Teacher Education - Graduate Program
Results of Assessment
2001-2002 (submitted 09/27/02)
PROGRAM GOALS
The Master of Education (MEd) program with
the organizing theme of Teacher as Reflective Practitioner is practice-oriented,
and the purposes, processes, outcomes, and evaluation are explicated by a model
represented by the acronym TREC: Teachers Reflecting, Engaging, Collaborating.
These components, reflecting, engaging, and collaborating, serve as a framework
for organizing course work and program development. The goals of the curriculum
reflect an emphasis on preparing master teachers:
• who are reflective of their own
educational practices and their impact on students;
• who engage students through a variety of strategies to ensure growth in
knowledge and learning processes that they might become independent lifetime
learners;
• who collaborate with peers and students in learning communities;
• who are knowledgeable and current in their chosen areas;
• who engage in research to improve educational practices and those of
peers.
In cooperation with the university, the program
provides avenues for continuing professional development and continual learning
for university faculty as well as students, and encourages the university values
of teaching, scholarship, and service.
STUDENT SATISFACTION
This information was compiled from MEDUC 6091
(Graduate Synthesis course) surveys collected during the 1999 through 2002
academic years. Percentages represented those who fully or mostly agree.
|
1999/01 |
2001/02 |
| 1. Admission requirements are
realistic and equitable. |
83% |
95% |
| 2. Scheduling of courses was
at a convenient time. |
67% * |
90% |
| 3. The courses were generally
informative and interesting. |
74% |
81% |
| 4. The instructors were
knowledgeable and current in their field. |
88% |
90% |
| 5. Instructors were skilled
and modeled effective teaching techniques. |
75% |
76% |
| 6. The graduate chair and
committee functioned appropriately. |
88% |
76% |
| 7. The Master's Project,
Presentation, and Portfolio were valuable. |
86% |
81% |
| 8. I would recommend the
program to others. |
79% ** |
86% |
* Student comments suggested that more summer
offerings would be welcome and negate the problem of teaching and going to
school at the same time. Others suggested that every required course should be
taught every semester.
**100% of the respondents from the first and
third year graduate surveys reported they would recommend the program to their
colleagues. Perhaps the intervention of time made the graduate program
experience more valuable.
MASTERY OF PROGRAM OUTCOMES
Percentages represented those who view outcomes
fully or mostly met.
|
1998/99 |
1999/00 |
2000/01 |
2001/02 |
| 1. Ability to use
writing, research skills, oral presentation skills and reflective and
questioning skills to meet scholarly and professional
goals. |
93% |
85% |
96% |
90% |
| 2. Knowledge of the
history and philosophy of education and
schooling through the application of research skills, oral presentation
skills and reflective questioning skills. |
89% |
80% |
88% |
86% |
| 3. Understanding of
issues related to culture, language,
exceptionalities, and gender as they impact
teaching and learning. |
81% |
77% |
83% |
76% * |
| 4. Knowledge of
important theories of learning and
development that have their roots in philosophy and psychology, and
the implications for modern schooling. |
84% |
80% |
84% |
86% |
| 5. Knowledge of principles of
curriculum development and the current issues in measurement and
evaluation. |
85% |
67% |
84% |
81% |
| 6. Knowledge of current
teaching techniques including alternative instructional strategies and
practices that facilitate effective learning. |
NA |
67% |
73% |
95% |
| 7. Ability to analyze
and critique educational research, and to apply research principles in
the design of research projects to find
solutions to educational problems. |
85% |
79% |
88% |
81% |
| 8. Ability to find and report
on a significant educational question that has usefulness and
applicability through the development of a written culminating project. |
89% |
77% |
96% |
86% |
| 9. Ability to synthesize
personal and professional experience in the graduate program through the
development of the project and the portfolio. |
89% |
77% |
92% |
71% * |
MODIFIED EVALUATION PLAN (4-6-01)
Evaluations by Graduation Candidates and
Graduations
1. Evaluation of Outcomes: a. Survey in MEd 6901
b. Each term
2. Program Evaluation: a. Survey in MEd
6901 b.
Each term c. 2nd Year Survey d. Once a year
3. Student satisfaction: d. Survey in MEd 6901
e. Each term
4. Graduate satisfaction: e. 2nd Year Survey
f.
Once a year
Content of the survey:
Change of assignments, additional
responsibilities, expanded teaching expertise, perceived as having leadership
abilities by administrators and peers, committed to life-long learning and
additional graduate study, confidence to pursue new endeavors, recommendation
of the MEd program to colleagues.
STATISTICAL
INFORMATION
|
2000-2001 |
2001-2002 |
| Total active students
currently admitted to the MEd Program |
208 |
212 |
| Active students admitted to
the MEd Program since June 1 |
60 |
69 |
| Number of graduates |
43 |
31 |
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES DURING THE 2001-2002
ACADEMIC YEAR
1. Mastery of Program Outcomes
Students continued to judge that the core
classes continued to give opportunities to fully meet or mostly meet the
mastery of the outcomes. The outcomes that were not judged to be met above 80%
were the following two:
3. Understanding of issues related to
culture, language, exceptionalities, and gender as they impact teaching and
learning.
During the coming year, those teaching graduate
core classes have agreed to give these subjects more emphasis where
appropriate.
9. Ability to synthesize personal and
professional experience in the graduate program through the development of
the project and the portfolio.
In the Synthesis class, greater effort will be
made to stress the synthesizing of the personal and professional experiences.
It may be that this particular outcome is misunderstood by students.
Faculty will again be reminded of the primary
and secondary outcomes of each course in the core, and in Policy Committee we
will discuss whether we need to further explore the viability of the outcomes
and the need for additional or modified outcomes.
2. MEDUC 6085 - Developing a Project
Proposal
This class was designed last year and has been
a required part of the curriculum each semester beginning Fall, 2001. The
class seems to be well received by students, and has been a great help in
their planning and writing their proposals for their final projects. Built
into the class are scheduled meetings with their Committee Chairs, the
securing of the NIH Certificate, and the process for seeing IRB approval. The
class was changed from a credit/no credit class to a letter-graded class so
that students could use the credit in their graduate program. This class was
accepted as a core class as a result of student suggestions.
3. Graduate Programs’ Council
During the Spring of 2002, the directors of the
4 masters’ programs began meeting monthly in order to help one another and
learn from one another. At the present time this Masters’ Council is an
informal group, but we perceive that eventually it may be more formally
structured. We are in the process of setting up a website that will allow
prospective graduate students to look at all of the graduate programs at one
site.
4. Advising: Ordering of Courses
This year at the suggestion of students on
their surveys and faculty who teach the core courses, we have been encouraging
students to move through the program in the following way:
1. MEDUC 6000 Fundamentals of Graduate
Study
2. MEDUC 6030 Advanced Educational Psychology
3. MEDUC 6050 Curriculum Design, Evaluation & Assessment
4. MEDUC 6060 Instructional Strategies
5. MEDUC 6080 Conducting Educational Research
6. MEDUC 6085 Developing a Project Proposal
May not be taken currently with the Research
class or the Project hours.
7. MEDUC 6090 Master’s Project
8. MEDUC 6091 Graduate Synthesis Seminar
Other core courses and electives can be taken
when convenient.
This track was designed at the suggestion of
students as they finished the program. A few students continue to
suggest the assignment of a faculty or student mentor as they enter the
program. However, faculty are terrible busy and feel that until they have the
responsibility for chairing a student’s committee, that the advising be left
to the director and the office secretary. Students are mostly fully employed
so they arrive on the campus only to time to meet their classes.
5. Students
Students are generally very pleased with their
graduate education at Weber. We are drawing from not only Weber, Ogden, Davis
Districts, and eclessiastical settings in the area, but also from Morgan,
South Summit, Box Elder, Logan and Cache Districts. This semester we are
experimenting with streaming MEDUC 6000 into Morgan.
6. Scholarships
For the first time the graduate program has two
scholarships in addition to tuition waivers for in state and out-of-state
students. Because our students are not full-time, we have divided the
scholarship money as well as the waivers among a number of students, thus
benefit many.
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