Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Computing And Information Science MS
1 Goal 1 Objective 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 1 Action
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GOAL: Technical Competence
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Objective
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Acquisition Of Theoretical, Technical And Project Management Skills
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Students will develop and demonstrate knowledge of theoretical materials technical skills and project management relevant to computer information systems.
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Indicator
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The final project in this degree program is a software engineering project that involves the students identifying a significant application development need for a selected client and the design and implementation of an appropriate software solution to that need.
Each student is assigned to a member of the graduate faculty in computer science as project advisor together with two additional graduate faculty forming the student's committee.
The department has established procedures for managing projects including
1. The presentation of project proposals within the first two weeks of the semester. The graduate faculty review and approve or disapprove each proposal.
2. Weekly progress meetings with the project advisor.
3. The evaluation by the complete graduate faculty of each student's progress at midterm.
4. The distribution of project activity to the remaining members of each committee.
At the end of the project each student prepares and runs a formal presentation including a description of the project, detailed explanation of the solution used and a demonstration of the completed application.
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| Criterion |
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Students graduating will have documented consensus of the graduate faculty that they meet professional standards of software engineering. The department expects that 100% of students will successfully defend their project.
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| Finding |
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13 students presented their final projects in the 2011/2012 cycle, 2 in spring, 3 in summer and 8 in fall. All 13 students successfully defended their projects (100%). Only two students required more than 2 semesters to complete and successfully defend the project.
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Indicator
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One hour oral examination by the student's committee. The committee consists of three individuals, with one person designated as committee chair.
Students are examined and given a grade of high pass, pass or fail in each of the following areas:
Programming
Software engineering
Database
Data Structures
and one other area of competence of the student's choosing.
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| Criterion |
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We expect committee members to issue the score (high pass, pass or fail) on each of the knowledge areas to each student. 100% of students will score a pass or high pass on each area.
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Oral Examination Findings
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13 students were involved in Oral comprehensive Examinations during the 2011/2012 cycle. 12 students passed all areas of the comprehensive examination. I student failed the oral examination and the scheduled follow-up examination. The success rate for oral examinations was 92.3%
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Actions for Objective:
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Acquisition Of Technical, Ethical And Management Skills- Actions
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In general the Graduate Curriculum Committee was satisfied with the results of the evaluation of students' acquisition of technical, ethical and management skills through the capstone assessment system in place. There were concerns that the oral examination may intimidate students and that those with English as a second language might be at a disadvantage in an oral situation.
As a result the Graduate Curriculum Committee has agreed to examine the potential for changing the oral examination to a written examination. The GCC will examine the logistics of how writen examinations might be implemented and present their findings in the February 2013 department meeting.
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The findings appear to indicate that the graduate program in Computing and Information Science is effectively transmitting the theoretical, technical, ethical and managerial skills to students as evidenced by the students' performance in the oral examinations and in their defense of their capstone projects. The GCC will review the potential for written comprehensive examinations to replace oral examinations.
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