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BU201 Assessment Fall 2014
Business Management: CUNY Queensborough Community College
Assessment Plan for BU201 Business and Organizations
Objectives:
General Education Objective #1 Integrate knowledge and skills in their program of study (Bloom’s Knowledge)
General Education Objective #2 Analytical reasoning skills to identify issues or problems and evaluate evidence to make informed
decisions related to these student learning outcomes. (Bloom’s Knowledge, Analysis, Evaluation)
General Education Objective #5 Differentiate and make informed decisions about issues based on multiple value systems (Bloom’s
Comprehension)
Implementation
Assessment Tools
Rubrics
Data
Evaluation of Data
For each disciplinary
learning objective,
describe where in the
curriculum and through
what activities students
will attain the
disciplinary learning.
Describe the data
collection (e.g.
Describe the rubric to be
used to measure student
achievement of the
learning objective.
Describe the assessment
results. How did the
students perform?
The rubric was designed
to measure three general
education objectives and
scaled:
= or > 50% - understand
= or < 50% - not
understand or
incomplete
N=110 students took the
test. An initial question
that must be considered
is to what degree of
veracity these responses
actually represent the
students’ demonstration
of learning.
What do the results
mean? How well have
the students met the
learning objectives? Did
the assessment process
show whether the
students met the
objective?
Generally, speaking, the
overall scores showed
that there was some
level of understanding
through comprehension,
but weaker in analysis
and knowledge.
The General Education
objectives listed below
are covered in BU201
Business and
Organizations
A 24 question multiple
choice comprehensive
test was given in class.
Though the overall
averages are low in all
categories, one could
surmise that some of the
questions may need
adjustment in future
assessment categories as
there are some outlier
questions
Resulting Action
What changes, if any,
need to be made as a
result of the
assessment?
Faculty will be advised
of areas that fall short
and requested to
emphasize weaker areas
in homework,
assignments, and
projects.
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BU201 Assessment Fall 2014
Bloom’s Knowledge
Integrate knowledge and
skills in their program
of study
Enter results of
questions 1 – 8 in
comprehensive test
Bloom’s Knowledge,
Analysis, Evaluation
Analytical reasoning
skills to identify issues
or problems and
evaluate evidence to
make informed
decisions related to
these student learning
outcomes.
Enter results of
questions 9-16 in
comprehensive test
Bloom’s
Comprehension
Differentiate and make
informed decisions
about issues based on
multiple value systems
Enter results of
questions 17-24 in
comprehensive test
N=110
Understand= 46%
Not Understand=54%
Incomplete=0%
What is notable is the
disparity in specific
categories as students
did well in
comprehension of HR at
a high level, while at a
low level in HR
analysis, leading, and
ethics.
N=110
Understand= 48%
Not Understand=52%
Incomplete=0%
It is surprising that
management students
did not score high
overall in this category
even though this is an
important category in
regards to quantitative
reasoning skills.
There was a negligible
difference between
Analysis and
Knowledge. Both
scored at near
understanding, though
very low scores in ethics
affected the Knowledge
learning objective
significantly.
N=110
Understand= 54%
Not Understand=46%
Incomplete=0%
Overall, the students
Business and
Management fields have
a satisfactory concept of
comprehension of
management. Of note,
students scored
Overall, knowledge in
ethics scored lowest.
These topics are taught
in Chapter Two of the
textbook, and the postMadoff and SarbanesOxley Act are
significant elements of
business today that are
included in the course
teaching. More work
can be done by faculty
in including ethics as an
important element with
students through
projects, papers, and
other in-class work over
and above the textbook.
Faculty could include
more class work on
analysis and evaluation.
Overall, steps to
improve analysis and
knowledge are
necessary to balance it
with comprehension.
Comprehension scored
the highest, and is the
strongest category.
Several topics scored
into the 60 – 70% range
but the overall average
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BU201 Assessment Fall 2014
demonstrated a stronger
skill in Bloom’s
Comprehension than the
other categories of
Analysis and
Knowledge.
especially well in HR
categories.
There is a discrepancy
between learning
objectives that is
indicated in
motivational theory.
Students had strong
knowledge of
motivation in other
categories, yet were low
in comprehension of
Maslow’s Theory of
motivational theory.
This suppressed the
otherwise more positive
scores in the
comprehension
category.
was affected by lower
scores in motivational
theory.
Additional focused
work by faculty in the
areas of strategic
planning and functions
of management is
necessary.
Enhanced emphasis on
comprehension of
motivational theories
must be done by faculty
and connecting it to the
topic of management.
Recommendations:
Balanced Teaching Across Objectives: It is not clear, overall, if the students are learning based on objectives or by topic, as the results
are not conclusive to indicate if one objective is significantly weaker or stronger than the other. This may indeed be a positive result as
it demonstrates a pedagogy that crosses the Learning Objectives as required. The recommendation would be to continue to enhance
teaching strategies to improve the overall scores in each category but continue to be strong in teaching across the objectives.
Strategic Management: It was problematic for students to comprehend the concept of strategic management, but conversely they did
very well in analyzing the core theory of SWOT Analysis. There is a discrepancy here. There must be more work done by faculty to
build continuity between comprehension and analysis in strategic management.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Ethics: This is an emerging business trend and was a focus in this assessment. Students
appear to be able to understand the term well. However, they do very poorly in ethical knowledge which is related to CSR, and
minimal on comprehension beyond defining the terms. More emphasis and case study work on ethics are necessary to improve the
knowledge and comprehension. Ethics scores as a low category. It may indicate that students have difficulty connecting ethics to
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BU201 Assessment Fall 2014
business and management. Post Sarbanes-Oxley this is a critical area of business that must be underscored to students. More course
emphasis on ethics is necessary as noted above.
Human Resources: HR topics are well comprehended and demonstrate analysis at high levels. This is a strong interest of students and
should continue to be a strong element of the program.
Motivational Theories: Topics related to motivational theories did not fare as well as others. Students scored lower on Maslow’s
Theory and Theory X and Y. This may be due to that management and business students are not as skilled in these psychology and
sociology based concepts and moves outside of the standard business frameworks of finance and management. More emphasis on
these social-psychology themes need to be incorporated into the teaching and learning.
Accuracy of Testing Method: Another element that must be considered in the future assessments is whether it is accurate to use test
questions created by the textbook publishers are authoritative and verifiable sources for data collection, or whether it would be more
effective to construct questions based wholly on in-class teaching and created by the faculty teaching the courses. Though it was
deliberate in the class to make sure students engaged the prepared questions in their learning (they should have known the answers,
more or less) those who were not actively engaged in the textbook may have fared more poorly in their test responses but may well
understand the content.
Subjective Assessment Method: It may be necessary to develop a secondary subjective assessment in the future that would use another
testing method (such as essay responses) in assessment to enhance the quantitative findings of this assessment strategy. Poor test
takers may be excellent writers and the way to understand what they understand would be through an essay strategy.