Fifth Year Maintenance Report - University of Minnesota

• Acquire knowledge of core areas of business.
− As measured by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Major Field Test (MFT)
in Business, our students have very successfully met this goal (the LSBE mean
response was higher than the mean responses for all schools in all nine core
areas). However, when LSBE assessed core areas with class-embedded measures,
results varied, as will be discussed.
• Acquire knowledge of marketing.
− Most of the targets were achieved. Faculty have verified the ten dimensions to be
assessed, have revised the instrument, and will implement the new instrument in
the next formal administration.
• Acquire knowledge of strategic management.
− After the initial assessment, faculty changed focus (in the course) from merely
providing students with awareness to providing students with understanding of
Porter’s Five Forces. Later assessment indicates that this change was successful in
achieving the desired outcomes.
• Recognize, describe and interpret the impact of economic trends and ethics on business
behavior and organizational activities. The faculty offered suggestions for future
assessments of these issues.
There were areas where the desired outcome measures were not totally met and where significant
changes were needed:
• Acquire quantitative knowledge and skills that can be used to evaluate situations.
− Students did very poorly in the assessment. As a result, faculty have now
implemented changes in curriculum (mandatory math placement based on ACT
math scores, instead of suggested math placement).
• Acquire skills in the use of information technology.
− Students did poorly in the 2005, 2007, and 2008 assessments. Assessment
instruments have been revised and the coverage of topics is being improved as
instructors are working together to create consistency in the offering. The LSBE
laptop requirement is also part of the proposed solution to the problems identified,
and has been implemented. The course has been modified based on all of our
assessments and is being field-tested during the Summer 2009 offering.
• Acquire knowledge of accounting.
−
When measured using our own instruments, students achieved only some of the
desired outcomes. Changes in the assessment instrument as well as requiring all
accounting faculty to cover the required concepts have been implemented.
Ongoing discussion and monitoring among accounting faculty are occurring.
• Acquire knowledge of finance.
−
When measured using our own instruments, students achieved only some of the
desired outcomes. As a result, finance faculty changed the emphasis placed on
various topics in the course. After pre-testing the new strategy, the finance faculty
determined that the problem was more in the assessment instrument itself. The
faculty are in the process of making the necessary changes to the instrument.
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