Program Assessment Plan
American University
CAS: Behavior, Cognition & Neuroscience - PhD
CAS: Behavior, Cognition & Neuroscience - PhD
Contact Person for Anthony L. Riley
Assessment:
Primary Department: Psychology
Learning Outcome: Research Article Review
Students should be able to think critically about research and experimental design.
Outcome Year: 2012 or prior
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
An important outcome for our students is the ability to read, understand, and critically
At least 75% of students should obtain a
evaluate research articles. This is an ability that is required to effectively participate in satisfactory score on at least 80% of the
the peer-review process, an important part of doing scientific research. Second-year
rubric items.
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
Schedule/Cycle
Active
Once per year.
Yes
Schedule/Cycle
Active
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: 2012 or prior
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
Target
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Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Students will be tested for their understanding of research ethics issues. This test will
Students should demonstrate mastery
evaluate students on their understanding of ethical principles related to authorship,
research ethics principles as indicated by a
research reporting, data fabrication, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, peer review, data
score of 80% or more on the ethics quiz.
sharing, and other areas of research misconduct. Prior to taking 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
Schedule/Cycle
Active
Once per year.
Yes
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: 2012 or prior
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
Target
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Schedule/Cycle
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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 satisfactory Every 2 years.
on at least 80% of the items in a grading
rubric (Appendix 2) designed to assess
specific strengths and weaknesses.
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 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: 2012 or prior
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
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Yes
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 students score Every 2 years.
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: 2012 or prior
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
Target
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Schedule/Cycle
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Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
Target
Schedule/Cycle
Previously, we planned to have all BCaN students that performed research with animals Our target is to have all of our students score Once every 2 years.
attend a mandatory Animal Care and Use Workshop that was sponsored by the office of satisfactory (i.e., 4 or higher on the 5-point
scale) on at least 80% of the rubric
the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies and Research and then assess what they learned.
(Appendices 4 and 5) items.
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 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").
Active
Yes
Measure Type:
Written Assignment
Related Documents:
Appendix 4 - rubric for animal subjects outcome assessment (9-2412).docx
Appendix 5 - rubric for human subjects outcome assessment (9-2412).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
2013-2014
2014-2015
Outcome Status: Active Learning Outcome
Assessment Plan
Assessment Method
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
Target
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Schedule/Cycle
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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
12/02/2014 11:36 AM
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Schedule/Cycle
Active
Every 2 years.
Yes
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