Summary of Assessment
Efforts at UMF
by college and department
In general: "No Child Left Behind" mandates, certification requirements, graduate school acceptance rates, responses from graduates (alumni survey), retention data and student survey (NSSES) data
In the Rough Draft, ECE lists under „Assessment‰ items that involve how they teach and what students learn, but no specifics about how they assess the success of their program.
Review of Knowledge Base Forms and Course Outlines; review of Performance_Based Assessments and the alignment of each course to our ten Standards for Initial Teacher Certification (Framework for Program Assessment); survey data from current candidates, graduates and mentor teachers; evaluations of faculty; department meetings; as well as meetings with Student and Teacher Advisory Councils. Also, student teaching and student teacher portfolios.
State standards, national organization standards (e.g. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards) and UMF Arts & Sciences major requirements; content area capstone courses; PRAXIS II results; Standards Portfolios; student performance in certain across-the-board required classes such as Adolescent Psychology; and finally, Student Teaching and the student teaching portfolios.
Oral and written
assessments; participation in service learning project; exams; market research
projects; case studies; lesson plans; self_evaluations.
e. Community Health Education: Teaching Concentration
Written and group work; oral assignments; compiled results of surveys;
evaluation of assessments; tests; skill proficiency; program evaluations.
Portfolios, a capstone course, state certification; videotape of counseling and interviewing skills, with written self-evaluation; oral presentations; statements of philosophy; vita, grant proposal and other written projects.
Portfolios, PRAXIS II; first-year course (SED 125), capstone (SED 450).
Exit interviews, portfolios, presentations of creative works
A first-year course (ENG 181) and a capstone (ENG 402)˜each of these includes a specific writing assignment which becomes an artifact; similarly, each of these two classes includes an in-class essay and a questionnaire. Faculty members in literature meet each year to study the artifacts from graduating seniors; they write a detailed summary of their findings.
The central assessment element for this program is a chronologically-arranged portfolio for each student maintained by a faculty member and updated every semester.
Program direction is determined by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards, Mathematical Association of America curriculum guidelines, and comparisons with other colleges. Assessment of the program currently derives from class performance and performance in the Mathematical Problem Solving course (MAT 363) and advanced topics courses. Several faculty use writing, journals and projects in their classes, and the quality of such work is also used informally to assess the program. The department also follows up with recent graduates. The department has also tried to use a written senior test.
The department follows up with recent graduates, and each program within the department has a capstone experience (for example, a Senior Seminar in Biology). In individual programs, progress between a first year major course and the capstone course can be compared. Each program‚s goals are determined with reference to the standards of that discipline‚s national organizations. In Physics, a pre- and post-test is used to measure students‚ general understanding of mechanics.
Senior Seminar is the capstone course. A pre- and post-test given in Senior Seminar consisting of ten questions evaluating various things about the University and the department. The Research Methods project also gives an overview of how well students have learned the idea of research psychology. In addition, every few years, the department uses a graduate questionnaire; most recently this was done by means of phone interviews. Finally, the American Psychology Association standards were useful in designing a 4-credit curriculum in psychology, in terms of establishing priorities and thinking about how to organize the material and ideas into courses.
The program follows the assessment and program guidelines of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Their capstone (BUS 491) is their major program assessment instrument, checking students‚ critical thinking, communication and quantitative reasoning skills as well as their understanding of diversity issues, domestic and global issues and the ethical dimensions of business and economics.
Assessment of this program is largely course-embedded; in particular, papers and exams in the capstone GEO 400 course will function as assessment tools. In addition, portfolios, surveys of graduates during the second year after graduation and performance of students in internships are used to assess the program.
Assessment is done through the capstone GEO 400, through student performance in the whole range of geography classes, with artifacts gathered in a portfolio; in addition, graduates from the program are surveyed in the second year after graduation. Further information on the success of the program is taken from students‚ performance in internships and service learning projects.
Assessment includes student performance in upper-level courses, especially the capstone HTY 400. Students must complete at least one oral history assignment in a major class; student performance in internships are also used to assess the program.
Assessment tools include portfolios, exit interviews and testing for language proficiency, records of advisor visits and records kept by students of activity outside the classroom, including departmental events, mentoring experience and experience with international students and clubs.
Assessment of courses is largely through use of expanded course descriptions, which helps make sure that prerequisites actually provide the skills and knowledge required for later courses, and that goals of the programs are fulfilled. Assessment of student learning include surveys of current majors, portfolios (including evidence of writing, technology, research and public presentation skills), the capstone POS 400, and exit interviews with graduates.
Assessment tools include student portfolios that contain all of a student‚s written work as well as essays on life and career goals; the capstone SOC 400 (at a „quasi-graduate level‰); and exit interviews and critique. Portfolios are reviewed during a student‚s second and third years. In addition, graduates are contacted for feedback on the value of the program.
Students entering the program are required to submit an artistic portfolio that is judged by a combination of UMF and University of Maine at Augusta faculty. Student work is routinely critiqued as part of class work. The Senior Project acts as a capstone course; again, it is critiqued with input from faculty at both UMF and UMA.
Students submit a portfolio each year including tapes of music. Along with this annual review, each student submits a self-critique each year. Written jury evaluations of performances will provide an ongoing source of critique. As with Art, the senior project acts as a capstone.
Students are required to take part in an ongoing Theater Colloquium. With help from Colloquium and the academic advisor, students maintain an academic/artistic portfolio consisting of a wide variety of artifacts, each accompanied by a written explanation. The department keeps track of graduates for a ten-year period after graduation.
Assessment of the Women‚s Studies program is through a wide variety of course-embedded instruments, and through student evaluations, informal interviews and advising sessions.
Evaluation of the Honors Program is largely through surveys and enrollment tracking.