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 61% on a series of specific concept questions embedded in a comprehensive final exam. Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 74% on a separate, yet very similar, series of concept questions. Both scores were generally consistent with overall overages on the respective final exams. The scores among students enrolled in GEOG 1301 were slightly lower than those from the previous year, although the scores among those enrolled in GEOG 1321 definitely did improve.

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 64% 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 69% on a similar series of questions. Students enrolled in both courses consistently scored lower than expected on questions requiring the interpretation of graphs and charts, but scores for both courses did improve, particularly in the case of GEOG 1301.  Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 averaged 59% on such questions, while students enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 63%.  Students enrolled in both courses scored signficantly lower than expected on questions requiring the interpretation of basic statistics. Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 averaged 54% on such questions, while those enrolled in GEOG 1321 averaged 55% on them.

Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 continue to exhibit a satisfactory level of competency in regards to basic geographic concepts, while students enrolled in GEOG 1301 continue to exhibit degrees of competency slightly below that level.  In both cases, students generally scored as high on questions pertaining to these concepts as they did on exams as a whole. Students also continue to score below satisfactory levels on questions focused upon major geographical concepts and critical thinking. However, such scores did increase for both sets of students, particularly for those students enrolled in GEOG 1301. Regardless of such improvement, there remains a continued need to enhance student knowledege of such concepts. As has been identified in the past, it remains vividly evident that the effectiveness of GEOG 1321, relative to GEOG 1301, in terms of fostering such knowledge is directly due to the smaller class sizes associated with this course. Moreover, students enrolled in GEOG 1301 (Weather & Climate) represent a cross-section of the universtiy who are typically attempting to fulfill a science requirement.  By comparison, at least some students enrolling in GEOG 1321 (People, Place & the Environment) probably do so because they possess at least some pre-exisiting interest in the course beforehand.  With this in mind, we plan to continue to more strongly incorporate the teaching of major concepts and critical thinking skills in smaller lab sections of Weather & Climate.  We will also continue to replicate methodologies found to be successful in GEOG 1321 in other geography courses, including Weather & Climate. It should be noted that considerable efforts to address major geographic concepts and critical thinking skills were implemented within these two courses while they were being redeveloped to comply with the new Core Curriculum, which will go into effect in Fall 2014.

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 on average 70% on those questions pertaining to the world in spatial terms. This score is slightly lower than the score found the previous year, but still meets expectations. Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 scored on average 63% on questions assessing this concept. Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored on average 69% on questions pertaining to concepts of places and regions, a higher score than was found the previous year. Students enrolled in GEOG 1301 scored on average 60% on such questions, a lower score than was realized previously.  In those two assessment areas, students generally performed as well as they did on exams as a whole. Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored 65% on questions pertaining to physical systems, while students enrolled in GEOG 1301 scored 64% on such questions.  Both scores were slightly increased from that of the previoius year. 

While there remains considerable room for improvement in the delivery of basic concepts of physical geography, scores for students enrolled in GEOG 1321 suggest improvement in terms of the delivery of this subject area - at least within this particular course.  Scores for GEOG 1301, however, did decrease slightly.  The lack of improvment within this course partially stems from the larger class sizes, but is almost certainly also due to the fact that this particular course has been designed to place direct attention on a narrow dimension of this broad subject area.  The scores for questions assessing knowledge of "places and regions," while improving among students enrolled in GEOG 1321, still remain below the expected level.  We have already began assessing student outcomes in this subject area in two separate courses (GEOG 2355 & GEOG 2356) that focus directly on this topic, but results are not yet in a format that could be reported within this assessment cycle. Both of these courses were recently redesigned in order to comply with the new Core Curriculum and this process was done with the need to meet this goal in mind. In Sping 2014 a new Environmental Geography course was offered for the first time, a course that directly focuses on concepts of physical systems.  Accordingly, we fully expect to offer a more thoroughly assessment of the progams success in meeting this goal by next year.

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 scored an averagoe of 74% on a set of questions focused upon human systems.  Students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored an average of 67% on those same questions. Students enrolled in GEOG 3350 scored 65% on questions concerning the interaction of the environment and society, while students enrolled in GEOG 1321 scored an average of 62% on these questions.  

Results of this assessment suggest that geography students continue to possess adequate knowledge of various aspects of cultural geography, particularly those enrolled in GEOG 3350.  In previous assessments student scores for both relevant courses, GEOG 1321 & GEOG 3350, were aggregated.  Upon recording and reporting the results from the two courses separately, it becomes apparent that students enrolled in GEOG 3350 do signficantly better than students enrolled in GEOG 1321.  This is largely the function of the fact that students enrolled in GEOG 3350 tend to be juniors and seniors, while GEOG 1321 generally enrolls far more newly incoming students, particularly freshmen.  Moreover, GEOG 3350 (Cultural Geography) directly focuses on the relevant subject matter.  Students enrolled in these courses do less than than expected in terms of demonstrating satisfactory knowledge of interactions between the environment and society.  Future assessments will present the results for students enrolled in a new course (GEOG 2301; Environmental Geography) offerred for the first time in Spring 2014.  Thus, we are confident we can convey a better idea of how well geography students are doing in this subject area during the next assessment cycle.