27 Program-level Assessment Methods, Results, and Interpretation:
Describe how program student learning outcomes are assessed.
Beginning in 2019, the department began to identify which course outcomes of the required classes in the MATH.AS degree best assess the program outcomes. These discussions have led to the development of the Program Outcomes Course Alignment Map which guides our program assessment practices.
The MATH.AS Program Learning Outcomes are assessed in individual courses within the required coursework. Each of the five program outcomes are aligned with four to five course outcomes. Each of these four or five courses submit information on the corresponding program outcome as MET or NOT MET based on an assignment or activity that assesses the course outcomes. For example, to assess MATH POA.4: Communicate mathematical ideas in oral, written, and symbolic forms, a signature MATH-170 assessment gives the students a second-degree polynomial in both expanded and factored form whose area between the function and the x-axis over a specified interval is 0. The student is then asked to explain what it means for the area to be 0, and to include a sketch of the graph as part of the explanation. The student would be marked as MET if their explanation and graph demonstrated understanding of the mathematics, and adequately communicated the concept involved.
Spring 2022 Data
Outcome 1 – Demonstrate fundamental manipulative skills
Outcome 5 – Assess and interpret complex situations, choose among several potentially appropriate mathematical models of solution, and present full and clear solutions including justification
Spring 2023 Data
Outcome 1 – Demonstrate fundamental manipulative skills
Outcome 5 – Assess and interpret complex situations, choose among several potentially appropriate mathematical models of solution, and present full and clear solutions including justification
Based on the program assessment data, what learning improvements have you made?
Spring 2022 was the first semester we used the new Canvas entry system as well as the first semester program outcomes were assessed. It does appear that our conversations about the program outcomes were effective in helping us assess the program outcomes more effectively and our %MET numbers improved without course changes. For Spring 2023, more standardized assignments were included in the data and information was collected from the mathematics courses within the program, as well as the physics and computer science courses within the program. And, as of Spring 2024, the physics requirement for the MATH.AS program has been removed to allow students more flexibility in the choice of lab science courses to fulfill their GEM 4 requirements.