Program Outcomes and Assessment Psychology General Emphasis February 2014 Program Outcomes Program Outcome 1- Students will be prepared to find employment and to be an effective employee. [University Outcome- Skilled Professional] (COURSES: Psy 112, Psy 201, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 350, Psy 355, Psy 361, Psy 365, Psy 370, Psy 378, Psy 384, Psy 435, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 2- Students will be prepared for further education and training. [University Outcome- Skilled Professional] (COURSES: Psy 111, Psy 112, Psy 201, Psy 240, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 350, Psy 355, Psy 361, Psy 365, Psy 370, Psy 378, Psy 384, Psy 435, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 3- Students will demonstrate familiarity with major psychological concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and historical trends in psychology. [University Outcome- Skilled Professional] (COURSES: Psy 111, Psy 201, Psy 240, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 350, Psy 355, Psy 361, Psy 365, Psy 370, Psy 378, Psy 384, Psy 435, Psy 485) Program Outcome 4- Students will apply and understand basic research methods in psychology including research design, data analysis, and interpretation [University Outcome- Skilled Professional] (COURSES: Psy 111, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 322, Psy 350, Psy 355, Psy 365, Psy 370, Psy 378, Psy 384, Psy 435, Psy 485) Program Outcome 5- Students will respect and use critical thinking, rigorous inquiry, and, when possible, the scientific approach within a gospel framework to solve problems related to behavior and mental processes.. [University Outcome- Lifelong Learner, Creative and Critical Thinker] (COURSES: Psy 112, Psy 201, Psy 240, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 350, Psy 355, Psy 361, Psy 365, Psy 370, Psy 378, Psy 435, Psy 485) Program Outcome 6- Students will understand and apply psychological principles to personal, social, and organizational issues. Students will also emerge from courses with realistic ideas about how to implement their psychological knowledge, skills, and values in personal, occupational, educational and other settings.. [University Outcome- Skilled Professional] (COURSES: Psy 201, Psy 240, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 355, Psy 378, Psy 435, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 7- Students will be able to weigh evidence, tolerate ambiguity, act ethically, and reflect values that are the underpinnings of psychology as a discipline within the framework of the gospel. [University Outcomes- Engaged Citizen, Disciple Leader] (COURSES: Psy 111, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 355, Psy 361, Psy 378, Psy 435, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 8- Students will demonstrate information and technological literacy [University Outcomes- Skilled Professional, Lifelong Learner] (COURSES: Psy 201, Math 221C, Psy 302, Psy 310, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 9- Students will be able to communicate effectively in a variety of formats. [University Outcome- Effective Communicators] (COURSES: Psy 201, Psy 240, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 322, Psy 341, Psy 350, Psy 365, Psy 485, Psy 498) Program Outcome 10- Students will recognize, understand, and respect the complexity of sociocultural and international diversity. [University Outcomes- Engaged Citizen, Disciple Leader] (Psy 111, Psy 201, Psy 240, Psy 310, Psy 311, Psy 350, Psy 376, Psy 322, Psy 342, Psy 365, Psy 435, Psy 498)
Assessment Plan Program Outcome 1: EMPLOYMENT Alumni Survey administered annually asking students who have graduated in the past year their employment status. IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking students regarding future plans for work. Program Outcome 2: FUTURE EDUCATION Alumni Survey administered annually asking students who have graduated in the past year about their graduate school status. IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking students regarding future plans for graduate school. Program Outcome 3: KNOWLEDGE BASE DIRECT MEASURE 1: Psychology Field Test (a standardized nationally normed psychology knowledge test) administered to Senior Students the semester before they graduate. DIRECT MEASURE 2: Grades in Relevant Courses. IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking students if they feel they gained a good deal of knowledge during their time in the psychology program. Program Outcome 4: RESEARCH METHODS DIRECT MEASURE 1: Judges Rubric from Research and Creative Works Conference (Experiencing Research) DIRECT MEASURE 2: Major Field Test administered to Senior Students the semester before they graduate. Subtest questions regarding Statistics and Research Methods IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they have a good understanding of research methodology. Program Outcome 5: CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they developed critical thinking skills during their time in the program. Program Outcome 6: APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they learned how to apply psychological principles to solve problems during their time in the program. Program Outcome 7: VALUES IN PSYCHOLOGY 2
IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they established values in psychology that do not conflict with their understanding of the gospel. Program Outcome 8: INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY LITERACY IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they developed skills in accessing information through technology. Program Outcome 9: COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they developed good communication skills during their time in the program. Program Outcome 10: SOCIOCULTURAL AWARENESS IN Exit Survey administered to Senior Students at the end of the semester asking if they feel they developed an awareness of issues confronting other cultures and nations. Assessment Data 3
Summarize the assessment data that your plan has generated this year. Where possible, report the data in terms of the percentage of students who met the program outcomes at the levels described below. If some of your assessment results do not match this format (as with certain types of indirect measures, for example), simply use an appropriate alternative format to summarize the results. The cumulative percentage for each outcome is based on the actual counts combined from each objective, not the average of the percentage(with one exception). Data primarily comes from students graduating in Fall of 2013. Sum Program Outcome 1 77% 13% 8% 2% 100% Program Outcome 2 66% 16% 15% 3% 100% Program Outcome 3 1 32% 48% 18% 3% 100% Program Outcome 4* 18% 52% 30% 0 100% Program Outcome 5* 25% 75% 0 0 100% Program Outcome 6* 25% 69% 6% 0 100% Program Outcome 7* 44% 50% 6% 0 100% Program Outcome 8* 25% 63% 6% 6% 100% Program Outcome 9* 56% 38% 0 0 100% Program Outcome 10* 50% 44% 0 6% 100% *Data Incomplete Distinguished: Excellent level of achievement; exceeds expectations Proficient: Good level of achievement; meets expectations Developing: Fair level of achievement; minimally meets expectations Unsatisfactory: Low level of achievement; fails to meet expectations Program Outcome 1: EMPLOYMENT Alumni Survey (this comes from survey administered in February 2011) 82% 2 8% 3 7% 4 3% 5 IN Exit Survey 6% 69% 25% 0 Program Outcome 2: FUTURE EDUCATION Alumni Survey (this comes from survey administered in February 2011) 1 The data for this Program Outcome is averaged given that the n size for grades is so large. 2 Employed full- time, part- time (and not seeking fulltime employment) or are full time parents 3 Employed part- time and are seeking full time employment. 4 Unemployed but not seeking employment 5 Unemployed and seeking employment 4
73% 6 9% 7 15% 8 2% 9 IN Exit Survey 19% 63% 13% 6% Program Outcome 3: KNOWLEDGE BASE DIRECT MEASURE 1: Psychology Field Test 26% 37% 37% 0 DIRECT MEASURE 2: Grades in Relevant Courses (Fall 2013 Grades) 38% 38% 17% 8% IN Exit Survey 31% 69% 0 0 Program Outcome 4: RESEARCH METHODS DIRECT MEASURE 1: RCW Judging Rubric 0 45% 55% 0 DIRECT MEASURE 2: Major Field Test- Statistic and Research Methods IN Exit Survey 31% 56% 13% 0 6 Accepted in, currently attending or have graduated from post- bachelor s program. 7 Accepted to a program but dropped out or did not attend 8 Currently applying, will apply or waiting to hear if accepted 9 Applied to graduate school but was not accepted 5
Program Outcome 5: CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN Exit Survey 25% 75% 0 0 Program Outcome 6: APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY IN Exit Survey 25% 69% 6% Program Outcome 7: VALUES IN PSYCHOLOGY IN Exit Survey 44% 50% 6% 0 Program Outcome 8: INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY LITERACY IN Exit Survey 6
25% 63% 6% 6% Program Outcome 9: COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN Exit Survey 56% 38% 0 0 Program Outcome 10: SOCIOCULTURAL AWARENESS IN Exit Survey 50% 44% 0 6% Analysis and Improvement Plan GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EMPHASIS Outcome 1(Employment) Indications: Overall, we feel good about where our students are in terms of employment. The majority of our majors have felt prepared to find employment or have found employment or part-time employment (and not seeking full time employment). That said, 10% of our majors are either underemployed or unemployed with 25% of seniors surveyed disagreeing with the statement that they feel somewhat unprepared to find employment. 7
Action 1: The psychology department will be exploring adding different emphases this coming year. Some of the emphases under consideration are. Such an emphasis would provide students with an immediately recognizable degree that could lead to immediate employment after graduation. Action 2: The psychology department will be also exploring expanding its internship opportunities for psychology majors during the coming year. The addition of different emphases will permit a more focused attention on internship possibilities. Action 3: The psychology department would like to encourage more collaboration with the Psychology Society. The Society can provide peer-to-peer instruction and advice on these issues. The department will work with the society to provide at least one employment-related meeting each semester. Outcome 2 (Further Training) Indications: Historically, about 82% of our majors have been accepted into some kind of post-bachelor training. This mirrors some of the expectations of our students, 82% of whom indicated that they felt prepared to go to graduate school. However, overall, we have 19% of our students who feel unprepared for graduate school and 2% of our students who historically have applied to graduate school but not been accepted. Action 1: Richard Cluff has developed a student manual that lays out, among other things, the realities of graduate school and what to do to apply. The department will be working this year on plans to disseminate this valuable resource to all new psychology majors. The more information students have, the better. Action 2: The psychology department will be exploring developing other emphases to provide some direction to students making career decisions. Rob Wright has proposed a health psychology emphasis and Richard Cluff has suggests a law school and/or medical school emphasis to provide students with a more focused curriculum. We are also considering an educational psychology emphasis for those interested in working as school counselors or school psychologists. Action 3: The psychology department will continue to work with the Psych Society to disseminate information to students regarding the graduate school application process. Outcome 3 (Content Knowledge) Indications: The major field test indicates that the majority of our majors (63%) to be either distinguished or proficient with regards to their general psychology knowledge. 37% are developing meaning their performance met minimal standards but could have been better. None of our students scored lower. We feel very good about the overall performance of our students on this test. When we compare our students performance to national standards, we find that of those students tested last semester, 45% scored above the 75 th percentile or better than 75% of psychology majors nationally. 29% scored between the 50 th and 75 th percentiles and 36% scoring below the 50 th percentile. We had 100% of students surveyed with the exit survey indicate that they either strongly agreed or agreed that they had a good knowledge base in psychology. In addition, our grade breakdown in our classes shows that the majority of students are getting a C- or better. Action 1: We need to look more closely at the grade data. Currently, we extract data for grades on all classes irrespective of major. This coming year we will be working to look more carefully at grade data and draw stronger conclusions regarding our students achievement. This may be accomplished by drawing stronger connections between 8
overall achievement and individual activities within each class. We hope to fine tune our conclusions regarding achievement. Outcome 4 (Research Methods) Indications: 87% of students agree or strongly agree with the statement that they have a good foundation in research methods in psychology. However, when looking at the scoring rubrics for students participating in the undergraduate research and creative works conference we find that only 45% of those participating were considered proficient and the remaining students developing. This should not be surprising but still needs consideration. Action 1: We will be receiving more detailed reports from the Field Test regarding the Methodology and Statistics indicator to more clearly evaluation students knowledge in this area. Action 2: Brady Wiggins will be taking over the Experiencing Research class fall semester of 2014. He will be working with Eric Gee and other faculty to do some restructuring of the curriculum to assist students to create higher quality research projects. Action 3: The department will be formalizing procedures for selecting students to attend professional conferences. Students who have completed the Experiencing Research class but have not yet graduated will be encouraged to attend one of three conferences: Association for Psychological Science, Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, and the Psi Chi conference at Idaho State University. Action 4: The students in the Experiencing Research class have recruited confederates and participants for their research projects via the Psychology Society. We will continue to support this organization. Action 5: The Health Psychology and other emphases will have research components and will provide additional research opportunities for students. Outcome 5 (Critical Thinking) Indications: 100% of students in the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that they have learned critical thinking skills as a result of the psychology program. Action 1: The indirect measure is probably inadequate for a good assessment of the critical thinking skills of our students. The department will be working on developing a stronger measure for assessing critical thinking in the coming year. Outcome 6 (Applying Psychology) Indications: 94% of students responding to the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that they had learned to apply critical thinking skills as a result of the psychology program. 6% disagreed with the statement. Action 1: We need to revisit this objective and either restate it or develop a more specific way to measure it. Currently, it is difficult to develop any specific plans with the objective and our method of measuring it. Outcome 7 (Values in Psychology) Indications: 94% of students responding to the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that the psychology program had helped them establish values that did not conflict with gospel principles. 6% disagree with the statement. 9
Action 1: The indirect measure is probably inadequate for a good assessment of the values that our students have established. The department will be working on developing a stronger measure for this outcome in the coming year. Outcome 8 (Technology/Information Literacy) Indications: 88% of students responding to the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that the psychology program had helped them develop skills in accessing information through technology. Action 1: The department will be developing a technology literacy assessment during the upcoming year to more accurately and usefully assess this objective. Outcome 9 (Communication Skills) Indications: 100% of the students responding to the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that the psychology program helped them develop good communication skills. Action 1: A more direct measure of this objective is required. We will be looking at classes where presentations are required and developing a presentation rubric to better assess this objective. Outcome 10 (Sociocultural Awareness) Indications: 94% of students responding to the exit survey strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that the psychology program helped them develop better sociocultural awareness. 6% strongly disagreed with the statement. Action 1: A better assessment or some revision of this objective is needed. The psychology department will be discussing both possibilities in the upcoming year. University Outcomes (For Reference) The purpose of a BYU- Idaho education is to help students to become 1. Disciple leaders 2. Lifelong learners 3. Creative and critical thinkers 4. Effective communicators 5. Skilled professionals 6. Engaged citizens 10