Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Biology MS
1 Goal 1 Objective 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 1 Action
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GOAL: Increase Knowledge Of Profession
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Objective
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Students Knowledge Of Publication Process
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Students will be evaluated on their knowledge about the publication process.
A test that examines the students knowledge of the profession will be admistered when the student enters graduate school. After they take a course on professional aspects of biology, they will retake the exam. Student progress will be evaluated to examin knowledge of the publication process, etc.
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Indicator
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Students will take an exit exam that asks specific questions about the publication process.
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| Criterion |
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Scores will be compared to entrance exam. An increase in knowledge about the publication process will be an indicator of success.
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| Finding |
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We did not implement the exit exam during this review period. We changed graduate coordinators. With assistance of the new graduate coordinator, a graduate exit exam will be created for our MS students.
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Indicator
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Each student's publication record will be tracked throughout the MS degree.
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| Criterion |
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The number of papers published following the MS graduation will be compared to number published when admitted into the program. An increase in publications over this time will indicate the student has learned about the process through direct experience.
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| Finding |
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We graduated 9 students during the 2013 review period. These students had a combined total of 2 publications when addmitted into the program. The combined total of publications for these students following a successful MS thesis defense was 4. Therefore, 2 manuscripts were published by graduate students during this review period.
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Actions for Objective:
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Create an Exit Exam and track publication success of graduates.
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Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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We learned that collecting and databasing information is critical for tracking students and evaluating goals. Since various faculty direct graduate students in independent research labs a better mechanism for tracking MS success in publications is needed.
To address this, we will:
1. develop a committee to plan and implement a data collecting system
2. we will begin compiling data from previous years.
3. we will analyze change in MS success (publication) over time.
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Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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Committee is now established with new coordinator.
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Plan for Continuous Improvement
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We will continue collecting data for graduate publication rates over time. We may reassess the importance (significance) of the publication rate variable for monitoring MS program success. Currently this prameter seems to provide little information since so few students actually publish during their program.
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