Academic Annual Report Public Summaries 2021-2022
Bible and Religion
Most of the teaching done in the BRL department continues to be focused on students taking our courses to meet requirements in the common core of our General Education program. The re-introduction of BRL157 Religion and Human Identity for the 2022-23 year will relieve some of the pressure on Intro to Biblical Studies, and open the possibility of a new major requirement and assessment need.
Biology
The great majority (nearly 100%) of Bethel graduates with biology majors successfully enter a graduate program of their choosing (science, or health science), or are employed in a science-related field. The pandemic made it harder for our students to focus on their studies, but this semester (Fall 2022), as we have returned to a more normal environment, students are once again able to focus more on their studies. We have made changes to BIO481 to ensure students have more accountability for their progress. We also hope to fix the chronic problem we have with students “falling through the cracks” because they enroll in BIO481/482 but are actually advised by professors in other departments. We hope the addition of the exercise science major (with its own seminar) will help in that regard.
Business
Bethel College’s bachelor of science degree in business administration is designed to expose students to skill sets in high demand not only for business but also for nonprofits and civic organizations. Combined with a commitment to experiential learning, Bethel business students have opportunities to engage with outside speakers, work on real-world problems with local businesses and gain valuable experience in teamwork. While the primary mission of Bethel’s business faculty is teaching, faculty recognize the importance of keeping abreast of current developments in their fields through research, consulting, speaking, and service activities.
Bethel continues to offer more Accounting courses than any other ACCK school, thus better preparing students interested in this career area for the CPA exam. Business faculty engage in ongoing continuing education, and some are sought after for national speaking engagements. Currently, the Business department at Bethel College is led by three women. Recent AAUW reports suggest that across the nation, females account for 20-30% of full-time faculty in business programs. It is our pleasure to be outliers in this group.
It is noted that a growing number of students entering Bethel College who identify business as their major continues to steadily increase. At the same time, a growing divide is evident between well prepared, academically gifted students and those students who enter the program less prepared and less able to successfully complete college level academic tasks. The department is encouraged to see additional support services for underprepared students, and the hire of athletic coaches who value the whole person.
The majority of business majors enroll in an external internship during the senior year. During the 2021-22 academic year, 17 students successfully completed experiential learning opportunities at for profit and not for profit businesses in Newton and surrounding area. Internship foci included accounting, marketing, graphic design, and small business management. Bethel College business majors who participated in an internship experience continued to score in the “excellent” range on the following personal competencies: professional attitude, enthusiasm, teamwork, initiative, and dependability. Bethel College business majors who participated in an internship experience continued to score in the “excellent” range on the following professional competencies: academic preparation, communication, critical thinking and leadership.
Chemistry
The Chemistry assesses the content knowledge of its Biochemistry and Molecular Biology students using standardized American Chemical Society (ACS) exams. Based on the results of the exams, the department is modifying its pedagogy to better meet the needs of entering students. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are actively engaged in research projects, and most of our students present their research findings at the annual URICA Symposium and at local and national chemical conferences, such as the Midwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society and PittCon. Finally, we have placed most of our graduates over the past 5 years into the workforce, a professional school (medical, dental, veterinarian), or graduate school within the first year (often sooner) following graduation from Bethel College. This success has been achieved by ensuring that our students graduate knowing how to use most scientific instrumentation and the skills to be critical thinkers.
Communication Arts
Departmental assessment data suggests that we should remain vigilant about supporting students as we assist them in meeting departmental benchmarks–especially students who transfer in lower-level hours toward the major. Much of the content, theory, and skills tested in the exit exam appear to be areas of weakness for transfer students. Similarly weak for transfer students are areas of application tested in the final senior seminar project.
While students fell short of the benchmarks demonstrating competence in public presentation (Goal I), demonstrable gains were noted since last year. Students continue to demonstrate forward movement toward academic writing benchmarks (Goal II) and students’ ability to articulate meaningful connections among historical, theoretical, and practical implications of communication processes (Goal III) remains on pace with our long-range plans. With only three graduates in this year’s assessment pool, the data may not be conclusive and should be re-evaluated next year when the graduate pool will be larger. While the department is pleased with our graduates’ progress toward achieving several established benchmarks, we recognize our need to give extra attention in advising and teaching to the areas where students’ scores were below the benchmarks.
Elementary Education
The department is continuing to use assessment data to modify the program to help students best prepare for content knowledge tests for Elementary Education, which cover knowledge in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. These tests are required for licensure so we will continue to experiment with pedagogy to help students be successful, while also modifying curriculum and instruction to accommodate any changes in state-level accreditation standards.
English
Assessment of the performance of Bethel College English majors confirms that students in this program are achieving key learning goals: 1) to engage critically with a variety of literary texts, both traditional and contemporary, remaining attentive to issues of social justice and inclusivity; and, 2) to produce a substantial body of creative and scholarly writing that demonstrates analytical skill, theoretical fluency, and critical insight.
Health and Physical Education
[no report submitted this year due to significant faculty turnover]
History and Conflict Studies
Despite ongoing challenges from Covid disruptions that made classroom learning and access to research material more difficult, Bethel College history majors produced consistently high-quality work that resulted in some cases in publication in national undergraduate research journals. In all cases their work has allowed them to proceed with their desired post-graduation plans.
KIPCOR
The Conflict Resolution Certificate serves and is completed by a wide range of students: “traditional” Bethel College students who complete this as part of their undergraduate degree; “special” Bethel College students who are taking certificate classes for graduate credit to obtain professional development units or to supplement degrees from other institutions; and students completing the certificate for professional training and who are not enrolled at Bethel College.
In addition, while this program is not a sanctioned certification for professional practice, SSC 460 and SSC 464 have been approved by the Kansas Supreme Court as required primary training under Supreme Court Rule 914, for individuals desiring to become approved Core or Domestic mediators in Kansas.
Finally, it should be noted that two of the certificate courses, SSC 460 and SSC 464 are now taught via Zoom in order to make them more accessible to people across Kansas. Both courses were the first such virtual mediation courses offered in Kansas (and the first approved by the Kansas Supreme Court’s Office of Judicial Administration).
All courses are provided to improve a student’s skills in handling conflict in diverse settings, including in the workplace.
Mathematics
The Mathematical Sciences department met all of the goals and measurable objectives for 2021-2022. The department is excited about the new Software Development major, and the hope of maintaining consistent, full-time faculty dedicated to growing majors within the department. There is a strong interest in recruiting incoming students, as well as current students, to pursue a potential Data Science minor within the department.
Music
Music Department graduates continue to meet our goals. Our graduates continue to score quite high on comprehensive exams when compared with music graduates from across the country. In addition, our graduates place well in the job market and are accepted into graduate programs across the country. We continue to assess how we can integrate theory, history and aural skills into our curriculum in a unified manner.
Nursing
The Department of Nursing is excited to include our 100% first time NCLEX-RN pass rate for the graduating class of 2022 in the assessment report this year. The Department of Nursing continues to monitor student performance on holistic admission criteria in comparison to NCLEX performance. In addition, departmental data evaluating student performance on program utilized standardized testing comparing NCLEX Client Needs Categories and Cognitive Levels to the overall first time pass rates will allow for some new information moving forward for the program. The Department participated in a semester long NCLEX item writing professional development process. In addition, the Department of Nursing works to monitor student performance on the NCLEX-RN exam as well as program identified student outcomes for the RN-BSN program to ensure continuation of approval requirements by the Kansas State Board of Nursing and accreditation requirements by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Psychology
We plan to continue using the marked goals 1 − 3 and corresponding objectives to assess departmental outcomes. However, we will likely change some curricular aspects that could affect the outcomes used in the following assessment report, which will be adjusted if needed. Due to departmental faculty changes for both faculty lines, and the impending hire of a new faculty member for 2023-24, several curricular and assessment changes are likely in the next 1 − 3 years. We may also adjust assessment goals based
on changes to the standardized ETS Psychology Area Exam in the future. Lastly, we are convinced that student growth and progress is holistic rather than discrete, and changing student demographics at the college may warrant consideration of other types of assessment instruments or learning outcomes in the coming years (e.g., more specific work-related outcome assessment).
Social Work
The Bethel College Social Work Program has been fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education since 1974. In February of 2019, the Program received reaffirmation of accreditation for the full eight years with no concerns. Annual internal assessments continue to indicate that all nine competencies/outcomes required by CSWE are routinely met (exceeding the benchmark of having 85% or more of students score in the adequate to outstanding range). In addition to meeting competencies, the Program’s strengths include strong advising relationships between students and faculty, the advice of the Bethel College Advisory Council, and strong attention to issues of service, diversity, and social change.
Teacher Education
The Teacher Education Department is regularly involved in assessing its students and programs in regard to institutional objectives and state and national standards. Institutional data demonstrate that Bethel students and graduates compare favorably with local, state, and national indicators. Affirmation of this assessment has been provided by the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) (onsite visit, March 2019). For further consumer information about the education programs, see consumer information at the following website: https://www.bethelks.edu/academics/areas-study/teacher-education
Visual Arts and Design
Our current senior majors are assessed through art writing, oral presentations, and the senior exhibit. Students earlier in the program as well as minors are evaluated through an early assessment, usually based on work in the foundations courses and an individual presentation to department faculty. Our recent students have been more successful presenting ideas orally than in writing, so to help our students improve their art writing skills, we now incorporate multiple writing assignments into all of the lower- and upper-level art history and design history courses. To help our students more adequately prepare for their senior exhibits and presentations, since Fall 2017 we now offer Art Seminar in the fall, rather than in the spring, and set multiple deadlines to break projects down into smaller steps. Pandemic conditions continued to affect our courses and some of our assessments last year.