Practical Application Of National Security Principles
Practical Application of National Security Principles
Objective
Demonstrate Practicable Solutions And Knowledge Base
Students completing the Master of Science degree in Security Studies will be able to provide comprehensive analysis and apply problem solving techniques to complex issues applicable to defense of the Homeland.
Indicator
Successful Performance In Practical Exercises And Internship
Integration of theoretical approaches to problem solving with practical analytical solutions is a primary indicator of the success of the program. During the Internship students routinely receive critiques and personal evaluations from both the faculty member monitoring the student and the employer who supervises the student intern. In addition, students provide periodic written progress reports during the internship. Immediate performance feedback is provided to students so that the student will be able to improve their performances if warranted.
Criterion
85% Of Security Studies Students Will Score Greater Than 85% For Their Internship And Practical Exercises
It is not enough to perform well in the classroom. Nearly each course students take in the Security Studies program requires successful completion of some measurable out-of-class project. Students will score greater than 85% on these exercises. Moreover, successful completion of the required Internship with an 85% score provides a critical evaluation for students seeking to graduate from the program.
Finding
87% Of Security Studies Students Scored Greater Than 85% For Their Internship And Practical Exercises
As noted in the indicator section, security studies students are routinely engaged in out of classroom exercises that task their imagination and creativity as well as their organizational and briefing skills. In addition, during their internships students are evaluated by faculty as well as the intern’s employer. As faculty we strongly stress this level of student participation as preparation for entering the workforce. During this reporting period, students exceeded our expectations with 87% of our students scoring greater than 85% on their out of class projects and internship evaluations. Successful completion of the required internship with an 85% score provides a critical evaluation for students seeking to graduate from the program as it expands their base of experience and potential employers evaluate their employability.
Action
Improve Projects? Quality And Variety Of Electives Available
Even though the goal of 87% of students meeting our performance objective was achieved more work needs to be done to improve the quality of our outside projects. To this end, additional practical exercises supported by the cooperation of other classes will be introduced. Moreover, the faculty responded to student input to provide a wider variety of electives available to them in order to achieve this variation in project variability. For example, one new elective is a two part course that spans two semesters of instruction and, following completion, students are qualified to receive certificates in crisis management.
Goal
Demonstrate Core Competency
Demonstrate Core Competency
Objective
Demonstrate Knowledge And Integration Of Core Competencies
Students graduating with a MS in Security Studies will demonstrate comprehensive assessment of the major issues and principles related to Homeland Security through integration of core knowledge and core competencies.
Indicator
Integrated Major Paper Rubric
The Capstone course, CJ688, for Security Studies students requires substantial research and integration of theories and principles of completed coursework in order to successfully complete the Paper’s requirements. The project requires students to state a Homeland Security or related issue and put it in context of the related security field; conduct a comprehensive literature review of the issue and analyze the issue in terms of a security problem or situation and explain how the situation was resolved and provide thoughtful insight into how the issue may have been resolved differently. Through this analysis of the problem’s solution, strengths and weaknesses in the mastery of core competencies emerge.
Criterion
At Least 80% Of Students Will Score 80% Or Better
80% is considered a minimum standard and students will receive incremental feedback during the research process to ensure appropriate topical progress is being made. As we noted in 2010-2011, we seek to determine if our revisions improve the areas of writing, analysis and research techniques, weaknesses that emerged last year.
Finding
90% Of Security Studies Students Scored 80% Or Better In The Capstone Course
Successful completion of the Capstone course is a graduation requirement, but, more than that, it provides the student an opportunity to expand the knowledge base in a topic that is specifically interesting to them. In evaluating the quality of these compositions it is easy to determine who has put in the work and done the research. Students are encouraged to choose topics that will generate self-interest and those students that do this score better. Students are afforded the opportunity to not only expand their knowledge base but also their writing and analytic skills. An evaluation of their writing shows that over the course of their two years in the program, that, for most students, their ability to express themselves on paper has markedly improved. We believe this is a result of greater emphasis on writing skills in all security studies courses.
Action
Work To Improve Writing And Research Skills
The Security Studies faculty places a premium on the ability of students to express themselves on paper and to demonstrate certain analytical skills that complement their research capabilities. In this regard we are working to hire an analysis instructor who will have the mandate to teach the analytic writing style and analytic research methods that will complement the research methods course. The payoff for this will be better quality student papers and a better Capstone course result.