Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Higher Education Administration MA
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
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GOAL: Apply Organizational Theory
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Objective
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Students will be able to analyze factors that help college students succeed.
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Indicator
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HIED 5360 Case Study Rubric developed by the faculty.
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Display Adequate Knowledge.
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80% of students will display adequate knowledge of 8 organizational theories.
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| Finding |
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Organizational Theories From Comps
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In the Spring 2013, 17 students were given a comprehensive exam. Question 5 of this comprehensive exam focused on the students' understanding of organizaitonal theory, asking them to define several organizational theorieis appropriate to a case study using scholarship. Fourteen students passed this question on the first attempt (though 4 additional students were asked to retake the exam for failure to pass other questions). Thus 82% of students passed this criteria on the first attempt and 88% (15 students) passed this quesiton with the second attempt. All seventeen students passed this quesiton within three attempts. The faculty conclude that students are sufficiently versed in organizational theory.
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Actions for Objective:
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Based upon our findings, the faculty in the program see this as a success worth celebrating. As such, we will include language about this being a strength in our students' abilities in our recruitment and marketing materials. Graduate Studies and the DELTA Center have redesigned materials and videos that highlight this strength of the program. We will continue to offer learning experiences to meet or exceed our criteria levels for this objective.
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Objective
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Students will be able to effectively communicate through writing.
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Indicator
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Comprehensive Exam Rubric
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The "Writing Style" element of our comprehensive exam rubric has 3 levels and descriptions of work in each level.
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| Criterion |
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80% of students completing the comprehensive exam will demonstrate writing at the "acceptable" or higher level of our rubric.
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| Finding |
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This finding offers many opportunities for improvement in the program. In the Spring 2013 semester, the faculty wished to assess student writing and APA abilities using a rubric. The faculty chose to do so via the final summative comprehensive exam. Of the 17 students sitting for the comprehensive exam in the spring, only 9 were "acceptable" in the writing components of the rubric at the end of the first attempt on the comps. Nine students (2 different from the students with unacceptable writing abilities) were also noted to have APA citation issues below the "acceptable" level. Fifteen students passed the writing and APA components of the exam within the second attempt of the exam. All 17 students passed the exam within three attempts.
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Actions for Objective:
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Writing And APA Improvements
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As a result of both the findings and the process we came to regarding writing and APA skills, the faculty have enacted the following improvements:
1. The faculty did not like learning about this issue at comprehensive exam time, when little could be done to improve student writing or APA. So, the Higher Education Research Class has been re-designed through the institution's curriculum process and placed as the first class students have to take. Instrocutors in this class have been asked to focus on writing and APA issues.
2. All instructors have been asked to focus on aspects of writing and APA issues by including at least 1 "writing assignment" in their class.
3. The full time facult yin this program underwent a curriculum allignment process wherein they articulated how each class relates to the program's outcomes as well as professional association outcomes. This will aid in clarifying that writing and APA skills should be covered in all classes.
4. This program has many adjunct instructors. Adjunct instructors have told the Program Coordinator that they do not have the time or skills to incorporate writing and APA into their classes. All instructors hired for the fall 2013 semester were given the outcomes their class was to cover and asked to submit a report about how students did in relaiton to the outcomes in this class.
5. Starting in the Spring 2013 semester, faculty began offering Writing and APA guidance through the program's blackboard site. Web-tracking statistics indicate that that these resources are being sufficiently accessed by students.
6. Starting in the Spring 2013 semester, faculty covered writing and APA expectations with students in online orientation sessions when students enter the program.
7. In the fall 2013 semester, the full time and adjunct faculty will begin working with Drs. Ann Theodori of the SHSU Writing Center and Dr. Julie Combs from the Ed. Leadership department to offer a "How to teach good writing skills" faculty development series.
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Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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New Entity for the 2012-2013 cycle.
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Plan for Continuous Improvement
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Based upon these results, faculty determined to develop a series of student workshops to help them improve their writing and communication skills. These workshops will be done online between September 2013-October 2013. These workshops will include evaluation materials to support the improvement of future workshops. Ultimately, these workshops will be provided through a revised approach to the HIED 5369 class (See next paragraph).
The faculty also redesigned the EDAD 5369 (Research methods) requirement to be more focused on an introduction of academic writing, schoalrship, and the use of research. This proposed curriculum redesign was submitted to the University Curriculum Council in the Fall 2013 semester.
Lastly, the faculty have determined that no changes are neccessary in regards to the program's focus on organizaional theory.
The program faculty and advisory panel members have determined that their plan for assessment is providing useful information on what students are learning. As such, the faculty will continue to assess student writing abilites according to the timeline offered in our assessment plan and move to the second cycle of our continuous improvement plan in the 2013-2014 academic year. This cycle will focus on supporting student writing abilities per outcome A and and outcome B.
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