Program Assessment Plan
American University
Academic Program: CAS: Behavior, Cognition & Neuroscience - PhD
Academic Program: CAS: Behavior, Cognition & Neuroscience - PhD
Contact Person for Anthony L. Riley
Assessment:
Program Mission: The Behavior, Cognition and Neuroscience Ph.D. program in Psychology provides students interested in
applying biological and molecular principles to behavior with a broad-based neuroscience curriculum and
specialized research training in the biology of behavior, e.g., drug addiction, cognitive processing and
neuropsychology. Program faculty are active scientists with fully equipped laboratories in which students are
immediately engaged. Coursework and laboratory training are complemented by scientists in local research
institutions that provide interdisciplinary academic training and unique research opportunities. Through classes,
research, teaching practica and grantsmanship training, students leave the program capable of teaching and of
doing independent and funded research in the behavioral neurosciences.
Unit Website Address: http://www.american.edu/cas/psychology/index.cfm
Unit's Primary Department: Psychology
Are there any changes in Yes
your assessment method?:
Learning Outcome: Research Article Review
Students should be able to think critically about research and experimental design.
Outcome Year: 2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
At least 75% of students should Once per year.
An important outcome for our students is the ability to read,
understand, and critically evaluate research articles. This is an obtain a satisfactory score on at
ability that is required to effectively participate in the peer-review least 80% of the rubric items.
process, an important part of doing scientific research. Secondyear BCaN students will be asked to critique a research article as
if they were a blind reviewer for the journal to which the article
was submitted. Students' reviews will be evaluated with a rubric
developed for this outcome assessment. The grading rubric
consists of 11 points on which students' reviews were rated as
satisfactory or unsatisfactory. (See Appendix 1 for the rubric).
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
Active
Yes
Related Documents:
Appendix 1 - rubric for research article review.docx
Learning Outcome: Research Ethics
Students should be able to identify ethical issues in research.
Outcome Year: 2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Students will be tested for their understanding of research ethics
issues. This test will evaluate students on their understanding of
ethical principles related to authorship, research reporting, data
fabrication, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, peer review, data
sharing, and other areas of research misconduct. Prior to taking
Students should demonstrate
Once per year.
mastery research ethics
principles as indicated by a score
of 80% or more on the ethics
quiz.
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Schedule/Cycle
Active
Yes
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Assessment Plan
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Schedule/Cycle
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the test, students will be provided with a guide to research ethics
(made available online by the University of Minnesota) that
reviews and summarizes research ethics principles.
Measure Type:
Quiz/ Exam
Learning Outcome: Specialty Comp
Students should demonstrate mastery of their specific research area and should be able to provide well-reasoned, well-written, and focused answers
to specialty comp questions. They should also demonstrate a firm grasp of the literature in their specialty area and be able to connect their specialty
area to other, related areas or to situate it within a broader context, when appropriate.
Outcome Year: 2011-2012
2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
One of the major aims of the BCaN program is for students to
leave the program eclectic in the way of the behavioral
neurosciences. As such, they take a myriad of classes that cover
basic physiology, molecular biology, neuropharmacology,
neuropsychology, conditioning and learning, perception and
psychophysics and neuroscience. The integration of these areas
is essential to their future as a researcher and scholar in this
general field.
All students should score at least Every 2 years.
satisfactory on at least 80% of
the items in a grading rubric
(Appendix 2) designed to assess
specific strengths and
weaknesses.
Active
Yes
A very different aim of the program is that all students develop a
specialty area about which they have detailed information and
background. Given that their research and academic careers are
dependent upon developing specialty areas for scholarship and
teaching, we want all of our students to have the ability to delve
deeply into a specific topic area.
This is the purpose of our specialty comprehensive. In this
comprehensive, students work with their academic advisers to
choose a topic that they would like to pursue. With their advisers,
they then choose a number of colleagues (generally four) to sit
on their comprehensive committee. These individuals are chosen
for their breadth and depth in the specific field the student has
expressed an interest to study. Students work with these
committee members to develop reading materials that will
expose them to various components of this topic, giving them a
broad coverage of this area.
The reading lists for each committee member can and does vary,
but the details are worked out with the student and the
committee members. Once the student has read and discussed
issues with each member, the committee members provide a
bank of questions for a written exam and a date is set to
administer the exam. Students take the exam and are graded by
the committee.
The point of this exercise is to insure that each student in the
BCaN program leaves the program with a research area that
they can further develop and use as a springboard for teaching
and grant development.
The specialty comp will serve as a new learning outcome
assessment that measures students' mastery of their area of
specialization. See Appendix 2 ("Specialty comp learning
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Assessment Plan
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outcome assessment rubric") for rubric.
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
Related Documents:
Appendix 2 - Specialty comp learning outcome
assessment rubric.docx
Learning Outcome: Grant Writing
Students should be able to prepare and submit applications for pre-doctoral grants from external funding agencies.
Outcome Year: 2011-2012
2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
We have developed a new outcome assessment designed to
evaluate BCaN students' ability to write grant applications. A
goal of the program is to increase the numbers of students that
submit applications for external fellowships and grants. A
grading rubric, based on NIH grant application review criteria,
has been developed for this purpose. (See Appendix 3 titled
"rubric for grant application outcome assessment".) Our target is
to have all of our students score satisfactory (i.e., 4 or higher on
the 5-point scale) on at least 80% of the rubric items.
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
Our target is to have all of our
Every 2 years.
students score satisfactory (i.e., 4
or higher on the 5-point scale) on
at least 80% of the rubric
(Appendix 3) items. Feedback
will be given to the student on the
basis of this assessment so that
they can improve their application
before submitting.
Active
Yes
Related Documents:
Appendix 3 - Rubric for grants writing learning outcome
assessment.docx
Learning Outcome: Ethical Use of Human and Animal Subjects in Research
Students should have mastery of ethical principles of human and animal subjects in research.
Outcome Year: 2011-2012
2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
Our target is to have all of our
Previously, we planned to have all BCaN students that
Once every 2 years.
students score satisfactory (i.e., 4
performed research with animals attend a mandatory Animal
Care and Use Workshop that was sponsored by the office of the or higher on the 5-point scale) on
Vice Provost of Graduate Studies and Research and then assess at least 80% of the rubric
(Appendices 4 and 5) items.
what they learned. This workshop did not occur during the
2011/2012 academic year and has been discontinued.
Therefore, we need to revise our assessment plan related to this
learning outcome.
Currently, students performing research with animals or humans
are required by AU's Research Compliance office to complete
the online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)
course. This course informs students of the laws, regulations,
policies, and best practices regarding the use of animal and
human subjects in research. Students must complete this
course before they are allowed to work on any study involving
animal or human subjects. They also need to provide
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documentation of successful course completion before they can
submit a research protocol to the Institutional Animal Care and
Use Committee (IACUC) or the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
To assess whether students have learned the ethical principles
regarding animal and human subject use that they are supposed
to learn in the CITI course, we plan to evaluate the IACUC or IRB
research protocols submitted by all second-year students in the
BCaN program. (IACUC protocols will be assessed for students
performing animal research; IRB protocols will be assessed for
those performing research with human subjects). A rubric is
being developed to systematically evaluate students'
understanding of the policies and guidelines concerning the care
and use of animals and human subjects in research. (See
Appendices 4 and 5 titled "rubric for animal subjects
assessment" and "rubric for human subjects assessment").
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
Related Documents:
Appendix 4 - rubric for animal subjects outcome
assessment (9-24-12).docx
Appendix 5 - rubric for human subjects outcome
assessment (9-24-12).docx
Learning Outcome: Generating a testable research hypothesis
A critical skill for students in the BCaN program is being able to articulate a research idea in the form of a testable hypothesis.
Outcome Year: 2012-2013
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
A critical skill for students in the BCaN program is being able to
articulate a research idea in the form of a testable hypothesis.
This involves reading the literature relevant to a particular
research area, generating a novel research question, and
formalizing a detailed plan for how to go about answering this
question. This is an ability that students must acquire if they are
to become successful research scientists. It is also important
that students begin to develop this ability early on. A student's
Masters thesis proposal can be assessed to determine whether
they are learning this ability. The Masters thesis proposal
describes the research plan that students will undertake for their
Masters thesis project. A good proposal contains a description
of previous work in the research area, a clear rationale for
performing the proposed research, and a description of the
specific hypothesis being tested. It also contains a detailed
Methods section that describes the specific procedures that
students will use to test this hypothesis. We plan to assess the
Masters thesis proposals of all students who have completed at
least 3 semesters in the program. A rubric will be developed for
this purpose.
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
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Every 2 years.
Yes
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Learning Outcome: Lecture
Students should be able to lecture undergraduate students.
Outcome Year: 2010-2011
Outcome Status: Archived Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
All graduate students will be
All graduate students will be expected to serve as a teaching
No cycle identified.
assistant in a class that focuses on his/her area of interest. The expected so teach a minimum of
one lecture during the academic
student will be expected to teach a minimum of one lecture
year.
during the academic year. Students will be expected to
communicate their information clearly and be able to answer
questions related to the topic. Our aim is to assure that students
can organize and teach an area of their interest and expertise. It
will be expected that they shadow their adviser in the class in
which they assist, work with their adviser on the syllabus and
examination relevant to their lecture and then give a class and be
evaluated by the student and adviser.
The Students and faculty member will fill out a questionnaire in
which different parameters such as the organization,
preparedness and clarity of the lecture, quality of the
presentation will be assessed. The evaluation rubric will be
developed over the course of the upcoming year.
Measure Type:
Presentation
Active
Yes
Learning Outcome: Mentor Research
Students should be able to successfully mentor research.
Outcome Year: 2010-2011
Start Date: 11/01/2010
Outcome Status: Archived Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
It is important for all our graduate students to be able to mentor
individuals working under their supervision. We will be requiring
this ability of all our Ph.D. students as a way to train them for the
profession. The students that they will be supervising are current
undergraduate students seeking research opportunities within
the department.
The goal is for each graduate student to supervise at least one
undergraduate during their work at American University.
Graduate students will be evaluated by their own advisers for
their ability to mentor. The evaluation rubric will be developed
over the upcoming year.
Measure Type:
Field Work/ Internship
Each graduate student will
No cycle identified.
supervise at least one
undergraduate student during
their work at American University.
Active
Yes
Learning Outcome: Grant Proposals
Students should be able to successfully draft a grant proposal.
Outcome Year: 2010-2011
Outcome Status: Archived Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
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All Ph.D. students in the BCaN program will be expected to
attend and participate in a grant writing class during which they
will learn the mechanics of developing grant writing and
submission. This program will work with students in developing
ideas for proposals, attending workshops on proposal writing,
hearing presentations from national officials at government grant
agencies and being evaluated for proposal development.
The goal is for every BCaN student to have submitted a formal
NIH/ NSF proposal by the end of their third year of graduate
training.
Individual faculty within the department who have been
successful at obtaining grants will serve on a panel as reviewers
of the final submission by the students. The grant proposal will
be reviewed and students will have the opportunity to resubmit
applications to grant agencies. The evaluation rubric will be
developed over the upcoming academic year.
All Ph.D. students in the BCaN
program will be expected to
attend and participate in a grant
writing class during which they
will learn the mechanics of
developing grant writing and
submission.
No cycle identified.
Yes
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
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