Public Reporting from AY 23-24
Bible and Religion
Most of the teaching done in this department continues to be focused on students taking courses to meet requirements in the common core of our General Education program. A new faculty member was added to the department during the 2023-24 year to develop and help deliver the Vocation Seminar course, to be required for all Sophomores beginning in 2024-25, also as part of the core General Education program.
Business
The majority of business majors enroll in an external internship during their senior year. During the 2023-2024 academic year, 21 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.
Bethel College’s bachelor of science degree in business administration is designed to expose students to skill sets in high demand from business, 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, gain valuable experience in teamwork settings, and interact with current events. 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.
It is noted that a growing number of students entering Bethel College who identify business as their major continues to steadily increase. The business department regularly houses ~25% of our student population. 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 addition of athletic coaches who value the whole person. A vast majority of business majors are members of college sport teams. It is a pleasure to watch our students succeed in the classroom as well as the playing field/court. While many business students chose to attend Bethel College to continue participation in a sport, it is a challenge worth pursuing to extend their priorities to include preparation for a future career in business.
Biology
Biology department students are assessed based on their ability to conduct scientific research, their academic achievements, and their critical thinking skills. 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. We continue to see effects from the pandemic on prior preparation, time management, and study skills of incoming students. While we had several strong students graduate this year we also had a number that did not meet our assessment goals although they successfully graduated. We continued to make changes to our seminar classes, with additional instruction and scaffolding of assignments. Students interested in fields such as athletic training and physical therapy who formerly earned a Biology degree have now shifted to the revised HHP program which has improved their advising, coursework options, and seminar experience. This has allowed Biology faculty more time to focus on our majors.
Chemistry
The Chemistry Department 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 given at the end of Chemistry I and Chemistry II, the department is modifying its pedagogy to better meet the needs of entering students. We saw improvement over last year’s performance, and hopeful that this trend continues. Poor performance on some of the ACS exams for the more advanced courses often reflects misalignment of the exam with the course objectives. Despite this misalignment, students performed, on average, above the 50th%. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology students 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 National American Chemical Society Conference, 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
The Communication Arts department has observed mixed results in this year’s assessment. While students continue to meet or exceed benchmarks in most areas, particularly in research skills and articulating connections among communication processes, there are some trends we wish to monitor. Notably, performance on the Communication Arts Exit Exam remains significantly below the benchmark, and there were declines in scores for the Senior Seminar projects and presentations. To address these issues, the department plans to investigate factors contributing to the decreases, review preparation processes for the Exit Exam, and continue monitoring all objectives closely. Despite challenges, the department remains heartened by our successes.
Elementary Education
Bethel College elementary education majors demonstrate an understanding of the individual differences of learner development; create safe, inclusive environments that represent high learning expectations, support individual and collaborative interactive learning, encourage positive social interaction; active engagement, and self-directedness; and participate in ongoing professional growth. Our graduates are sought after in the region and have a high level of employment in education following graduation.
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. Students are performing above assessment benchmarks, and the department has a solid track record of placing students in jobs and graduate programs.
Health and Human Performance
The College’s Department of Health & Physical Education is transitioning from a broad Health & Physical Education major to a more specialized and comprehensive Health & Human Performance major. This shift will provide students with focused concentrations in Exercise Science, Health & Fitness, and Health & Physical Education Teaching, aligning the department’s offerings with the evolving needs and demands of the field. The current data is showing us that our students are largely successful in the understanding of the major’s content, but as our program makes the transition to the three concentrations, our assessment tools will be specialized for each concentration for the following goals: to work with people of diverse backgrounds and abilities and to be prepared for their future in the workforce and/or graduate studies in Health and Human Performance.
History
Assessment data for the History and Political Science major this year demonstrated the high ability of gradates in this field in analyzing political systems and communicating their findings effectively in writing and in oral presentations. For History majors, this year’s sample size was too small to draw meaningful conclusions.
Math
The Mathematical Sciences Department faced challenges during last year’s spring semester due to the departure of its full-time faculty member, who also served as department chair. However, the college responded promptly by hiring a new full-time faculty member with a Ph.D., who has since taken on the role of department chair.
In addition, the department launched a new Software Development major last year and hired another full-time faculty member to support this program. Both new faculty members have taken on significant teaching responsibilities, and the two majors complement each other, as Software Development students take several mathematics courses and vice versa.
Assessment data indicate that the department met most of its student learning goals and measurable objectives for 2023-2024. This year, with the energy and enthusiasm brought by the two new faculty members, the department is striving to build on last year’s achievements. Goals include creating new courses for both majors and increasing the number of students within the department.
Interest in Mathematics and the Software Development major continues to grow each semester. Additionally, there is strong momentum to recruit both incoming and current students to pursue a potential Data Science minor within the department.
Music
Music Department graduates continue to have success in the job market and are frequently accepted into graduate programs across the country. Many of our graduates continue to score above the national average on comprehensive exams. We recently modified our curriculum to better address the modern needs of music students and will continue updating our classrooms and equipment to enhance student learning.
Nursing
The nursing program has been approved by the Kansas State Board of Nursing since 1980. In 1998, the department switched its national accrediting body from NLN to the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The nursing program has been accredited continuously by CCNE since 1998. The last reapproval visit from KSBN was in spring of 2024 and the program was approved with no areas of improvement. The CCNE accreditation visit also occurred in the spring of 2024 and the program was accredited for the full 10-years and substantially met all four accreditation standards. The Department of Nursing continues to assess program outcomes annually. The NCLEX-RN first time pass rate for the class of 2024 was 93% with the pass rate for all attempts at 100%. The class of 2022 and 2023 achieved a 100% first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate. In addition, the department continues to monitor program outcomes required by state and national accrediting bodies including retention and employment rate and continues to meet the benchmarks. Other nursing department strengths include excellent teaching and student and faculty relationships, strong clinical partnerships, and our simulation lab with the latest simulation technology including virtual reality simulation.
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing at Bethel College is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org/).
The Bethel College Nursing program is approved by the Kansas State Board of Nursing.
Psychology
Students in the Psychology Department are meeting department objectives. However, we plan to no longer use the ETS Psychology Major Field Test for assessment purposes. This test examines students’ knowledge of psychology across various subfields, however, students are not required to take courses within all subfields examined so we will make use of other assessment tools. The department is continuing to see students placed into graduate programs at a high rate.
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.
Software Development
[This is a new major and will be assessed beginning in 2024-25]
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 portfolio presentation to department faculty. Our recent students have been more successful presenting ideas orally than in writing, so we now incorporate multiple writing assignments into all of the lower- and upper-level art history courses as well as in many of the studio courses. Particularly with the rise of AI tools, developing original art writing will be an ongoing challenge. To help our students more adequately prepare for their senior exhibits and presentations, we now begin their planning process late in the junior year; then in Art Seminar during their senior year, we set multiple deadlines to break projects down into small steps.