Campus Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

What are the student learning outcomes in your unit?

The Current Learning Outcomes for the School of Business & Economics Undergraduate programs are as follows:

1. Teamwork: Students will use teamwork skills to participate effectively in team problem-solving and decision-making situations.
2. Leadership: Students will use leadership skills to participate effectively in individual and team problem-solving and decision-making situations.
3. Technology: Students will be able to use word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and collaborative software and worldwide web tools and apply them to analysis of business decision situations.
4. Communication:  Students will be able to communication interpersonally in order to establish positive business relationships; and logically and effectively construct and deliver business presentations in oral and written formats, utilizing a variety of presentation tools and media.
5. Functional Knowledge:  Students will know the core concepts of each business discipline – accounting, finance, information systems, management, marketing, and operations management.
6. Ethics:  Students will be able to identify ethical issues in business situations and propose effective approaches to their resolution.
7. Global and Diverse Perspectives:  Students will be able to identify multicultural and diversity issues in business situations and evaluate their impact.
8. Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking: Students will be able to analyze business problem situations systematically and effectively, and apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to the problem.

The Current Learning Outcomes for the MBA Program are as follows:
The School has developed the following restatement of learning goals for the MBA Program, including the Weeknight Program and MBA for Professionals (Weekend Program).

Outcome #1 -- Executive Leadership and Teamwork
    (a) Teamwork: Students can demonstrate effective teamwork skills.
    (b) Leadership: Students can demonstrate effective leadership skills with a focus on ethical and social responsibility.

Outcome #2 -- Executive Decision Support

1. Technology: Students can use key productivity and collaborative business software in the analysis of business decision situations.

Outcome #3 -- Integration of Business Processes and Analysis

1. Functional Knowledge: Students can demonstrate knowledge of the functional business disciplines.
2. Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking: Students can demonstrate the ability to think critically and analytically, and to integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines to make effective business decisions.

Outcome #4 – Perspectives and Responsibilities

1. Global and Diverse Perspectives:  Students can demonstrate knowledge of multicultural and diverse perspectives to make effective business decisions.
2. Ethical and Social Responsibilities: Students can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of ethical and social issues in making effective business decisions.

Which outcome did you assess this academic year?

The School of Business and Economics assessed all the undergraduate learning outcomes over the course of the past year from Fall 2008 to spring 2009. The School assessed all of the Outcomes in the graduate program during spring and Summer 2009.   

How did you assess their skills before, during and / or at the end of the semester / academic year?

The School of Business and Economics assesses each undergraduate outcome at the end of the semester during each semester.

The School of Business and Economics assess each graduate outcome at the end of the semester during each semester.

Please summarize the data you have collected this semester / academic year.

Undergraduate Assessment:

To measure student learning on in Functional Knowledge, Outcome #5, the School gives the ETS Field Tests for the Bachelors of Science in Business over the course of several years.  A summary chart of the results is as follows:

The student scores were disappointing. The School determined – based on feedback from students and instructors - that students did not take the test seriously. Hence the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Spring 2009 will show whether these measures were successful.

In addition, to the standardized ETS test, the School designed and administers the Undergraduate Business Core Concept Exam in the Spring and Summer II semesters to measure student learning in Functional Knowledge, Outcome 5. Early results indicate that the Business Core Concept Exam provides a better measure of student functional learning based on the consistency in the test results. Student learning is measured in disciplines including Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Marketing, Management, and Operations Management. Test scores from the last three administrations indicate that students meet or exceed the expected level of performance (i.e., Novice- 20%, Competent – 60%, Accomplished – 20%) in Marketing and Management. However, they do not meet the expected level of performance in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, and Operations Management. In order to motivate the students to take the test seriously, beginning Summer 2009, the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Summer 2009 will show whether these measures were successful.

Graduate Assessment:

To measure student learning in Functional Knowledge, the School administers to the ETS test to graduate students. The test results are as follows: 

The student scores were disappointing. The School determined – based on feedback from students and instructors - that students did not take the test seriously. Hence the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Fall 2010 will show whether these measures were successful.

The School also developed and administers the Graduate Business Core Concepts Exam to measure student learning in Functional Knowledge. Student learning is measured in disciplines including Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Marketing, Management, and Operations Management. Test scores from the Spring 2009 indicate that students meet or exceed the expected level of performance (i.e., Novice - 20%, Competent – 60%, Accomplished – 20%) in Marketing and Management. However, they do not meet the expected level of performance in Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems. The School faculty determined that students did not take the test seriously. In order to motivate the students to take the test seriously, beginning Summer 2009, the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Summer 2009 will show whether these measures were successful.

Please describe any programmatic changes you have made or are planning to make based on the data you have collected.

1. Undergraduate changes

1. Improving Student Learning in the Functional Areas

The Assessment Committee determined that additional tests were necessary because the ETS Major Field Test for the Bachelors Degree in Business did not test material for some of the School’s learning outcomes in operations management, in global perspectives and diversity, and in ethics. Furthermore, the ETS Major Field Test does not provide the individual student scores in each functional area. Hence, it is virtually impossible to assess the strengths and weaknesses of individual students in each functional area. For this reason, the Assessment Committee worked with the faculty to develop the Business Core Concept Exams for both the undergraduate and the graduate programs. However, the School continues to administer the ETS Major Field Test for the Bachelors Degree in Business to compare student performance to national means.

The School is now in the process of validating the Undergraduate Core Concept Exam, which was first given to students in Fall 2007. Early results indicate that the Business Core Concept Exam provides a better measure of student functional learning based on the consistency in the test results. Test scores from the last three administrations indicate that students meet or exceed the expected level of performance (i.e., Novice- 20%, Competent – 60%, Accomplished – 20%) in Marketing and Management. However, they do not meet the expected level of performance in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, and Operations Management.

2. Improving Student Learning in Communications

The Assessment Committee determined student learning in the area of interpersonal communication needed to be addressed.  The School took several steps to improve student learning in Communication. The School changed its Communication course sequence to replace the more organizational based course (S440: Organizational Communication) with a more applied course in interpersonal communication (S122: Interpersonal Communication).

The success of this change was measured by the Assessment Committee using data from the Assessment Center on the Outcome 4:  Learning Communication Assurance of Learning Template. The 2008 data indicated that on Objective 1: Research and construct a professional written document on a business issue student scores fell within acceptable ranges of Novice at 23%, Competent 55% and Accomplished 22%.  This improvement was also confirmed by student exit scores on the Graduating Student Exit Survey in Written Communication Skills from Spring 2008.

3. Improving Student Skill Development.

The Undergraduate learning outcomes include knowledge-based learning and skill-based learning. The School developed the award winning Assessment Center to measure and assess student skills using the 12 dimensions of management. The Assessment Center uses a series of exercises to measure student skills, including in-basket and other experiential exercises, given over a half day period. Assessment of skill development is provided by outside employers, professionals and/or interns in Industrial Psychology. Each student is then provided with a development report, which describes their skill development and suggests ways to enhance skills in areas where the student is still developing competency in the skill.

The Assessment Center exercises are a required experience in X220: Career Perspectives, a required course, for freshmen/sophomore students. Each student receives a report of his/her progress and suggestions for how to acquire additional skills and knowledge. Students are again required to participate in the Assessment Center experience in X410: Business Career Planning and Placement, a course for junior/ senior students, where students are assessed again to determine how they have progressed and to provide some final career preparation sessions to prepare students to enter full-time employment. The data from the results are mapped to the student learning outcomes and reported to the Assessment Committee and the faculty to provide additional data about the progress of student learning.

The skill-based data from X220 and X410, provide a rich database to assist the faculty and the Dean to measure and observe changes in the broad picture of student learning, enhanced by results from external raters on skill development over the course of the college experience.

2. Graduate Changes

The graduate student learning goals were developed in 2006 and the Assessment Committee has used what they have learned from the Undergraduate Assurance of Learning program to refine the Graduate Assurance of Learning Program. 

1. Improving Student Functional Knowledge

The School has worked on two primary areas to improve student learning in the graduate program. The School administers the ETS Major Field Test for the Masters Degree in Business Administration, which measures stakeholder expectations for business graduates in the graduate program based on national norms. A summary chart of the results is as follows:

The student scores were disappointing. The School determined – based on feedback from students and instructors - that students did not take the test seriously. Hence the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Fall 2010 will show whether these measure were successful.

The Assessment Committee determined in 2006 that the ETS Major Field Test for the Masters Degree in Business Administration needed to be supplemented because it did not test material for some of the School’s learning outcomes in operations management and in global perspectives and diversity. The Assessment Committee worked with faculty to develop the Graduate Business Core Concept Exams for the graduate program to supplement the ETS Test due to the same limitations of that test described previously.  The School will continue to administer the ETS Major Field Test for the MBA to compare student performance to national means.

The School also developed and administers the Graduate Business Core Concepts Exam to measure student learning in Functional Knowledge. Student learning is measured in disciplines including Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Marketing, Management, and Operations Management. Test scores from the Spring 2009 indicate that students meet or exceed the expected level of performance (i.e., Novice - 20%, Competent – 60%, Accomplished – 20%) in Marketing and Management. However, they do not meet the expected level of performance in Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems. In order to motivate the students to take the test seriously, beginning Summer 2009, the faculty have decided to increase the weight of the results of the exam in the Capstone course from 10% to 20%, provide more time for the students to prepare for the test, and make review materials available to the students in advance of the test. The results in Summer 2009 will show whether these measures were successful.

2. Improving Integrative Thinking

Based on the decline in graduate student ETS scores on “Integrative Thinking,” the faculty has decided to incorporate the Comp XM simulation in D511: Management & Strategy, the capstone class, to improve student learning in strategic integration of functional knowledge. Data will be reviewed at the end of summer 2009 to determine if the use of the simulation is improving student learning in this area.