Unit: Electrical Engineering
Program: Electrical Engineering (PhD)
Degree: Doctorate
Date: Mon Sep 28, 2015 - 1:16:50 pm

1) Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs) and Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.

The Department of Electrical Engineering adheres to the student learning outcomes of the Graduate Division:

"In general, a student who has successfully complete the graduate degree requirements should be able to

  1. Demonstrate mastery of the methodology and techniques specific to the field of study.
  2. Communicate both orally and in writing at a high level of proficiency in the field of study.
  3. Conduct research or produce some other form of creative work.
  4. Function as a professional in the discipline."

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://www-ee.eng.hawaii.edu/content.php?pag=5

Student Handbook. URL, if available online:
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:
Other:
Other:

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2015:

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015?

Yes
No (skip to question 16)

6) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015? (Check all that apply.)

Create/modify/discuss program learning assessment procedures (e.g., SLOs, curriculum map, mechanism to collect student work, rubric, survey)
Collect/evaluate student work/performance to determine SLO achievement
Collect/analyze student self-reports of SLO achievement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups
Use assessment results to make programmatic decisions (e.g., change course content or pedagogy, design new course, hiring)
Investigate curriculum coherence. This includes investigating how well courses address the SLOs, course sequencing and adequacy, the effect of pre-requisites on learning achievement.
Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 7)
Other:

7) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place in the last 18 months.

The advisor of each PhD candidate along with the appropriate committee was asked to assess the candidate at three critical points (qualifying exam, comprehensive exam, defense) with respect to the performance questions

1)     SLO1:Theory

2)     SLO1:Methodology

3)     SLO2:Oral Communication

4)     SLO2:Written Communication

5)     SLO3:Original Research

6)     Overall Assessment.

by using the scoring rubrics

1)     Unacceptable

2)     Marginal

3)     Acceptable

4)     Exceptional

5)     Not Applicable.

 

8) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 6? (Check all that apply.)

Direct evidence of student learning (student work products)


Artistic exhibition/performance
Assignment/exam/paper completed as part of regular coursework and used for program-level assessment
Capstone work product (e.g., written project or non-thesis paper)
Exam created by an external organization (e.g., professional association for licensure)
Exit exam created by the program
IRB approval of research
Oral performance (oral defense, oral presentation, conference presentation)
Portfolio of student work
Publication or grant proposal
Qualifying exam or comprehensive exam for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation (graduate level only)
Supervisor or employer evaluation of student performance outside the classroom (internship, clinical, practicum)
Thesis or dissertation used for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation
Other 1:
Other 2:

Indirect evidence of student learning


Alumni survey that contains self-reports of SLO achievement
Employer meetings/discussions/survey/interview of student SLO achievement
Interviews or focus groups that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Student reflective writing assignment (essay, journal entry, self-assessment) on their SLO achievement.
Student surveys that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Other 1:
Other 2:

Program evidence related to learning and assessment
(more applicable when the program focused on the use of results or assessment procedure/tools in this reporting period instead of data collection)


Assessment-related such as assessment plan, SLOs, curriculum map, etc.
Program or course materials (syllabi, assignments, requirements, etc.)
Other 1:
Other 2:

9) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

We have 20 assessments.

10) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)

Course instructor(s)
Faculty committee
Ad hoc faculty group
Department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Faculty advisor
Advisors (in student support services)
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean/Director
Other:

11) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
Compiled survey results
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)
Other:

12) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 6. For example, report the percent of students who achieved each SLO.

Aggregate Assessment Results (19 PhD assessments):

SLO1:Theory

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 12.5, Exceptional: 7.5, Not Applicable: 0
Acceptable or better: 100% of 20 applicable assessments

SLO1:Methodology

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 7, Exceptional: 13, Not Applicable: 0
Acceptable or better: 100% of 20 applicable assessments 

SLO2:Oral Communication

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 9, Exceptional: 11, Not Applicable: 0
Acceptable or better: 100% of 20 applicable assessments

SLO2:Written Communication

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 4.5, Exceptional: 3.5, Not Applicable: 12
Acceptable or better: 100% of 8 applicable assessments

SLO3:Original Research

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 6, Exceptional: 14, Not Applicable: 0
Acceptable or better: 100% of 20 applicable assessments

Overall Assessment

Unacceptable: 0, Marginal: 0, Acceptable: 6, Exceptional: 13, Not Applicable: 0
Acceptable or better: 100% of 19 applicable assessments

 

13) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

Assessment procedure changes (SLOs, curriculum map, rubrics, evidence collected, sampling, communications with faculty, etc.)
Course changes (course content, pedagogy, courses offered, new course, pre-requisites, requirements)
Personnel or resource allocation changes
Program policy changes (e.g., admissions requirements, student probation policies, common course evaluation form)
Students' out-of-course experience changes (advising, co-curricular experiences, program website, program handbook, brown-bag lunches, workshops)
Celebration of student success!
Results indicated no action needed because students met expectations
Use is pending (typical reasons: insufficient number of students in population, evidence not evaluated or interpreted yet, faculty discussions continue)
Other:

14) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

The results show that SLO1, SLO2, and SLO3 are met at an acceptable level or better.  The results also show that the overall performance of the EE PhD program is acceptable or better. These results do not raise any red flags in any area, which suggests that no drastic actions need to be taken at this point.  The results will be shared with the graduate committee, and discussions will take place to find ways of continually improving the EE PhD program.

15) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

An assessment method for SLO4 ``Function as a professional in the discipline’’ needs to be developed. One of the ILOs (currently being developed by the Graduate Division) is strongly aligned with SLO4. The graduate committee decided to wait until the ILOs are finalized so that the indicators for the ILOs can be used to assess SLO4.

The graduate committee worked on closing the loop from the assessment results to actual actions in order to continually improve the EE PhD program. Accordingly, we are in the process of developing the SLOs for the graduate-level courses.

The assessment questionnaire needs to be updated to clarify the instructions to the faculty.

16) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.

none.