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Indiana University Northwest

Campus Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

Unit Name: Computer Information Systems Assessment Summary Fall 2010-Spring 2011

What are the student learning outcomes in your unit? 

For CIS Majors, the curriculum is designed to accomplish two major goals for students who graduate and go on to work somewhere in the computer field:

  • Students should be prepared for entry-level positions.
  • Students should be prepared for positions beyond the entry-level.
  • Provide students with a basis for preparation of Certification exams (MOS, Network+)*.
  • Graphic Design students (Joint CIS/Fine Arts Majors) will be able to use the main Adobe Software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver) for Fine Arts Graphic design classes.

To prepare students for these goals, the following sub goals are identified:

  • Students will think critically, analytically, and quantitatively.  
  • Student will apply basic design principles to class assignments.
  • Students will gather, synthesize, process, disseminate, and create systems based on data gathered.
  • Students learning will be based on broad hands-on practical experiences, particularly in computer networking systems.

While CIS does not claim in any course to prepare students for Certifications, the text books we use often contain and meet all the requirements as outline by Microsoft or CompTIA for certification. Students are advised to seek additional training and preparation for any certification exam

 Which outcome did you assess this academic year?

Assessment and Program Integrity

  • All CIS students must complete a Capstone Courses / Final or Sr. Projects (C390 or Y398 Internship)
  • CIS is continuing the data collection regarding outcomes in CSCI-A106 assessment exam by Cengage (Course Technology) called SAM (Skills Assessment Management).
  • Students in the Joint Degree (CIS / FA) complete CSCI-C390 and FINA-S497, and participate in Fine Arts Senior Show.
  • Informatics has a different sequence for its capstone courses.
  • CIS will now meet with its Advisory Board once a year (due to lack of funding provided by COAS and the campus.
  • CIS curriculum strives to meet the needs of other units.
  • CIS has been meeting with HIT to offer courses suited for their new Bachelor's Degree

CIS uses oral/written tests, labs, independent projects, service learning/internships, alumni surveys, etc., as measures for student learning outcomes. The Chart below shows our timetable and responsible parties for assessment. The assessment outcomes are consistent with the campus’ General Education and overall Student Learning Outcomes.

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

Computer Information Systems Assessment Yr. 2010-11

Assessment Activity

Method

Responsible Party

Timetable

Evaluation of Theoretical Concepts, per dept. student learning goals

Syllabus Goals / Objectives clearly stated

Internal tests, course and independent projects graded faculty for consistency in performance and expectations

End of term standard course evaluations

Full Time Faculty responsible for course.

Assessment Data collected in the Spring.

Assessment Data Analysis & Written Report Submitted in the Fall

Depth and Breadth of Learning for CSCI-A106

Use of SAM (Skills Assessment Management) software

CSCI-A106 Faculty

Collecting Data from fall 2010 to Current

Independent Study and Capstone course.

Student proposal approval of faculty member

Full Time Faculty responsible for student project

Evaluation of Applied Concepts, per dept. student learning goals

Internships, Service Learning; Capstones; Sr. Projects, labs, etc.

Results of Alumni Surveys

Full time Faculty, Internship pro-gram employers evaluate students.

(Same Report and time tables as listed above)

Alumni Survey conducted periodically

Course Content

Student evaluations and CIS Advisory Board meeting.

Dept. & Chair

Programming language (C#) course implemented in fall 2011

New Improvement Target Areas suggested for next yr. -- Congruent with Gen Ed. & Campus Student Learning Outcomes

Dept. Faculty Meeting (Working Session dedicated to Assessment of Curriculum and Student Learning Outcomes)

Dept. & Dept. Chair

New Improvement Areas Identified in the Spring

 

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

Teacher-course evaluations (demonstrating teaching excellence on the part of both tenure track and lecturer positions for both semesters) are the main source for our faculty assessment; research publications are only required for full-time tenure track faculty. Input from advisory board limited, since there are very limited resources from COAS for hosting dinner meetings.

Number of Interns has increased to near previous levels. I worked with seven students working in various positions around the region. I have the summary reports of the supervisors. Only one supervisor indicated they would not hire the student as a full-time employee.

CIS is collecting a significant amount of data from SAM for A106.

Student feedback regarding the Senior Show for Graphic Design students indicates Graphic Design students are a "miss match" for the senior show. They are not working in the area of Fine Arts, and they feel unfairly judged.

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

A cursory look at the CSCI-A106 data show students perform well in Word and PowerPoint, but have more trouble with Excel (more math oriented) and Access (more design and model oriented). Department needs to examine data in detail and meet and decide what changes must be made to course to help students with Excel and Access.

Kelly Knaga is suggesting the Graphic Design students be removed from the Senior Show and be given their own critique, or be required to complete a different capstone project.