II. Executive Summary

This document reports a self-study by the Physics Department of its BS degree program*. The report includes results from student-outcome-based assessments taken during the first two years of the seven-year cycle. In this period it has been possible to assess seven out of a total of ten student outcomes. Some assessments are objective and quantitative, while others are subjective and qualitative.

In a department of our size (10 - 20 graduates each year) the faculty has a chance to get to know students personally. Personal interactions yield important impressions of strengths, weaknesses, and potentials. Thus, it has not been considered necessary, historically, to employ quantitative assessment tools that are finer than in-class examinations—which assess a student’s formal learning—and exit interviews which gather extensive qualitative impressions of the student’s learning experience.

The department has only recently begun to integrate quantitative assessments of student learning outcomes that focus on achievement in areas not addressed by in-class examinations. The assessment methods and their evaluation procedures are still under development.

With small numbers of students graduating each year, definitive conclusions based on assessment data would require nearly unanimous responses from outgoing students. Furthermore, a reinforcing trend in data from subsequent cohorts would be necessary to establish the need for a corrective change. Data acquired so far show no such well-defined trends.

           
* Physics also offers a BA degree. The number of students graduating with that option is too small to assess.