Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Criminal Justice, Victim Services Management MS
1 Goal 1 Objective 1 Indicator 1 Criterion 1 Finding 1 Action
|
GOAL: Complete Curriculum And Begin Offering Courses In Fall 2013
|
|
|
Objective
|
|
|
Students Learn Basic Statistic Skills
|
|
|
|
|
|
Students learn basic statistic skills in CRIJ 6334 - Research Methods and Quantitative Analysis
|
|
Indicator
|
|
|
Students Complete A Series Of Statistics-oriented Homework Assignments And A Final Exam For The Course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
MS students will be able to use basic statistics commonly applied in social science research. The use of these statistics will be applicable to examination of data distributions, hypothesis testing, and related tasks commonly encountered using “real world” data from criminal justice agencies. Although functional use of these skills is practiced in the course, the main objective is to produce better consumers of research upon graduation.
|
| Criterion |
|
|
Statistics Portion Of Homework Assignments And Final Exam
|
|
|
|
|
|
Students have homework assignments and final exam questions graded by the instructor. In order to pass those assignments and earn credit for the statistics portion of the final exam, students must successfully answer a series of multiple choice/true-false questions in addition to showing manual calculation steps for test statistics such as chi-square using sample data provided by the instructor.
|
| Finding |
|
|
Fewer Than 20% Earn Full Credit
|
|
|
|
|
Many students struggle with computational aspects of statistics, despite relatively simple mathematics involved (e.g. simple division). Fewer than 20% earned full credit for the hand-calculation sections of the final exam. However, conceptually, students can identify key concepts related to statistics and most are capable of choosing the correct test statistic when provided with a basic vignette-style example. One persistent challenge is that students in the MS program have relatively little exposure to statistics coursework prior to the research methods class.
|
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
|
|
Additional Supplemental Materials Will Be Added
|
|
|
|
|
Instructor will seek out additional supplemental materials related to statistics that are especially pertinent to real-world scenarios and practitioners seeking terminal graduate degrees. The research methods course should also be carefully considered relative to the overall curriculum for this degree program. Many students selecting into this degree program lack fundamental mathematical and statistics skills.
|
|
Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
|
|
The Victim Services Management online Master of Science degree committee admitted 16 students, of whom, all have enrolled in two online MS courses during the Fall 2013 semester. For the Spring 2013 semester, the committee anticipates recruiting, at minimum, an additional 15 students. Marketing strategies for recruitment will entail MS in Victim Services Management Program advertisements at major Texas and National-level conferences designed for victim services field workers. Additionally, 409 higher education campuses across the country that offer Women’s Studies degree programs have been identified and letters detailing the new MS in Victim Services Management will be sent to Department and Program Chairs encouraging graduates to apply to our MS program. Finally, victim service agencies in the state of Texas will receive notification letters with information about the new MS online program in order to facilitate support and enhance interest and enrollment.
|
|
Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
|
|
All elements from the 2012-2013 cycle were implemented this past year.
|
|
Plan for Continuous Improvement
|
|
The MS in VSM is fully planned and implemented with strong student interest. The next step for our Department will be to engage in discussion and planning activities to appropriately assess content and learning objectives within the program. A working group of faculty members who actively teach in the program will examine program assessment activities of the MS in CJ Leadership and Management program as one possible source of criteria. This program has a somewhat similar target population insofar as attracting professionals who are active in victim service provider agencies. We anticipate the development of these criteria in the beginning of the 2014-2015 assessment cycle with a goal of enhanced assessment of the program.
|