University of Nebraska Kearney

General Studies Program Assessment Plan: Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science & Personal Development: Computer Science and Information Systems

Department of Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS)
General Education Assessment Plan
Revised September 24, 2007

CSIS participation in the General Studies Program (GSP)

The Department of Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS) offers four general education courses under the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) general studies program section IV Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science as well as one general education course under the UNK general education section VII Personal Development.

The UNK General Studies Program objectives are designed to develop and demonstrate the following student abilities:

1. The ability to locate and gather information,
2. The capacity 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, and
4. An understanding of the experiences and values of groups and cultures which have been historically under represented.

These student abilities will be assessed by the CSIS general studies courses.

All of the CSIS GSP courses will assess the overall GSP objectives A, B, and C shown above. GSP objective D will not be evaluated, as it is outside of the scope of the CSIS GSP courses.

In addition to the four general objectives noted above, there are specific objectives that are relevant to each of the major categories within the General Studies Program.

CSIS participation in GSP section IV

The CSIS courses under the generation education section IV are CSIS 109GS, FORTRAN Programming - 3 hours; CSIS 110GS, Structured COBOL Programming - 3 hours; CSIS 111GS, Applied BASIC Programming - 3 hours; and CSIS 130GS, Introduction to Computer Science - 3 hours. CSIS 109 GS is no longer offered. CSIS 110GS has been renumbered and renamed to CSIS 210GS - Structured Transaction Programming. It was last offered during the fall 2006 semester, and the department does not plan to offer it again in the future, due to declining enrollment and curricular changes. CSIS 111GS is only offered during the spring semester and CSIS 130GS is offered both the fall and spring semesters. CSIS 130GS will be assessed during the fall semesters while CSIS 111GS will be assessed during the spring semesters.
The specific GSP objectives that will be assessed by the CSIS Department under the general education section IV are shown below.

A student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to manage and interpret numerical data using the appropriate mathematical tools,
2. Demonstrate the ability to express formal, mathematical relationships using logical analyses and differing forms of mathematical reasoning,
3. Demonstrate the ability to utilize mathematical techniques in order to define problems and to search for strategies for testing solutions.

CSIS participation in GSP section VII

The CSIS course in the general education section VII is CSIS108GS Computers in Society - 3 hours. It is offered during both the fall and spring semesters of each academic year. This course will be assessed each fall semester.

The specific GSP objectives that will be assessed by the CSIS Department under the general education section VII are shown below.

A student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to confront the complexities--physical, emotional, economic, and/or technological--of the contemporary world.
2. Demonstrate the development of skills, behaviors and problem solving strategies necessary to prevail in the contemporary world.

CSIS GSP assessment methodology

For each CSIS general studies course, the department will extract student responses from 10 exam questions that cover the overall GSP objectives shown above and the appropriate GSP section objectives also shown above. The CSIS Department will provide a summary of the raw data for the entire student population enrolled in the course. Often times, the questions used for the general education assessment will be presented on the final exam, but they could be presented on any exam giving during the semester.

For each academic year, the assessment results will be reported to the UNK GSP Directory on October 1st of the following academic year. These results will reference data from previous years to show change over time. Strengths and weaknesses will be evaluated. During an early fall faculty meeting, the CSIS faculty will discuss the general education assessment of the previous year, discuss any actions that need to be taken based on the results, and evaluate the overall assessment process.

CSIS GSP Direct Measure

Students in the two sections of CSIS 108GS were given exam questions (over the course of the semester) which were linked to specific GS objectives, both the general objectives A-C and the section VII objectives 1 and 2.

Table 1. CSIS 108GS Assessment 

Students in the one section of CSIS 111GS were given exam questions (over the course of the semester) which were linked to specific GS objectives, both the general objectives A-C and the section IV objectives 1, 2 and 3.

Table 2. CSIS 111GS Assessment 

Students in three sections of CSIS 130 GS were given final exam questions which were linked to specific GSP objectives, both the general objectives A-C and the section IV objectives 1-3.

Table 3. CSIS 130 GS Assessment 

Prepared by Dr. Sherri K. Harms, Chair and Associate Professor, CSIS Department

2007 

Previous Plan, Replaced Fall 2007