first exposure to the content of each module, and is followed by two classes which stress discussions and group learning assignments.  Each week students are given handouts which detail the specific learning objectives, discussion questions and reading assignments for each  week’s topic question. 

 

The very deliberate organization of this course ensures its consistency over all of its sections and it attests to the admirable collaborative effort among the science  faculty who teach this course. 

 

Also praiseworthy is the faculty’s continuous course assessment:  Each semester begins with students taking a pre-test, covering multiple-choice questions in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and environmental science.  Questions are directly related to the topics slated for development over the semester.  These questions reappear on the common final exam for the course, and student performance over time is measured.  Each semester’s analysis has shown an improvement in the student’s understanding of science.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following statements:

•  This course introduced the mode of inquiry of the natural sciences.

•  This course enabled students to understand and apply basic investigatory skills in  a problem-solving context.

•  This course examined a sample of fundamental discoveries of the natural sciences.

 

 

 

 

 

CLAR 103 Foundations of the Western World.  An introduction to the historical, intellectual, and religious roots of the Western culture intended to serve as a basis for developing a comprehensive understanding of that culture and of other cultures that are linked to or influenced by it.  The course will present a historical perspective tracing major changes in the development of western culture from ancient times to the present.

3 credits.

 

The CAP committee reports:

This course does not attempt to be comprehensively inclusive of the entire history of Western culture, but does maintain a chronological approach starting with the Mediterranean origins of Western Civilization and concluding in the present time.  Rather than attempting to cover every major event or person, Clare 103 is structured around several basic themes as determined by individual instructors.  A consistency across sections is maintained by the use of a common survey textbook and five common primary sources, as determined by the faculty collaboratively.

 

There are four learner outcomes that are expected of students in this course:

1.  An understanding of the major developments in the history of Western Civilization from ancient times to the present.

2.  A solid grasp of the themes (as chosen by individual professors) and of how these themes evolved over the centuries.

3.  Enhanced skills in critical analysis.

4.  Improved writing skills

 

Methods of assessing students’ success in achieving the above learning outcomes:

1.  Essay examinations

2.  Class discussions

3.  Written assignments

4.  Student evaluations filled out at the end of the semester.

5.  Specific instruments designed by individual professors.  Each professor is encouraged to devise some method or “instrument” whereby to gauge each student’s improved understanding of the western world.  Some professors have created a “pre-test” that is administered to students on the first day of the semester, and at the end of the semester, thus permitting  the professor to measure each student’s progress.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following:

•  This course examined the historical, intellectual, and religious roots of Western culture, as a basis for developing a global  perspective.

•  This course examined the United States within the context of the Western World.

 

 

CLAR 104 The Good Life.  This course will introduce students to questions about the nature of morality, major ethical theories, Roman Catholic moral reflection, contemporary and classical ethical dilemmas, and models of moral behavior and character. Students will learn basic concepts of morality and will apply these to contemporary personal and social ethical dilemmas.  They will also learn about significant moral exemplars in human history.  3 credits.

 

According to CAP committee:

Learner outcomes:

Concepts:  Students will know the meaning of the following terms:

Argument, reason/premise, conclusion and counterexample;  value, moral, immoral,  non-moral;  descriptive claim,  normative claim/prescriptive claim/value judgment;  good, bad, right and wrong; norms, standards, and rules;  immoral, permissible, impermissible, obligatory, supererogatory;  morality, ethics, metaethics;  descriptive relativism and normative relativism;  psychological egoism and ethical egoism; altruism, self-interest and selfishness; subjectivism, objectivism and skepticism;  consequentialism, deontology, autonomy and virtue.

Metaethical presuppositions.  Students will  (i) understand the interplay of social norms, conscience, faith, reason and emotion in forming and justifying claims about how one should live;  (ii)  understand the metaethical positions of relativism, subjectivism, and skepticism, and be able to state the strongest arguments and evidence for and against those positions.

Theories and Principles.  Students will understand the following ethical principles and theories, and distinguish different conceptions of them:  egoism,  the principle of utility, the categorical imperative, respect for autonomy, divine command theory, natural law theory, virtue ethics, distributive justice, retributive justice, procedural justice.

Application.  Students will be able to apply the above ethical principles to contemporary issues such as the following:  abortion, animal rights, capital punishment, corporate responsibility, affirmative action, environmental ethics, euthanasia, hate speech, human cloning, sexuality, suicide, torture, and world hunger.

 

Integration.   Student assignments will embody the outcomes specified above.

(1)  Students will develop their abilities to construct, present and defend reasoned positions  on issues central to living a good life.  Typically, this will involve a student presenting in class a reasoned position on an important issue (e.g., on ones roles/responsibilities in the areas of family life, career and citizenship), being responsive to objections and alternatives, and then, in a longer paper, defending one’s position against important objections and alternative positions.  A series of classes focusing on a variety of issues also allows students to reason both creatively and consistently from their basic value commitments.  Exchanges of reasoned  views enhance mutual respect and toleration – important community values in a democratic society.

(2)  Students will integrate their understanding of the various components of the course by envisioning a life plan that responsibly embodies ethical principles and concepts.  The life plan will embody the individual student’s understanding of his or her virtues and basic ethical principles as well as her or his aspirations regarding family life, career or profession, and contributions as a citizen of both local and global communities.  The opportunity to achieve this integration will be provided by a paper assignment or  final examination essay.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following:

•  This course developed the ability to pose and critically analyze personal and societal issues from a moral perspective.

•  This course fostered systematic reflection on the nature of a moral life as addressed through major traditions, including the Catholic and Franciscan traditions.

•  This course addressed a commonly selected set of moral problems.

 

 

CLAR 105. Inquiry in the Social World. This course introduces the fundamental methods of formal inquiry into the social world. It offers definitions of the "social world" from the points of view of several social sciences and unravels the assumptions and methods of study of each. Emphasis is placed on comparing and contrasting the basic assumptions of sociology, political science, psychology, economics, and history by demonstrating how each social science approaches questions about the social world, particularly those involving normality, social inequity, and power. The consequences of choosing one particular social science over another to conduct research in the social world are examined. Emphasis is placed on student participation in and production of weekly seminars. 3 credits.

 

According to the  CAP report, the course committee was unable, and later unwilling, to achieve an integrating common syllabus for this course:

The course was designed to introduce the student to the wider society through the disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics, and political science.  Each of the disciplines was to be treated as possessing a rather distinct analytical framework , set of assumptions, and an accompanying methodology by which our understanding of society is determined.  The integrating principles of a more generally articulated  social science were to maintain a general consistency across the various sections, thereby providing the student with a common experience.

 

After considerable discussion, the committee came to appreciate that a very tight consistency across the various sections was neither practical nor beneficial to the student.  Each professor inevitably and correctly brings her/his own academic training into the classroom, thereby slanting the course  toward a particular discipline while at the same time striving to include a number of the other social sciences.  As a result such integrating fields as social psychology, political economy, and political psychology may be found in the various sections.  From the students’ standpoint they begin to appreciate both the breadth and depth of the social sciences as well as the integrative mechanisms of each.  Student evaluations indicate the success of this approach.

 

Student responses agree with the following:

•   This course introduced modes of inquiry in the social sciences.

•   This course enabled you to understand and apply investigatory skills in the social sciences in a problem-solving context.

•   This course examined a sample of relationships in the social world.

CLAR 106. Foundational Religious Texts of the Western World. This course introduces the foundational texts of the major Western religions, focusing largely upon the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The goal of this course is to introduce a critical approach to foundational religious texts. Thus, the course provides not only an overview of the structure and content of these texts, but also an exposure to a critical methodology appropriate to an intelligent reading and sound interpretation of these religious texts.

3 credits.

 

The CAP committee reported agreement on the following learner outcomes:

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1.  Explain how and why certain texts come to be regarded as “foundational” and “sacred”  by religious communities;

2.  Outline the historical origin of the Hebrew, Christian, and Muslim Scriptures;

3.  Describe the general structure and content of Hebrew, Christian, and Muslim Scriptures;

4.  Discuss the key beliefs and practices of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, including the way those beliefs and practices relate to each group’s Scriptures;

5.  Explain why Jews, Christians, and Muslims both agree and disagree in the way they interpret their own and one another’s sacred texts.

6.  Identify the key critical methods used by contemporary scholars of Scripture and some of the key problems that have been raised  by the application of these methods.

7.  Describe how the critical study of Scripture differs from and informs the way Scriptures are used in religious communities;

8.  Analyze specific passages of Scripture using the methods, tools, and perspectives of modern critical scholarship;

9.  Demonstrate an  awareness of some of the ways in which Scriptures have influenced and found expression in the arts.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following:

•  This course introduced a critical approach to foundational religious texts of Western culture.

 

CLAR 107.  The Catholic-Franciscan Heritage.  This course will provide a critical reflection on the essential elements of the Catholic-Franciscan tradition.  After identifying traditional core beliefs we will reflect critically upon these by providing supports for selected beliefs, offering responses to challenges, suggesting elucidations of concepts inherent in beliefs, investigating the presuppositions of the practices manifesting those beliefs, and the like.  Issues of religious pluralism and inter-religious dialogue will be addressed.  3 credits.

 

The CAP report  includes the following regarding Clare 107:

Learning objectives:

1.  To develop a critical understanding of the Catholic and Franciscan Heritage.

2.  To develop an understanding of the relationship between one’s religious beliefs and one’s public relationships.

3.  To develop an understanding of the relationship between faith and religion from the Roman Catholic perspective particularly as presented in the documents of Vatican II.

4.  To investigate the life and significance of Francis of Assisi as the model and source of the Franciscan Tradition.

5.  To develop and ability to dialogue with other traditions on contemporary moral issues.

 

Learner outcomes:

1.  Students will be able to articulate the concept of public theology  -- the relationship between one’s religious beliefs and one’s public relationships (e.g., family, work, government,  social issues, etc. – in one or more of these ways:

            a) by writing a short essay that describes in their own words the definition of public theology and at least one application of it

            b) by reading a journal article and writing a three or four page paper that includes three items :  (1) a brief summary of the issue at hand that calls for a public theology stance;  (2) their church’s religious stand on the issue either positive or negative;  and (3) stemming from their belief system, a stance or action that they might personally undertake on this issue.

 

2.  Students will be able to articulate the relationship of faith and religion in each of these ways:

a) Be able to trace the development of this relationship within Roman Catholicism by comparing and/or contrasting it pre and post Vatican Council

b) Be able to articulate their own personal understanding of this relationship by distinguishing between faith and religion using examples from their own lives.

 

3.   Students will be able to articulate the multiple meanings of “Catholic”:  (1) The universal aspect – the universal and salvific will of God to share healing and saving love with all human beings in Jesus Christ;  (2) The historical limitation of the  Christian tradition in Roman Catholicism;  and (3) the broader Christian tradition of which both Roman  Catholicism and other Christian denominations are an expression.  They will show evidence of this understanding in each of these ways:

a) by providing adequate definitions of the three meanings noted above

b) By articulating in their own words the terminology and concepts of the Catholic/Christian tradition

•  Trinity as relational

•  The myth of the fall

•  Importance of metaphor and symbol

•  Stable and dynamic aspects of tradition

•  Sacraments and sacramentals

c) Based on their understanding of the course content, presenting a ‘plan’ for steps that might be taken by the church to heal the divisions and be open to other religions.

 

4.  Students will be able to articulate key aspects of the Franciscan heritage that is a specific development of the Roman Catholic tradition.  They will show evidence of this in these ways:

a) Give evidence of knowledge of the life of Francis by a passing grade on a test based on the movie, Francesco and the biography of Francis, God’s Fool by Julien Green

b) Use their understanding of the concept of liminality to explain at least two incidents in the life of Francis that might be considered liminal experiences.

c)  Use their knowledge of the life of Francis to speculate on how, if Francis were alive today, he might position himself within the church.

 

Student responses agreed with this statement: 

•  This course developed a critical understanding of the Catholic and Franciscan heritage.

 

CLAR 108. World Views. An interdisciplinary, team-taught introduction to major issues in various world regions, with special attention to global diversity of experiences and perspectives. Course content will vary from semester to semester, but some possible topics are human rights, the legacy of colonialism, indigenous peoples, comparative religions, women’s issues, and people and the environment. 3 credits.

 

The CAP report for Clare 108, reiterates the course objectives that were given

earlier in the “Core Area Objectives” and adds several student experiences common to the course: 

 

1. To introduce the diversity of experiences and perspectives within the human story

2. To compare Western Culture with at least one other perspective.

3. To encourage students to examine their culture from other perspectives

 

Additionally, students who successfully complete Clare 108 will have:

•  utilized and improved their skills in reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning

•  acquired information about at least one non-Western world culture and at least one major global issue

•  recognized the variety and richness of world cultures

•  acquired a sense of the truly global nature of travel, technology, politics, business and education

•  studied, discussed and evaluated a range of viewpoints on global issues and cultural values

•  considered ways in which they themselves are world citizens

•  participated in the University’s Mission to introduce students “to other traditions, beliefs, and cultures.

 

Student opinion questionnaires reveal agreement with the following statements:

•  This course introduced the diversity of human experiences and perspectives.

•  This course compared Western Culture with at least one other perspective.

•  This course encouraged you to examine your culture from other perspectives.

CLAR 109. Arts and Literature.  An interdisciplinary study of literature and the arts of architecture, film, dance, music, painting photography, sculpture, and theater (drama).  The aesthetic and thematic connections of the various texts and artifacts will be examined from the perspectives of the four modes of aesthetic response:  the heroic, the lyric, the pastoral or elegiac, and the satiric.  The course will emphasize the common elements of literary and artistic expression, and the integral nature of the student’s aesthetic response to both literature and the arts.   

 

The 109 CAP committee agreed to the following:

•  A common list of general terms that could be applied to the examination and interpretation of works of art across medium and genre;

Form

Medium or genre

Line or contour

Space

Color or Timbre

Texture or Structure

Theme

Integrity or Unity

Representational or abstract

Rhythm

Movement

Proportion or Balance

•  A common assessment tool would require students to use a minimum of five of the general terms to write an essay that discusses  two works of art that share subject matter but are not produced by the same artist or represent the same art form.  At least one of these works must be an original that is seen or listened to in person by the student.

 

Student responses indicate agreement with the following statements:

•   This course developed the ability to analyze critically some classic literary works.

•   This course developed the capacity to appreciate other forms of aesthetic expression.

 

 

 

 

CLAR 401.  The University Forum.  The capstone course of the Clare curriculum is a critical examination of a selected contemporary issue that may be studied by social and natural scientists, humanists, philosophers, and theologians, but which is not within the boundary of any one discipline.  Such issues would be open-ended, subject to reasonable disagreement, and of contemporary, social, political and moral importance.  Students will attend a variety of workshops, lectures, exhibitions and field experiences designed to develop an informed position on the selected topic.  These larger meetings are accompanied by weekly seminars where students will prepare, present and debate researched essays  on the common theme.  The purpose of these essays is to demonstrate students’ analytical, oral and writing skills.  2 credits.

 

     A Forum Committee drawn from the entire University community chooses a single contemporary issue for a given year. Such issues should be open-ended, subject to reasonable disagreement, and of contemporary social, political and moral importance.  Finally, a chosen issue should provoke reflection on students’ professional and personal value commitments.  The Committee would plan a program drawing upon diverse perspectives, disciplines, and professions.

     All students attend  a series of commonly scheduled events, or plenaries, would include public lectures, panels, debates, films, accompanied by common readings. All University Forum students attend seminars where they write, present, and critically discuss positions relevant to the common topic that are explored in the larger class meetings.

     The Forum has been offered twice.  Previous topics have included:  “Energy and the Environment” (2001-2002);  “The Ecology of Food Production and Hunger”  (2002-2003).  This year the Forum will address “Globalization and the Human Environment.”

[Clare 401 was the subject of a formal assessment reported above and in appendices.]

 

Student responses agreed with the following statements:

•  This course examined a contemporary issue in depth and from the perspective of several disciplines.

•  This course required me to develop an informed position on a contemporary issue.

•  This course required me to use analytical, writing and oral skills in presenting my  views.

 

The Quantitative Reasoning Requirement:

 

According to the Faculty Senate Minutes of February 6, 1998, all students must complete "One quantitative reasoning course, to be determined by a program and/or the major and in consultation with the Department of Mathematics."

 

As of this writing, there is no plan to assess this part of the curriculum which appears to be more connected to specialized study in a major program, than the general education program of Clare College.  It may be assumed that such requirements serve the objectives of the major programs, and would be more appropriately assessed in those terms.

 

We have included a list of mathematics and quantitative reasoning requirements for this report below:

 

Major	Quantitative Reasoning Requirement
Biochemistry	Biochem. majors must take MATH 151, 152 and 252.
Biological Physics	Math 151, 152, 251, 252, or CS 127
Biology	Math 151 and choose one of Math 107 or Math 152
Business, Undeclared Business,	Math 121 and 122 or 151 and QMX 211 and QMX 212
Accounting, Business Info.
Systems, Finance, Management
Sciences, Marketing
Chemistry	Math 151
Classical Languages	Math 145, 121, or 151, (or equivalent)
Computative Physics	Math 151, 152, 251, 252
Computer Science	CS 151, CS 147 and CS 148.
Elementary Education	Math 111 and Math 112
English	Math 121 or higher
Environmental Science	Math 151 or above
Engineering Physics	Math 151, 152, 251, 252 or Elec./CS 127
French	Math 121, 145 or 151
History	Math 121 or higher.
J/MC	Math 107 or MATH 121 or higher
Mathematics	CS 131or CS 126/127/132
Modern Language	Math 121 or above
Philosophy	Math 145
Physical Education	Math 107
Physics	Math 151 or above
Political Science	Math 145
Psychology	B.S. program: Math. 151-152,
	B.A. program: Math 145 or Math 151, or w/Dept. approval
	Math 121 or Math. 111-112
Social Sciences	Math 107
Sociology	Math 107
Spanish	Math 121, 145 or 151
Theology	Recommend Math 107 or 145 (We decided that we would accept any Math course )
Visual Arts	Math 121 or higher

 

 

Clare College Three Course Sequences

 

All students must take a coordinated three course sequence of courses.  In many cases, the sequence requirement may be also serve the specific requirements set by various schools or departments.  In other cases, the students are free to choose another sequence.  A necessary feature of these sequences is that they must be outside the first major or minor of a student, unless in the latter case they actually fulfill the minor.   The sequence requirement is designed to add depth to the students’ general education studies by further pursuit of a subject or a mode of inquiry raised in the core courses.  However, it has not been established how or by whom we should assess this part of the program. 

An initial request was sent by the Clare College Dean’s office to the originators of these sequences in order to ascertain whether any assessment data was available.  No substantial responses were forthcoming.  This part of the curriculum needs further study in order to determine whether the minimal expectation that these sequences relate to the core courses is being fulfilled. 

 

•  Approved Clare College Core Area Sequences:

Advertising and Graphic Design           

Aging  

American Literature     

Applications of Discrete Mathematics   

Applied Ethics 

Art History      

Arts and Technology    

British Literary Studies 

Business Information Systems  

Calculus:  Rate of Change        

Catholic and Franciscan Thought          

Christian Ethics

Classical and Modern Physics  

Classical Physics and Calculus 

Classical Rome to Modern Europe       

Comparative Religion   

Computer Science and Business           

Computer Science and Mathematics        

Drawing Studio

Economics       

Economics and Finance           

European History         

French Culture             

French Language         

Greece to Medieval Europe     

History of Philosophy   

Human Biology

Interacting with Others 

Introduction to the World of Business   

Irish Studies     

Jazz     

Jesus Through the Ages           

Latin American Studies

Literary Genres

Mathematics    

Music History              

Music Lab       

Philosophy and Business          

Political Power

Pre Law Philosophy     

Public Relations and Video Production 

Religion and Society    

Religion, Faith and Doubt         

Science, Medicine and Human Values  

Sculpture Studio          

Social and Economic Justice    

Social Science 

Spanish Culture           

Spanish Language        

Spanish Literature        

Spirituality       

The Catholic Tradition in America                    

Understanding Nature in the West        

Understanding Ourselves         

USA:  Women and African-Americans

Where in the World? (Geography)

Women’s Studies

World Mythology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV.  Conclusions:  Planning for the Future:

 

 

According to the recently adopted strategic plan, “A Blueprint for Progress,” St. Bonaventure University has committed itself to “achieve academic excellence,” in general, and specifically, to “integrate Clare College into our pursuit of academic excellence.”  The plan expands on this particular point as follows:

 

This innovative, vital and nationally recognized core curriculum affords a

highly visible academic experience shared by all our students. With the

active, focused participation of the Dean of Clare College, the teaching

faculty and other members of the University community, the content and

rigor of Clare College courses will reflect the true spirit of academic

inquiry and demand the high levels of performance for which they were

designed.

 

We believe that we have begun to meet the standards designated above.  That same document also called upon us to pursue program accreditation.  We believe we have achieved a level of excellence sufficient to merit such a distinction, and we hope that this document supports that claim.

 

In planning for the future, several needs must be addressed.  These include,

•  Creating a supporting a position of “course coordinator”

•  Promoting a continuous cycle of assessment and improvement at the course and program level

•  Resolve staffing problems

•  Adequately fund the University Forum

•  Review the three-course sequence requirement

 

The sine qua non  of virtually all other goals is to be able to delegate course-specific responsibilities to the teaching faculty in the various courses that constitute our curriculum.  Course coordinators would be responsible for course assessment, evaluation of instruction, faculty recruiting and course and faculty development.  It would also allow the decentralization of decision-making, and provide liaison with other departments of the University.  There have been several efforts to utilize Martine Fund money to support such positions, by tying them to specific projects in Clare College (for example, the Collaborative Assessment Project) but the nature of that endowment does not allow funding of regular and on-going positions.  There has been a long standing request for a regular budget to support such positions, and was a recommendation forcefully made by our Pew Project report as I will detail below.

 

Secondly, we must respond to the specific concerns raised by the results of our first program assessment and review we initiated this past Spring.  Some recommendations were already noted in the previous chapter. We do believe that through our assessment projects we have taken a serious and candid look at the performance of our students.  This process must continue if we take our standards and mission seriously, We must  engage in a continuous effort to learn from our experience, how best to serve that mission and raise both performance and standards. The efforts documented herein to fashion assessment processes that reflect the character and tradition of our University and the Mission of our program, and the wide and active participation of so many faculty in our assessment and faculty development programs are sources of confidence in our future. Indeed, the quality of our assessment process, and the degree to which it helps to create a continuous cycle of self-study and self-improvement are essential elements of our application for program accreditation

 

So it is crucial that we continue and expand our assessment processes.  And there is reason for optimism in this regard.  In May, 2003, the Martine Fund awarded grants for another round of assessments in Clare 101 and Clare 401, and for Dr. Walker to offer training to faculty in the use of student emotion assessment techniques. The first grant will be used to fund our ongoing assessment efforts in these two courses, to train and compensate faculty who undertake the actual assessment review, to sponsor workshops that will discuss assessment methodology, interpret data, and plan course/program responses.  The second will fund a series of luncheons and workshops designed to introduce faculty to basic concepts and techniques of emotion assessment, develop expertise in discipline- and curriculum-specific assessment tools and techniques, and to foster “assessment-based emotion research projects”  within Clare College.

 

However, there is a need to go beyond even these ambitious initiatives.  We must begin to implement the recommendation of the Pew Project Report and create assessment processes throughout Clare College building on the model developed for 101 and 401.  This will require regular funding, other than through Martine, to support long term programs, and  it will require a more formal recognition of  the position of  “Course Coordinator” also recommended in our Pew Report.  As Murphy wrote in that report,

“Assessment procedures only make sense if there is an institutional mechanism by which to evaluate such data and make appropriate recommendations to the teaching faculty on a regular basis. It would be the task of the coordinators of each course to make sure that such data is properly interpreted and disseminated so as to be the basis of ongoing instructional improvement.”

 

            Related to assessment is the need for program integration.  Among the discoveries uncovered as we pursued the CAP, was the degree to which faculty who teach certain  Clare courses were unfamiliar with others.  We have begun to pursue ways in which we might foster dialogue within the Clare College faculty across the various courses, and with a view toward building links between them.  Several projects were initiated this year that were discussed above including “Bridging the Gap between Science and Humanities,”  the integration of the Intellectual Journey and the Catholic-Franciscan Heritage, and the program pursuing aesthetics as a mode of integration across the curriculum.  And further, we need to continue the conversation regarding the numbering and sequencing of the different courses in the curriculum, and the exploration of the potential for learning communities within Clare College.

 

Another recurrent issue that needs to be addressed is the problem of providing adequate faculty resources to staff Clare College courses while reducing where possible the size of our sections.  As we noted above, there are no faculty assigned to Clare College proper, and there is no reliable predictor of the availability of faculty from one semester to the next.  A resolution by our Faculty Senate in 2001, called for negotiating the assignment of responsibility for teaching Clare College courses to the various departments and schools of the university.  This process will begin this Fall by agreement with the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Whether this is adequate is unclear.  There needs to be some consideration for the needs of Clare College in hiring, tenuring and promoting as well.

 

The University Forum is a unique opportunity  for imaginative programming.  One half of the course consists of “plenary sessions” often featuring invited speakers.  Our hope is that we might be able to attract distinguished speakers to address our students, and give the Forum a higher profile in the life of the University.  Forum speakers and events should be of sufficient quality to excite community-wide discussion and reflection.  Currently, the Forum must compete with other programs for visiting speaker funds.

 

Finally, we have already discussed the three-course sequence requirement.  It is of concern that many students complete this requirement with little sense that it is part of the Clare College curriculum.  Moreover, there does not seem to be any way to appropriately assess these sequences in terms of Clare College goals.  We must initiate a discussion of how best  to use these nine credit hours of our curriculum.

 

 To conclude:  Clare College is distinctive in its interdisciplinary and goal– driven program design, its effort to reclaim and renew the Franciscan tradition as a foundation for liberal education, the seriousness of its assessment efforts, the extent of its support for faculty and program development, and the degree to which it fosters and enjoys faculty vitality and collegial dialogue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendices

Rubrics for Assessment of Clare 101, The Intellectual Journey

 

The following four rubrics have been designed specifically to evaluate learner outcomes as evidenced by students’ final exam essay.

 

Rubric #1:   Outcomes 1A and 2A (Reading and General Cultural Knowledge) will be measured by the following rubric:

 

Score 4:           Demonstrates Complete Understanding

v     Comprehends clearly a central idea of the reading.

v     Has a specific and detailed knowledge of the reading as evinced by direct reference to lines, examples, metaphors, etc.

v     Has a clear understanding of how a central idea is developed or supported in the reading.

 

Score 3:           Demonstrates Adequate Understanding

v     Has an adequate understanding of a central idea of the reading.

v     Demonstrates a specific knowledge of the reading but not as detailed as might be, few direct references to lines, examples, metaphors, etc.

v     Has an adequate understanding of how a central idea is developed or supported in the reading.

 

Score 2:           Demonstrates Limited Understanding

v     Has a limited understanding of a central idea of the reading.

v     Has some understanding of the reading, but very vague and only at the level of generality, no direct references to lines, examples, metaphors, etc.

v     Has a limited understanding of how a central idea is developed or supported in the reading.

 

Score 1:           Demonstrates Little or No Understanding

v     Shows no or little understanding of a central idea of the reading.

v     Demonstrates no specific or detailed knowledge of the reading.  No reason to believe that it was even read.

v     Has little or no understanding of how a central idea is either developed or supported.

 

 

 

Rubric #2:  Outcome 1B (Interpretation) will be measure by the following rubric:

 

Score 4:           Demonstrates Complete Understanding

v     Clearly and effectively relates the reading to at least four of the other readings and topics discussed.

v     Clearly and effectively relates the reading to a basic theme or step of the Itinerarium.

v     Clearly and effectively relates the reading to his or her life.

 

Score 3:           Demonstrates Adequate Understanding

v     Adequately relates at least four of the reading to the other readings and topics discussed.

v     Adequately relates the reading to a basic theme or step of the Itinerarium.

v     Adequately relates the reading to his or her life.

 

Score 2:           Demonstrates Limited Understanding

v     Either relates the reading to the other readings and topics discussed in a limited way or considered less than four readings.

v     Relates the reading to either a basic theme or step in the Itinerarium in a limited and partial manner.

v     Relates the reading to his or her life in a limited and partial manner.

 

Score 1:           Demonstrates Little or No Understanding

v      Failed to effectively relate the reading to the other readings and topics discussed.

v     Failed to effectively relate the reading to the basic themes or steps of the Itinerarium.

v     Failed to effectively relate the reading his or her life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rubric #3:  Outcome 1, C-1 (Writing) will be measure by the following rubric:

 

Score 4:           Demonstrates Complete Understanding

v     The essay is highly unified; there is a clearly articulated and focused central idea or theme.

v     The essay is highly coherent; all the parts of the essay fit together, each idea evolving from the previous one.

v     The essay is highly developed; the central idea is elaborated by use of examples, details, references to the reading, metaphors, and by drawing connections between related ideas, etc.

 

Score 3:           Demonstrates Adequate Understanding

v     The essay is adequately unified; there is a central idea or theme.

v     The essay is adequately coherent; most of the parts of the essay fit together, each idea evolving from the previous one.

v     The essay is adequately developed; there was a partial effort to elaborate the central idea by use of examples, details, references to the reading, metaphors, and by drawing connections between related ideas, etc.

 

 

Score 2:           Demonstrates Limited Understanding

v     The essay is unified to a limited extent; there is a partially formulated or vague central idea or theme

v     The essay is coherent to a limited extent; not all of the parts of the essay fit together, each idea evolving from the previous one.

v     The essay is developed to a limited extent; there is a very limited effort to elaborate the central idea by use of examples, details, references to the reading, metaphors, and by drawing connections between related ideas, etc.

 

 

Score 1:           Demonstrates Little or No Understanding

v     The essay exhibits little or no unity; there is no central idea or theme.

v     The essay exhibits little or no coherence; most of the parts of the essay fail to fit together, the ideas fail to evolve from previous ones.

v     The essay is not developed; there is little or no effort to elaborate the central idea by use of examples, details, references to the reading, metaphors, and by drawing connections between related ideas, etc

 

 

 

 

 

Rubric #4:   Outcome 3 (Affective values0 will be measure by the following rubric:

 

Score 4:           Demonstrates Complete Understanding

v     Clearly and to a high degree demonstrates an appreciation for either the subtleties of thought or the beauty of literary expression.

v     Clearly and to a high degree demonstrates that the student is beginning to develop a love and desire for learning.

v     Clearly and to a high degree demonstrates that the student is beginning to forge his or her own personal and critically reflective perspective. 

 

Score 3:           Demonstrates Adequate Understanding

v     Adequately demonstrates an appreciation for either the subtleties of thought or the beauty of literary expression.

v     Adequately demonstrates that the student is beginning to develop a love and desire for learning.

v     Adequately demonstrates that the student is beginning to forge his or her own personal and critically reflective perspective. 

 

Score 2:           Demonstrates Limited Understanding

v     Demonstrates in only a limited manner an appreciation for either the subtleties of thought or the beauty of literary expression.

v     Demonstrates in only a limited manner that the student is beginning to develop a love and desire for learning.

v     Demonstrates in only a limited manner that the student is beginning to forge his or her own personal and critically reflective perspective. 

 

Score 1:           Demonstrates Little or No Understanding

v     Shows no or very little appreciation for either the subtleties of thought or the beauty of literary expression.

v     Shows no or very little evidence that the student is beginning to develop a love and desire for learning.

v     Shows no or very little evidence that the student is beginning to forge his or her own personal and critically reflective perspective. 

 

Intellectual Journey Assessment Report

May 3, 2003

Pat Panzarella (Coordinator), Anne Foerst, John Mulryan, Sandra Mulryan

 

Data Collection

 

Thirty responses to the final common exam question for The Intellectual Journey (see appendix A for a copy of the exam question) were randomly collected and analyzed to assess the abilities of the students in respect to the four rubrics identified in the following table.  Each rubric was rated from one to four with one indicating the greatest weakness and four indicating the greatest strength (see appendix B for a copy of the rubrics).

 

The following table presents the ratings for each rubric for each of the thirty (30) exams and the total score for each exam followed by the range, the mean, the mid-point, and the scores at, above, and below the mid-point for each rubric and the total score. 

 

Exam	Comprehension	Ability to Relate	Quality of Writing	Aesthetic Appreciation	Total
1.	2	3	2.5	3	10.5
2.	3	2	2.5	3	10.5
3.	1	3.5	2.5	1.5	8.5
4.	2	3.5	2.5	2.5	10.5
5.	2	3	2.5	2.5	10
6.	1	3	2.5	1.5	8
7.	2	3	2.5	1.5	9
8.	2	4	2.5	2.5	11
9.	1	1.5	2	3	7.5
10.	1	3	2.5	2	8.5
11.	2	2.5	2.5	2.5	9.5
12.	2	3	2.5	2.5	10.5
13.	2	3	2.5	3.5	11.5
14.	3	4	2.5	2.5	12
15.	2	1.5	2	2.5	8
16.	3	3	3	2	11
17.	1	2.5	2	2.5	8
18.	2	2	2	2	6
19.	4	3	3	3.5	13.5
20.	3	3	2.5	3.5	12
21.	2	2	2.5	2.5	9
22.	2	4	2.5	3	11.5
23.	3	3.5	2.5	1.5	10.5
24.	2	2	2.5	3.5	10
25.	3	2	2.5	2.5	10
26.	4	2.5	3	3	12.5
27.	2	2	1	1	6
28.	3	2.5	2.5	2.5	10.5
29.	2	2.5	3	3	10.5
30.	2	2.5	2.5	2.5	9.5
Range	1-4	1.5-4	1-3	1.5-3.5	8-13.5
Mean	2.2	2.75	2.516	2.583	9.866
Midpoint	2.5	2.75	2	2.5	10.75
At Midpoint	0	0	5	12	0
Above Midpoint	9	16	23	10	8
Below Midpoint	21	1	2	8	22

 

Assessment of the Findings for Each Rubric

 

            Comprehension

 

     Only a handful of the students displayed any real understanding of the reading.  The basic problem was that the students had not carefully read the passage chosen for analysis.  Secondly, they did not discuss or interpret the passage as a whole.  Thirdly, they did not maintain a consistent interpretation of the passage in their responses to each of the four parts of the essay.

 

     To strengthen these weaknesses reading comprehension and consistent interpretation must be emphasized.

 

            Ability to Relate the Passage to The Itinerarium and Four Readings from the Text

 

    In this rubric reading and comprehension skill were weak; and understanding of the journey as a whole and the ability to find interpretative value in the related works were weak.  Finally, the attempts to relate the materials to the personal lives of the students were superficial.

 

    To strengthen these weaknesses reading, comprehension, and interpretation as well as more focus on understanding the journey as a whole must be emphasized; and more class time must be spent on encouraging the students to relate the materials studied to their personal lives.

 

            Quality of Writing

 

     The students dutifully responded to each of the four parts of the essay, and they stuck to the question, but their writing revealed difficulty in developing a unified theme, insufficient illustrative detail, monotonous sentence structure and diction, and spelling and punctuation weaknesses.

 

     To strengthen these weaknesses the rubric outlining the criteria by which the writing will be evaluated should be given to each student and instructor early in the course so the students can work on their writing throughout the semester.  On the final exam itself, the students should be asked to write four essays instead of a single essay with four parts.

 

            Aesthetic Appreciation

 

     Students evidenced knowledge of the basic "story lines" of the readings and showed evidence of discovering themselves and thinking about their spiritual journey.  However, there was little evidence of the students appreciating the beauties of literary expression and developing a love and desire for learning.  They seldom distinguished poems from plays or personal essays from philosophical treatises.  Efforts to relate the readings to personal experience were minimal.

 

     To strengthen these weaknesses more emphasis should be placed on the beauty of language and the joy of discovery.  Perhaps, students should be required to keep a journal recording their understanding of and personal experiences with the literature.

 

 

Overall Assessment

 

     Student responses were weakest for the first (comprehension) and fourth (aesthetic appreciation).  Only nine (9) of thirty (30) students scored above the middle point for comprehension, and only ten (10) of thirty (30) students scored above the mid point for aesthetic appreciation.  As the assessments of each rubric indicate, there were significant weaknesses and fewer strengths for each of the rubrics, but rubric I (comprehension) and rubric IV (aesthetic appreciation) had significantly fewer students scoring above the mid-point.

 

Recommendations

 

Revision of the Rubrics

 

     The rubrics should be named to make clear exactly what skills and knowledge are being assessed under each rubric.  Comprehension, Ability to Relate, Quality of Writing, and Aesthetic Appreciation are possible names.  In addition, the following changes should be made to each rubric for each of the four score categories.

 

            Rubric 1:  Comprehension

 

            Point two should read:  Has a specific and detailed knowledge of the reading.

 

            Rubric 2:  Ability to Relate

 

Point one should read:  Clearly and effectively relates the reading to at least four other

readings and demonstrates an understanding of those readings.

 

Point two should read:  Clearly and effectively relates the reading to the Bonaventurean themes.

 

Rubric 3:  Quality of Writing

 

The students should be asked to write four essays as opposed to one essay with four parts in order to provide greater opportunity to develop independent structures for the

essays and unified themes.

 

Point one should read:  To a high degree the essays are written in clear, idiomatic English with sound and varied sentence structures.

 

Rubric 4:  Aesthetic Appreciation

 

Point one should read:  Clearly and to a high degree demonstrates an appreciation for      subtleties of thought and the beauty of literary expression.

 

Point two should read:  Clearly and to high degree demonstrates that the student is developing a love and desire for learning.

 

Pedagogy

 

           

            1.  Give the rubrics to the instructors and students to clearly indicate how their efforts will be evaluated. 

            2.  Require closer reading of the texts.

            3.  Focus more on the students' reading and understanding of the texts.

            4.  Offer more opportunities for the students to relate the reading to their personal experience.

            5.  Apply the criteria of the third rubric (Quality of Writing) to the students' writing throughout the semester.

  

 

 

 

   

Report on Assessment of Clare 401 - University Forum

submitted by Dr. P. Parsley

18 July 2003

Introduction

     Clare 401 is the capstone for the Clare College curriculum at St. Bonaventure University. It is the culmination of our students' liberal arts education, which is aimed at outcomes including the development of knowledge about a broad range of cultural issues, of intellectual skills and of a strong desire for inquiry that will sustain learning throughout their lives.

 

     The objectives of the Clare 401 – University Forum as approved by the Faculty Senate in February 1996 are:

7.      To examine a contemporary issue in depth, and from a perspective of more than one discipline;

8.      To develop an informed position on a contemporary issue; and

9.      To present a position demonstrating use of analytical, oral, and written skills

 

     Learner Objectives were developed in March 2003 to prepare for the Clare College Assessment Workshop. These were circulated to all past and present instructors in the course for comment. They were also reviewed by several instructors in Clare 401 and the Dean of Clare College in connection with a workshop on assessment. The following objectives (with course objectives given in parentheses) represent a revised list based upon the feedback:

1- students can identify and describe a contemporary problem in depth (#1).

2- students can describe the issue from the perspective of more than one discipline (#1).

3- students can articulate and support their positions on an issue using appropriate and multiple sources of information (#2, #3).

4- students demonstrate skills at analysis and interpretation of arguments supporting and not supporting their positions (#2, #3).

5- students demonstrate skills at writing and developing a coherent paper, which is focused, demonstrates their ability to synthesize ideas and observes conventions of good writing and documentation (#3).

6- students demonstrate skills at oral presentation of their positions in a forum of their peers (#3)

 

     The purpose of this assessment was to measure how well students met the objectives of the course and fulfilled the Learner Objectives. We applied a rubric that was meant to evaluate a major paper written by our students as part of the requirement in the capstone course.

 

How we did the study

The assessors- 3 instructors in Clare 401 volunteered to take part in the assessment. The assessors came from several disciplines:  humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

The position paper as an 'artifact' subject to assessment - Thirty-five papers were randomly selected from pool of 212 papers written by students to fulfill the course requirements during Fall 2002 semester. These position papers accounted for 30% of a student's grade; thus the work constituted a significant component of the final grade in the course. Course guidelines specified a 10-page paper in which the student advanced their position on a contemporary problem relating the Food and Environment. Prior to this assessment, all papers were anonymized by blocking out the names of the student and course instructor. Anonymized papers were identified by number.

Description of rubric-We used a 7-part rubric to evaluate the extent to which students met the course's objectives. Learner objectives were identified for each part of the assessment rubric (see appendix A). Assessors scored every paper by matching it to a description that corresponded to a numeric ranking. The scores for all parts added up to 50 possible points. The weighting varied from three points to 15 points among the parts of the rubric.

Training in use of rubric- Prior to doing the assessments, the assessors met to review the rubric and discuss the scoring and assessment procedure. The meeting lasted 45 minutes. Otherwise assessors scored the papers independently.

Analysis of rubric data- Rubric data were compiled into an Excel spreadsheet to carry out calculation of averages and variance, to perform 2-way analysis of variance (by assessor X paper #) and to evaluate how many student papers achieved a certain performance standard( i.e. above or equal to 80% of possible points and above or equal to the mid-range score for various parts of the rubric). These analyses were performed on the overall or total score as well as to rubric parts 2-7(see Appendix B for the numbering of various parts of the rubric).

A bit about the analysis of variance: Analysis of variance divides up the total variance as to source. In these data there is variance due to the paper contents, variance due to the assessors and error. The important statistic is the F value which is the ratio of the mean square (MS) of a component to the error mean square. An F value that is not significantly different than 1 suggests that that component of the variance is not significant, i.e., that amount of variance would be expected by chance alone. The F value from the test is compared to a critical value of F (from statistics tables); and if the test F exceeds the critical F you reject the null hypothesis that the variances are equal; and if the test F is less than or equal to the critical F you accept the null hypothesis that the variances are equal.

 

Findings

Overall Scores: The graph of overall scores for the 35 assessed papers shows the variation in scoring among assessors and among student papers(Fig. 1).  The summed scores averaged 33.72 points for the sample of 35 papers; and the scores ranged from 16.5 to 50 points. Nineteen of the 35 student papers averaged at least a mid-point score of 34 points. Only 6 or the 35 papers averaged an 80% score or better. The analysis of variance (2-way ANOVA without replication) showed significant differences among papers(p<0.001 Table 1). However, differences among assessors were not significant(p>0.05).

Results from the various parts of the rubric:

     Part 2 of the rubric was meant to assess whether the paper gave a good description and outside support of the issue from a number of disciplinary perspectives. It had 15 possible points. The average score on this part of the rubric amounted to 10.89 points. Twenty of the 35 papers averaged at or above the mid-point score of 10.5 points. A bit over one-third of the papers (13 or 35) averaged at least the 80% score of 12 points. The analysis of variance showed that differences among papers were highly significant (p<<0.001), while differences among assessors were not significant (Table 2, p>0.05).

    Part 3 of the rubric evaluated the quality of the student position statement and was worth 6 points. All assessments averaged 4.02 points. This average was below the mid-point score of 4.5; and 13 of the 35 averages for part 3 were at or above the mid-point score. There were significant differences for among the papers and among assessors according to the ANOVA results (Table 3).

     Part 4 of the rubric was meant to assess the quality of discussion and support of the student's position. It had 15 possible points. The average score on this part of the rubric amounted to 9.32 points. Twelve of the 35 papers averaged at or above the mid-point score of 10.5 points. Only four of the 35 papers had averages of at least the 80% score of 12 points. The analysis of variance showed that differences among papers were significant (p<0.05), while differences among assessors were not significant (Table 4), p>0.05).

     Part 5 of the rubric assessed whether a student paper dealt with the controversies in the research and how well a student commented on limitations in the research. The scores averaged 2.0 and fifteen of the 35 papers averaged at or above the mid-point score of 2. Only 2 papers averaged at least 3.2 points, which was the 80% score. There were significant differences (p<0.001) for among the papers and among assessors according to the ANOVA results (Table 5).

     Part 6 evaluated the quality and quantity of the sources and the style of the Works Cited section. It had 3 possible points. The overall average was 1.95 points and a hefty 28 of the 35 papers averaged at or above the mid-point value of 1.5 points. Eleven papers averaged ≥ 80% score of 2.4 points. There were significant differences for among the papers and among assessors according to the ANOVA results (Table 6).

     Part 7 of the rubric assessed the overall quality of the papers targeting the grammar, presentation, and evidence of synthesis and clear focus. It was worth a potential of 4 points. The scores averaged 3.33 points. Nearly all student papers assessed achieved an average above the mid-point score of 3 (n=30). Twenty-three of the papers averaged at or above the 80% score. There were significant differences for among the papers and among assessors according to the ANOVA results (Table 7).

 

Discussion of Findings

     I chose the mid point scores on the various parts of the rubric as an arbitrary benchmark for satisfactory demonstration of Clare 401 course objectives. The assessment results showed that the student position papers averaged the mid-point score or better for four of the seven rubric parts. Parts 3 and 4, which assessed the quality of the position statement and the discussion and support of a student’s position had weak scores in that most student papers did not reach the middle score range. Also part 5 of the rubric, which addressed whether the paper identified points of controversy or limitations in the information and had a good summary had low scores. Overall scores on the papers demonstrated that most of the students had written a satisfactory position paper as assessed by the rubric.

    What can we make of the analysis of variance (Anova)? The idea of Anova is to divide up the variance into sub-categories and then identify the factors that contribute significantly to the total variance in sample data. Ideally this study would show that variance among assessors did not contribute in a significant way, i.e., we agreed on our assessment of a particular paper. The findings show this was the case for the overall scores on the papers and for parts 2 and 4 of the rubric. However variance among assessors was significant for all other parts of the rubric. I suspect that more thorough training by using the rubric with example papers would improve the variance due to assessor. Also, if the instructors got together to review the rubric it’s likely that some of the descriptions would be refined/focused; and this would eliminate some of the variance.

     It was expected that variance among papers would contribute in a significant way to the total variation. Students do different quality work. Further, the various instructors in the course probably varied in how detailed were their instructions for the papers.  As the Anova results suggest the variation among papers was significant for all parts of the rubric and for the overall scores.

    Overall I am encouraged by these results as a tool for quantifying and analyzing the extent to which students have achieved the objectives of the course and of the core curriculum. The rubric worked well considering that this is a first attempt to assess student work using a common instrument. Basically one person devised the rubric with some feedback from other faculty. The position paper was assigned and graded independently among the various sections without any regard to the rubric. With some refinement that involves a conversation among all instructor-mentors in Clare 401 the rubric is likely to improve as an assessment tool. Convincing faculty to buy into the assessment will be a significant challenge for the future.

    

   

 

Clare 401, Position Papers and Presentations --- Evaluation Sheet

 

Name: _____________________________ Section  Tu 10 am-15  /  W 8:30 am- 4  /  W 9:30 am –5

Score on Presentation: ________/10 possible     Score on Position Paper: _______/ 30 possible

 

_____ Pre-approval of topic: =  [10] well summarized, approach laid out 2 ref // [8.5] needed work resubmitted // [7.5] satisfactory //not done.

Position Paper

I.                    _____ Introduction (½ p, 5)

5- lucid statement of issue / 4.25 -basics covered well but somewhat deficient in clarity on issue  /  3.5 lacks clarity or focus, rambling

Comments:

 

II.                 _____ (3-4 p, 20) Description >1 side supported by relevant and multiple sources of information

several perspectives are covered	at least two perspectives are presented	Limited perspective on issue
excellent manner, length is appropriate	Very good to adequate coverage of sides; a bit short	Coverage is  not adequate; coverage < 3 pages
all sources are highly relevant	sources mostly relevant	Sources have mixed relevance
sources number 3-4	At least 3 sources	Two or fewer sources
diverse sources	Sources lack diversity	Inadequate  diversity

Comments:

 

 

 

III.               _____ State your pos’n(½ p, 5)

Position is quiteclear	Position is fairly clear	Position statement lacks clarity
Words are well chosen and position given in concise way	Good choice of words, good conciseness	Adequate but lacking in word choice, conciseness
Appropriate length	Basically good length	Rambles or little information given

Comments:

 

 

 

IV.              _____ Discuss & support your (2-3p, 25)

Student’s Position  well supported	Student position is supported in good way	Student position is supported in limited manner
excellent manner, length is appropriate	Very good to adequate coverage of sides; a bit short	Coverage is  not adequate; coverage < 2pages
all sources are highly relevant	sources mostly relevant	Sources have mixed relevance
sources number 3-4	At least 3 sources	Two or fewer sources
diverse sources	Sources lack diversity	Inadequate  diversity

Comments:

 

 

 

 

V.                 _____ Statement of question and controversies that arose during your research and how more information would aid in understanding the issue(½ p, 10)

excellent grasp of the question	good grasp of the question	inadequate grasp of the question
Points of controversy relevant & covered	briefly mentioned a controversy; +/- relevant	Little coverage or mention of controversy
Some discussion of limitation on information available	Limitations addressed somewhat	Little or inadequate mention of limitation on information

Comments:

 

 

 

 

VI.              _____ Concise Conclusion (½ p, 10)

Excellent job summarizing paper	Good job summarizing paper	Adequate to inadequate job summarizing paper
Excellent Summary of issue	Very good Summary of issue	Adequate to poor Summary of issue
Excellent summary of your position	Very good	Adequate to poor job
Essential evidence well summarized	Some essential points not covered	Poor coverage of essential points

Comments:

 

 

 

 

VII.            _____ Literature Cited Section (5 points)

Uses consistent style	Some lapses in style	Poor rendering of any style
At least 8 sources	At least 6 sources	Few outside sources (4 or less)
Sources good mix of opinions, data, scholarly and popular forms	Adequate mix of sources	Poor mix of sources imbalanced or nearly all of one kind

Comments:

 

 

_____  OVERALL QUALITY (10 points)

Very few grammar or spelling mistakes	Several grammar or spelling mistakes	Paper shows serious lack of basic conventions / proof-reading
Paper is neat, well-presented	Fairly neat and good presentation	Some poor presentation and sloppiness
Focus is clear and consistent throughout the paper	On occasion the paper is not clear or there are inconsistencies	Paper lack focus and consistency
Paper observes sections- follows prescribed format	Paper mostly divided into labeled sections	The prescribed format is not observed in most places in the paper

Comments:

Summary of Assessment Rubric Data

 

Summary	Total[50]	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7
mean	33.721	2.219	10.890	4.021	9.321	1.995	1.950	3.333
sd	7.33	0.60	2.50	1.52	2.61	0.99	0.75	0.53
max	50	3	15	6	15	4	3	4
min	16.5	1	6	0	6	0	0	2
poss pt	50	3	15	6	15	4	3	4
count [n]	105	105	105	105	105	105	105	105
80% score	40	2.4	12	4.8	12	3.2	2.4	3.2
CV[%]	21.7	26.9	22.9	37.7	28.0	49.6	38.5	15.8
dev from 80%	6.28	0.18	1.11	0.78	2.68	1.20	0.45	-0.13

 

A Report on Faculty Well-Being in Clare College

Prepared by Jessica Foley under the supervision of Dr. Charles Walker

 

Well-being is defined as “peoples’ feeling about themselves in relation to their work” (Warr, 1999). Well-being is vital to satisfaction, both personal and professional, in any job setting. It is also vital to performance and production. A lack of well-being results in low motivation and enthusiasm, both of which are necessary to success in any field. Faculty well-being at the college level is a lucrative area of study because a professor’s satisfaction, motivation, enthusiasm, performance and productivity all have profound effects not only on that individual’s colleagues, but also (perhaps most importantly) on his or her students. Dissatisfaction in teaching can have detrimental consequences for all involved.

            Warr’s (1999) model of well-being states that the following environmental factors are necessary for high levels of well-being in a job setting: opportunity for personal control; opportunity for skill use; externally generated goals; variety; environmental clarity; availability of money; physical security; supportive supervision; opportunity for interpersonal contact; and valued social position. Personal control involves autonomy in decision-making and absence from authoritative restriction. Opportunity for skill use is necessary for workers to demonstrate competence. Externally generated goals are outside demands that motivate performance. Variety prevents boredom and habituation, which can lead to burnout. Environmental clarity is equivalent to job security—in order to be satisfied in a job, one must feel secure in his or her knowledge of consequences and confident in his or her role and position within the work setting. Availability of money is self-explanatory. Physical security involves safe working conditions, supportive supervision means positive relationships with higher-level employees, and opportunity for interpersonal contact is a chance to interact with others. Finally, valued social

position involves evaluations that one is a valuable employee and that one’s job is meaningful and significant.

In 1999, Walker and Hale developed a model of well-being specifically designed to assess faculty at the college level. The model incorporated Warr’s research and applied it to an academic setting. Walker and Hale (1999) included measures of professional efficacy, goals, autonomy and control, university and social support, and generativity as indicators of well-being in faculty members. All of these fit in some way with Warr’s ten environmental conditions, but they are specific to college professors and the college environment. This model was the basis of a survey study conducted in March of 2000 by Thomas Iwankow at St. Bonaventure University. St. Bonaventure recently incorporated Clare College, a novel core curriculum, into its university requirements. The curriculum has gained national recognition, but has remained the subject of criticism and debate among the university community. Iwankow conducted a survey of Clare College faculty to determine their overall well-being with respect to Walker and Hale’s model. Results were inconclusive, and the well-being of faculty in Clare remains a question.

Due to the ambiguous results of Iwankow’s survey data, this researcher proposed that individual interviews with Clare professors might reap more informative results. For the purposes of this study, because it was geared toward faculty in general and Clare College specifically, well-being was divided into seven dimensions: follow-up responses to March 2000 Survey, attitudes toward administrative practices within Clare, the planning and delivery of Clare courses by faculty members, faculty preparation, student and university support, rewards and recognition. Attitudes toward administration address issues similar to Warr’s need for environmental clarity, supportive supervision and valued social position. Planning and delivery relates to Warr’s opportunity for personal control and Walker & Hale’s autonomy. Faculty preparation involves opportunity for skill use as suggested by Warr and professional efficacy as suggested by Walker & Hale. Student and university support incorporates Walker & Hale’s social support as well as Warr’s supportive supervision and opportunity for interpersonal contact. Finally, rewards and recognition are related to Walker & Hale’s social support in terms of its rewarding potential, and to Warr’s availability of money, opportunity for interpersonal contact, and valued social position.

Responses to March 2000 Survey

            This research wanted to investigate whether conditions in Clare College had improved or declined in the opinions of Clare faculty since March of 2000. This researcher wanted to obtain candid responses from faculty regarding the four years that Clare has been in practice. It was expected that faculty would have seen improvements in the curriculum and its application in the last two years. Many changes have been made in this time in the hopes of improving courses and outcomes, and the present research wanted to determine whether the faculty saw any tangible positive or negative changes.

Administration

            This research also sought to assess faculty’s opinions on the effectiveness of Clare College administration.  Since March of 2000 new offices and facilities specifically designated for the core curriculum have been established, and certain opportunities for assessment, feedback and suggestions for improvement have been made on the part of the Dean.

Planning and Delivery

            Iwankow 2000 reported that one of the ideas for improving the delivery of Clare courses might be the establishment of a course coordinator for each of the courses.  Therefore in the interviews faculty were asked to respond to this idea and specify what

responsibilities this position may entail.  There also seemed to be some debate over the degree to which sections of each of the courses were differing from each other.  Therefore faculty were also asked would they prefer more autonomy in their teaching or to what extent would they like to see more collaboration and coordination across the sections. 

Faculty Preparation

            Many faculty had previously reported feeling unprepared to teach in Clare College.  This section inquired into the benefits for faculty workshops to exchange ideas and experiences with other professors teaching the same course.  And asked for suggestions as to how to improve faculty preparation. 

Student & University Support

            One of the biggest areas of need for improvement, as stated in March of 2000, was the amount of student and university support.  Faculty had reported that they did not feel the university supported Clare College.  This research asked faculty to state whether the support of the university had improved.  Another hypothetical thorn in the core curriculum’s side, so-to-speak, had been student dissatisfaction and to what extent this can decrease the satisfaction of the faculty for teaching in Clare College.  This section asked faculty to comment on the effect of student discontent and suggest how this situation might be improved. 

 

Rewards and Recognition

            This research wanted to evaluate the sufficiency of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for teaching in Clare College, what could be done to increase them, and what might be done to improve recognition for teaching in Clare College.

Summary/Concluding Comments

            This section of the interview gave participants and opportunity to state their single most important source of enthusiasm for teaching in Clare College, and to make any additional comments or suggestions they might have. 

Method

Participants

            Twenty-five Clare College professors were contacted via email requesting an interview. Potential candidates were selected across departments and seniority levels to maximize the chances of addressing all possible perspectives. Interviews were conducted with the seventeen faculty members who responded to the initial email.  The sample consisted of thirteen established faculty, and four adjunct professors.  In attempts to achieve a representative sample of Clare faculty, one to two professors from each of the Clare courses were selected to be interviewed. All faculty members were made aware of the nature of the study, and participation was voluntary.

Materials

            To get in contact with participants emails were sent using the St. Bonaventure campus computer network.  These emails informed faculty that a study was being conducted to assess faculty well-being in Clare College, and requested their participation. Interviews addressing follow-up issues on administration, delivery of courses, faculty preparation, support, and recognition were conducted using a uniform format.

            A condensed report of results from the March 2000 Survey was given to each faculty member at the beginning of each interview (see Appendix B), and faculty members were asked to evaluate whether any improvement or decline had occurred since that time.

Procedure

            The first step in this study was to develop sample questions for interviews based on a survey conducted in 2000 by Iwankow. The purpose of these interviews was to follow up on Iwankow’s research using one-on-one consultation rather than self-report surveys. The focus was on making the questions more open-ended to achieve more specific responses. The Dean of Clare College was consulted before interviewing began to assist in generating potential interview questions. The final fifteen questions selected can be viewed in Appendix A.

            When the interview questions had been narrowed down, emails were sent to selected faculty and appointments were made at each professor’s convenience. Interviews were face-to-face and lasted, on average, from 20 to 60 minutes. At the beginning of each interview, faculty were asked to respond to the March 2000 Survey results by reporting whether they felt that anything had gotten better or worse since the collection of that data. Interviews then proceeded, following the uniform format. Notes were taken during every interview and interviews were recorded if permission was given. Faculty members were assured anonymity and confidentiality to encourage honest and candid responses. 

            When interviews had been completed, a typed transcript was generated for each faculty member, using the uniform interview format. Individual transcripts were reviewed, and responses were compiled into a general transcript (see Appendix C). This general transcript represented all perspectives on each question. Common or repetitive responses were presented once.

Results

            All data for this study were qualitative in nature; no statistical analyses were conducted. As such, reported results were determined through analysis of interview transcripts, and general trends were determined based on faculty responses. The fifteen interview questions were collapsed into the seven dimensions of faculty well-being: Responses to the March 2000 Survey; Administration; Planning and Delivery; Faculty Preparation; Student and University Support; Rewards and Recognition; and Additional Concluding Comments. General results and trends will be reported below; for more detailed and specific responses, please see Appendix C.

            In response to the March 2000 Survey, most respondents felt that the results were still relevant and that there had been a slight general improvement with regard to the Clare curriculum. Most identified the hiring of a new Academic Vice President, who was regarded as very positive and supportive towards Clare College as an improvement. On the issue of tenuring of faculty into Clare, there seemed to be two distinct branches of opinion. Adjunct faculty members were all in favor of Clare tenuring, while established faculty did not feel that Clare offers the same security of tenure that a department would. There were only two established faculty who supported the idea of Clare tenuring.

            There were several questions regarding Clare administration. The first addressed the effect of moving the Clare offices to Robinson Hall. There is a split between faculty in Plassman and faculty in De La Roche: those in Plassman don’t see much of a difference in administration since the move, but those in De La Roche see it as an inconvenience because the Dean is no longer located in their building. De La Roche faculty members reported that as a result of the move, they have less daily interaction with the Dean. Overall, neither group reported any negative aspects related to the move. One of the greatest noted benefits is the addition of meeting spaces and conference areas. All faculty members saw these as improvements. In addition, faculty seemed to agree that Clare College is much more visible as a result of the move, especially to the students. They refer to the Robinson offices as Clare’s “home,” which they see as well deserved.

            Positive reactions were given to inquiries about the Dean’s use of town meetings and mid-semester feedback sessions as forums for communication among Clare faculty. Most faculty members felt that these sessions were beneficial, that the communication and exchange of ideas was a good thing, and that convening at mid-semester provided an opportunity to make changes for the remainder of that semester or for the following semester. Members who did not share these opinions reported feeling that these sessions were “a waste of time.”

            The final question about administration asked for suggestions on how to improve Clare College administration. Responses were numerous and diverse (see p. 2-3, Appendix C). One general response was that faculty would like to see better long-term planning for the staffing of courses. In general, most felt positively toward the administration of Clare.

            Input on the planning and delivery of courses was considered vital to this study. Generally, faculty feels that the idea of implementing a coordinator for each Clare course is a good one, although most see potential positives and negatives. One concern was that someone in this position would try to dictate the shape and focus of the course to suit his or her own specialization. The issue of independent control versus collaboration across sections of each course was also addressed. Faculty members who currently had a high degree of individual control over their sections of Clare courses (those teaching less structured courses such as World Views, Social World and Catholic & Franciscan Heritage) enjoyed their autonomy. Those teaching the more structured courses would like to see more collaboration and uniformity in and across all of the Clare courses. All recognize that each professor will “put his or her own spin” on each class, but feel that some uniformity is necessary if Clare courses are going to be considered core courses. A suggested solution to this problem was providing some common necessary ideas or guidelines that had to be covered, after the meeting of which the professors can bring in their own individual ideas.

            Overall, faculty felt that having the opportunity to get together and discuss ideas and experiences about their teaching was helpful for their preparation and teaching. Most did not feel, however, that these discussions needed to be in the form of formal workshops. To improve preparation for teaching Clare, some faculty suggested providing more time to prepare, establishing online references for materials and teaching ideas, sitting in on other classes, mentoring, and getting together to discuss ideas. A reduced course load was also seen as a means of improving faculty preparation, particularly for teaching courses outside of the professor’s expertise.

            With regard to student and university support of Clare College, most professors feel that university support has improved. Funding has increased, the school of Arts & Sciences has begun using participation in Clare as a means for evaluation for tenure and raises, and more departments seem to be contributing faculty to teach Clare. Many also feel that their colleagues have become more supportive over the course of Clare. However, many feel that support has not improved in the sense that there are still staffing and manpower problems. Some see the administration as feeling that “anyone can teach Clare College;” they feel that if the university were giving its full support, it would seek out its best professors to Clare positions. The issue of sustaining Clare without threatening the integrity of departments and individual interests and disciplines is still a concern.

            With regard to student discontent, many faculty members agreed that lack of student support is disheartening but some feel that such affect is inevitable in any mandatory course. Many felt that the lack of choice in Clare may breed discontent, and also believed that in some cases, particularly with regard to faculty preparation, students might be justified in their discontentment. Suggestions for improving student satisfaction included ensuring faculty enthusiasm and instilling the importance and value of the curriculum early in the students’ career at St. Bonaventure.

            Rewards and recognition were a big factor in faculty satisfaction with their role in Clare College. All faculty stated that they felt very intrinsically rewarded by their involvement in Clare. Some intrinsic rewards mentioned were getting to teach a novel subject, intellectual growth and expansion, and getting to meet and know a variety of students. Many felt rewarded by the opportunity to interact with students outside their department major.

            Most faculty felt that there were more extrinsic rewards to teaching Clare now than there have been in previous years: there is more money, they are recognized for their time, and there is opportunity for evaluation for teaching in Clare. Some, however, felt that these extrinsic rewards were overshadowed by a lack of budget for Clare expenses. Suggestions for improving recognition included the possibility of instituting a Clare College faculty award and acknowledging Clare professors that students had reported as having a profound impact on their academic career.     

            In summation, faculty were asked to give their single most important source of enthusiasm for teaching in Clare. There were several different answers, most of which were drawn from individual intrinsic rewards. One was the ability to excite students over new material; another was the excitement of teaching something new and thus broadening their horizons as professionals. The chance to interact with a variety of students outside specific departments was also mentioned, along with the collaboration and camaraderie among faculty members and the interdisciplinary nature of Clare. Finally, some faculty reported that pure enjoyment of teaching was enough to motivate their enthusiasm.

            Final comments and suggestions were also made.

Discussion

            In order to assess faculty well-being in Clare College it first becomes necessary to break the results down in terms of the original determinants discussed and see how Clare measures up.  When referring to the work of Warr (1999) and Walker & Hale (1999) certain factors are clearly applicable to Clare College. However as Warr stated, you wouldn’t want too much of a good thing.  The key to well-being is the balance and combination of these factors.

Therefore when asked about their attitudes towards the administration faculty tended to agree that the environmental clarity of Clare with regards to feedback and organizational communication was met accurately through the Dean’s use of town meetings and mid-semester sessions.  The Dean was also viewed as a competent and effective leader, which meets the need for supportive supervision.  And with the school of Arts & Sciences implementation of teaching in Clare College as a means for faculty evaluation for tenure and raises, this seems to illustrate an increase in the valued social position of Clare faculty.

The planning and delivery sections allowed this researcher to examine in depth the opportunity for personal control, or autonomy level of teaching in Clare. Most faculty felt that Clare gave them the chance to teach new material in their own way.  In each of the courses there seems to enough leeway to allow for individual perspectives and yet in most cases enough collaboration to bring students under a common experience.  Although there are disagreements surrounding the degree to which the sections of the same course should be coordinated, most faculty seemed pleased with the degree of autonomy teaching in Clare gave them. 

As for the planning and delivery of the courses this seemed best evaluated in terms of skill use and professional efficacy.  Faculty tended to agree that Clare does call upon the scholarship of each instructor to an extent.  They also view this as a definite need for improvement in the curriculum.  While it does use many of the skills and expertise of its professors, Clare also asks many faculty to step outside of their discipline.  Many faculty agree that while this can be very rewarding in the sense that they have the opportunity to learn something new and grow intellectually, it can also add the burden of preparation which can be very time consuming.  This researcher feels, as do many faculty, that it then becomes important to avoid burning out the faculty. 

Warr (1999) defined burnout as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or feeling distant from others, and a reduction in personal accomplishments.  This concept becomes very relevant in the discussion of Clare College faculty well-being.  It may be very easy for faculty to feel exhausted if they are teaching the same things with very little variety, and when variety is introduced and teaching a new course opportunity does arise, by not giving sufficient time preparation you run the same risk.  To minimize the chance for burnout due to exhaustion, strain or fatigue the answer may lie around the option of receiving a one-course reduction to allow for the time to properly prepare to teach in Clare College. This time could then be spent on researching novel topics, sitting in on other faculty’s courses to get a hands on feel for how the course is run, and allow for the exchanging of ideas and experiences to further training.

Depersonalization especially becomes a factor with regards to the ongoing Clare vs. Departments war.  In the event that a faculty member begins to feel that they are being ostracized from their department because of the time they are giving to Clare College, they may decide to no longer teach Clare. This could result in the loss of a very good Clare faculty member, again stressing the idea that the Dean of Clare College is at the mercy of the departments. There needs to be some addressing of the notion that teaching in Clare makes faculty less loyal to their departments.   There should be a way to sustain Clare College without sacrificing the integrity of the departments.  Some faculty reported that as long as we continue to think of Clare as a separate entity to the university the longer this maladaptive dichotomy will continue. If in an attempts to solve this issue some faculty should be hired specifically to teach in Clare, most faculty are adamantly on one of two sides.  Those against the idea feel that by doing so you jeopardize the identity of that faculty; they would no longer be allowed to identify with a department or specialization.  However those in favor of tenuring faculty into Clare College feel

it would solve the staffing problems, give those that enjoy teaching in Clare an opportunity to do it full time, and give a more clearly defined role to the Dean.

The third component to burnout is a reduction in personal accomplishment.  This again returns to the issue of time, however now in the sense of time for conducting research.  Some faculty that by participating in Clare College they are not only taking time away from their departments, but also from the time to pursue and further their own careers with respect to writing or researching.  Their own pursuits may have to be placed on hold to teach in Clare.  Assuring faculty the opportunity to go on sabbatical more easily could possibly solve this problem. 

The next aspect of assessing faculty well-being is student and university support, which takes into account Walker & Hale’s social support and Warr’s supportive supervision and opportunity for interpersonal contact.  In this research faculty all seemed to agree that both university and student support has increased.  The university support can best be seen with regard to the hiring of a new Academic Vice President.  All faculty noted that he seems very much behind and supportive of Clare College and very interested in improving relations between the Deans.  Faculty also noted that students seem less resistant to the core curriculum now when compared to March of 2000.  One of the greatest benefits of teaching in Clare specified by faculty seemed to be the exchange of ideas and experiences with other faculty.  The constant contact and shared enthusiasms seem to drive the faculty and they have expressed interest in more opportunities to do so.  This could perhaps be accomplished through the establishment of a monthly meeting time for faculty of each of the courses, maybe even a time to all get together for lunch. 

Finally the last section pertaining to faculty well-being dealt with rewards and recognition, which stemmed from Warr’s availability of money, again an opportunity for interpersonal contact and valued social position.  Rewards and recognition also could be derived again from Walker and Hale’s need for social support.  The Keenan and Martine grants have drastically improved the availability of money in Clare College, thus making there much more funding available now then compared to March of 2000.  Although every faculty member reported that they wouldn’t decline more money.  Some also commented that it may be helpful for Clare to have its own budget.  If a faculty member teaches primarily in Clare, there doesn’t seem to be a reason why their supplies should come out of a department’s budget. 

While this researcher believes that faculty well-being in Clare College is at a much higher level then it has been when previous research was conducted, there is always room for improvement.  All faculty responses and suggestions were valid, and perhaps one of the most agreed upon is the desire to see results.  Many of the participants felt as though while these investigations are good in the sense that they now know someone is listening and interested in their opinions and comments, very rarely if at all do they see anything come of it.

It is the opinion of this researcher that the following suggestions for improvement will not only facilitate greater faculty well-being but also the delivery of the Clare College curriculum as a whole.  The following are a list of some feasible and potentially beneficial options.  A course load reduction for faculty preparing to teach in Clare College, to allow proper prep-time.  Informal workshops, perhaps even in lunch form, regularly planned conceivably on a monthly basis. Also recommended is the continuation of the Dean’s use of town meetings and mid-semester feedback sessions as a form of communication and assessment.  Also supported was the evaluation for teaching in Clare College as a means for receiving tenure and raises.  To improve recognition, the establishment of the institution of a Clare College faculty recognition reward, whether in the form of acknowledgment cards noting a profound impact, or a simple plaque, which could possibly carry a stipend.  Although it may not be possible immediately one thing to consider might be the formation of choice for Clare courses. The lack of choice was stated on multiple occasions as a possible source for student discontent. Conceivably by instituting more courses and requiring a certain number of courses be completed from this larger pool of options would lower student dissatisfaction thus increasing both student and faculty enthusiasm for course material.

 One notable issue for discussion through the examination of interview transcriptions is the topic of intrinsic rewards.  All faculty reported feeling very personally rewarded for teaching in Clare College, but that they didn’t think that there were sufficient intrinsic rewards in general.  This researcher thought this to be quite contradictory.  If all faculty reported feeling very rewarded and could name specific examples of what they found to be intrinsically rewarding, how come they did not believe other faculty would feel the same way? The general consensus was that, “for me there are, I feel very rewarded.”  This contradiction goes back to issue of social support. 

While on an individual basis faculty may feel that there are significant rewards for teaching in Clare, and that “everyone should have their shot at teaching in Clare,” they do not feel their colleagues would share their opinions, when what was found was exactly the opposite. It seems as though in a sense people are more in favor of Clare College then they are willing to admit or discuss among other, outside faculty. It was as if teaching in Clare is something faculty see they should view as a chore rather then a joy, when the truth seems to be that they do honestly enjoy it, and feel that others would as well.  Therefore if the word was to get out that teaching in Clare isn’t something “we need to get through” but as an opportunity perhaps there wouldn’t be as large a problem staffing. Perhaps by making these results public faculty will become aware of the need for collegial support. 

As for further research on this topic, several faculty remarked that “the guinea pig class is graduating.” This investigator is in agreement with many of the faculty in that there should be some sort of retrospective study conducted to examine the Clare curriculum as a whole.  One idea is to contact the first Clare class after graduation and attempt to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum and allow for student comments on how and where to make improvements.  This can also be done with the faculty.  It may be possible to gather the Clare faculty together and discuss any necessary tweaking of each Clare course. Where better to come from then the people who have taught it? After four years of implementation there should be some sort of in depth review examining each individual course and finding out what worked, what didn’t, and how to fix it.  The Clare College curriculum is a very exciting and innovative concept for general education, but the main challenge is to make Clare look as good in practice as it does on paper. 

A Summary of

STUDENT & CLARE FACULTY OPINIONS

ON CLARE COLLEGE

From Evaluation Data Gathered 1999 & 2000

and Follow-up Interviews 2002

 

 

 

Student Opinions (as of Fall, 1999)

 

·        Most "developed" courses are 104, 110, & 111

·        Least developed courses are 102, 103, & 105

·        Courses achieving their goals most well are 106, 110, & 111

·        Courses achieving their goals least well are 101, 102, & 103

·        Courses with more than 50% goal overlap:  103+106+108, & 109+110, & 104+107

·        Highest overall ratings:  syllabus clarity, class organization, & expertise of instructors.

·        Lowest overall ratings:  team coordination, interest inspired, & instructor enthusiasm

 

Clare Faculty Opinions (as of Spring, 2000)

 

Faculty strongly agree with statements such as . . .

 

·        The curriculum draws upon the expertise and academic training of faculty.

·        Interdisciplinary courses strengthens the scholarship of faculty.

·        Although interdisciplinary, courses include traditional perspectives from A&S disciplines.

·        College goals are challenging and worthwhile.

·        Team teaching is good for faculty and students.

·        Some faculty need further training in the content area of the course they are teaching.

·        Faculty would benefit from attending workshops on teaching.

·        Some teams need training in team teaching.

·        Overall, faculty who teach the same course work well together.

 

Faculty strongly disagree with statements such as . . .

 

·        All Clare faculty are familiar with all the goals of all the courses in Clare College.

·        Faculty should be tenured into Clare College.

·        The University recognizes and rewards faculty who teach in Clare College.

·        The President (Dr. Wickenheiser) supports Clare College in word and deed.

·        The Academic Vice President (Dr. Cook) supports Clare College in word and deed.

 

Faculty Suggestions to Improve Their Well-Being

 

Social Support (Spring 2000 data)

 

·        There is a need for a lounge, meeting space or other places for Clare Faculty to meet to plan courses, talk or just have a coffee break.

·        Happy hour!  Informal social gatherings are needed.  How about a Clare cruise?

·        Adjuncts are being excluded.  There are prejudices against adjuncts.  Maybe an adjunct faculty association should be formed?  Maybe we shouldn't be called "adjuncts."

·        Workshops would give us time to be together and work together.

 

Rewards and Recognition (Spring 2000 data)

 

·        The University should hold a "Clare day."

·        Adjuncts are not fairly compensated.

·        The position of course coordinator should be created and properly compensated.

·        Given the importance of the core curriculum, faculty in Clare College should get paid more, have additional job perks such as more travel funds, or be first to receive upgrades in computer equipment etc.

·        Just having the right supplies and resources to teach the way it should be done would be rewarding.

·        To show their interest and support, the President and VP should sit in on some classes.

 

 

 

Other Comments & Suggestions (Spring 2000 data)

 

·        The Dean needs more support from Departments.

·        All faculty have a responsibility to teach the core curriculum.

·        Something should be done make teaching in Clare more fun and interesting (e.g., common syllabi do not respect or trust faculty and dampen enthusiasm).

·        Students are not interested in or enthused about most of the content of the courses of Clare College…this makes teaching unsatisfying too.

 

Suggestions for Facilitating

Faculty Well-Being in Clare College

From Spring 2002 Follow-up Interviews

 

• A course load reduction for prep-time
• Informal workshops, casual, perhaps even in lunch form, on a monthly basis
• Continuation of Dean’s use of town meetings and mid-semester feedback sessions
• Continued and extended evaluation of teaching in Clare for tenure and raises
• Courses need coordinators; coordinators should receive stipends

 

• Institute a Clare College faculty recognition award
• (e.g., acknowledgement cards, plaque, possible stipend)
• Eventually allowing for student choice of Clare Courses
• Engage in a retrospective investigation of the “guinea pig” class, and of faculty. 

 

Concluding Note

 

 

• People are more in favor of Clare College than they are willing to admit! “…for me, I feel very rewarded.”
• Everyone claimed to enjoy teaching Clare Courses, and feels others would as well.
• The Word has to get out, Clare isn’t something we have to get through, it’s an opportunity. 
• If other faculty begin to see this as a positive experience, staffing problems may decrease. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the Emotional States Assessment Technique:  Guidelines for Instructors and Faculty Developers.

Charles J. Walker,  St. Bonaventure University,  March, 2001

 

This assessment technique has been derived from decades of research on human performance and well-being (Deiner, & Lucas, 1999; Warr, 1999).   It assumes that students experience emotions while they are learning and that some of these emotions validly reflect the state and quality of their experience.  Moreover, it assumes that student enthusiasm is an essential condition of good teaching and learning.  This classroom assessment technique (CAT) should be of particular interest to instructors who want to learn how to promote a life-long passion for learning in their students.

 

The Emotional States Assessment Technique is a context-free, content-free, tool.  This technique can be used in almost any learning situation and at any point in time.  It is not biased for or against any academic discipline.   The present instructions describe its use at mid-term in a typical college-level course.  However, with minor modifications, the technique can be applied at other grade levels (e.g., K-12) or used with other units of learning (e.g.,  smaller time units such as single class days, or larger units such as capstone courses or other terminating points in four-year programs of study).  Because of its universality, the Emotional States Assessment Technique can be used throughout curricula to investigate the effects of teaching on learning.  And because of its simplicity, it allows the aggregation of data across a variety of programs.  It should be of interest to any institution that wishes to complement performance outcome assessment with emotion outcome assessment, that is, institutions that not only want their students to be more skilled and knowledgeable, but also more enthusiastic about learning itself.

 

The Emotional States Assessment Technique yields several useful scores: 

 

1. Simple frequency counts of the words students use to describe their emotions during learning renders a vivid picture of the emotional climate of a course or other units of learning experience [e.g., course sequences, majors, or degree programs].  These data become particularly rich when student supplied examples of related learning experiences are included. 
2. The average percentage assigned to cell A, for anxiety, is an index of the proportion of students who do not have sufficient amount of control of a learning situation where the outcome of is perceived to be important. 
3. The average percentage assigned to cell C, for contentment, indicates the proportion of students who are experiencing positive outcomes, but may be at risk of being under stimulated. 
4. The cell D score, for dejection, reveals the percentage of students who have insufficient control of an uninteresting, negative learning environment. 
5. In contrast, the cell E score, for enthusiasm, estimates the percentage of students who feel in control of a provocative, meaningful learning experience.
6. Combining the scores of cells A and D gives an instructor an index of the number of students who are having an unpleasant experience while learning, where as, the total of cells C and E estimates the percentage of students who feel good about their learning,
7. The combined average total of cells A and E indicates the percentage of students who find their learning experience to be stimulating, where as the total of cells D and C estimates the number of students who are not aroused or turned-off by their experiences.

 

Guidelines for Implementation

 

Assessment administration.  A week or two before you plan to administer the Emotional States Assessment Technique, tell your students what you want to do, specifically how it will be done and what you will do with their feedback.  Then ask them if they want to participate.  If they agree, announce dates for data collection and the feedback session.

If the performance of your students is graded during the first half of a course, a few days before the middle of the term will be a good time to administer this assessment technique.  However, you may want to wait until after mid-term if mid-term grades are the first significant grades students receive in your course. 

Pass out the Emotional States Assessment Technique and ask students to complete it anonymously as individuals.  Although the instructions are written on each form, to insure a higher percentage of student follow them, read the instructions aloud and answer any questions they have before beginning.  Provide about 8 to 10 minutes for students to complete this instrument.  Do not hurry them. 

Except for classes where the trust between student and instructor is high, it is best to have a third party (e.g., student leader, staff member, or colleague) collect the instruments and process the data.  If the instrument is delivered online, the confidentiality of students will be protected in data collection and data processing.  Online delivery also has advantage of immediate data sorting and scoring when a website enables database or spreadsheet programs.

 

Interpreting results.  High scores in cells A, D, and C  have implications for changes in learning and teaching.  Instructors with high student dejection scores (cell D) may be creating a learning environment that does not have enough meaning and is difficult for students to control.  These instructors are probably trying to challenge students, but unfortunately they are doing it in a way that suppresses the will to learn.  Excessively difficult grading systems, arbitrary assignments that are indifferent to student needs and interests, and the mismanagement of performance evaluation are conditions likely to be associated with high dejection scores.  On the other hand, high contentment scores (cell C) may signal a lack of motivation because students have too much control (i.e., the course is too easy).  Simply increasing the amount of work required or, more preferably, the level of difficulty of the work, should regain more optimal levels of student arousal.  Finally, high anxiety scores (cell A), are likely to be found in courses where the work is meaningful and the goals of the course are important, but students are asked to do too much work or work beyond their skill levels.  Decreasing the amount, but not the challenge of the work, should improve this situation.  Another way students can deal with course-specific anxiety is to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to gain more control of the learning environment (e.g., through improving their topic-specific study skills, or test taking skills, or if a significant part of their work is collaborative, knowledge about group processes).

 

Feedback sessions.  Between class meetings review the eight quantitative scores, the frequencies of emotion words selected and your students’ examples of alleged causes of their emotions.  Also review their suggestions for increasing the number of students who feel enthusiastic about learning.  Look for patterns and trends.  The results of this assessment technique should be shared with students soon after it is administrated (e.g., the next available class).  Even when the score for cell E exceeds the combined total for the rest of the cells, there is a need to share the results and gain insights into one’s teaching.  Instructors who consistently have significantly more than 50% of their students excited and enthusiastic over several years of teaching and in a variety of courses and subjects, are probably excellent teachers, however they still may need to understand why they are such adept professionals.

 Because you will be asking students to reveal potentially intimate things about their emotions, small group discussions of the results facilitated by trained staff, teaching assistants, or the students themselves should be arranged instead of class-level, instructor-led discussions.  Ask each group to elect a student to record the main points discussed and prepare himself/herself to give a short oral summary to the rest of the class.  Let the students discuss the results for about 10 minutes, then give each group reporter about 2 minutes to summarize what was discussed, especially the things that, if done, are likely to increase cell E scores.  After the last student group has reported, give your immediate reaction and begin a class-level discussion on what you and your students can do and will do to improve their learning.  If you disagree with your students, tell them why, or if it is simply unfeasible to implement their suggestions, explain your position. You may want to give yourself a day or two before giving them your final reaction.  Sometimes student feedback can be overwhelming or upsetting and you may need more time to reflect and consider your options and their options.  Soon after you and your students have agreed on a plan of action, implement the plan.  Involve the students in its implementation.

Finally, if you feel that what you have discovered in this process may be valuable to other instructors, share any insights on student learning you have acquired with your colleagues via e-mail, a list server, or other interactive means of communication.

 

References

 

Diener, E. & Lucas, R. E. (1999).  Personality and Subjective Well-Being.  In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, N. Schwarz (eds.)  Well-Being:  The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology.  New York:  Russell Sage Foundation.

 

Warr, P. (1999).  Well-Being and the Workplace.  In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, N. Schwarz (eds.)  Well-Being:  The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology.  New York:  Russell Sage Foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

Data Interpretations and Comments

 

Students are more likely and more often to report experiencing negative emotions in their worst as compared to their best courses taken in Clare College.  This finding is not surprising.  Approximately 40% of the time about 40% of the students report feeling anxious and dejected while taking their worst Clare course.  Among the students surveyed, Inquiry in the Natural World was the most frequently cited example of a worst course, while Inquiry in the Social World was cited most often as an example of a best course.  Curiously, the Intellectual Journey came in second in both the worst and best categories.  Also of note is that there is not a lot of difference between the worst and best courses.  All courses in Clare College do not elicit sufficient amounts of positive emotions from students.   Research suggests that positive emotions (e.g., enthusiasm and calmness) are more likely to be felt by students when see value, meaning and worth in what they are learning and they have appropriate levels of control of their learning.  Faculty need to persuade students about the value of courses or reveal the worth of courses and give students choices in learning assignments within courses and allow equitable variations between sections of courses to foster a sense of choice and control.  These issues and questions will be addressed in the two workshops to be given Fall 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

STUDENT NARRATIVES ON

ANXIETY, DEJECTION, ENTHUSIASM AND CALMNESS FELT WHILE LEARNING IN THE WORST AND BEST COURSES THEY HAVE TAKEN IN CLARE COLLEGE

 

Data Gathered Spring 2003 (N = 115)

 

WORST CLARE COURSE	BEST CLARE COURSE
Specific Anxious Experience	Specific Anxious Experience
There was no clear grading system, the notes were unclear and I had difficulty understanding the professor.  I was constantly stressed trying to figure out what was going on and worrying over my grade	Anxious in the beginning just because it was my first semester here
Worried about my grade.	A little nervousness about the research paper and being behind
Fear of failing and losing scholarships and leaving this school every time I walked in the classroom	Presentation and quizzes
Tests were always hard; I thought the profs were picky about essay answers	Tests, papers
When they FORCED us to ask questions to the entire 250 person group once a week	When called on to discuss readings and add comments to class discussions
Presentations and being randomly called on	Before all of the tests I got anxious
The tests made me uneasy.  They were unrealistically hard.	Had to really be confident in beliefs and learn to communicate well
Didn't feel as if teacher understood what she was teaching.  Didn't feel comfortable answering questions.	Wanted to do well, getting tests back was killer
I never felt that I knew what was going on, and I always worried that I was missing something	Test experiences
Knew I had to pass to graduate	She was good at making you think and making you question your ideas.
Bored.  Waist of time, never felt these	Of course, tests made me somewhat anxious
Change in professors was very worrying	Final presentation…made me anxious.
Test were very specific.  Studied hours and would do horrible.  I would get very worried and tense for tests.	About the final
The lab especially was incredibly difficult.  There was no need to have it.	There were some topics, like dance, that I did not understand or related to
Discussions in class made me anxious because I was so unsure of the topic, energy and the environment.  My instructor paid attention to strictly BIO MAJORS!!	Exams were challenging
Worried that I wasn't spending enough time studying for an exam, but also that I was neglecting other courses	Group project.  Midterm.  Final.
The workload tended to be a lot.  It also seemed more like busy work.	Not sure on what to do or on how well or bad I did on quizzes, exams.
Worried about tests	I'm not Catholic and feel anxious about that and uneasy about not knowing anything about it.
Always worrying about understanding the material and not doing well in the course	Anxious about the paper -- first college paper I had written and the biggest
The class was very challenging because I did not understand a lot of the readings.  I always felt pressured to participate.  Grading was very critical.  Class wasn't entertaining at all.	Uneasy because I was not the best writer and I wanted to do well.
There is a lot of bad mouth in this course.  Well deserved.	Anxious to see next topic to write about.
About grades on class material	Before taking tests.
He played music -- classical.  Talked so much.  Attendance was taken so you to go.  Slept through.  He talked very monotone.	Some discussions were highly emotional and controversial.
Not knowing what to expect	Tests
Too much work for 2 credits	The first tests worried me because I didn't know what to expect.
Grading styles for a particular professor were unreasonable and work load was too much	Uneasy going into the final because it was the 1st final I ever took in college
Personally dreaded going to the class, pointless and uninteresting.	I was afraid b/c my writing was bad but being that I took the course it's got better.  I was afraid b/c of how the teacher graded.
This class was a very hard course and I was not the best at it.  Feeling afraid of upcoming tests and quizzes.	Some of the things I have learned are so tense and crazy like the video we watch.
I had to do two presentations.	Right before the final
We would only stay in class for 30 min out of 1 hour and 15 min.  The teacher never taught	Before an exam
We got a new teacher half-way through.  The whole context of the class changed along with the addition of assignments.	There was no text book so before a test it was kind of unnerving to know if you had studied enough
Random quizzes made me nervous.	Worried just on midterms and finals.  The only time I was worried was when I handed in my paper and I didn't know how well I was going to do.
Uneasy and worried about the test. Never do good on them.  Dreaded failing.  Afraid of not interpreting correctly.  So its like you read but its wrong.	During test
I was always anxious to get the hell out of the class
I was uneasy because I was always looking forward to getting gout of the class.  It was a very boring class!
All of the tests were extremely hard and I had heard the class was very difficult
Tests.  Too much material for that course.
The teacher is the worst teacher I ever had.  His policy is beyond extreme along w/ his grading.  I'm worried of failing the course.  This class has done NOTHING for me.
Taking every test, I had an anxiety attack b/f every one
Test
Natty world is like the history of bio/physics/chem.  Considering I take those classes and have good base, I found myself very bored sitting in class hearing what I already knew.  I couldn't wait for class to end.
Every time I was in there, I wanted the class to end
Wasn't able to understand
When we had to give presentations in class
Before a test
Before every test
I thought it was way too much information to learn in one semester.  This course should be broken into two parts.
After and during each test
Test and papers
Specific Dejection Experience	Specific Dejection Experience
Prof was critical of lack of participation
Class discussion.  Most readings.	A couple times in discussion someone had a sad story that went along w/ what we were discussing.
Was not a fun course.
The most boring, pointless class ever	About the final
Always dragging with reading.  So god awful boring stories to read.  Pointless stuff.  8:30 MWF too freaking early.
I hated going into the class so I became weary.  It was a very annoying class!
When I walked into class
Getting my grades back and feeling worthless
Tests were graded harder by other prof than prof I had
All lectures were a waste of time, completely unorganized.  Once we waited for the projector to work for 20 minutes!	Sometimes it seemed to just drag on, especially when the teacher just lectured
Grades were less than fantastic even when studied hard	During the long final.
I would work really hard on a paper, but then my grade would not reflect my hard work
The class wasn't important to me -- no one had any interest in learning the material.
When I got my tests and labs returned to me.
Nervous about grades
Feel that I try very hard always attend class and reviews ALWAYS and still do not do as well as I would like
The negative stigma hurts the class.	Group project.  Midterm.
On the other hand, the lows were very low…if we didn't know what to do, there was no where to go.
All of the tests were extremely hard and I had heard the class was very difficult	Doing bad on a weekly quiz
	Watched a movie on STD's.
	Some of the videos we watched were extremely sad.
Nady World Lab…as a Bio major, labs I am used to a being stuck with the biggest idiots who didn't know what CO2 was made me weary b/c lab grade is based on the "group" grade.  It was so frustrating.
During every lecture in small groups
I was bored in just about every one of these classes.  Lectures were dry and boring.
I did not score the highest grades in this class.  After receiving test and quiz grades I was never too happy.  ESPECIALLY after receiving my final paper (40% of grade)
Almost every day
My grade was not good, but I spent many hours studying.  Class did not help.  Discussion was not productive.
My class and professor were very boring.  Hard to really care about the class.  I fell asleep every time.	Movie days
	Mondays, when I was tired
Sad just because it was such a bad class
Seeing boredom of other students.  Boring.  Papers and quizzes not real relevant material at all to major.  Very limited experience w/ C.C., transfer student…
Class was good in theory but with the particular practice it was awful.  Bottom line: Clare courses need a set syllabus for every section.	Getting back my tests
Because once again it was way too much info, and sometimes I just felt worn out.
The lectures
Changed professors in middle of semester and it was too hectic.	The topics were a little depressing sometimes
About the work-load	When we saw a film on the Holocaust that saddened me.
When our 1st teacher left I was upset because I knew things would change.
Bored by course material and the teacher.
Gay material	Not sure on what to do or on how well or bad I did on quizzes, exams.
The teacher had a monotone voice.  The class was boring
Boring	Still had to get up early
Every time I walked into the room before class	About doing well.
Unable to succeed in the class	I was sad when I got bad grades back from my papers, but it helped me.
Course material did not teach me anything so it was hard to perform on tests because it was boring.	When I would get a paper back and get a bad grade, but I always used it to do better next time.
	I dreaded taking quizzes.  I just enjoyed the writing.
Most of the class was boring	Tests and assignments
Everyday in class	Only on test days
	When I knew I had a paper due in that class @ 5 and I didn't start it
Bored.  I felt the lectures were "somewhat" worthwhile but they clearly waste our time making 15 groups ask questions to the speaker -- unfortunately we just don't care what he/she thinks at that point
When we had to do a 10 page paper on something I don't care about
Last class before I graduate afraid of not passing
Specific Enthusiasm Experience	Specific Enthusiasm  Experience
	Happy b/c it was easier than I thought
Some readings.  Journals.	The stories taught me a lot about life and I liked the discussions.
Never really had these feelings.	When other students do the talking
	About the stories and how they related to my own life
Last day of class, Fridays and 1st day of class excited to leave.	Good atmosphere
I was never enthusiastic, alive, excited, cheerful or happy in that class because it was plain boring.	I had to research and write a 10 page paper on Feminist Theology.  When I finished it I learned so much and I did it!  An amazing accomplishment at the time.
The class is very boring	Class was set up well; very informative
Last day of class	Really got me involved.  I loved the way we discussed things in one big group.  Weber was great.
Group work -- answer questions w/ others	I'm interested in subjects
Lab class was the only good part.  The teacher made it fun	The teacher loved what he was talking about and made the class upbeat and positive
	When we were learning about the Ancient Greeks
	I enjoyed the professor and the students that were in my class -- the topics discussed were interesting.
	Really fleshed out how I felt about philosophy and why
After the class was over	Class was interesting.  She was very informed and knew what she was talking about.  Really made you think about your beliefs and why.  Very well-rounded.
	We sat in a circle and had weekly discussions
I was excited when they added a psychology topic b/c it is not often seen as a science	This class was a great learning experience
	Class discussions.  Research.  Readings.
The last experiment we did, my group and I did the best at heating a pool of water.  In general when we pulled together and everything click -- it was a great flow experience!	Class was interesting and made me more enthusiastic and into the class
	The material that we learned about was very interesting to me as I love history.
	It was an easy class
	Many of our class discussions were very enlightening.  People got into it and really expressed their opinions.
	I was interested in all of the material.
Group assignments	I knew much of the course material from previous work, so I did well on exams and discussions.
	This class has taught me so much on the real world.  I feel so comfortable knowing things that I know now.
	Every class I went to was fun and interesting and made me want to be there.
The material covered was not that interesting to me.  Was not conveyed in an exciting manner.	A class discussion about sociopaths
During discussion of Nietzche	Had fun experiencing others opinions and sharing my own
N/A	In classes
	The teacher's interesting examples and stories while trying to prove a point.
	I really like history and learning about other cultures and ways of life interested me
	Enjoyed every class -- especially the way the instructor presented material.
Learned some new material that was of interest	No experience.  Good environment.  Great teacher.  Material was great.
	When the teacher would get excited about talking to the students
	I was happy to learn a lot about Catholicism I didn't know before
The information was very exciting.	Learn about Japanese Theater and culture
Movie days: watching life of St. Francis	I could share my personal opinions and my different culture
Only enthusiastic part was writing the final paper.	Both professors were engaging and informative
The professors specific grading style which was very fair and gave students options
	Lecture
	I loved the Prof b/c he was enthusiastic about it and caused me to be
Getting a good grade	Learning about music and architecture.  Engaging, knowledgeable teacher.
	Looking at the art exhibits in RQAL.  I love art in general and I paint/draw on the side, so seeing work by others was an experience
	Didn't mind sitting there
When it was the last day of class	I felt as though the class was going to benefit me in the future.
	Never excited!
	I learned a lot of new tools to write better essays
	I personally enjoyed writing papers on topics I found interesting.
Last day of class	Prof communicates well with students
When said there was no final.  When get out early and last day.	Class was very laid back and enjoyable.  Made for easy learning.
	When we get to discuss real topics in class
When talking about things exciting
Murphy presentations gave me time to do other work
Never felt any of this
Specific Calming Experience	Specific Calming Experience
	Relaxed b/c the readings honestly relaxed me made me feel good
Discussions.  Little homework.	Great environment and it was nice to be able to talk in a small group.
When I wrote papers for the class.	When the teacher is lecturing rather than calling on students to add insight
We sat in a circle and discussed different topics.	The atmosphere which the class was taught
Too early wasn’t awake -- sound of my teacher put me to sleep almost.	Peaceful topics
The only reason I was tranquil is b/c we never really did anything in class but discuss the boring stories.	When I was prepared and felt in control.
	Overall good experience
After I gave presentations in class	The atmosphere was definitely relaxed because everyone was talking.
Teacher helpful when had questions
Lab instructor made the lab easy going	The teacher set a relaxed mood and easy going atmosphere
	Days of watching movies.
	We took one min. at the beginning of every class and spent it in silence
	Came to class with a professor who really knew what he was doing
When I slept through the boring lectures	Great discussion.  She was accepting of all ideas and would not make people feel bad for thinking differently.
	The class was very laid-back and most people participated.
	The way it was taught was very relevant to life
When the class was over and I passed.	Class discussions.  Limited homework.
Good female lab instructor.	The class was easy going and very laid back.  Wasn't a stressful environment
	Dr. Moore was just a great guy -- always telling funny stories -- told us his goal was to get us all 'A's' and he wasn't "out to get us" from day 1.
	Everyone was free to express their opinions
	The class did not make me real nervous.  The environment was very calm.  The teacher and students all were just trying to learn.
Big lectures
	The teacher doesn't stress you out with work.  He understands where you are coming from.
Some classes -- Like right after tests -- I could relax and not feel so tense.
Every day I didn't pay attention.	Nice atmosphere.  No pressure, fun to participate.
N/A	Classes
	While doing the assignments out of class
	Classes were easy going
	Learned a lot.  Brother Mike was great.  Great personal learning experience for me with my faith.
Did decent on quizzes and papers
	Having a normal day of class: Talking and taking notes
	My professor was very clear that it was ok to not know everything on the very first day
It made me think.	Classes were well organized
During lectures and overhead	I did not feel stressed out at all and I could just take in other peoples views
	The class was not too difficult and very interesting
About the final, which became a take-home.	The class atmosphere was laid back and relaxing.  The professor only cared about us knowing the work.
The 1st half was very calm.  I was never worried.	Lecture
Was never too worried about the course material so I did well on exams	Listened to all types of music and also watched many films which I think was very calming
When I'm sleeping in class.	Good really.  Good grades.  Learned new material on different subjects.
The times when we would watch movies	Sitting in class wasn't bad, the professor was fun and he changed class up so it wasn't routine.  Whether listening to music, reading a play…
	She played clue it was cool
When we had a substitute teacher	Not an overwhelming amount of work.
	I was relaxed b/c all we did was discuss writing skills.
The class was so boring I felt like going to sleep!	I was constantly challenged, but I learned a lot so only occasionally did I feel peace
	I felt no pressure in this course.  I feel I became a better writer.
	Good amount of work
In class	Very easy going class.  Professor was great.  Put everyone at ease while learning.
During class	Just normal everyday class
	Enjoyed set up of course