Philosophy or Religion

Philosophy

Each course that counts for distribution in philosophy will include the competency statement on the syllabus.  In philosophy, the statement will be elaborated as follows:


Examining philosophical texts specifically includes developing the ability to:

1. interpret philosophical texts and provide textual evidence,

2. clarify key arguments

3. identify reasonable criticisms

4. identify reasonable responses to possible criticisms and defend a conclusion.

The faculty plan to spell out additional sub-criteria for each of these.  Each semester, a late semester essay, including possible final exam essays, will be designated as the "embedded assessment essay."  In describing the assignment, students will be instructed that in this essay that they are to fully demonstrate their competency in philosophy and that the grade on the essay will be largely determined by their success in showing competencies a-d above.  Each teacher will grade these assignments for purposes of assigning a course grade. In addition, for the first level of assessment of competency, each teacher will assign an assessment score (1-100) to the essay (25 points for each criterion).

 In addition, at a second level of assessment, each year, a random selection of representative essays will be reviewed by the department.  We will collect data on the percentage of students who satisfy each of the four requirements, the level of success, and we will use the reading of the representative set of essays as a means to confirm that we have assessed essays by the same criteria.  We will use both to determine a plan of action for improvement of our teaching.

---

Religion

A student who has demonstrated competency in "examining religious texts and practices" can be expected to show the following skills:

1. read carefully and explain the organization, theme and relevant terms of a text

2. discuss and be aware of the "multi-valance or symbolic nature of religious texts and practices

3. discern and analyze the symbols contained in a religious text or practice

4. be aware of the deeper narrative structure of a text as the context for understanding the symbols contained in the text

5. understand the cultic or lived context of text or practice

6. understand the implicit meaning or underlying intentionality of a text or practice

7. use cogent comparisons from the analysis of other texts or of other cultural traditions to analyze a text or practice

Each semester, the instructors will designate an essay (or perhaps the final exam in certain courses) as the "embedded assessment essay. " Students will be instructed to demonstrate as fully as possible their ability to analyze a text or practice by writing an essay that reflects the application or use of the skills enumerated above. 

Each teacher will grade the assessment essays in terms of the following criteria:

Competent [approximate grade "C"], meaning that the student's work exhibits most, i.e., at least four, of the basic skills in 1-7 above.

Competent and Critical [approximate grade "B"], meaning that the student's work exhibits 5-6 of the basic skills above and that the student's essay goes beyond "Competent" performance by supplying additional information or raising pertinent critical questions in discussion of a text or practice

Competent and Creative [approximate grade "A], meaning a level of presentation in the essay that incorporates what is expected of "Competent" and "Competent and Critical" but exceeds those levels of work by:


At a second level of assessment, selected essays representing each grade level will be submitted by the instructor in each course and will be collectively read by the department in the light of the basic skill group in 1-7.  Data derived from both levels of assessment will be compiled for establishing a baseline of departmental progress toward establishment of the general competency reflected in the basic skill group.