SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Speech Communication MA
Speech Communication MA
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Research Literacy |
| Objective |
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| Graduate students will be able to understand, assess, and report the findings of communication research |
| Indicator |
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| We will measure this goal with an annual evaluation of a sample of graduate student papers assigned in each graduate course taught in the Spring semester. The components of this rubric include: Control of the Mechanics of Written Composition and Evidence of a Comprehensive Knowledge of a Confined Research Area. The Communication Studies faculty met as a committee of the whole to develop consensus on the rubric and its components and to develop a Likert-type rating scale to be used as a holistic measure. The resulting numeric scale is as follows: 1=fails to meet the goal, 2=minimally meets the goal, 3=satisfactorily meets the goal, 4=meets the goal in an exemplary fashion, 5=exceeds expectations in meeting the goal. 1 = serious deficiencies in both components. 2 = moderate deficiency in no more than one component. 3 = no deficiency in either component. 4 = superior handling of both components. 5 = near flawless handling of both components. |
| Criterion |
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| An average grade of 4 is the criterion for satisfying the target outcome. This average will be taken over all literature reviews and all reviewers (faculty committee). |
| Finding |
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| The average score for the evaluation period was 4.33. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| The finding meets the departmental criterion. However, the sample of papers was small (3), so that in the coming year an effort to solicit more examples for evaluation will be made by collecting papers from classes in both semesters. Previious reliance on papers from only one class unnecessarily reduced the number of papers for evaluation. |
| GOAL: Understanding Of Theory |
| Objective |
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| Graduate students will be able to understand the applicable theories of communication and related fields. |
| Indicator |
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| We will measure this goal with an annual evaluation of a sample of graduate student papers assigned in each graduate course taught in the Spring semester. The components of this rubric are: Control of the Mechanics of Written Composition and Evidence of Understanding of the Applicable Theory or Theories. The Communication Studies faculty met as a committee of the whole to develop consensus on the rubric and its components and to construct a Likert-type rating scale to be used as a holistic measure. The resulting numeric scale is as follows: 1=fails to meet the goal; 2=minimally meets the goal; 3=satisfactorily meets the goal; 4=meets the goal in an exemplary fashion; 5=exceeds expectations in meeting the goal. 1 = serious deficiencies in both components. 2 = moderate deficiency in no more than one component. 3 = no deficiency in either component. 4 = superior handling of both components. 5 = near flawless handling of both components. |
| Criterion |
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| An average score of 4 is the criterion for satisfying the target outcome. This average will be taken over all literature reviews and all reviewers (faculty committee). |
| Finding |
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| The average score for understanding of theory was 3.71. This score appears to reflect insufficient depth in student coverage of theories. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| The finding this year fell short of the criterion by a small margin, slthough a larger sample of papers was examined than in the previous reporting period. The faculty will take more time to emphasize the need for greater depth of coverage of theories rather than breadth in the next reporting period. |
| Closing the Loop |
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The MA program in Communication Studies functions at a high level as indicated by scores on research literacy, although the lower score for understanding of theory is a matter that will need to be addressed in the coming year. Enrollment in the program is growing.
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