Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF) March 19, 2009

1. PRAC report for Department of Psychology Undergraduate Program Review
a. Report prepared by PRAC to be submitted to UCF members with agenda packet for next UCF meeting. MOTION - PRAC recommends approval of Department of Psychology Undergraduate Program Review.
2. Surveys (alumni & current students)
a. Discussion of survey templates prepared in collaboration with the Office of Assessment and Planning. Several issues raised regarding both surveys (summarized below):
i. Surveys should be modified to include more questions related to satisfaction with learning and instruction. For example, students should be asked about ease and timing of information transfer.
ii. Consensus is that surveys are too long and that a number of questions need to be eliminated.
iii. There is some objection to the language used; questions need to be easier to understand. Some standardization of terms is warranted. For example, in some questions, the term 'faculty member' is used but in other questions, the term 'professor' is used. We might want to standardize this by using the term 'instructor' throughout the document.
iv. Section on "requirements" does not define what these are while asking a series of questions about students' perceptions of them. This section needs to be clearer.
v. Some PRAC members have concerns regarding how this data will be used. In other words, will individual data regarding each faculty member be analyzed? Our understanding is that only aggregate data will be analyzed with these surveys.
vi. Suggestion to change language to suggest that the analytic process used will not allow anyone to identify individual responses in the reporting of the findings.
vii. Some PRAC members concerned about the psychometrics and lack of support in the literature for these proposed surveys. We may want to begin with a pilot study of these tools.
viii. Responses should include an option for 'no opinion', 'don't know', or 'not applicable'. Many do not like the 5 point scale.
b. Outcomes following discussion
i. Mark Cameron volunteered to try and reword/rework the current surveys.
ii. Patty Kahlbaugh volunteered to have her students and colleagues critique the survey in terms of level of understanding.
iii. Continued discussion is necessary and may require additional meeting time of PRAC members.

3. Meeting adjourned at 10:50am. Next meeting on Thursday April 9th, 2009 from 9:35a-10:50a in Math Dept Conference Room.

Respectfully submitted by,
L. Rebeschi (PRAC co-chair)

Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC)
University Curriculum Forum

Undergraduate Program Review Report: Department of Psychology
March 19, 2009

The Department of Psychology submitted a self-study report to UCF on February 25, 2009. Professor Patricia Kahlbaugh, Psychology Department Assessment Coordinator met with PRAC for discussion of the self-study report on March 5, 2009; revisions to the self-study report were requested. A revised report was submitted to PRAC on March 11, 2009.

The Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC) reviewed the revised documentation for the Undergraduate Program in Psychology and now offers the following appraisal.

Standard 1 - The department/program's mission supports the university's mission.
 Met

The mission of the Department of Psychology is in alignment with the University's mission of academic excellence, access, social justice, and service for the public good. Specific examples of the department's support of this mission are highlighted well in the self-study report.

Standard 2 - The department/program has clearly stated program goals and objectives
 Met

The Department of Psychology has identified three (3) program goals within the following domains: science of psychology, application of psychology to real problems, and writing/thinking critically in the discipline. Specific learning objectives that serve to accomplish these goals were provided. Distinction between outcomes for the BA and BS programs was made.

Standard 3 - The department/program has clearly stated program-level expected student outcomes and methods for measurement
 Met

Both direct and indirect measures for each of the three program goals were articulated by the Department. The Department is in the process of establishing an Undergraduate Proficiency Board (UPB). This extension of the Curriculum Committee will be charged with reviewing randomly selected course work across courses. The Department has provided for a plan on the numbers of students to be selected and the frequency of these types of measures.

Summary
The Program Review and Assessment Committee thanks the Department of Psychology and Professor Kahlbaugh, Assessment Coordinator for the effort put forth in the preparation and presentation of the self-study report. PRAC recommends to the University Curriculum Forum that ¬¬¬¬APPROVAL be granted to the Undergraduate Program in Psychology.

Report submitted by the following PRAC members: I. Antonios, M. Cameron,
C. Coron (PRAC co-chair), M. Fede, S. Felsenfeld, O. Gulacar, M. Hartog, T. Lin,
D. Pettigrew, T. Radice, L. Rebeschi (PRAC co-chair), & E. West