SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
General Business Administration BBA
General Business Administration BBA
3 Goals 3 Objectives 4 Indicators 4 Criteria 4 Findings 4 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 assess samples of student writing across the business disciplines for document formatting and for writing quality; subject area instructors will evaluate the content of each sample. The composite performance of the students, as measured by a faculty developed rubric, will indicate the communication competency level. |
| Criterion |
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At least 80% of sampled students must meet expectations on the Writing Assessment Rubric for Business Disciplines. 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. To insure inter-rater reliability, each sample will be reviewed independently by two reviewers; in the event of disagreement, a third reviewer will perform a final evaluation of the sample. |
| Finding |
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| The attached document details student performance by major in three categories: format, content/organization, and writing. Student writing samples were not provided the areas of accounting (ACC) and management information systems (MIS). |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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Business communications faculty will present a workshop on the use of a common rubric for assessing writing in all business disciplines. In the workshop, a demonstration of how rubrics can be used effectively will be conducted. All business faculty will be involved with the demonstration. This will give them hands on experience with the process. Their input will be solicited to develop a common writing rubric for COBA. |
| 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 |
| Criterion |
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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 seventy-eight percent (78%) compared to seventy (70%) percent by non-GBA majors. In the second section GBA majors scored seventy-seven percent (77%) compared to the non-GBA majors' score of seventy-five percent (75%). Each of these scores is right at or exceeds the goals of seventy-five percent (75%) correct. 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 appears to have yielded positive results as students in all majors improved dramatically in this area of the course. |
| 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 55% 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 90.1%, Non-GBA Business Majors scored 80% and Non-Business Majors scored 82.6%. 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 five 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 60.1% on the pretest. GBA majors improved on the posttest with a score of 86.2%. Non Business majors had an even greater increase and scored 88.4%. The greatest improvement in this section was made by the Non-GBA Business majors with a score of 90.1%. This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty are working to create more hands-on application based assignments for students. It is the goal of the faculty that if the student have to actually work through how to form a particular business entity this process will aide them in better understanding the unit's material. |
Actions for Objective:
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| 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 online study aids to assist students in key areas of the course. |
| Action |
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This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty are working to create more hands-on application based assignments for students. It is the goal of the faculty that if the student have to actually work through how to form a particular business entity this process will aide them in better understanding the unit's material. |
| GOAL: General Business Student Satisfaction |
| Objective |
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| General Business students will be satisfied with the level of instruction that they receive. |
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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 at least one 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 will raise standards for the 2012-2013 academic year, requiring that all faculty maintain a 50% average for all 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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The courses in the General Business degree have been assessed on a per semester basis for the past four consecutive years. These courses were not assessed during this assessment cycle. The courses will be assessed in the 2013 assessment cycle.
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| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Because of assessment efforts in previous years, faculty members have reassessed course structure and have provided incentives to students to motivate and encourage them to perform. In addition, faculty have identified learning gaps in the students' ability to write and communicate ideas; critical thinking continues to be a challenge for students.
In business communication, students continue to struggle with grammar and mechanics which are required to communicate effectively in the business world. Since establishing a pre- and post-grammar assessment test, faculty have noticed substantial improvement in those skills; however, faculty continues to develop additional pedagogical approaches to insure transfer of knowledge to other disciplines. The Business Writing Award, established in 2011, recognizes and rewards business communication students' excellence in written communications. Faculty have observed students performing at a higher level of excellence while generating business reports. 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. |
| 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. |