Asian American Studies Department Annual Assessment Report to the College 2016-2017

Abstract

The Asian American Studies department 2016-17 annual assessment report to the College of Humanities for the Office of Academic Assessment and Program Review. The assessement liaison assessment liaison directly assessed AAS 201 (a GE Basic Skills Critical Thinking course), scoring a sample of 60 essays with a 4 level rubric (included) reflecting the department's conception of critical thinking, described in the report as a "mastery of key analytical concepts that allow a student to analyze race as socially constructed and racism as a system of power. It requires attention to historical context and ability to analyze in terms of social structure and in terms of discourse, using analytical concepts and terms that broaden one’s understanding of racism beyond mere prejudice. Also it requires attention to social justice and self-awareness for informed agency (informed by empathy and larger social concerns)." In the scorer's judgment "my analysis of the critical thinking essays indicate that our students understand that race is a historically situated, socially constructed category and/or that racism is a system of power that relies on, deploys, and weaponizes essentialist categories of race. Our students indicate a degree of self-reflection in their essays and therefore seem to show growth over the course of the semester in terms of the understanding of complex concepts and issues and their ability to draw reasoned conclusions about these issues.” The report also alludes to the department's participation in the General Education Basic Skills assessment initiative for 2016-17, which included assessments of written communication, oral communication, and critical thinking. No results are reported for written communication and oral communication. Plans for 2017-18 are described from the assessment liaison's perspective, stating that "I will assess our department’s relationship to the larger field of Ethnic Studies and the latest trends in Asian American Studies."