Economics Discipline Assessment 2006-2007
Scope of assessment activities
___√__Course-embedded assessment
___√___ Pre- and post-testing
______ Outside the classroom
______ Across the discipline
Direct measures of student learning
______ Capstone experience
______ Portfolio assessment
______ Standardized tests
______ Performance on national licensure, certification or
preprofessional exams
______ Qualitative internal and external juried review of
of comprehensive senior projects
______ Externally reviewed exhibitions and performances in
the arts
______ External evaluation of performance during internships
Discussion and Description
Discipline goals, direct measures, and improved student learning
1. Economics discipline goals. The economics curriculum is designed to ensure that students
á understand the nature and functioning of the market system.
á are able to define criteria for assessing efficiency in the provision of goods and services.
á investigate and assess the operation of economic institutions.
á are able to evaluate alternative policies intended to enhance economic outcomes.
á develop competence in quantitative methods and computing methods.
á are able to conceptualize and analyze problems using the tools of economic theory, and communicate the results.
á are competent in oral and written communication.
á are adequately prepared for graduate or professional school.
2. Discipline goals and course work
The assessment plan relates discipline goals to the economics courses where they will be met.
3. Course-embedded assessment
Money, Banking, and Financial Markets. In this upper division class, the instructor identified two broad learning objectives that students should meet, and for each objective established three criteria for determining whether students had met them. The assessment tool was a multi-part in-class essay question admininstered two months into the semester and again near the end of the semester. The instructor then ranked each studentÕs performance on each criterion as good, fair or poor. The results[1] show improvement in student learning that is more often dramatic than not.
General education categories spanned by the discipline
Almost all economics courses bear one of the following general education designators: SS, human behavior, social processes, and institutions; IP, international perspective; HDiv, human diversity; M/SR, mathematical/ symbolic reasoning; Hist, historical perspectives; or Envt, people and the environment. Directed study and the seminar for social science majors bear no general education designator.