Diversity and Written Communication Achievement at the First-Year Level: AY 2019-20 Roots of Contemporary Issues [ROOT] Diversity & Inequality Papers Assessment Results
As reported in the AY 2019-20 [ROOT] Diversity & Inequality Papers Assessment Summary of Key Evidence for UCORE (PDF), assessment results indicated that, on average, 75% of first-year students met or exceeded expectations at the first-year undergraduate level at the end of their UCORE first-year experience [ROOT] course on rubric outcomes related to Diversity. Additionally, on average, 84% met or exceeded expectations for outcomes related to Written Communication.
History 105 [ROOT] is the foundational first-year experience course for UCORE. The course introduces students to five of the seven university learning goals (Critical & Creative Thinking, Information Literacy, Communication, Diversity, and Depth, Breadth & Integration of Learning) by asking students to understand the historical and global roots of various issues facing the world today.
Roots of Contemporary Issues Assessment is intended to provide [ROOT] faculty with information for program improvement, as well as gauge student learning on the WSU Learning Goals at the first-year level. Each academic year, beginning in AY 2012-13, [ROOT] faculty evaluate a random sample of students’ papers from all campuses using a faculty-developed rubric. In AY 2019-20, the Roots of Contemporary Issues program completed an assessment of 2-3 page response papers that ask students to address themes of inequality and diverse ways of thinking. In summer 2020, [ROOT] faculty evaluated a random sample of these papers from all campuses using a faculty-developed rubric.
In AY 2019-20, the [ROOT] Diversity & Inequality Papers Assessment rubric asked whether in these response papers students demonstrated the following skills related to WSU’s Learning Goals:
DIVERSITY:
- demonstrating understanding of cultural worldview frameworks
- using discipline-appropriate vocabularies/concepts
- demonstrating an understanding of cultural/social positioning/perspectives
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION:
- following written conventions
- stating an argument
- including an organizational structure
The Roots of Contemporary Issues program, in collaboration with the WSU Libraries and Office of Assessment of Teaching and Learning (ATL), coordinates the assessment, reporting and data analysis for Roots of Contemporary Issues [ROOT] Assessment. [ROOT] Assessment includes the Final Papers Assessment Project (aligned with Critical & Creative Thinking, Information Literacy, Communication, and Depth, Breadth, and Integration of Learning) and the Diversity & Inequality Papers Assessment (aligned with Diversity and Communication), conducted biennially in alternating years starting in AY 2016-17. For additional information, see Roots of Contemporary Issues [ROOT] Assessment.