Program: Mathematics (BA, BS)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Fri Oct 11, 2013 - 10:10:38 am
1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
Recipients of an undergraduate degree in mathematics are expected to learn, understand, and be able to apply:
- calculus in one and several variables,
- linear algebra and the theory of vector spaces,
- several mathematical topics at the junior and senior level,
- in depth at least one advanced topic of mathematics, an approved two-course sequence.
In addition, students are expected to acquire the ability and skills to:
- develop and write direct proofs, proofs by contradiction, and proofs by induction,
- formulate definitions and give examples and counterexamples,
- read mathematics without supervision,
- follow and explain algorithms,
- apply mathematics to other fields.
Finally, recipients of an undergraduate degree in mathematics are expected to have learned about research in mathematics
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: http://math.hawaii.edu/wordpress/program-goals/
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: http://math.hawaii.edu/wordpress/syllabi/ Other: Other: 3) Select one option:
- File (03/16/2020)
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 assessment activities between June 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning the curriculum to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys or tests, etc.)
Yes No (skip to question 14)6) For the period June 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
According to the Department Assessment Plan, we are committed to assess to what extent our graduating majors meet our program goals.
7) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #6.
All mathematics undergraduate majors are required to take a capstone seminar (Math 480), and as part of it they take the assessment exam. The exam is written, it has three parts, and students are expected to spend in excess of one hour on each part. Students will not receive credit for the course if they do not take the exam. In addition the Math 480 instructor evaluates oral presentations that each student is required to give in the seminar.
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
All of our graduating majors must take the assessment exam, and last year the enrollment for the capstone course was 27.
9) 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: 10) 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: 11) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #6:
Summarize the actual results.
Students did well on basic mathematical reasoning skills (ability to construct and understand proofs). On knowing how to do problems from courses they have taken, results were mixed: half the students did very well, the other half appear to have forgotten a lot of basic material (or they weren't motivated enough to try hard on the assessment exam). In the course, students had to do a research project and give an oral presentation on that project; some of these were really outstanding, others only satisfactory.
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
Results were discussed in the September faculty meeting, and the curriculum committee will discuss any curriculum changes that may be warranted. The main negative issue was that this past year saw a large increase in majors; if this continues, we will add resources to offer more sections of the capstone course.
13) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.
Other assessment options were proposed by last year's instructor to reduce the size of the capstone course. It was decided that the course is important enough to keep in its present form, but offer more sections to reduce size.