OATdb Archive - Sam Houston State University

OATdb Archive

2011 - 2012

Geography And Geology, Department Of

Goal

Quality Faculty

The faculty of the department will provide quality teaching and engage in quality research.

Objective

Quality Teaching

The faculty will provide quality teaching.

KPI

Effective Teachers

The department utilizes the IDEA system as the teaching evaluation instrument. The IDEA system is a nationally normed, validated and reliable measure of classroom performance. All faculty distribute the IDEA evaluations at the end of their classes each semester. The faculty member's scores are then compared to other faculty across the nation. 80% of the faculty in the department will meet or exceed the IDEA score of 50 on the Summary Evaluation in at least half of their classes.

Result

IDEA Summary Evaluation Results

86% of the faculty in the department met or exceeded the IDEA score of 50 on the Summary Evaluation in at least half of their classes. This is the same as last year. 57% of the faculty in the department met or exceeded the IDEA score of 50 on the Summary Evaluation in ALL of their classes.

Action

Evaluation Of Quality Teaching

Only 2 faculty members out of 14 total did not meet this standard. Each of these faculty members taught online courses. The online courses have a very low return rate, to the point where the IDEA scores are rated as being unreliable by the evaluators of the IDEA forms. A way to improve the response rate must be developed. On the bright side, there were several faculty who scored 50 or more on the summary evaluation for all of their courses. Faculty wanting to improve their IDEA scores are encouraged to go to the Professional and Academic Center for Excellence (PACE) Center for workshops and one-on-one help with teaching effectiveness. This type of help would be especially valuable for the online courses. 74% of our on-campus IDEA scores are at or above the institution average. Only 25% of our online IDEA scores are at or above the institution average.

Objective

Quality Research

The department faculty will engage in quality, peer-reviewed research.

KPI

Quality Research

The faculty in the department will publish peer-reviewed books and articles. 80% of the faculty in the department will publish at least one peer-reviewed publication per year.

Result

Peer-reviewed Publications

There are 14 faculty members, but one them is an adjunct. 54% (7 of 13) of the faculty in the department published at least one peer-reviewed publication over the past year. Two of the faculty in the department each published five peer-reviewed publications over the past year. Two of the faculty members that did not have peer-reviewed publications did receive grants, one for $15,000 and one for $16,000. All the faculty, except for the Chair, had at least one publication of some sort (abstract, etc.).

Action

Engagement In Quality, Peer-reviewed Research

Departmental faculty members are encouraged to publish quality, peer-reviewed research. The department will support this by providing time and resources to the faculty members. For example, funding travel for geographical research. Travel for some geographers is equivalent to capital equipment to science faculty. The Chair is working on improving his research production.

Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement During the annual faculty review three areas are addressed: teaching, research, and service. For tenure-track faculty the primary emphasis is placed on teaching and research. The majority of faculty members are doing average or above on the IDEA student evaluations. The only faculty that "appear" to be "struggling" are those teaching a number of online courses. The online courses are notorious for having low return rates and low summary evaluation scores. It is difficult to place much weight on the scores because the return rates are so low that the results are statistically unreliable. A method of improving the return rates in our department is needed because other departments seem to be doing a much better job of this. Possibly linking completion of the IDEA evaluation with the ability to access the final exam. Faculty (especially those teaching online courses) who are looking for ways to improve their teaching methods are encouraged to go to the PACE Center for workshops and/or one-on-one development meetings.

The department needs to improve the level of external funding that is being generated. We have just finished our second year of the graduate program with 25 graduate students, up from 7 graduate students last year. Over 30 graduate students have been admitted for the program in Fall, 2012. Very few of these graduate students are working on the thesis option. This is problematic for the faculty in the graduate program because they are doing a lot of teaching but not getting very much research done by graduate students. The two or three theses will require input from technically-trained faculty as well as content-oriented faculty. This will result in some collaborative publications. The department is also working on developing a Geospatial Technology Center that will serve the entire campus plus off-campus agencies. Dr. Mark Leipnik is a co-investigator on a very large grant proposal. If the proposal is successful, then the grant will fund three graduate assistantships. Dr. Leipnik has also been very active in having graduate students work on "proof-of-concept" projects to help justify a GIS Center. The GIS Center will provide projects for graduate students and faculty. Again, there is high potential for collaborative publications. We also have hired a geologist with ties to the Transportation Institute of Texas. This will also provide opportunities for grants and publications.