should be able to present
and defend a research plan.
Link to UNCW Learning
Goal: Thoughtful expression
and Information literacy
presented to the
department. Form used for
this assessment is our
Graduate Student
Prospectus Symposium
Evaluation form. Our
assessment tool will be
question #5. This SLO was
created, in part, to help
understand the poor
performance of students on
“breadth of knowledge” in
SLO2 in the 2007-08 year.is assessed by all faculty
members in the department
attending the Graduate
Student Prospectus
symposium. Data on each
student’s project in terms of
quality, design and
significance are collected.
Assessment of this SLO
began in Spring 2009. By
the nature of data
collection, assessment for
this SLO is pooled with the
Marine Biology M.Sc.
program.total of 162 respondents for
this SLO. Faculty evaluated
students in both M.Sc.
programs as continuing to
perform well on this SLO,
with 97% of students to be
satisfactory (59%) or
commendable (39%). These
numbers are similar to
previous years. In 2012-
2013, we collected 259
responses. Faculty deemed
student performance on this
SLO to be excellent with
98% of students to be
satisfactory (63%) or above
(commendable, 36%).results of assessment to
date at the 2014 retreat and
decided that our students
are meeting our
expectations in this SLO and
that no action will be taken.SLO2: A graduate student
should be able to
independently answer
questions regarding their
research field. Link to
UNCW Learning Goal:
Information literacy, critical
thinking, thoughtful
expression.
Oral preliminary exam is
successfully completed. The
student’s committee
evaluates performance in
the exam with a form.Each student in the program
is assessed by each of
his/her committee
members. Data on the
student’s ability to
articulate information, on
the depth and breadth of
their knowledge, and
professional poise are
collected.During 2013-2014 we had
19 respondents for this SLO.
Student performance at
levels 4 or 5 was lower than
last year for articulation
(68%), breadth (63%) and
depth (63%) of knowledge,
and 84% of cases for
demonstrating poise.
In 2012-2013 we had 14
respondents for this SLO.
Faculty assessed students as
performing above the level
of adequate (at levels 4 or
5) in 79% of cases for
articulation, breadth and
depth of knowledge, and in
93% of cases for
demonstrating poise.
In 2011-2012 we had 5
responses to this SLO.
Students were performingStudent performance on
this SLO has been a concern
in the past. Given the small
sample size for this SLO, the
Graduate Assessment
Coordinator recommended
that we carefully monitor
performance for another
year before evaluating
whether any programmatic
changes are warranted. The
fraction of students in 2013-
2014 performing above
adequate for this SLO is
lower than 2012-2013 for
both of our M. Sc.
Programs. The faculty
discussed the results of
assessment to date at the
2014 retreat and decided to
adopt that suggestion. In
addition, the faculty will