Assessment of Student Learning - Minnesota State University Moorhead



	HISTORY History 401: Senior Seminar Assessment Report 2001 This report is based on the performance of fifteen students, fourteen of whom were seniors, two were juniors, in History 401, the capstone seminar for History and Social Studies majors. Five of the students were History majors in the B.A. program, the other eleven were Social Studies majors in the B.S. program for secondary teachers. The topic of the course was the history of the American West, with an emphasis on the time period from 1860 to 1920. Each student was required to write an article-length formal research paper from 15 to 25 pages in length, plus endnotes and an annotated bibliography. In addition, each student presented information from two chapters of the two textbooks, The Oxford History of the American West and Major Problems in the History of the American West, in a discussion/lecture format to her/his classmates. Also, each student presented the results of his/her research to the other members of the class in a twenty-five minute lecture, followed by discussion of the topic and its peculiar research problems and methods. Finally, each student demonstrated mastery of the factual material and the general themes of the class by means of a final examination. In this report, the students' general performances are assessed collectively in terms of the skills and abilities outlined in the assessment plan adopted by the History Department in Spring, 1998 (entitled "Skills and Abilities History and Social Studies Majors Should Have [see attachment]). A. Reading Comprehension and Cognitive Skills identify the main points or thesis in a piece of historical writing. All of the students were able to identify the key issues in documents and essays, as demonstrated by the ability of each to discuss the elements of the chapters in the two texts and by demonstrating competence in writing annotations in his/her bibliography for the written paper. The text, Major Problems in the History of the American West, included diverse opinions on fifteen controversial aspects of the history of the West. analyze how authors develop their theses and support them with evidence. As students presented information and themes from the texts, each explained the "point of view" of the various authors and identified whether or not the writer had a vested interest in the topic. This was not a difficult task for the students, and they were able to identify points of view in annotated bibliography entries. recognize and evaluate differences in historical interpretation among different authors. The framework of the class emphasized the differences between the "New West" historians and earlier interpretations, including that of Frederick Jackson Turner, and students were readily able to recognize and evaluate such differences. The use of two texts in each discussion made it easy to do this, because the authors were set in direct opposition to each other. B. Historical Thinking Skills recognize potential sources of bias in historical writings. All of the students could readily note biases found in historic writings from the 1880s, but several students did not recognize ideological biases in more contemporary writings until the instructor pointed out the obvious biases in the students' research papers. These students were asked to add sources of information that represented a more objective point of view. By the end of the seminar, all the students were able to spot a bias. understand and interpret events in their appropriate historical context. All of the students were capable in this respect, due to the extensive number of history courses each has taken prior to this seminar. understand and interpret relations of cause and effect and other sequential relations. The students were very able to handle cause and effect relationships as foundational aspects of historical study. understand the complexity of human motivations and appreciate cultural differences in patterns of behavior and ideation. The students demonstrated sensitivity to cultural issues and were knowledgeable about the clash of cultures between Anglo-Americans and Native American tribes in the American West, having gained exposure to such issues in this and other courses. The research papers dealt with complex motivations, as well. synthesize a variety of evidence into a coherent and plausible account of events. The students were all capable of intelligible and articulate classroom presentations, especially due to the large majority being future classroom teachers. Only one student had a problem with this in writing a seminar paper. With editorial assistance of the instructor the coherency reached acceptable levels. C. Research Skills recognize the difference between primary and secondary sources, and understand the uses and importance of each type. The students had a good grasp of the differences between primary and secondary source materials, and their knowledge and understanding grew throughout the course of the seminar as they used documents in their presentations. When the students conducted research for the seminar paper, the instructor made certain that all students used both primary and secondary sources. Almost all of the students used primary sources from an archive and their annotated bibliographies revealed a true knowledge of the differences between primary and secondary sources. select and refine an appropriate topic for a given assignment. In this area of research, the students at first lacked an understanding of how to refine a topic for the semester paper. The instructor gave individual attention to the topics and the students were able to learn how to narrow his/her topic to a manageable level. identify a variety of different kinds of source materials that could shed light on a particular topic. The students were instructed to seek a variety of sources for their research papers, namely, newspapers, magazines, diaries, letters, reference books, and secondary sources. One or two students were initially dependent upon secondary sources alone, and were able to find adequate primary sources when given time to do so. Therefore, all the students grasped this concept, but some had learned it later rather than sooner. use the library and various bibliographic aids to identify and locate difference sources relevant to a particular topic. Many of the students were able to use the New York Times Index in the MSUM Library to good advantage in their research papers, and all used bibliographies of Western History, while about half were able to use bibliographies from a state historical society, such as A Reference Guide to Minnesota History or A Reference Guide to North Dakota History. Particularly helpful were the reference guides available on the internet from various state historical societies and newspaper indexes found on the web. evaluate which of their sources were the most authoritative. About 80 percent of the students were able to evaluate sources in this manner, and the other 20 percent had to have the instructor point out more authoritative sources. In one case, the student utilized secondary sources of a deeply-ideological bent and had to be instructed to add a source or two from the opposing viewpoint. One or two students used information from tourist-based web sites and had to add sources which were more authoritative, thereby, learning that not all sources are of equal value. compile and annotate a bibliography, and present it in a proper format. The instructor was pleased by the ability of the students regarding the writing of an annotated bibliography, and only one student had to revise the annotated bibliography extensively. conduct and oral history interview. Two students conducted oral history interviews as a part of their research, but for the others, an oral history interview was impossible to perform for this seminar. It might be noted that all social studies majors are required to conduct an oral history interview in the Social Studies Methods class. D. Written Communication Skills formulate a thesis on the basis of insights gained from research. All students were required to write a thesis in the formal paper and all accomplished the task. develop their thesis in an organized and logical progression. The students varied in their abilities to develop a thesis in the discussion aspect of the course, but all were able to do so in the formal paper. use appropriate evidence to support points. All of the students succeeded in doing this in the oral presentations, and all but one was able to do this in the formal papers (the exception was mentioned in previous assessments in this report). cite sources properly. About half were accurate from the beginning, the other half had to revise their endnotes and bibliographical listings until he/she got it right. Only one had to re-write the endnote entries to correct errors after the second draft. summarize points made in source materials, and make connections between different points of view and their own. The students were well able to summarize the textbooks in their classroom presentations/discussions, and the great majority was capable of doing this in the written paper. They were able to synthesize their own points of view and were able to personalize the material adequately. recognize the shortcomings of their evidence and anticipate possible objections. The students were asked to be objective in writing their papers and all but one were able to recognize the shortcomings of his/her evidence in the written paper. The problem with one student came about because of an emotional involvement in the topic. respond constructively to criticism and make appropriate revisions. Every student revised his or her papers to the standards of the instructor. write clear and grammatical prose. The instructor was pleased with the improvement shown during the semester. Some started at a less skilled level, but all grew in skill. critically evaluate the work of other students. Invariably, they were timid about doing this, and were overly polite in their evaluations of each other. The students were asked, however, to edit each other's papers in the first round of editing, but all chose to point out only errors in grammar and punctuation, rather than delving deeper. E. Oral Communication Skills respond clearly and thoughtfully to questions and comments in class discussion. The students were required to write questions in response to every oral presentation, and wrote them ably. The responses varied according to the verbal skills of the presenter, and those who were by nature shy did not respond in much depth to the questions. The Social Studies majors were quite adept at responding, showing much energy in their responses. Draw upon and summarize reading materials in ways that address larger themes and issues. The format of the required readings pointed the students to the larger themes and issues, so the students were able to do this extremely well. Deliver an effective oral presentation. Two were weak in the chapter discussions, one by his/her timid nature, one by lack of preparation. All improved in delivering an oral presentation on his/her research, having learned much in the process of researching and writing the seminar paper. critically evaluate the work of other students. At this stage of their education, the most effective evaluations came from the instructor. The students were not able to do this for the research papers of the other students because the writer knew more than the others knew. F. Computer Literacy produce a paper using word processing software. Every student did this effectively. use e-mail. This was not a requirement of this course. conduct research using the World Wide Web in addition to traditional source materials. All used the web to advantage, and were given an evaluation guide to web materials. Some used tourism-based sites but were required to provide more depth through another source of information in order to provide a more authoritative reference. CONCLUSION The Senior Seminar on the American West provided an opportunity for our History and Social Studies majors to "do history." They responded well to the challenges of researching primary sources and secondary sources and writing and revising a lengthy research paper. The students were energetic, resourceful and able. The students did the work of historians as conducted research, wrote a journal-length article, helped to edit the work of others and, finally, presented the results of their research projects to their fellow students. The format of the class required the students to do their oral presentations as a part of three-person teams. The teams effectively split the topic into a lecture and two discussion sections, and all the teams utilized visual resources in the presentations (which they were all required to do). The weaknesses in the presentations came not from lack of preparation, but more from timidity. The students took the responsibilities of the class seriously. The students were instructed at the beginning of the class that each one was to participate in the discussions and all completed the requirement of submitting written questions to the presenters. Improvement could come from formulating additional questions "off the cuff." The students were given extensive instructions on research and note-taking and crafting a bibliography, and they learned their lessons well. The seminar research papers were well-researched and well-documented. A number of the students visited archives in Grand Forks, Fargo and St. Paul, and learned greatly from the experience. The instructor was pleased by the quality of the papers. Student performance in discussion formats could be improved. Having supervised the Senior Seminar for the first time impresses upon me the need to include more extensive discussions in my own classes, for I tend to rely upon the lecture method of teaching. All members of the department can attempt to include more discussion techniques in the lower-level classes. The choice of topics for research papers is an important matter and much guidance is necessary for student success. It appears that the only real problem with choosing topics is when a student holds a strong opinion about a controversial topic before researching it deeply. All in all, the students of the seminar worked hard to research and write effective and accurate papers.


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