Deliver A Curriculum With Appropriate Discipline Specific Knowledge
Students will learn the appropriate advance Applied GIS knowledge and skills.
Objective
Demonstrate Advanced Applied GIS Knowledge And Skills
Each student will demonstrate the ability to communicate knowledge of advanced applied GIS.
Indicator
Mastery Of Advanced Applied GIS Knowledge - Written Comprehensive Exams
All graduate students will demonstrate a mastery of applied GIS knowledge through a set of written graduate comprehensive examinations, administered by a faculty committee. The examination will consist of questions about the practical and theoretical basis for the application of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing techniques to real world problems. A committee of faculty members with expertise in the subject areas will evaluate students’ performance and give a mark of Fail, Pass, or High Pass in each examined area.
Criterion
80% First Time Pass Rate For Written Comprehensive Exams
Each student needs to earn at least a "Pass" mark in each examined area to pass the written comprehensive exams. Each student is allowed two attempts. Faculty expect that at least 80% of graduate students will pass their exam on their first attempt. 100% will pass on their second attempt.
Finding
Written Comprehensive Exams
Comprehensive Examinations (Fall 2013): 6 graduate students were scheduled for examinations. All six students passed the exam for a 100% success rate. Three students scored "High Pass" in at least one examined field.
Comprehensive Examinations (Spring 2014): 9 graduate students were scheduled for examinations. Eight students passed the exam for a 89% success rate. One student failed one examined field and has planned to retake the Examination in Fall 2014. Seven students scored "High Pass" in at least one examined field.
Action
Comprehensive Examinations
Compared to past years, fewer students scored "High Pass" on comprehensive exams. In addition, one student did not pass the exam on the intitial try. It would appear that there is a particular subject matter that students seem to be less than proficient with (generally, related to skills associated with Digital Image Processing). However, a new faculty member, hired in 2013, possesses a high degree of expertise in that particular area. Based on these results, we plan to more clearly designate this subject matter as an explicit component within future comprehensive exams.