University of Nebraska Kearney

General Studies Program Assessment Plan: Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science: Mathematics and Statistics

University of Nebraska at Kearney
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
General Studies Assessment Plan
Academic Year 2006 – 2007

The student assessment plan of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Nebraska at Kearney is based on the mission’s statement of the Department. The mission of the Department now includes providing quality instruction in mathematics, mathematics education, and general studies courses to students majoring in mathematics or mathematics education, and to the entire student population, together with research, other forms of scholarship and service in all of these areas.

Based on this mission, the Department has established a number of student learning objectives, and has developed a variety of direct and indirect measures to assess the Department’s success in achieving them.

In the 2006/07 academic year, the Assessment Program of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics included the collection of data in the 2006 fall semester and the 2007 spring semester to assess the success of the departmental programs and the general studies program.

Following are the objectives of the assessment of the General Studies Programs of the Department.

1. General Studies Objectives

   Across the range of disciplines and courses offered, the General Studies Program is designed to develop and demonstrate the following abilities:

   1. the ability to locate and gather information,
   2. the capability for critical thinking, reasoning, and analyzing,
   3. effective communication skills including the ability to read,
      Speak, and write effectively, using the materials, ideas, and
      discourse modes of specific academic areas,
   4. an understanding of the experiences and values of groups
      and cultures which have been historically under-represented
       
    
2. Student OutcomesUpon the completion of the General Studies Program, students will be able to demonstrate:
   
   
   1. the ability to locate and gather information,
   2. the capability for critical thinking, reasoning, and analyzing,
   3. effective communication skills including the ability to read,
      speak, and write effectively, using the materials, ideas, and
      discourse modes of specific academic areas,
   4. an understanding of the experiences and values of groups
      and cultures which have been historically under-represented
       
    
3. Department of Mathematics and Statistics Additional Objectives:

   In addition to the four general objectives noted above, there are specific objectives relevant to each of the major categories within the General Studies Program. For the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the student will:

   1. apply functions and other mathematical relationships to the analysis of a wide variety of applied problems,
   2. use one or more of a variety of mathematical methodologies, including but not limited to algebraically based deduction, statistical processes, the limit, the derivative, or the integral,
      to define, analyze, and solve a diverse selection of applied problems,
   3. use the “language” of mathematics and/or statistics to effectively communicate problems analysis and solutions and think critically and use reasoning in solving applied problems,
   4. demonstrate the ability to express formal, mathematical relationships using logical analyses and differing forms of mathematical reasoning,
   5. demonstrate the ability to utilize mathematical techniques in order to define problems and to search for strategies for testing solutions, and
   6. demonstrate the ability to manage and interpret numerical data using the appropriate mathematics tools.
   7. think critically and use reasoning in solving applied problems.
    

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers a wide range of Mathematics and Statistics courses that satisfy the General Studies requirements of all UNK departments. Each of following Mathematics and
Statistics courses satisfies the General Studies requirement for a particular area of study:

Each academic year, the Assessment Committee of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics selects three of these departmental courses to assess the goals and objective of the department in regard to general studies courses. In the Spring of 2008 a course rotation will be developed to insure that all Mathematics courses are being assessed on a regular basis.

The Assessment Committee of the Department of Mathematics and Statistic decided in its meeting of March 16, 2006, to collect data from the following courses for the purpose of the 2007-08 academic year general studies mathematics and statistics assessment:

Math 202, Calculus II With Analytic Geometry
Math 123, Applied Calculus I
Stat 235, Statistical Techniques

It was also decided that for each of these three courses, a committee of three faculty members of the department will be formed to write questions that will address the specific objectives relevant to general studies mathematics and statistics courses. The test questions then can be incorporated into final exams, with those specific questions identified as to which objective they are testing. Scores for those questions can then be recorded for each student and the results given to the department for discussion and further study for the purpose of improving the assessment process of the department. The tests, of course, can be modified or altered each year as deemed necessary. The questions may be multiple choice, computation, open-ended, etc. 

2007  

Previous Plan, Replaced Fall 2007