Graduates with a Master of Science in Digital Forensics will have a strong technical foundation in the computational sciences.
Objective
Acquisition Of Theoretical Computational And Technical Skills
Students will develop and demonstrate knowledge of theoretical materials, computational and technical skills relevant to Digital Forensics
Indicator
Final Project Assessment
The management project in this degree program is a software engineering or strategic planning project that involves the students identifying a significant development need for a selected client and the design and implementation of an appropriate software or policy solution to that need.
Each student is assigned to a member of the graduate faculty in Digital Forensics as project advisor together with two additional graduate faculty forming the students committee.
The department has established procedures for managing projects including
1. The presentation of project proposals within the first two weeks of the semester. The graduate faculty review and approve or disapprove each proposal.
2. Weekly progress meetings with the project advisor.
3. The evaluation by the complete graduate faculty of each students progress at midterm.
4. the distribution of project activity to the remaining members of each committee.
At the end of the project each students prepares and runs a formal presentation including a description of the project, detailed explanation of the solution used and a demonstration of the completed application.
Criterion
Final Project Assessment
Students graduating will have documented consensus of the Graduate Faculty that they meet professional standard in project design, documentation implementation and presentation.
Finding
Final Project Assessment
Although we had hoped faculty could reach a consensus regarding students’ project performance, faculty did not initially reach a consensus. During the initial discussion some disagreement between faculty perceptions of student performance were evident, particularly in distinguishing between low pass and high pass evaluations.
These differences were resolved and faculty did reach consensus. however the initial disagreements suggested the need for a standardized rubric.
Indicator
Oral Examination
One hour oral examination by the student's committee. The committee consists of three individuals, with one person designated as committee chair.
Students are examined and given a grade of high pass, pass or fail in each of the following areas:
Network Security Cyberlaw Policy and Procedure Digital Forensics Tools and Procedures
and one other area of competence of the students choosing.
Student are prepared by their project advisor and are furnished with a large sample of potential questions together with model answers.
The graduate advisor also runs review sessions for student preparing for their orals.
Criterion
Oral Examination
We expect committee members to issue the same score (high pass, pass or fail) on each of the knowledge areas to each student.
Finding
Oral Examination Findings
During the initial discussion some disagreement between faculty perceptions of student performance were evident, particularly in distinguishing between low pass and high pass evaluations. These differences were resolved and faculty did reach consensus. However the initial disagreements again suggested the need for a standardized rubric.
Action
Project Assessment And Oral Examination Assessment
The department needs to establish a comprehensive rubric for evaluation of final projects in order to achieve a better level of consistency between the faculty. The responsibility for developing such a rubric falls to the chair of the graduate curriculum committee.
In a similar vein, the development of a rubric for the evaluation of students performance in the oral examination is necessary. This responsibility falls to the graduate advisor, Dr. Ji.
Goal
Lifelong Learning
Graduates with a Master of Science in Digital Forensics will have an appreciation for their undergraduate education that encourages the development of lifelong learning habits.
Objective
Professional Association
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the need for professional association and the maintenance of professional currency
Indicator
Alumni Survey
The department administers an alumni survey every two years to gather data from students who have completed their education and have been available for work within the profession for at least two years.
We will use question four (My current career status: [Employed, In Graduate school, Unemployed])
Criterion
Alumni Survey Findings
We expect that 10% or less of respondent will answer question 4 as 'Unemployed' and that the remainder will answer either 'Employed' or 'In Graduate school'
Finding
Alumni Survey Findings
1. Need percent that answered employed/in grad school versus unemployed (90%/10%)
2. Take note of response rate.
Action
Alumni Survey Actions
Although we exceeded our expectations, our response of ____ was too low. Currently we are relying on shsu email accounts, the student organization mailing list and www.linkedin.com (a professional association) to identify and locate our alumni.
These sources do not allow for a consistent and updated contact list. We will make the following changes:
1. Our current reliance on shsu mailing addresses is problematic because student generally abandon their college email address once the graduate. We will add a question to the exit survey asking for a permanent email address they intend to use together with an optional cell phone number.
2. We will perform a search for student names in the top two professional associations (ACM and IEEE).
3. We will continue the use of LinkedIn as means of maintaining contact with alumni and encourage graduating seniors and graduating Masters degree students to join and connect with the department and the university.