Music Department Annual Assessment Report to the College 2017-2018

Abstract

The Music Industry Studies (B.A./M.A.) department 2017-18 annual assessment report to the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication for the Office of Academic Assessment and Program Review. At the suggestion of the dean’s office, the music department’s assessment activities focused on high DFU classes, evaluating MUS 111, and MUS 105, a general education class, as well as MUS 601. Comparative analysis of MUS 111/111L (a 6 semester sequence) showed that transfer students and first-time freshmen between 2012-2016 earned similar GPA’s (2.93 to 3.0, respectively), while high DFU rates in MUS 111 were attributed to a requirement that students attend 13 concerts in order to pass the course (a requirement that has now been reduced to 10% of the course grade). A similar investigation into high DFU rates in MUS 105 was inconclusive with regard to the concert attendance requirement, though it was noted that the 3 sections of the course varied widely in how large a part of the course grade concert attendance is, resulting in a departmental policy to limit concert attendance/reporting to 10% of the course grade. Other explanations for high DFU rates include students failing to attend class and not turning in required assignments. Assessment of graduate SLO #1 (“demonstrate artistic and intellectual rigor in the organization, interpretation, communication, and dissemination of musical knowledge”) in MUS 601 via a test, which revealed that “there was significant improvement from the gateway to capstone tests. There was an increase score in the communication area (1.5 points increase, 3 points maximum) where students were asked to write a short paragraph analyzing an abstract of an article. There were also increases in score between the gateway in AND capstone in “dissemination” (1.3 points increase, 2 points maximum) and “interpretation (1.6 points increase, 2 points maximum).” Plans for 2018-19 include assessment of graduate SLO #5 (“Demonstrate professional competence in the execution of business processes and practices commonly employed within their area of specialization”) and will also “look at the grade data for semester grades and for individual assignments,” while examining “the data from the [2017-18] eLearning Project [details included in the report], and designing “one or two assignments to be used for assessing one-two of the GE SLOs for Arts and Humanities that might also foster a growth mindset as well as increase and maintain student success.”