SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
General Business Administration BBA
General Business Administration BBA
3 Goals 5 Objectives 5 Indicators 5 Criteria 4 Findings 3 Actions
| GOAL: Capable Communicators And Decision Makers |
| Objective |
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| Students will be able to compose effective business messages using accepted standards of English grammar and punctuation, sentence structure and paragraph design. |
| Indicator |
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Business communication faculty will conduct a preliminary assessment of samples of student writing in online and face-to-face business communication courses (BUAD 3335W). The composite performance of the students, as measured by a faculty developed rubric, will indicate communication competency level and will provide insight into the effectiveness and consistency in instruction of online versus face-to-face delivery methods. |
| Criterion |
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At least 80% of sampled students must meet expectations on the Writing Assessment Rubric. The rubric was developed by the business communications faculty and has three performance elements: format, content/organization, and writing. Reviewers will indicate whether the student writing samples exceed, meet, or are below standard expectations in each area, and will further compare the results of the online and face-to-face samples to determine effectiveness and consistency in course delivery formats. |
| Finding |
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The 11 face-to-face samples were not representative of the overall course performance on this assignment and indicate an unusually high percentage of students performing above expectations on the assignment (54%). In addition, previous experience indicates a higher number of students meeting expectations on the assignment or falling below expectations. This can be explained by the limited number of samples available and better scores on those samples (not indicative of typical grade distribution). The 46 online samples were more indicative of overall performance on the assignment with 28% of students performing above expectations, 61% of students meeting expectations, and 10% of students scoring below expectations. Comparatively, in the area of format, a higher percentage of online students scored above expectations (89%) than did the face-to-face students. With the exception of one student, the remainder of students in both course delivery formats met expectations in this area. In the area of content, 99% of the face-to-face students either met or exceeded expectations; in the online classes, 94% met or exceeded expectations. Grammar and mechanics continue to be a challenge for Sam Houston students. Forty-five percent of face-to-face students met or exceeded expectations in this area, and 50% of the online students met or exceeded expectations. Fifty-four percent of the face-to-face students scored below expectations, while 50% of the online students scored below expectations. |
Actions for Objective:
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Business communication faculty will explore additional teaching pedagogy for grammar and mechanics and will require writing center consultations on the majority of writing assignments. In addition, the faculty will develop online tutorials that focus on problem areas in writing for students. These tutorials can also be made available in business courses outside of the business communication area. Faculty will develop content scripts for online courses to ensure consistency in content delivery. More comprehensive assessment of F2F and online delivery methods will be conducted in Ay 2014-2015. |
| GOAL: Capable Communicators And Decision Makers |
| Objective |
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| Students will be able to speak effectively before a group by connecting with the audience and organizing and presenting the topic accordingly. |
| Indicator |
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| General Business degree candidates will make several oral presentations in the required communication course. Samples of presentations will be videotaped and evaluated. The composite performance of the students, as measured by a faculty developed rubric, will indicate the oral communication competency level. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 80% of sampled students must meet expectations on the oral presentation rubrics. The rubrics that will be used to evaluate students in GBA 389 have been developed by the business communications faculty. Each faculty member will apply the rubrics when evaluating students in a GBA 389 course. |
Actions for Objective:
There are no actions for this objective.
There are no actions for this objective.
| GOAL: Capable Communicators And Decision Makers |
| Objective |
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Key Course Objectives Assessed To build on language skills of writing, grammar, and punctuation in conjunction with business foundation courses to enable students to develop effective business communication skills to solve business problems.
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Actions for Objective:
There are no actions for this objective.
There are no actions for this objective.
| GOAL: Capable Business Decision Makers |
| Objective |
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| Students who complete the BBA in General Business will demonstrate knowledge of the core concepts and principles of business law and of legal environments. |
| Indicator |
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| Assessment will be made using embedded questions on each unit examination. The embedded questions will gauge the students' performance on concepts, principles and functions of business law. The embedded questions were created by the business law faculty and include questions from each of the four core areas in the course. BUAD 3355 |
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| The class average on individual embedded questions will be 75% correct. The business law course is divided into four core units. Each business law faculty member will include imbedded questions on each unit's examination. BUAD 3355/GBA362 |
| Finding |
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The GBA faculty has broken the course into four (4) core units. The GBA faculty determined that they would select embedded questions for each unit. The embedded assessment questions for this academic year were drafted last year by the GBA faculty members and were rewritten to adjust for possible misinterpretation by students. This process of assessment question review occurs on an annual basis during the spring semester. The students’ assessment data was collected by GBA majors and Non-GBA Majors in two separate sections. GBA majors improved from the previous assessment cycle. In the first section GBA majors outperformed non-GBA majors achieving an average correct of eighty-two percent (82%) compared to seventy-three (73.2%) percent by non-GBA majors. In the second section GBA majors scored seventy-four percent (74%) compared to the non-GBA majors' score of seventy-three percent (73%). Since not all of these scores exceeds the goal of seventy-five percent (75%) correct in the core competency areas a review of the questions and course focus will be done. In the previous cycle a decision was made to divide the common law contracts area into two units. The belief was that by further breaking down the material into manageable segments that students' retention and understanding of the material would increase. This decision appeared to have yielded positive results as students in all majors improved dramatically in this area of the course in the previous assessment cycle. After the current assessment data was reviewed the faculty members need to further analyze whether the breakdown into two common law units was indeed helpful. |
| Indicator |
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| The BUAD 2301/GBA 281 course focuses on the legal environment in business, particularly how the law effects business development and creation. This course is divided into five core units. Assessment will be made using pre and post exam questions in each of the courses five core unit examination. The pre and post exam questions will gauge the students' performance on concepts, principles and functions of legal environments. The embedded questions include questions developed by the legal environment faculty. |
| Criterion |
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| The class average on individual embedded questions will be 75% correct. The business law course is divided into five core units. Each business law faculty member will include imbedded questions on each unit's examination. BUAD 2301/GBA 281 |
| Finding |
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The assessment and analysis is done using a pre and post tests to determine whether the students have made advances in the core learning objectives. The course is divided into five core units and the pre and posttests cover questions from each of the courses core units. The questions were developed by the entire faculty that teach this course. The students of BUAD 2301 Legal Environment courses took a pre-test at the beginning of the semester and achieved an average 51% correct for all five units tested. On the posttest there were significant gains in the students learning outcomes. In the Origins of Law unit, GBA Majors scored 87.4%, Non-GBA Business Majors scored 82.7% and Non-Business Majors scored 80.4%. The faculty believes that this increase is based in part on the increased time in this area of the curriculum. Since the assessment process began six years ago, there has been a continual focus on this very difficult area for students. The Origins of Law unit is the foundation for the course and as a result of the assessment process, faculty have learned that if students do not perform well on this first unit they struggle with the remaining material all semester. The second, area of significant increase in performance was in the Business Entities section. In past semesters this was an area of difficulty for students. Instructors reorganized the core material in this unit. This change increased student performance in this unit. All majors scored a 57.2% on the pretest. GBA majors improved on the posttest with a score of 83.6%. Non Business majors had an increase and scored 81%. The Non-GBA Business majors improved with a score of 79.6%. This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty created a hands-on application based assignments for students. Students are currently required to actually work through how to form a particular business entity. It is believed that this change in the curriculum has helped students improve in the course. |
Actions for Objective:
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BUAD 3355: To aid in the continued improvement of both GBA and non-GBA students in the common law contracts course, the Business Law faculty will work to develop additional online study aids to assist students in key areas of the course. The assessment data from the previous cycle indicated that student improvement had occurred. However, in this assessment cycle the data showed that student performance in the assessed areas declined slightly. A review of the instructional approach will occur to determine the reason for the slight decline. BUAD 2301: This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty created more hands-on application based assignments for students. The faculty continue to create new ways to engage the students by creating new and improved projects that require the students to engage in the course assignments. The thought is that by having students actually work on projects that are relevant to the area of study it will assist them in the learning process. |
| GOAL: General Business Student Satisfaction |
| Objective |
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| General Business students will be satisfied with the level of instruction that they receive. |
| Indicator |
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The department, college, and university utilize the IDEA System as part of its evaluation of classroom performance. The IDEA System, developed by the IDEA Center at Kansas State University, is a nationally normed, validated and reliable measure of classroom performance based on up to 12 learning objectives. The IDEA scores can be compared to institutional norms or discipline norms across all institutions that use the IDEA system. The normed T-score provides data on the overall effectiveness of classroom performance. |
| Criterion |
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| General Business faculty will have an IDEA score average of 50 (the national norm) in at least one course taught. |
| Finding |
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The IDEA form calculates a score based on many factors; teaching effectiveness, students willingness to learn, instructor's preparedness are just a few of the factors used. The students’ evaluations are then compared with other faculty across the country in the same discipline. Based on the student answers and the performance of other faculty across the nation a score is computed for each faculty member. The fifty (50) percent mark is the benchmark used to indicate that a faculty member is a successful instructor. Faculty members in the Business Communication and Law areas exceeded the established goal of achieving a fifty (50) percent or average score in all face to face course. Based on teaching load and the number of faculty in these two respective areas, the results were actually fifty percent higher than the goal. The faculty achieved a fifty (50) percent or average score in at least 1.5 courses taught. |
Actions for Objective:
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The General Business faculty strives to continuously improve their teaching effectiveness. To this end the faculty raised standards for the 2014-2015 academic year, requiring that all faculty maintain a 50% average for all face to face courses taught. In addition, all faculty and particularly those with weaker teaching effectiveness, will be advised of the college's teaching improvement workshops. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Our findings indicate that students continue to have difficulty with grammar/mechanics and content/organization. Because the business curriculum has a course dedicated to business presentation skills (BUAD 2321), the business communications faculty have agreed to drop the oral presentation component from BUAD 3335; this will allow faculty almost two full weeks to devote to additional writing instruction.
To enhance students' grammar/mechanics skills, business communications faculty have reviewed several new textbooks and will adopt Schwom and Snyder's Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence for BUAD 3335. Students will take a grammar/mechanics pre-test at the beginning of the Fall 2013 Semester, followed by text editing exercises that build on basic grammar skills at the end of each chapter; after completing the series, and reinforcing their skills on the required writing assignments throughout the semester, student will take a comprehensive grammar test at the end of the semester. Score differences will be compared in the pre- and post-testing; writing will be analyzed to determine progress in this area. Business communications faculty will also design several case approaches that stimulate students' critical thinking skills in the business report writing segment of the course. Efforts will be made to collect writing samples from the areas of Accounting and Management Information Systems to complete assessment findings for all business disciplines. In the General Business Law area, based on previous assessment results additional on-line resources have been created to assist students and aid their learning in areas of historical weakness. This modification has provided increases in students understanding of the core material. However, students continue to struggle with the Business Entity section of the course. The Business Entity section focuses on different types of business formation, corporations, limited liability partnerships, general partnerships and sole proprietorships. Faculty believe that this continues to be an area of weakness since it requires students to really use critical thinking skills and truly apply the material that they have learned. Students are generally provided a fact pattern and asked to evaluate the risks and benefits of each type of formation. This exercise forces students to use cognitive skills that some students lack. In addition, students will be provided the opportunity to complete the actual entity formation paperwork in a hands-on project. This real-life application project will enable the students to have a better understanding of each type of entity formation. Based on the assessment results, further on-line tutorials and on-line chapter reviews need to be created. This will allow the student to work on individual areas of weakness. |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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The General Business Law faculty required students in the 2013-2014 assessment cycle to work through real life business entity scenarios. The faculty believe that this has helped students to better understand the material and relate what they learn in the academic environment to the business world environment. In addition, on-line tutorials were created to further aid students in their comprehension of the material. |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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Our findings indicate that students continue to have difficulty with grammar/mechanics and content/organization. Because the business curriculum has a course dedicated to business presentation skills (BUAD 2321), the business communications faculty have agreed to drop the oral presentation component from BUAD 3335; this will allow faculty almost two full weeks to devote to additional writing instruction.
To enhance students' grammar/mechanics skills, business communications faculty have reviewed several new textbooks and will adopt Schwom and Snyder's Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence for BUAD 3335. Students will take a grammar/mechanics pre-test at the beginning of the Fall 2013 Semester, followed by text editing exercises that build on basic grammar skills at the end of each chapter; after completing the series, and reinforcing their skills on the required writing assignments throughout the semester, student will take a comprehensive grammar test at the end of the semester. Score differences will be compared in the pre- and post-testing; writing will be analyzed to determine progress in this area. Business communications faculty will also design several case approaches that stimulate students' critical thinking skills in the business report writing segment of the course. Efforts will be made to collect writing samples from the areas of Accounting and Management Information Systems to complete assessment findings for all business disciplines. In the General Business Law area, based on previous assessment results additional on-line resources have been created to assist students and aid their learning in areas of historical weakness. This modification has provided increases in students understanding of the core material. However, students continue to struggle with the Business Entity section of the course. Based on this year's assessment data additional resources related specifically to the Business Entity section will be created. The Business Entity section focuses on different types of business formation, corporations, limited liability partnerships, general partnerships and sole proprietorships. Faculty believe that this continues to be an area of weakness since it requires students to really use critical thinking skills and truly apply the material that they have learned. Students are generally provided a fact pattern and asked to evaluate the risks and benefits of each type of formation. This exercise forces students to use cognitive skills that some students lack. In addition, students will be provided the opportunity to complete the actual entity formation paperwork in a hands-on project. This real-life application project enabled the students to have a better understanding of each type of entity formation. Based on previous assessment data indicated that this improved student performance, additional hands-on scenarios will be created. This enables students to apply their academic knowledge to the real world situations that they may encounter in the workplace. Based on the assessment results, further on-line tutorials and on-line chapter reviews need to be created. This will allow the student to work on individual areas of weakness. |