Assurance of Learning

Assurance of learning is the continuous improvement process the College of Business uses to make sure students are learning what we say they should know at the successful completion of their program.

There is an initial process of defining learning goals and objectives and then of aligning the curriculum with those goals. Following iterations of that process allow for refining the goals and objectives or changing them based on student and market needs and expectations. 

There is a second process that iterates at least once every five years but often more than that in which we assess how our students are doing in each of the learning goals (pretest), analyze the data, develop and deploy appropriate interventions that we expect will improve our students relevant learning, and reassess how our students are doing (posttest). 

Assurance of Learning Diagram

Program Learning Goals

Learning goals are broad statements that describe the knowledge or abilities that we want our graduates from a given program to have at the end of the program. The College of Business initially defined these goals in 2008. Since then, program goals have been changed or refined to better reflect the current expectations for our graduates given the feedback from major stakeholders (alumni, employers, advisory board, etc). Any changes or refinements have to be approved by the majority of the college faculty.

 

College of Business  

Business Programs Learning Goals (PLGs) 

 

COMMON UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS (PLGs)

Upon graduation, our students should:

UC1.         Have a fundamental knowledge of basic business concepts & practices

UC2.         Have effective communication skills in creating business documents and delivering                                business presentations

UC3.         Have a well-developed ethical perspective

UC4.         Have the ability to integrate global perspectives in business decisions

UC5.         Be able to use technology to support business communication

UC6.         Be effective critical thinkers in business contexts

SPECIFIC PROGRAM UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS (PLGs)

BS in Accounting

UACC1. Have appropriate accounting knowledge and skills

BA in Economics

UECO1. Have a fundamental knowledge of economic concepts and theory

 

GRADUATE PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS (PLGs)

Upon graduation, our students should:

MBA

GMBA1. Have a well-integrated knowledge of the functional areas of business

GMBA2. Be effective at team leadership in a business context

GMBA3. Have technology skills to support business analysis

GMBA4. Be skilled at business analysis to solve problems

GMBA5.Be effective communicators in facilitating organizational decision-making processes

GMBA6. Be skilled at ethical analyses in business contexts

GMBA7.Be able to apply knowledge and skills to generate solutions to address complex global business challenges

MS in Accounting

GACC1. Have advanced accounting knowledge and skills

GACC2. Have technology skills to meet the needs of the accounting profession

GACC3. Have problem solving skills to meet the needs of the accounting profession

GACC4.Be effective communicators in facilitating organizational decision-making processes

GACC5. Be skilled at ethical analyses in business contexts

GACC6.Be able to apply knowledge and skills to generate solutions to address complex global business challenges

MS in MIS

GMIS1. Have appropriate technicalknowledge and skills

GMIS2. Be effective at team leadership in a business context

GMIS3. Have technology skills to support business analysis

GMIS4. Be skilled at business analysis to solve problems

GMIS5.Be effective communicators in facilitating organizational decision-making processes

GMIS6. Be skilled at ethical analyses in business contexts

GMIS7.Be able to apply knowledge and skills to generate solutions to address complex global business challenges

 

MS in HRM

 GMSHRM1. Have a well-integrated knowledge of the functional areas of human resource management

GMSHRM2. Be effective at team leadership in a business context

GMSHRM3. Have technology skills to support human resource management analysis

GMSHRM4. Be skilled at human resource management analysis to solve problems

GMSHRM5.Be effective communicators in facilitating organizational decision-making processes

GMSHRM6. Be skilled at ethical analyses in business contexts

GMSHRM7.Be able to apply knowledge and skills to generate solutions to address complex global business challenges

MS in Business Analytics

GMSBA1. Decision Making – Solve business problems and make decisions informed by data

GMSBA2. Analytics Methodologies and Tools – Access, collect, extract, manipulate and analyze data to support analysis for business

GMSBA3. Communication Skills – Communicate business problems, analysis, and results to key stakeholders

GMSBA4. Collaboration and Teamwork – Lead and participate in projects with diverse teams to reach common goals

 

 



 

 

Assessment Cycle

The assessment cycle or loop is made up of primarily four steps:

  • Develop (or refine) a measure 
  • Assess student artifacts 
  • Develop and deploy an improvement intervention 
  • Reassess student artifacts 

These loops are continuous until the learning goal is considered to have been fully accomplished or it becomes a lower priority compared to other potential goals. The loops for each learning goal are independent and are generally at different stages to make the comprehensive process manageable.

Assessments take place at specific points in time. Interventions, once implemented, are ongoing and become part of the standard operating procedure unless they are found to be ineffective or counterproductive in which case they are aborted. The effectiveness of an intervention is determined by comparing the results of the reassessment (posttest) to the initial assessment (pretest). The statement “closing the loop” refers to the process of assessing if the intervention was successful or not (reassessing new students’ artifacts).

 

 

 

 

AOL Coordinator

For more information about GSU College of Business Assurance of Learning process, please contact the Director of Accreditation and Assessment, Dr. Carlos Ferran, cferran@govst.edu