Learning in the Major: progress report

1. Learning in the Major:progress report Sharon, Ellen, David 4-11-08

2. Our charge • Help Arts and Sciences meet accreditation requirements wrt UG learning goals • we are one of 30 of 40 depts so far • learning goals posted on web site by next week • More generally • What should students be learning about lgcs? (all majors) • What are our students actually learning? • Is our UG program coherent?

3. Today • Summary of activities to date • Learning goals for Ling majors • Student survey questions • Other results of our activities • Recommendations/discussion items • Our to-do list

4. Summary of activities to date • Met with faculty as whole • Developed curricular map (course flow) • Studied UG Linguistics programs elsewhere • 36 institutions • recommendations by LSA? (none) • Dept focus group meetings, gathered syllabi • Brief oral report to A&S (4-4)

5. Dept focus group meetings • Subspecialty • syntacticians (Karen, Barbara, Julia, Emily B., Edith) • phoneticians (Richard, Kelley, Jamie) • semanticists (Toshi, (David)) • historical linguists (Edith, Jurgen, Mike Shapiro, Chuck Barrack, Joe Voyles) • phonologists (Emily C., Laura, (Sharon, Ellen)) • computational linguists (Emily B., Laurie, Bill, (David)) • morphologists (Emily C., Jurgen, Steve, Edith) • ASL specialists (Lance, Sarah, Richard Ladner, Nancy Emery) • sociolinguists (Alicia, Mike S.) • Other key personnel • UG advisor (Amy) • chair (Julia)

6. Our learning goals for Ling majors < Results of our meetings • Develop appreciation for general properties of language, including • systematicity of language • how language can spread geographically; how languages change over time • common cross-linguistic patterns/tendencies, universals • modelling language as a formal system, value of describing language as a formal system • scientific value of all languages/dialects • properties of signed as well as spoken languages • How language can be scientifically studied • gathering data and observing • hypothesis formation and testing • making predictions: possible vs. impossible patterns • empirical advantages of working with large amounts of data • Develop competence in lgc analysis • Analysis of sound, word, and sentence structures of individual languages. • Account of how languages change in certain patterns. • Understanding of social factors' effect on language. • Knowledge of language acquisition. • Acquire knowledge of/contribution of subfields • Develop general academic skills • writing skills • reasoning skills • ability to focus on/pinpoint a problem • appreciation of diversity

7. Learning goals on our web site • http://depts.washington.edu/lingweb/info/assess.html • <? UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ASSESSMENT IN THE MAJORS, 2007-2009. Compiled from Biennial Departmental Reports Submitted to Ed Taylor, Dean and Vice Provost, Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Prepared by the Office of Educational Assessment 2007

8. Revised learning goals? • Goals for student learning in the UG Linguistics major • Substitute list from our meetings? • Regular methods for assessing UG learning • Course-specific • Oral and/or written work by students • Student self-evaluations of learning • Peer evaluations of student work • Periodic surveys of UG majors • Honors theses (Ling majors), senior project (Roling majors)

9. Student surveys planned • May 08 planned for current Ling majors via Catalyst web survey • Recent graduates (3-5 years out). OEA supposed to help us with this

10. Questions to ask current majors • Basic demographic info • when did you declare major? • what is your current level at UW? • what are your other majors? • what languages did you study for LING degree? • anticipated graduation date? • What are your plans for after graduation? • Is your Ling major preparing you for what you plan to do after graduation? • Are you aware of the Ling honors program? • Yes. I’m in it. • No. I wasn’t aware of it. • Yes. I was aware of it but not interested or not able to pursue it because _________ • Which introductory class in Ling did you take? • What do you want to study in linguistics but are unable to? • want to study: ________________________ • reason unable to: scheduling, not offered at UW • Rate the overall difficulty of the UG major in linguistics for you • Final thoughts on your learning experience in our program

11. Questions to ask recent graduates • Basic demographic info • when did you declared major? • what were your other majors? • what languages did you study for LING degree? • when did you graduate? • What have you done after graduation? (list jobs) • Did your Ling major prepare you for what you plan to do after graduation? • Were you aware of the Ling honors program? • Yes. I was in it. • No. I wasn’t aware of it. • Yes. I was aware of it but not interested or not able to pursue it because _________ • Which introductory class in Ling did you take? • What did you want to study in Ling but were unable to? • wanted to study: ________________________ • reason unable to: scheduling, not offered at UW • Would you have taken ASL at UW if it had been offered? • How integrated was sign language linguistics in your linguistics courses? • What Linguistics courses have prepared you the most for your current position? • What other courses at UW are helping you now? • If you had to do it all over again, would you still major in Linguistics? • Rate the overall difficulty of the UG major in linguistics for you • Final thoughts on your learning experience in our program.

12. Other results of our activities • Our UG program is typical of top-ranked, PhD granting programs • Offers more in the way of phonetics, computational linguistics than most other programs • Offers less of L1 • No capstone requirement for all majors (but most places do not)

13. Problems • Courses not offered often enough • hist ling • field methods • Not enough Spring options for Winter-declared majors • Too much overlap between some courses (200 and 450) • Some classes too challenging for (some) students (442, 472) • Some classes very different from student expectations (432) • Little systematic training in writing linguistics • Major as a whole not as challenging as it could be

14. Recommendations/discussion items • No-cost changes • Changes involving $

15. No-cost changes • Increase core course graduation requirement (currently 5 classes) by 1 class? add historical as option? • Provide more systematic training in writing (451 and 462 paper?) • Enforce prerequisites (for classes with too much overlap) • Develop standard LING 200 syllabus (so students know what to expect in 432, 442) • Add learning goals to every syllabus

16. No-cost changes • Eliminate/phase out 400 • use $ to teach 450 in the Spring, a gentler CompLing intro, hist ling annually • service classes vs. intro class for majors • 100, 232 vs. 200 • Make dept web site more informative for UGs (both content- and format-wise) • Subspecialty groups should meet annually • are course assignments reflective of learning goals?

17. Changes involving $ • Add intro to Ling for ASL students (those w/ at least 1 year ASL study) • Better integrate ASL into core courses by developing modules (Lorna + Lance < grant) • Offer field methods (need $ to pay speaker) • Better support for UG advisor • database establishment and maintenance • office space (office currently shared with 2 lecturers; often meets with students in hall)

18. Our to-do list • Revise learning goals on web site (by 4-18) • Survey current majors (by 5-2? respond by 5-15?) • Meet with John Webster (5-9?) re writing options • Review survey results (5-16) • Meet with faculty again? • Written report to A&S (by end of Spring)

19. Some other to-do list • Examine all UG programs we offer: Ling minor, RoLing major • Implemented changes to program: are they effective?