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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Business Administration MBA

1 Goal    2 Objectives    2 Indicators    2 Criteria    2 Findings    2 Actions


GOAL: Leadership Development

Objective  
Communication Skills
Graduates of the MBA program should be capable of effectively communicating with a variety of audiences.

Indicator  
Results From BUAD 5310 Research Writing In Business  
Written assignments done in this class will be assessed using a common rubric.

Criterion  
Acceptable Performance Level In BUAD 5310  
At least 80% of all MBA students should achieve a score of 80% or higher on the assessment instrument.
Finding  
FALL 2012 BUAD 5310 Results  
Of the students sampled in Fall 2012, the average score for explaining the Rationale of the memo was 78%. The average score for Format & Design was 80%. The average score for Organization was 75%. The average score for Diction & Tone was 86%. The average score for Content was 84.4%. And the average score for Writing Style was 89.3%.
Actions for Objective:

Action  
Reaction To BUAD 5310 Fall 2012 Results  
Although the Fall 2012 scores for Rationale and Organization were below the target of 80%, the four year average for those areas are 80.4% and 83% respectively. We will continue to monitor these areas to see if this is a valid trend or just a random blip.


GOAL: Leadership Development

Objective  
Critical Thinking
Graduates of the MBA program should possess excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Indicator  
FINC 5310 -- Problem Solvinig  
Twenty-three questions were embedded in exams given through out the Spring 2013 semester.
Criterion  
FINC 5310 Performance  
Average performance on the 23 embedded questions should be at least 85%.
Finding  
Spring 2013 FINC 5310 Results  
The average score on the 23 embedded questions was 71.04%. Questions in the areas of Accounting, Finance, and Risk & Return had the lowest numbers of correct responses.
Actions for Objective:

Action  
Changes To FINC 5310  
No prerequisite course in investments is required before taking FINC 5310. The need for such a prerequisite will be discussed by the graduate faculty.



Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"

With the experience we gained in administering the CAP Assessment Center during Spring 2012 we can improve our scores significantly by providing better directions to the students ahead of the simulation exercise. It would be a mistake to draw many conclusions from this year's results. Because of budget limitations we restrained the participation to 16 students. To lower the per student cost, we performed the entire assessment exercise on-line. This required a greater degree of involvement on our part in getting everything set up and providing instructions to the students. 

Regardless of our budget limitations, the information provided from the assessment center indicates that we are not in the top quartile in any of the skill areas for our referent group. We come closest in the areas of Writing Quality and Communications. 
Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"

We have not continued the use of the CAP simulation. It was difficult to administer and there was not enough support amongst the faculty. The sample sizes were too small to make valid inferences.
Plan for Continuous Improvement

We intend to gather data from a wider array of classes. To accomplish this we are studying the use of Blackboard's Assessment capabilities. By tagging questions with categorical labels we should be able to gather data on a broader spectrum of objectives.


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