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 program competency 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 competency 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 Competency Goals

Program competency 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  

Program Competency Goals

 

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM COMPETENCY GOALS

Upon Graduation, our students should:

Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration

1. Demonstrate fundamental competence in business disciplines.

2. Utilize effective communication skills appropriate for a diverse real-world business environment.

3. Apply technology to support business decision-making.

4. Integrate global, ethical, and social responsibility perspectives in analyzing business issues.

 

Bachelor of Arts in Business and Applied Science

1. Demonstrate fundamental competence in business disciplines.

2. Utilize effective communication skills appropriate for a diverse real-world business environment.

3. Apply technology to support business decision-making.

4. Integrate global, ethical, and social responsibility perspectives in analyzing business issues.

 

Bachelor of Arts in Manufacturing Management

1. Demonstrate fundamental competence in business disciplines.

2. Utilize effective communication skills appropriate for a diverse real-world business environment.

3. Apply technology to support business decision-making.

4. Integrate global, ethical, and social responsibility perspectives in analyzing business issues.

 

Bachelor of Arts in Economics

1. Demonstrate fundamental competence in economics.

2. Utilize effective communication skills appropriate for a diverse real-world business environment.

3. Apply technology to support business decision-making.

4. Integrate global, ethical, and social responsibility perspectives in analyzing business issues.

 

Bachelor of Science in Accounting

1. Demonstrate fundamental competence in business disciplines.

2. Utilize effective communication skills appropriate for a diverse real-world business environment.

3. Apply technology to support business decision-making.

4. Integrate global, ethical, and social responsibility perspectives in analyzing business issues.

5. Demonstrate fundamental competence in financial, managerial, cost, & tax accounting, accounting information systems, and auditing.

 

  

GRADUATE PROGRAM COMPETENCY GOALS

Upon graduation, our students should:

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

1.Integrate knowledge and skills across various functional areas of business.

2.Determine solutions to business challenges by applying technology.

3.Assess and analyze the potential impact of ethical issues in business contexts.

4.Evaluate, and propose solutions to, complex global business challenges.

 

Master of Science in Accounting (MSA)

1.Analyze and solve accounting-related problems

2.Apply technology to meet the needs of the accounting profession

3.Demonstrate social and ethical sensitivities in a complex and global business environment

4.Apply accounting knowledge and skills to generate solutions to address complex global business challenges.

 

Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA)

1. Decision Making: Solve business problems and make decisions informed by data.

2. Analytics Methodologies and Tools: Access, collect, extract, prepare, and analyze data to support analysis for business.

3. Communication Skills: Communicate business problems, analysis, and results to key stakeholders.

4. Collaboration and Teamwork: Lead and participate in projects with diverse teams to reach common goals.

 

Master of Science in Human Resource Management (MSHRM)

1. Human Resource Expertise: Apply broad-based HR knowledge to develop strategically- aligned responses to enhance organizational effectiveness.

2. Ethical Practice: Generate effective solutions that align with organizational values and professional ethical standards for HR.

3. Visionary HR Leadership: Appraise complex organizational situations and justify the appropriate change management initiatives.

4. Analytic Decision-Making: Analyze data using information technology resources to direct and evaluate HR decisions.

5. Communication: Craft messages for high visibility organizational issues and communicate them effectively with various modalities.

6. Global and Cultural Acumen: Integrate perspectives on cultural differences to ensure cross- cultural harmony and organizational success.

 

 

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 competency 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. The effectiveness of an intervention is determined by comparing the results of another assessment (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).

 

 

 

 

Director of Accreditation & Assessment

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