Annual Program Assessment Report - BS: Business
Prepared by Margareta Knopik | (406)683-7205 | m_knopik@umwestern.edu

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
2007 Annual Program Summary Report

Due to departmental student growth in fall 2006 and faculty discussions focusing on quality control issues, the formal departmental assessment plans were not finalized until late January 2007. Thus, survey feedback was delayed and the information received was based on very low numbers. However, this did not preclude the department from making changes based on assessment information, both quantitative and anecdotal.

2006-2007 Academic Year
The Department identified expected graduate outcomes in the three primary competencies that graduates are expected to have mastered: discipline-specific knowledge, communication skills, and problem-solving skills. Within each of the three competency areas are specific benchmarks that, while reinforced throughout the curriculum, have been tied to particular courses for primary responsibility and to measure student progress at particular points in the program.

Discussion of Results
Discipline-Specific
The discipline-specific skills for business graduates are those necessary for broad-based understanding of how economics and commerce work. These are skills such as accounting, management, marketing, economics, elements of business law, and use of technology. Based on information gleaned from the surveys as well as anecdotal evidence, it appears the business students are achieving adequate levels of mastery. However, there are some areas of concern. The survey results from the internship supervisors, the graduates, and their employers, indicated possible problems with the more quantitative subjects: accounting, finance, economic modeling, and quantitative analysis. These findings are supported by two anecdotal examples.

During the fall 2006 term, the strategic management class (BUS 426) participated in a real-time, global simulation in which they competed against students from around the world. The feedback provided by the simulation highlighted positive attributes (two of the four UMW teams placed within the top ten overall performers during the three-week block) as well as opportunities for improvement as it was clearly apparent from the online quiz (graded by the simulation administrators) that UMW business students have very weak financial analysis skills. The poor financial analysis performance could be due to the specific discipline courses, but is more likely a result of department faculty failure to reiterate and reinforce skills in multiple courses, holding students accountable for material covered earlier in their collegiate programs. A second example supported this view: A student on an internship in spring 2007 was given a 40-question standardized test covering verbal, mathematic, and reasoning skills by the site supervisor. The student scored less than 70% on the verbal section—all of which was covered in the required business communications course (BUS 217).

There appeared to be no significant problems concerning use of office technology.

Of primary importance, the ability of both the business interns and the graduates to interact successfully in a business setting, came through clearly from both the internship supervisors and the employers, although, as one comment indicated, “…communication and marketing applications should be more contemporary.”

Communication
Again, for the most part the responding graduates appeared to be satisfied with their ability to communicate—both orally and in writing. However, the internship supervisors were more critical and recommended more attention be paid to the students’ writing skills. Again, two examples to support these findings:

Two students completing their internships during the 2006-2007 year demonstrated very poor skills in writing emails. The first came to the Department’s attention through a weekly internship report and the second as feedback from the internship supervisor, who was very embarrassed about an email sent to the organization’s customers.

Finally, the internship requirement is an integral and essential component of business administration education at UMW and it has grown to the point where a person is needed to devote full-time attention to the management of the program. Internship supervisors, while very pleased with the students, indicated they would have liked more interaction with the University.

Problem-Solving
Perhaps one of the most disturbing findings from the survey (albeit based on very low numbers) is the indication that students may not have an appropriate appreciation of business ethics. While the specific circumstances are not known, this is a serious concern to the Department faculty.

Analysis and Adjustments
Any adjustments made by the Department to address the weaknesses identified above will be made within a new curricular structure designed and approved for implementation in fall 2007-2008.

The new structure reflects more contemporary business administration programs around the country in that the core courses, required of all business students, not only lay the traditional broad-based business administration foundation (common body of knowledge) but also meet the MBA prerequisite requirements of the regional programs. The Department then determined that UMW business students overwhelmingly intend to either work in small business or create their own small business. Given this information the option areas were designed to provide industry-specific, small business exposure with strong emphasis on an understanding of entrepreneurship, appropriate technology and the operation of global markets appropriate to small businesses.

Furthermore, the Department took a look at faculty staffing in terms of better meeting student needs. Two additional full-time, tenure-track faculty will be on board by fall 2007. With the growth of students combined with the curricular changes, it was determined the Department needed additional marketing, management, and economics expertise. Additionally, duties have been delegated so that one person is responsible for scheduling, one for budgeting, one to oversee ongoing assessment information collection, a person will coordinate and manage online course development, and one person has been dedicated to internship management. It is anticipated that these changes will enable the department to continue to grow without compromising educational quality. Given these changes, once the assessment information was analyzed and discussed, it became apparent that (1) faculty members will have to become more engaged in the degree program as a whole (rather than focused only on the courses they teach) in terms of providing and getting feedback from faculty of linked courses; and, (2) the proposed portfolio that business students will be required to build and maintain over the course of their degree work (beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year) will be an essential assessment component to which the business faculty must refer on a regular basis, regardless of the courses they teach.

A second, indirect assessment tool made available to the department in spring of 2007 was the report presenting results of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory administered in December 2006. While the number of business students surveyed was very small (13), the following indicators emerged:

Academic advising appears to be adequate, but below UMW advising performance as an institution. The department is considering consolidating freshmen/sophomore advising to assure no one (new students as well as transfer students) “slips through a crack,” to make sure they develop a degree plan and understand where to go for help. Furthermore, as part of the portfolio development process students will receive flash drives with department-specific information preloaded, which may help clarify advising issues, as well.

Likewise, instructional and registration effectiveness was ranked a little higher in terms of importance by the business students than by the UMW general population, and it appears the Department is not doing as well in these areas as the institution as a whole, either. Part of this could be caused by the growth in student numbers putting pressure on existing faculty time. The department received approval for two additional full time faculty members beginning fall 2007-2008, which should be reflected in all three categories (advising, instruction, and registration process). Feedback from adjunct instructors also illustrates the need to develop and maintain a departmental faculty orientation and inclusion program, which will impact instructional effectiveness, as well.