Communication Skills Communication skills remain problematic. Efforts to involve students more completely in the learning process seem reasonably effective among the students in the Sociology option. Sociology option graduates responding to the exit interview expressed no opinions on the issue of communication skills. We have been reasonably successful in developing students' problem-solving skills. Increasing enrollments in all classes are probably beginning to erode the effectiveness of our efforts in those courses.
Graduates responding to the exit interview appear polarized on the issue of problem-solving skills.
The exit interview asked separate questions as to which courses in their major they learned the most and in which they learned the least. The very courses we have identified as contributing to problem-solving skills were listed by some as their most valuable courses and by others as the least valuable. Those students argue that theory and method courses have little value and will be of little use in their future. Program Improvements University-Level Suggestions Inadequate library holdings, large introductory class sizes and limited class offerings were the areas consistently identified in the exit interviews as problematic. Department-Level Suggestions Inadequate library holdings, large introductory class sizes, and limited class diversity in the Sociology option were areas occasionally identified in the exit interviews as problematic.