Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne Department of Music Assessment Report for 2012 Program: Academic Studies D
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Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne Department of Music Assessment Report for 2012 Program: Academic Studies Department Chair: Robert Bean The Department of Music faculty, at its January, 2012, retreat identified academic studies as its assessment focus. All music majors are required to complete a 33 credit hour common core of music courses which includes five semesters of music theory, four semesters of courses in aural skills, two semesters of music literature, two semesters of music history, one course in music technology and one course in conducting. All courses must be completed with a grade of C- or higher in order to be applied toward degree completion. Students who do not achieve the minimum acceptable grade in a required course are placed on academic probation by the department with one additional attempt at the course in question allowed. Students who are not successful in the second attempt are dismissed from the Department of Music. It was decided that an exit assessment exam, originally constructed in 2006, and administered once, would be the assessment tool to measure outcomes of students who have completed all courses in the music academic core. Construction of the Exam All resident faculty, regardless of their musical area of specialization, were asked to submit five (5) multiple-choice questions in each of the following categories: music history/literature, music theory, current affairs and miscellaneous, and musical terminology (the grammar and vocabulary of music). The faculty were asked to construct questions which they believed any musician, upon completion of a degree in music, regardless of specific degree program, should be able to answer, the goal being to assess our graduates’ acquisition of what could be considered a common body of knowledge appropriate for one holding a bachelor’s degree in music. It was understood that the questions submitted would not be attributed to their author. The department chair collected all questions which were then reviewed in faculty meetings by the resident faculty for the purpose of generating discussion regarding the relevance of the information represented by the question and whether or not the faculty as a whole deemed as valid the information or knowledge necessary to answer the question. In short, an important part of this assessment endeavor was to generate open discussion among the faculty regarding our goals with regard to curriculum and desired learning outcomes… what should our students know by the time they leave us? Where, or in what courses, would this information or body of knowledge be delivered? How is this reinforced throughout the curriculum.What are our students assimilating, retaining and discovering for themselves by the time we graduate them? During the course of the faculty discussion a multitude of opinions emerged, a number of questions were deemed invalid or not appropriate to the faculty’s goals regarding learning outcomes, and approximately 300 questions were retained in a test bank as valid i.e., representative of our academic goals. A. Music History/Literature 1. Outcome Students will demonstrate knowledge of significant events, composers, bodies of literature. 2. Criteria for Success Accuracy of response will be 75% or higher. 3. Assessment Method Written exam. 4. Results Scores ranged from a low of 47.2 to a high of 100, with an average accuracy rate of 82.6 percent. Item analysis (attached to this document in the form of the test itself) reveals that for most questions, the majority of students responded correctly. Incorrect responses were often reasonably logical even if not correct – noting that students were instructed to select the best answer for each question. B. Music Theory 1. Outcome Students will demonstrate knowledge of music fundamentals, functional harmony, chord structure, scalar structures and terminology. 2. Criteria for Success Accuracy of response will be 75% or higher. 3. Assessment Method Written Exam. 4. Results Scores ranged from a low of 60 to a high of 100, with an average accuracy rate of 85.5 percent. Item analysis (attached to this document in the form of the test itself) reveals that for most questions, the majority of students responded correctly. Incorrect responses were often reasonably logical, although less so than in the case of music history, somewhat surprising since students should have the theoretical “tools” to make deductions. Regardless, the average accuracy of response was higher in this category. C. Current Events/Artists 1. Outcome Students will demonstrate an awareness of current events in music as well as significant practitioners/contributors. 2. Criteria for Success Accuracy of response will be 75% or higher. 3. Assessment Method Written Exam. 4. Results Scores ranged from a low of 70 to a high of 100, with an average accuracy rate of 87.27 This category represents a body of knowledge which may or may not be delivered within the curriculum except incidentally. It is notable that considering this caveat, students scored higher than on the two previous areas, an indication that students are actively engaged in musical pursuits and investigation, and are pursuing experience and information beyond the classroom. D. Terminology 1. Outcome Students will demonstrate knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of music. 2. Criteria for Success Accuracy of response will be 75% or higher. 3. Assessment Method Written Exam. 4. Results Scores ranged from a low of 73.5 to a high of 100, with an average accuracy rate of 82.72 Item analysis reveals that the vast majority of students selected the correct answer with 100 percent responding correctly to a number of questions. Incorrect responses did not show a high level of logic, likely due to the fact that this category is one in which deduction or critical thinking may not assist in rejecting incorrect responses. Conclusions History/Literature: With three exceptions, students performed well in this area, although this area saw the lowest overall average. This could be attributed to the low performance of the three exceptions, noting that excluding those scores, 8 students responded at a 91 percent accuracy rate. It is impossible to determine with certainty the reason for the low performance of some individuals in comparison to the admirable performance of the group as a whole although lack of interest or lack of determination to retain information could be a cause. Another contributing factor could be that students take only four semesters of history and literature (with two literature courses carrying only two hours of credit, thus reduced meeting time) in comparison to five semesters of music theory and four semester of courses in aural skills. This could indicate a need for the faculty as a whole, in the private studio and in ensembles, to reinforce, as they work on performance literature, historical considerations. Theory: Student performance in this area was more even, with the lowest score being 60, the highest, 100, and those in between performing at an average accuracy of response of 86.8 percent. This could be attributed to two factors: 1) the comprehensive nature of the theory/aural skills curriculum which, as stated earlier, reaches across five semesters, including nine courses and 19 credit hours, and, 2) the fact that music theory is a discipline in which “only the strong survive.” Students begin this sequence in the first semester and those who cannot grasp the subject matter, even with supplemental instruction, do not continue in the sequence or in the major. Current Events/People: One area of concern expressed widely in the higher education community is the lack of engagement and intellectual curiosity of students. Student performance in this category would seem to indicate that these students are engaged and are pursuing musical activities and exploration on their own. In this category the lowest score was 70 (2) with the highest score being 100 (4). It should be noted that many questions in this category represent information that is likely not formally addressed by the music curriculum, the goal being to make some estimation as to student engagement outside the classroom and outside the curriculum. Terminology: Long referred to as the “grammar and vocabulary of music,” this category saw the second lowest success rate. Even with the lowest score and the highest score factored out, the success rate was 82.5 percent. This result needs to be shared with the faculty, with discussion following, regarding possible solutions. It should be deemed vitally important that graduates of a baccalaureate degree program be able to communicate clearly and accurately when speaking and writing within their discipline. It should be noted that the four “categories” of the exam area not completely discrete, one from the others. Most questions within the categories of music theory and music history are written completely in the “grammar and vocabulary of music,” and accuracy of response is dependent upon the student’s ability to work within that lexicon. This could imply that put into a context, students have a better working knowledge of terminology than a direct question indicates. It is also important to note that, again, the areas tested cannot be easily dichotomized. Many concepts in the area of history, theory, and certainly in terminology are closely related. Thus, should this assessment model continue to be employed, we should consider broadening the categories to better reflect the concept of blend. Following this document is a cop of the assessment exam, followed by a summary of scores and averages. Department of Music Exit Assessment 2012 – 2013 Overall Average Score (all questions, all respondents): 84.54 Item Analysis: Correct answers appear in italicized print, followed by the number of respondents selecting that item. Incorrect answers are in standard font, also followed by the number of respondents selecting one of those items. History/Literature Overall Average Score for This Section: 82.6 _____ 1.