Direct Measures
The Major Field Test program is an innovative battery of undergraduate outcomes tests used by schools and departments at more than 600 colleges and universities globally to measure student academic achievement and growth. The scores of this test allow for detailed curriculum review and evaluation. The Major Field Test is an objective, end-of-program test. The content specifications for the Major Field Test reflect the basic knowledge and understanding gained in the undergraduate curriculum. In addition to factual knowledge, the test evaluates students' ability to analyze and solve problems, understand relationships and interpret material. It contains questions that call for information as well as questions that require interpretation of graphics, diagrams, and charts based on material related to the field.
The Major Field Test is constructed by committees of faculty experts in each subject area who review and revise content specifications and update and prepare questions. Selected experts in appropriate subject matter areas at Educational Testing Service review and analyze the specifications, questions, and assembled tests before the tests are made available for use. Statistical properties of each questions, such as difficulty level and degree of correlation with the total score, are on record or are computed when new or revised test forms are first administered to help ensure that each question contributes meaningfully to the test results. The aim of the test is to provide an instrument that measures the subject matter and skills a student should gain from his/her undergraduate study.
All business majors complete this test as part of the requirements for successful completion of BMGT 495. The test is administered during Final Week. After the test has been scored, the results are returned to the College and distributed to the departments. These results are then used for curriculum assessment and change.
Objective
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Participants
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Evaluators
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1, 2
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all majors
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experts from the testing company
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All business majors complete this course during their senior year at UNK, therefore they participate in the assessment process as part of this course. Students in this course complete the following items gathered and used for assessment purposes:
- The Major Field Test - discussed above. This examination is given during final week and completion of the examination is a requirement of the course.
- Oral Presentations - Students in BMGT 495 are assigned analyses of organizations that they assess and present in groups of three to five students. The knowledge that students have gained from past courses is integrated into the presentations. The presentations also include the use of technology - PowerPoint presentations.
All student analyses will be recorded and stored. At the appropriate time in the semester, tapes involving at least 25 percent of the students enrolled in the course during the given semester will be randomly selected and evaluated by an interdisciplinary faculty panel comprised of faculty not involved in teaching BMGT 495.
Faculty on this panel will be rotated from semester to semester so that all faculty who do not teach the course are involved in the evaluation process. The faculty will jointly determine the standards for the qualifications of "exemplary," "good," 'satisfactory," and "needs improvement" using Assessment Rubric Oral Assignments. Students will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Organization of the presentation
- Analysis of the data
- Speaking conventions
- Technology capabilities
- Discipline knowledge
- Integration of functional areas
- Ability to work in groups
- Written Business Papers - Students completing BMGT 495 will also be assigned and required to complete written business papers analyzing business situations. These papers will be copied prior to grading by the instructor and stored until the faculty panel meets to assess them. At least twenty percent of these papers will be randomly selected for assessment purposes.
Toward the end of each semester, twenty percent of the papers will be randomly selected and evaluated by an interdisciplinary faculty panel comprised of faculty not involved in teaching BMGT 495.
The faculty on this panel will be rotated from semester to semester so that all faculty who do not teach the course are involved in the evaluation process. The faculty will jointly determine the standards for the qualification of "exemplary," "good," " satisfactory," and "needs improvement" using Assessment Rubric Written Work. Papers will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Content
- Organization
- Data analysis
- Grammar, punctuation, word choice
- Integration of functional areas
- Knowledge of the field
- Appearance
Accounting and Finance students are encouraged to complete an Internship as part of their program of study. An Internship provides students with a structured educational experience, integrating their academic studies with learning through productive work experiences in their academic area of accounting or finance. The student is evaluated by the employer/supervisor and the UNK Internship Director. Competencies evaluated are academic preparation, oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, use of technology, work relationships/attitude, dependability, quality of work, and overall performance. Both evaluations are reported to the department, and results used for curriculum assessment and change. (See Supervisor Evaluation of Intern and Internship Director Evaluation of Internship)
The starting point for assessment anchors is Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy. We plan to use these definitions as benchmarks.
Indirect Measure
The College of Business and Technology has adopted an external survey offered by Educational Benchmarketing, Inc. Spring of 2006 was the first time the online survey was given. Students are encouraged, but not required, to participate.
Objective
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Participants
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Evaluators
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1, 4
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seniors
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External education professionals
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Previous Plan, Replaced Fall 2007