Assessments

Mission & Vision
Program Objectives
Student Outcomes
Outcomes Matrix
Outcomes-Objective Matrix
Master Schedule
Assessment Process

Mission & Visiontop

The vision of the Department of Computer Science is to equip our graduates with the knowledge and expertise to contribute significantly to the computer science and information technology industry and to apply techniques learned toward continued growth.The Mission of the computer science department is:

To provide the environment and educational experiences that will enable our students to achieve their educational goals, and to be successful in the workplace and/or successful in graduate school.
To provide our students with the desire and the ability for long-term learning that will be necessary in the changing field of computer science.
To provide our students with a basis for ethical behavior, conduct, and responsibility for computer science professionals.
To conduct scholarly research in computer science and related fields.
To provide professional service to the university and regional community.

Program Objectivestop

Graduates will have a solid foundation in the principles of computer science and will have applied that knowledge to a variety of problems.
Graduates will have demonstrated a pattern of effective oral and written communication on technical topics.
Graduates will have undertaken complex problems and developed appropriate technical solutions.
Graduates will have demonstrated appropriate professional attitudes and ethics.
Graduates will have demonstrated a pattern of effective teamwork and leadership skills within a technical project setting.

Student Outcomestop

Our students will be able to apply fundamental concepts of computer science including algorithms and data structures.
Our students will have an understanding of the fundamental principles of discrete mathematics.
Our students will have an understanding of the modern computer systems.
Our students will have an understanding of the fundamental principles of programming languages.
Our students will be proficient in an object oriented programming language.
Our students will be able to write and orally report on project proposals, ideas, and solutions with clarity and accuracy.
Our students will be able to design, implement and test a software system as part of a group of developers for a customer.
Our students will have demonstrated effective teamwork skills within a project setting.
Our students will have an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.

In addition:

Several of our students will be involved in funded research projects, as well as government and industrial internships.
Several of our students will be involved in the local ACM chapter which includes participation in the annual ACM programming contest.

Outcomes Matrixtop

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Outcomes-Objectives Matrixtop

Open Outcomes-Objectives Matrix in new window.

Master Scheduletop

Open full Assessment Master Schedule in new window.
Assessment materials will be collected from all courses during Fall 2006 and Spring 2007.
Then we will collect materials from each course on a two year cycle indicated above as YEAR I (odd/even year) and YEAR II (even/odd year). Note data is collected from CS 1043 and CS 2001 each year. Also CS 4503 and CS 4513 are very important courses, and the assessment data is collected from these courses every semester they are taught.
Each entry indicates the type of data collected. For some courses we collect data from Programming/project assignments, some from performance on final examinations and some courses from both. Courses that collect both types of assessment data (CS 2003, CS 2123, CS 3053, CS 4013) will collect one type one year and the other type the next year as indicated above.
Note we are collection data for CS 1043 but the results are not used to assess any objective or outcome because it to too low level. However this course is extremely important as if feeds our higher level programming courses, so we are monitoring student programming progress in this course.

Assessment Processtop

The Department Chair of Computer Science will oversee the assessment process. Assessment materials will be collected by the faculty according to the following schedule: Senior Exit Survey (Each Spring semester), Course survey (each semester as needed), Instructor Feedback (each semester), Rubrics to assess student performance (each semester the course is taught, except summer). The department chair will evaluate these materials in consultation with the faculty of the department as necessary and appropriate. The Department Chair will document any areas of concern and document any corresponding action taken by the faculty regarding concerns or updates or enhancements to the curriculum. The primary means of documentation will be minutes of faculty meetings, and/or individual discussions among faculty concerning curriculum. This process is designed to ensure that:

Program Objectives are defined or redefined and periodically evaluated
Student Outcomes are continually monitored and
Results of assessment are applied to continually develop and improve the program.