Post 9: Survey Analysis

Objectives and the statements which best suite them:
Objective 1--->1, 5, 12, 14, 15, 16--->All of these statements deal with the writing process.

Objective 2---> 7, 8, 11, ------------>These statements deal with analysis. *I also believe that 1 can be here also. (Rob)

Objective 3---> 2, 4, 6--------->These statements pertain to research.

Objective 4---> 10,13------------------->Both of these statements talk about presentations.

Objective 5---> 3,9---------------------->Both of these statements relate to discussions.

Statements 16,17, 18, 19--------------> All these statements relate to an individuals overall experience academically.

Statement 1: practice------->"I...revise" A statement about an individual's revision tactics.

Statement 2: feeling-------->"I am confident" This statement is about an individual's confidence in conducting research.

Statement 3: knowledge--->"I know..." This statement either confirms or denies an individual's ability to make connections.

Statement 4: practice/knowledge--->"I am able to use textual analysis..." Practice and knowledge because the individual most be able to use textual analysis.

Statement 5: practice------------------>"When I revise..." Another statement about an individual's writing process, which is revision.

Statement 6: practice/knowledge--->"I am able to use discourse analysis..." same as 4

Statement 7: practice----------------->"I use writing..."A statement about the use of writing.

Statement 8: feeling------------------->"I feel..." An individuals feeling about starting a discussion.

Statement 9: knowledge-------------->"I know..." The individual knows how to.

Statement 10: feeling------------------>"I am comfortable..." Another feeling statement.

Statement 11: practice/knowledge-->"I am able to interpret..." Both because they need experience and knowledge to perform the actions in the statement.

Statement 12: practice----------------->"When I revise..." Another statement about the writing process.

Statement 13: practice/knowledge--->"I have given a presentation..." Both again.

Statement 14: practice----------------->"When I revise..." Another writing process statement.

Statement 15: practice----------------->"I typically brainstorm..." Another writing process statement.

Statement 16: overall writing experience--> ranking yourself as a writer

Statement 17: overall reading experience-->ranking yourself as a critical thinker

Statement 18: overall speaking experience-->ranking yourself as a speaker

Statement 19: overall thinking experience---> ranking yourself as a critical thinker

What definition(s) of "writing" and "learning" is assumed by this survey?

Are those definitions a good match for the definitions assumed by the student learning outcomes?

Are they a good match for the way the students taking the survey will define writing and learning?

How might you change this survey so that it could provide a more accurate reflection of what students learn in this program? List your suggestions.

The "Writing" statements used in this survey focus their attention on the writing process. According to the survey, "Learning" pertains to literature analysis and literary research. This is all based on an academic level.

Matching the questions to the statements:

We agree that most of these statements fit the survey; however, we feel that there are some statements that should be re-worded or revised for the students taking the survey.

Statement 2: I am confident...

Statement 8: I feel comfortable...

Statement 10: I am comfortable...

The modifiers used in these sentences take away from the statement. For example, statement 10 says, "I feel comfortable giving presentations." However, the objective states that, "students will demonstrate ability to give a compelling oral presentation." I, for one, am not comfortable giving presentations, but I can give one. In this case, We would disagree with the statement. Perhaps, the statement should be, "I am able to give a presentation." With that said, we feel there should be an option where you have both sides, where it's a little bit of both. It's not always just agree or disagree. Sometimes it's a little bit of both and there is no option for that.

Statement 12: "When I revise my first draft, I spend most of my time on grammatical issues."

We are guessing that this statement falls within the first objective: Students will produce essays through a series of drafts that include exploratory writing and talk, as well as revisions that include addition, deletion, substitution and rearrangement. However, after reading this goals, we don't see "grammatical issues" anywhere within the objective.

We also believe that the survey needs some type of organization (unless that was the surveyors intentions). The survey jumps from the writing process to research to presentations, which takes away the surveyors focus. If there was organization within the survey, the surveyor could give their full attention to one aspect (e.i. writing process) before moving onto another topic.

The objectives listed above focus on core English classes.  However, in order to graduate with a degree in English students must also take creative writing and writing for cyberspace.  With that, we then asked why there aren't statements pertaining to the courses just named.