Students completing core education in geography will be able to demonstrate foundational knowledge of geographic principles and concepts about the physical world.

Students completing core curriculum education in geography will be able to demonstrate foundational knowledge of geographic concepts and principles, including critical thinking.

Common embedded questions on the comprehensive final exam will determine student knowledge regarding general geographic concepts.

The average scores will be 70% correct on the general geographic concept questions embedded in the comprehensive exam.

Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 averaged 62% on a series of specific concept questions embedded in a comprehensive final exam. Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 71% on a separate, yet similar, series of concept questions.  These scores were generally consistent with overall averages on the final exams as a whole, but did decline slightly from the previous year.   

The final faculty-developed comprehensive exam will indicate students' grasp of major geographic principles, including critical thinking.

The average score will be 70% correct of the major geographic principles and critical thinking items embedded on the comprehensive exam.

Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 averaged 66% on a series of questions focused on competency with major principles and critical thinking skills that were embedded in a comprehensive exam. Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 67% on similar series of questions.  Students enrolled in both courses scored lower than expected on questions requiring the interpretation of graphs, but scores for GEOG 1321 represent a noticeable improvement from the previous year. Students enrolled GEOG 1301 averaged 53% on such questions, while students enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 62%.   

Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 exhibited a satisfactory level of competency in regards to basic geographical concepts, while students enrolled in GEOG 1301 continue to exhibit a degree of competency slightly below that level.  In both cases, students generally scored as high on questions pertaining to these concepts as they did on the exams as a whole. Students enrolled in those two courses scored below a satisfactory level on questions focused upon major geographical concepts and critical thinking.  However, average scores for students enrolled in GEOG 1321 suggest that this year’s students were more competent with these major concepts than were students from the previous academic year.  Despite modest improvement, there remains a need to significantly enhance student knowledge of such concepts.  This is especially true in regards to critical thinking, particularly for those students enrolled in GEOG 1301.  The higher scores exhibited in this area (major geographic concepts and critical thinking) among students enrolled in GEOG 1321 probably represent the smaller class sizes associated with this particular class.  The higher scores for this class probably also reflect a more focused attempt to emphasize these concept. In comparison to GEOG 1321, there are multiple sections of GEOG 1301 (Weather & Climate) enroll larger numbers of students and are offered in large lecture halls.  These sections are also taught by a variety of faculty members. With this in mind, we plan to continue more strongly incorporating the demonstration of major concepts and critical thinking skills in smaller laboratory sections (GEOG 1101; Weather & Climate Lab). We will also attempt to identify methodologies found to be effective in GEOG 1321 and consider replicating them in other geography courses.

Students completing the core  education in  geography will demonstrate knowledge of physical geography including the world in spatial terms, places and regions, and physical systems.

Students will correctly answer the embedded questions on exams throughout the semester that address physical geography.  The areas of emphasis include the world in spatial terms, places and regions, and physical systems.

Students will score 70% correct on those questions pertaining to each of the three areas of emphasis concerning physical geographical concepts.

Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored an average of 72% on those questions pertaining to the world in spatial terms.   Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 scored an average of 66% on questions assessing this concept.  Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored an average of 66 % on those questions pertaining to the concepts of places and regions, while students enrolled in GEOG 1301 scored an average of 63% on questions pertaining to these two concepts. In these two areas (world in spatial terms; places and regions), students generally performed as well as they did on the overall exams as a whole. However, the scores for students in both classes declined somewhat from the previous year. Students enrolled in both courses scored an average of 63% on questions pertaining to physical systems, which is below the average scores on exams as a whole.  

There remains considerable room for improvement in the delivery of basic concepts of physical geography. On a positive note, results of this assessment suggest that students completing geography courses generally possess an adequate ability to utilize maps and other graphical tools. They also slightly increased their ability to demonstrate knowledge specific to physical systems.  Students performed slightly below a satisfactory level on questions focused on “places and regions.” Scores from this year’s assessment suggest that students performed less well in this area than was the case in previous years. This very well could reflect the fact that such questions were posed to students enrolled in different classes with varied foci than in earlier years. Perhaps more directly, the courses that were assessed are not directly focused on that dimension of geography. We fully expect to enhance student knowledge in this area by offering a new course on Environmental Geography, a course that will be offered for the first time in Spring 2014. We also plan to expand our assessment approach to include additional courses that more directly focus on “places and regions” (GEOG 2355 and 2356).

Students completing the core courses required for a Geography degree will demonstrate knowledge of cultural geography including both human systems and the interaction between the environment and society.

Students completing the core courses required for a Geography degree will demonstrate knowledge of cultural geography including both human systems and the interaction between the environment and society.

Students will correctly answer the embedded questions on exams during the semester that address cultural geography.  The areas of emphasis include human systems and the environment and society.

Students will score 70% correct on those questions pertaining to each of the two areas of emphasis associated with cultural geography concepts.

Students enrolled in GEOG 3350 and GEOG 1321 scored an average of 73% on a set of questions focused upon human systems.  Those same students scored an average of 62% on questions concerning the interaction of the environment and society.

Results of this assessment suggest that geography students continue to possess adequate knowledge of various aspects of cultural geography, including the knowledge of characteristics, distributions, organizations and movement of human, economic and cultural related phenomena.   Student scores on relevant questions assessing these concepts were slightly lower than was the case in the previous academic year, but continue to suggest that the delivery of cultural geography remains a strength of our program.  However, students do continue to exhibit less than satisfactory knowledge of interactions between the environment and society.  Student learning in this area of cultural geography will be significantly enhanced once the new Environmental Geography is offered. The future addition of other courses that focus on physical and environmental geography should also enhance the delivery of this subject matter.