Program Student Learning Outcomes Assessment (AY 2011-2012)

a. Program Goals:

Upon successful completion of this degree program, students will be able to:

1. Enrich and deepen self-knowledge by exploring different academic experiences.
2. Articulate and understand their experiences through effective writing, reading, speaking, and various modes of artistic expression.
3. Demonstrate fundamental knowledge and basic skills appropriate to their personal and professional goals in their chosen area of specialization.

b. Program History

The Associate of arts degree program in liberal arts was established in 1975 to enable students to transfer to a four-year college, university, or other institution. Other than the addition and establishment of more focused and area-specific liberal arts degrees such as the Liberal Arts/Media studies and the Liberal Arts/Education programs (adopted in 1997) or the Liberal Arts/HCOP [Health Careers Opportunities Program], there have been no major changes to the structure of the Liberal Arts program in the past 10 years. The program learning outcomes (above) for the L.A. Degree program were adopted in Spring 2005.

c. Program Description

c.1. Organization: The Liberal Arts program is currently loosely organized with the Chairperson of the Languages and Literature division being the responsible person for collection of SLO information and program implementation. All academic divisions at the National campus contribute to the Liberal Arts program.

c.2. Relationship to other programs in the system: The liberal Arts program is one of the two-year academic majors offered at the National campus of COM-FSM. Many of the courses in the Liberal Arts major program are either major courses for other majors or shared courses with other majors.

Program Admission Requirements

All students accepted for admission into the college are eligible to enter/major in the Liberal Arts program.

d. Program Degree Requirements

The Liberal Arts program as it currently stands consists of general education core requirements in English [9 credits], Natural Sciences [7 credits], Mathematics, Social Sciences, Computer Applications and Humanities [each 3 credits], and Exercise Sports Science [1 credit]. In addition to General Education core requirements, there are the Major requirements which include the following courses in: Speech Communication, Health Science, Introduction to Sociology, General Psychology; three credits each of an English and Humanities elective, six credits of any classes from either a Natural Science group or social science group of courses and nine credits of open electives, totaling up to sixty-two credits required for an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts.

e. Program Courses and Enrollment

Descriptions of the major courses that comprise the General Education core and the major requirements for the Liberal Arts major are as follows:

EN 110 Advanced Reading: Designed to improve students’ critical reading and thinking skills, increase analytical, inferential and evaluative comprehension, expand vocabulary skills, and employ effective study strategies for use across academic disciplines.

EN 120a Expository Writing I: Designed to help students develop in expository writing by completing a minimum of five multi-draft essays of varying degrees of complexity. In these essays students develop topics in at least four of these five rhetorical patterns: example, comparison/contrast, classification, process analysis, and cause/ effect analysis. The students also write an argumentative essay that demonstrates familiarization with methods of research documentation.

EN 120b Expository Writing II: Provides an introduction to college-level research writing skill.. the student will investigate research topics in a variety of disciplines while enhancing their critical thinking and argumentative abilities.

MS 100 [or above] College Algebra: Identifies components of exponential expressions in polynomials with mathematical operations of exponential expressions; factoring of up to 4th degree polynomials; recognizing rational and irrational numbers with emphasis on the use of number lines, equation and inequality solving with application problems; introduction of literal equations; working with radical expressions; graphing of two variables on the xy plane; solving systems of equations in two or three variables;

Science Course with Laboratory:
Options include:
AG 110 Crop Production w/Lab:
AG 140 Principles of Animal Science w/Lab
SC 117 Tropical Pacific Island Environment w/Lab
SC 120 Biology w/Lab
SC 122a Anatomy and Physiology I w/Lab
SC112b Anatomy and Physiology II w/Lab
SC 130 Physical Science w/Lab
SC 180 Microbiology w/Lab
SC 230 Introduction to Chemistry w/Lab
SC 240 Introduction to Physics w/Lab.
SC 250 General Botany w/Lab
SC 255 General Zoology w/Lab

Non-lab science courses:
Options include:
AG 101

SS 150 History of Micronesia: Study of Micronesian History from Pre-history to the present.

CA 100 Computer Literacy: Introduction to computer concepts and applications

Exercise Sport Science Course
Options Include:
ESS 101 Individual activities
ESS 101j Joggling
ESS 101r Resistance Training
ESS 101t Introduction to Tai Chi/Qi Gong
ESS 101w Walking for Health and Fitness
ESS 101y Introduction to Yoga
ESS 102(x) Group Team Activity
ESS 102b Fundamentals of Basketball
ESS 102s Fundamentals of Softball
ESS 102v Introduction to Volleyball
ESS 102 Snorkeling

Humanities Courses
Options include:
Ethical Thought and Moral Values
EN 208 Philosophy
EN 209 Introduction to Religion

Language:
FL 101 Japanese I
FL 102 Japanese II
ML10 Micronesian Language
FL/SS 107 Chinese Language and Culture

Arts:
AR 101Introduction to Art
AR 105 Painting
EN 213 Island Style Theater
MM 110 Introduction to Photography and Video
MM 120 Film Studies
MM 205 Media Studies
MM 240 Computer Animation
MU 101 Introduction to Music
SS 195 Micronesian Cultural Study

Historical Analysis:
EN 210 Writing on 19th Century Pohnpei
SS 170 World History I
SS 171 World History II
SS 240 East Asian History

Literature:
EN 210 Introduction to Literature
EN 202 Narrative Fiction
EN 203 Drama
EN 204 Poetry
EN 205 Literature of the Sea
EN 206 Mythology

1.) Program Enrollment

Course Name	Overall Enrollment
	Fall 2010	Spring 2010	Summer 2010
CA 100	*	*	*
EN 110	*	*	*
EN 120a	*	*	*
EN 120b	*	*	*
EN/CO 205	*	*	*
MS 100	*	*	*
SS/PY 101	*	*	*
SC 101	*	*	*
SS 130	*	*	*

*Overall LA Enrollment: Fall 2010---197; Spring 2010---168; Summer 2010----127=777 Individual data per class of LA student enrollment is not presently available from IRPO.

f. Program Faculty

The program faculty consists of faculty members from each of the academic divisions of the college. The Liberal Arts program is taught by a unique mix of the college’s existing faculty members as the program requirements consist of courses that come from each of the divisions. The Languages and Literature Division faculty, for the most part, act as advisors and teachers to the students who choose Liberal Arts as their major.

h. Program Outcome Analysis: Health Indicators

The following Health Indicators data has been collected to show the extent in which the Liberal Arts program has achieved its established outcomes. The main source for all data that has been collected has been retrieved from the IRPO office website unless specifically indicated otherwise.

2.)Graduation Outcome

Programs	Fall Semester, 2010
	Enrollment	Graduates	Graduates %
Liberal Arts	256	22	9%
Total

Programs	Spring Semester, 2010
	Enrollment	Graduates	Graduates %
Liberal Arts	230	15	7%
Total

Programs	Summer Semester, 2010
	Enrollment	Graduates	Graduates %
Liberal Arts	161	8	5%
Total

Programs	Spring Semester, 2011
	Enrollment	Graduates	Graduates %
Liberal Arts	Not yet available
Total

3.) Average Class Size/Sections

Course	Overall No.of Sections offered				Overall Average Class Size
Name
	Fall 2010	Spring 2010	Sum 2010	Spring 2011	Fall 2010	Spring 2010	Summer 2010
CA 100	6		1	4	14	11	7
EN 110	7		4	5	17	18	16
EN 120a	6		4	6	20	17	18
EN 120b	6		1	5	0	20	2
EN/CO 205	3		1	4	27	23	11
MS 100	6		2	6	20	24	27
SS/PY 101	3		1	2	17	20	27
SC 101	5		2	4	20	30	20
SS 130	1		1	2	32	33	27

4.) Seat Cost(SY2010-11)

LA Program Seat Cost Structure 2009-2011

Class	Credits	CPC	Cost per Seat
CA 100	3	$105.00	$315.00
EN 110	3	$105.00	$315.00
EN 120a	3	$105.00	$315.00
EN 120b	3	$105.00	$315.00
EN/CO 205	3	$105.00	$315.00
MS 100	3	$105.00	$315.00
SS/PY 101	3	$105.00	$315.00
SC 101	3	$105.00	$315.00
SS 130	3	$105.00	$315.00
SS 150	3	$105.00	$315.00
Science w/lab	4	$105.00	$420.00
Humanities elective	3	$105.00	$315.00
Non-lab Science or AG	3	$105.00	$315.00
English Elective	3	$105.00	$315.00
Specialty 3rd Semester	3	$105.00	$315.00
ESS Course	1	$105.00	$105.00
Specialty 4th Semester	3	$105.00	$315.00
HU Elect 4th Semester	3	$105.00	$315.00
Open Elective	3	$105.00	$315.00
Open Elective	3	$105.00	$315.00
Open Elective	3	$105.00	$315.00
Total	62	$2,205.00	$6,510.00

5.) Course Completion Rate (Pass/Fail)

Spring 2010 Completion Rates by Subject and Course Number

Subject	CourseNum	Passed	Not Passed	Completion Rate
EN	110	215	57	79%
EN	120a	222	66	77%
EN	120b	146	35	81%
MS	100	140	80	64%
SS	150	156	39	80%
CA	100	293	98	75%
EN/CO	205	71	12	86%
SC	101	73	68	52%
SS	130	60	12	83%
SS/PY	101	131	33	80%

Fall 2010 Completion Rates by Subject and Course Number

Subject	CourseNum	Passed	Not Passed	Completion Rate
EN	110	167	33	84%
EN	120a	120	41	75%
EN	120b	160	67	70%
MS	100	173	53	77%
SS	150	276	47	85%
CA	100	387	86	82%
EN/CO	205	93	20	82%
SC	101	146	41	78%
SS	130	28	3	90%
SS/PY	101	180	29	86%

Summer 2010 Completion rates by Subject and Course Number

Subject	CourseNum	Passed	Not Passed	Completion Rate
EN	110	146	11	93%
EN	120a	103	20	84%
EN	120b	2	0	100%
MS	100	89	3	97%
SS	150	79	5	94%
CA	100	233	16	94%
EN/CO	205	42	5	89%
SC	101	70	1	99%
SS	130	24	2	92%
SS/PY	101	73	3	96%

Spring 2011 Completion rates by Subject and Course Number

Subject	CourseNum	Passed	Not Passed	Completion Rate
EN	110	126	28	82%
EN	120a	117	40	75%
EN	120b	155	62	71%
MS	100	140	77	65%
SS	150	201	55	79%
CA	100	264	106	71%
EN/CO	205	126	27	82%
SC	101	87	46	65%
SS	130	52	8	87%
SS/PY	101	120	24	83%

6.)Students' Satisfaction Rate{Data for this indicator will be provided by IRPO}

As data is not readily available from IRPO, one suggestion was that the student evaluations done by students at the end of each semester should include one item where students can indicate their overall satisfaction of the course and data can then be compiled to show/provide somewhat an idea of how satisfied students are with each course/instructor.

7.) Employment data:

As of this date, no data is available on the employment of students graduating from this program.

8.) Transfer data:

The Languages and Literature division is working on creating tracking processes to assist in the collection of employment data of our graduates upon graduation.

9.) Program's Student Learning Outcome Assessment

As part of this program evaluation for this year is the Liberal Arts program assessment that was done to assess the speech and writing skills of students in the program with regards to program learning outcomes #1 and #2. The assessments were compiled from data collected during the Fall of 2009, Spring and Fall of 2010 and Spring of 2011 semesters. The program assessment reports are available in the Languages and Literature division as well as with the Director of Academic programs (DAP).

10.) Student Learning Outcomes from program courses:

Assessment of the student learning outcomes from each of the courses offered during this 2010-2011 period were completed by each faculty member who taught the courses.

Course Level assessments are available in the Languages and Literature division and may also be available with the DAP.

i.
a.) Discussion of Findings:

Initial findings: Graduation rates remain steady from previous years and semesters, with Fall semester with the highest rate of graduates. Course offerings are on average the same for Fall and Spring semesters while summer offerings of these same courses are about half or less offered in the summer. Although class size caps are set at the beginning of each semester for each course, this cap size is far different and greater than the average class sizes of each course at the end of the semester. Class size has fluctuated from the actual caps that were set for each course at the beginning of each semester showing that although the number of students who register for each course reaches the course enrollment cap, the overall class size at the end decreases, showing that less students are completing or continuing to take the course up until completion. Social science courses (Psychology and Sociology) continue to have the largest class size followed by Science (Health science). Passing rates for the social science courses have consistently yielded the highest passing rates while Health science has had the lowest passing rates during all the semesters looked at. The passing rates during summer were higher than that of the regular Spring and Fall semesters while most courses’ passing rates remained within the same range throughout the semesters evaluated.

b.)Recommendations

The offerings of courses are consistent through the semesters however, courses should be looked at to see whether class size has any impact on student completion of the course. In addition, courses should be looked at to see why the class sizes fluctuate so much from the set caps to the final class size as reported at the end of the semester. Often it seems that there needs to be more classes offered yet the classes are not filled to capacity nor is completion of the courses at its maximum. What can be done to ensure that when students register for a course that they do complete the course/class?

Considering the size of the Liberal Arts program and the high number of students who are declared as LA majors, a comparative study/look at other divisions should be done to see how well this program is doing in terms of output (the number of LA majors graduating) each semester. We need to see how well we are doing compared to programs similar in size and otherwise. Graduation rates have been consistent but is this the limit of graduates that we can produce each year?