Unit: Natural Resources & Environmental Management
Program: Natural Resources & Environmental Mgt (BS)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Tue Sep 07, 2010 - 10:15:33 am

1) Below are the program student learning outcomes submitted last year. Please add/delete/modify as needed.

The following are the current five student learning outcomes (SLOs) of the NREM undergraduate program.  They are divided under two overall goals: 

Goal A – NREM students will develop the abilities to contribute as responsible and productive professionals in natural resources and environment careers.

#1 develop positive personal and work-related skills through contact and interaction with role models, class (individual and team) projects, and participation in extracurricular activities;

#2 demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills through technical reports and class presentations in each of the 300-400 level core NREM courses;

#3 broaden social perspectives through exposure to diverse culture and thinking in course work, service projects, and departmental or college seminars;

Goal B – NREM students will have a broad understanding of the environmental sciences and be able to apply scientific methods in managing natural resource systems and solving environmental problems.

#4 ability to explain the ecological processes and relationships that determine given environmental conditions in core course assignments;

#5 demonstrate technical competencies in natural resource management, develop and implement solutions to real-world problems in integrative core course projects and extracurricular/service-learning activities.

NREM is going to revisit theses SLOs in response to results of the NREM assessment program evaluation conducted by CTAHR in 2009.  Please see response to Question 13 for details.


2) As of last year, your program's SLOs were published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/nrem/students/undergrad-assess.html
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) Below is the link to your program's curriculum map (if submitted in 2009). If it has changed or if we do not have your program's curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2010:

4) The percentage of courses in 2009 that had course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is indicated below. Please update as needed.

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

5) State the assessment question(s) and/or goals of the assessment activity. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.

First, please see response to Question 13. 

Between June 2009 and September 2010, the NREM undergraduate committee did not perform any formal assessment activity. 

6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered.

First, please see response to Question 13. 

All types of evidence used and analyzed in the previous assessment protocol were collected for graduated or graduating undergraduate students between June 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010, including: (1) grades in introductory science courses, (2) scores on internship term paper and final presentation, (3) employer ratings of intern work performance and job-related personal skills, (4) scores on capstone final paper and oral presentation, (5) responses to the college’s exit survey.  

7) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected?

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:

8) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence?

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:

9) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated.
If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

Not applicable at this time.  

10) Summarize the actual results.

Not applicable at this time. 

11) How did your program use the results? --or-- Explain planned use of results.
Please be specific.

Not applicable at this time. 

12) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.

Not applicable at this time. 

13) Other important information:

In 2009, assessment coordinators from every CTAHR department were gathered to evaluate the assessment programs of each of the CTAHR’s nine academic programs for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 using three ratings (1 – does not meet expectations, 2 – meet expectations, and 3 – exceeds expectations).  The purposes of this exercise were: 1) to gain an in-house evaluation of the assessment programs and trends in them, and 2) for assessment coordinators to review assessment tools and practices being used in other academic programs to strengthen their own assessment programs. 

The overall rating of the NREM assessment program was ~ 2, barely meeting standard.  In specific, the NREM’s SLOs were considered requiring improvements (the rating of ~1.8 for the criterion, “SLOs are written correctly and measurable”).  

With these results of the NREM assessment program and the addition of new faculty, it is essential that NREM update its assessment objectives (SLOs) and activities. 

NREM proposes the following assessment activities for the academic year 2010 – 2011:

October 29, 2010                   UHM Assessment Office provides a workshop on 
                                         overview of assessment for NREM faculty and staff 
                                         (graduate student representatives are also invited to 
                                         attend).  At this time, the department reconsiders the
                                         SLOs used in the previous years.  
November 2010 –                  NREM refines and re-develops SLOs for undergraduate 
February 2011                      and graduate programs.
February – April 2011             Determine assessment methodology and/or activities
                                        for each SLO.
June 2011 – September          First year of implementation of revised SLOs.
2012           
   New activities/proposals:
(i) form departmental assessment committee to continue undergraduate and graduate programs assessment
(ii) develop and utilize exit surveys of graduating students to assist the assessment process and adopt a mechanism for maintaining contact with NREM graduates
(iii) promote hiring of an APT position to assist with undergraduate/graduate advising and program assessment (Justification: Expanding undergraduate and graduate program enrollments)