BS Mining Engineering

 

Assessment results and how they have been used to improve the degree program

2003-04 Academic Year Faculty Outcomes Assessment

1. Review present curriculum, course materials and make decisions about curricular changes in conjunction with feedback from ILB Audit Committee and Alumni Surveys.

a. Need stronger thermodynamics component – add Engr 211K
b. Electrical circuits is strong enough – reduce units by changing ECE 207 to Engr 211M
c. Too many surveying units – reduce units changing MNE 410 1 unit to MNE 412 2 units and drop CE surveying 3 units
d. Need more economics to support MNE 430 and design courses – require ECON for gen ed and add Engr 211P
e. Need more mine design – change MNE 435 to separate surface and underground design classes for 5 units; add capstone design course
f. Need more writing/communication skill development – add 296/396 seminar series to focus on technical writing and proposal writing as a lead up to senior design
g. Need more environmental topics – add 3 units on sustainable resource development
h. Need more exposure to modern computer tools – add 1 unit mine planning software course; create mine design lab with plotter, digitizer, and licenses of MinTec software

2. Create spreadsheets that allow us to quantify L-M-H ratings for outcomes by looking at point distribution within each class – created by Dr. Dessereault

3. Create spreadsheet that allows us to track distribution of grades by outcome and by student across the curriculum – created by Dr. Dessereault

4. Create spreadsheet that tracks units for upper division credit, engineering units, grades, substitutions to make it easier to track students – created by Elsie Nonaka

5. Analysis of grades in foundational classes for last two years of students. Assume a score of 70% or better is equivalent to a C or better. Our criteria for outcomes for individual classes is 85% of students with a score of 70% or better. Based on information below, we achieve this goal for Chem 104a, Phys 241, Math 223, Geos 251, Geos 304 and all gen ed and English classes. We are close to meeting the goal with Phys 141 and Math 254. We need improvement with first semester freshman courses, Chem 103a, Math 124. We also need improvement with second semester calculus. This may be a function of providing students with more information about tutoring services. Need to produce a packet of information or weblinks to distribute to students.

Course %A %B %C %D %E %>=C %>=B
Chem 103a 16 37 26 21 0 79 53
Chem 104a 44 39 17 0 0 100 83
Phys 141 6 25 50 12.5 6 81 31
Phys 241 0 38 50 12 0 88 38
Math 124 8 31 23 38 0 62 39
Math 129 20 20 30 30 0 70 40
Math 223 17 33 50 0 0 100 50
Math 254 0 17 66 0 17 83 17
Geos 251 8 46 46 0 0 100 54
Geos 304 64 9 18 0 9 91 73
Engr 102 42 58 0 0 0 100 100
Indiv 101 23 54 15 7 0 93 77
Indiv 102 42 42 16 0 0 100 84
Trad 101 42 33 8 16 0 84 75
Trad 102 11 78 11 0 0 100 89
Art 201 36 45 18 0 0 100 81
Indiv 201 33 42 16 8 0 92 75
Engl 101 11 72 11 9 0 91 83
Engl 102 12 65 24 0 0 100 77

6. Analysis of grades by outcome in major courses:

Outcome %A %B and above %C and above %D and above %E
a 78 88 92 94 6
b 66 83 94 97 3
c 60 75 83 87 13
d 68 84 92 95 5
e 60 80 87 89 11
g 62 80 88 90 10

The spreadsheet we have created reads in each instructor’s grading spreadsheet which has the assignments identified pertaining to each of the six measured outcomes (f is not measured with coursework) and combines them so we can see for each student how they perform for each outcome across all of our major courses. We can then roll up the analysis and compute overall, what percentage of students achieve each level of accomplishment for each outcome. With the exception of outcome “c” engineering analysis problems, 85% or more of our students achieve a grade of C or better for all assignments. The performance in major courses by outcome overall at the level of grade C or higher, appears consistent with the overall performance of the student population for the foundational courses that are relevant to the outcomes (e.g. performance in math, science, geoscience courses should be indicative of performance in outcomes a, and c; performance in English and gen ed should be indicative of performance in outcomes d and e).

As we add more students to this database and those students finish more of our major courses we will be able to track performance, determine where we would like to put more emphasis in terms of specific assignments for specific outcomes, and determine if we see increased student performance as they progress through the curriculum.

7. Analysis of outcome f – we would like every student to graduate from the program having had participation in SME, outreach, the SX Mine, or a research experience. Based on current tracking, only 1 currently enrolled MNE major is not participating in any of these activities. While we cannot force a student to participate, having only one choose not to is a satisfactory outcome.