Outcomes of math faculty engagement in student learning outcomes assessment in the two-year college

摘要

This study utilizes a mixed methods exploratory design to examine the nature of mathudfaculty engagement in the student learning outcomes assessment cycle. The focus ofudthe study is on the types of changes that math faculty are implementing as a result ofudassessment outcomes and the institutional environmental factors that impact facultyudengagement in the assessment cycle. The study fills a gap in the research on studentudlearning outcomes assessment by focusing on how assessment is impacting mathudfaculty teaching practice. This study is of particular importance because of theudimportance in helping students meet math requirements so they can achieve theirudeducational goals and because of poor success rates in math courses that show roomudfor improvement in math instruction. This study uses a pragmatic framework toudexplore faculty engagement. The study participants are math faculty from communityudcolleges in the state of California. The mixed methods design utilized math facultyudinterviews and a survey instrument designed to describe math faculty engagement inudstudent learning outcomes assessment cycles throughout the California communityudcollege system. The findings indicate that math faculty are actively participating inudassessment and implementing improvement plans that are developed either byudindividual faculty or by departments. The typical changes that are being implementedudare more time or emphasis for particular elements of the content of courses andudrevisions to SLO statements. Factors impacting math faculty engagement inudxiiiudassessment are faculty workload, obtaining meaningful assessment data, anduddepartmental environment. The math faculty indicate that the types of support theyudwould like their institutions to provide are release-time and support for adjunctudfaculty involvement in assessment. The math faculty report that there are differencesudin the changes applied to courses at different levels of the mathematics curriculumuddue to a number of factors that are either systemic or due to department environment.