Assessment of Student Learning

Current State of Assessment in the IUPUI Department of Biology Bachelor Program As a result of the addition of new faculty and changes in course offerings, the Department of Biology has revised the identification and refinement of the department's SLOs. The linking of SLOs to individual courses, steps 1 and 2 of the School of Sciences' six-step plan for assessing the academic programs in its eight undergraduate programs of strategy, has been completed. As a result of the current audits, we have also been able to begin work on identifying and creating methods to measure the SLOs, Step 3 of the Six-Step Plan.

In preparation for the 2012 reaccreditation, Biology Department faculty members were asked to identify the Principles of Undergraduate Education (PULs) most closely aligned with the SLOs for their courses (for a list of the biology courses and the PULs selected as having a greater emphasis, a lesser weight, or some weight, see http://www.planning.iupui.edu/pul/matrix/). As a result of the university-wide implementation of PUL assessment, faculty identified an existing tool or produced assessment tool. As a result of aligning course SLOs with the university's PULs, assessing student achievement of the identified PUL also allowed the faculty member to also assess student performance against the SLOs.

The Department of Biology has carried out an audit of the current curriculum (2009) and has made changes to the curriculum as a result of this audit. As a result, some of the faculty are currently in the process of modifying their courses and providing input for changes in departmental curricula.

Assessing SLOs

Department of Computer and Information Science Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Introduction
Identify the program’s student learning outcomes (SLOs)
Link these SLOs to specific components of the program’s curriculum
Identify or create methods to measure these SLOs
Collect data to determine if the SLOs are being accomplished successfully
Use the data collected in Stage 4 to make curricular changes
Repeat Stage 4 to determine if the curricular changes were effective

Major Field Test
Performance in Major Field Test
Planning Next Stage for Improvement

The Department of Computer Science has completed Phase 5 of the assessment this year and is now working on Phase 6. As in previous years, the Department has engaged seniors in the Bachelor of Science program in a required senior core course as part of the curriculum , completion of the Major Field Test (MFT) in Computer Science. After implementing the test in the foundation course for two consecutive years, the Department began analyzing the data and discussing the future improvement of the university curriculum.

This deficit persists when the MFT results are compared to the overall group and to a selected peer group of universities. ETS provides extensive national comparative data collected from all major field tests administered, allowing the department to evaluate student performance and compare that of the program. By late spring 2011, thirteen seniors completed the Major Field Test in Computer Science as part of CSCI 49500, the senior capstone course.

The next step for the Department is to continue conducting MFT exams each spring for the CSCI 49500 class and to determine the effectiveness of the new theory and algorithms course. Many students who took the Spring 2011 MFT were not required to complete this course, so scores on the Discrete Structures and Algorithms section of the exam are unreliable as a measure of curriculum improvement.

Assessment of Student Learning Department of Earth Sciences

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Identify the department’s student learning outcomes (SLOs)

The Department of Earth Sciences synthesized IUPUI's Principles of Undergraduate Learning with new Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Earth Science Teaching Degrees (BAEST) in Earth Sciences, as well as for the 7 new SLOs (with 2-3 concentration-specific SLOs) B.S. These new SLOs represent the knowledge a student will achieve after completing a degree in this department.

The Department of Earth Sciences will next audit our required courses to determine in which courses and at what developmental levels its SLOs are taught and assessed. These will be reviewed using a similar method to that used by the Department of Psychology which used. The Three Levels of the Developmentally Coherent Curriculum” based on the work of Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001.

In preparation for the 2012 reaccreditation, we created a matrix of courses and solicited faculty feedback on the Principles of Undergraduate Learning (PLEs) assessed in each of our courses. This data will be circulated among faculty members and can be used to determine whether the SLOs are being successfully met. As we work to complete the PUL assessment process, we identify key assignments in each class that depict the PULs of major and minor emphasis for that course.

Assessment of Student Learning Department of Mathematical Sciences

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Intermediate Level  Analyzing and Applying

Advanced Level  Evaluating and Creating

Assessment of Student Learning Department of Physics

Identify the Department’s Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) The Physics Department’s Student Learning Outcomes
Link These SLOs to Specific Components of the Department’s Curriculum The Physics Student Learning Outcomes linked to physics courses are detailed in the table on the
Identify or Create Methods to Measure These SLOs
Continued)  Measure the Attainment of Particular PULs

As recently as Fall 2008, the Department began identifying those courses that would benefit the most. Because of this, the PHYS 15200 course is undergoing a new restructuring, which was first implemented in the fall semester of 2008. With this change, the Department hopes to present the material in a format that is best suited for each cohort. students.

The challenge will be to identify new data collection techniques to measure the success of this curriculum change. Further, after the most recent restructuring of the University of PULs, the main communication and quantitative skills were divided into three sub-areas: 1A) Language skills; 1B) Quantitative skills; and 1C) Information resource capabilities. During the spring of 2010, the Physics Department identified five courses to measure student competency with a heavy emphasis on PUL #3 (Integration and Application of Knowledge) and a moderate emphasis on PUL #1B (Quantitative Skills), these courses were: .

The instructor for each of the five courses listed above ranked each student's PUL achievement using a simple scale:. In some cases, instructors selected one or more tasks that emphasized a particular PUL and used those tasks in determining a student's success (or lack thereof). In addition, other instructors chose exam grades, overall course grades, test problems, etc., to determine student scores.

During the previous academic year, members in the Department began to develop assessment tools to be used specifically in the evaluation of their courses. During the summer of 2010, the labs were rewritten, implementing the benefits of the new equipment, and a set of pre- and post-learning assessment tests were developed to determine the effectiveness of the new labs. Results of the assessment data were presented by Brian Woodahl at this year's AAPT (Amer.. of Physics Teachers) Winter National Meeting in Jacksonville, FL on January 15, 2011.

In addition, a poster session highlighting evaluation data and lab changes was also presented by Brian and John during the E.C. As mentioned in the discussion of Phase 4 above, a systematic review of our Department's introductory laboratory courses (PHYS-P201, PHYS 15200, and PHYS 21800) occurred during the past academic year. Evaluation data obtained during the fall of 2010 was used to improve the labs by rewriting certain sections of the lab.

Assessment of Student Learning Department of Psychology

Identify the Department’s Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) Several years ago, a draft set of SLOs was created by the Psychology Department for the B.S

S. in Clinical Psychology

Link SLOs to Specific Components of Department Curriculum Based on the initial set of student SLOs, an extensive audit of the Department’s course syllabi
Identify or Create Methods to Measure the SLOs
Collect Data to Determine if the SLOs Are Being Accomplished Successfully Given the critical importance of SLOs in guiding assessment efforts, and the recent finalization
Use Assessment Data Collected to Make Curricular Changes

A major focus of assessment-related efforts within the department during the 2010-2011 academic year was revising the undergraduate SLOs and identifying SLOs for the department's graduate programs. Knowledge of the American Psychological Association Code of Ethics and the ability to apply ethical principles in conducting research and applying knowledge in the workplace. Overall, the curriculum audit data indicates that the department's SLOs have been systematically addressed, targeting all three.

The data resulting from this process has the potential to be aggregated across capstone classes and used to determine the extent to which capstone faculty view senior psychology majors overall as meeting the Department's SLOs. The above efforts relate to the assessment of SLOs at the undergraduate level, but the recent identification of SLOs for the Department's various postgraduate degree programs draws attention to the need for the Department to identify and/or develop methods of SLO achievement by its postgraduates assess students as well. Mean (and modal) SLO ratings for the 28 students are presented in the right column of Appendix C. Two of the SLOs were.

Psychology 2010-11 Assessment of Student Learning Report Page 7 of 14. generally listed as “not covered in these classes” by instructors. Data collected from 121 psychology majors who completed the electronic senior exit survey regarding the Department's SLOs are presented in Appendix D. Data collected through Faculty Assessments of PUL Achievement through Oncourse (Method 3 ) Given the close correspondence between the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning and the Department's Student Learning Outcomes, efforts to assess student achievement in PUL are important for assessing student learning.

As is clear in the table, PUL-related assessment data was obtained for a majority of the courses in the Department. Additionally, understandable (but somewhat artificial) limitations imposed by the University regarding the number of focal PECs to be identified and assessed may ultimately limit the value of this data when it becomes available to the Department. Extensive use of assessment data collected via the methods mentioned above is still in its infancy due to the relatively recent revision of the Department's undergraduate SLOs (and adoption of graduate SLOs).

However, in recent years, assessment data collected in connection with the review of the department's initial set of SLOs has served as the basis for a number of curricular changes at the undergraduate level. In particular, dramatic positive changes have been made to the structure and content of the department's primary introductory course. Assessment data indicating excessive variation in student experiences in the department's introductory statistics course (B305) has also served as the basis for the appointment of a course coordinator with the goal of standardizing some elements of the course.

Finally, an ad hoc curriculum committee has met over the past year to discuss changes to the department's undergraduate programs, and recommendations from this committee will be considered by the department during the 2011-2012 academic year. The Department will benefit from the identification of additional methods for collecting assessment data, the development of mechanisms to centralize available data and make them accessible to decision makers within the Department, and concerted attention to the SLOs associated with the Department's graduate programs.