2007-2008
JOURNALISM (MS)
Intended Program Outcomes
Methods of Assessment and Criteria for Success
Direct Measures
Indirect Measures
Students will take tests in courses and produce publications
of a publishable caliber, achieving a high level in their work
in the professional track of the graduate program.
Students must achieve at least a grade of B in their
graduate courses.
Indirect measures will be the assessment of overall
competencies by faculty members who teach the students,
expressed in faculty meetings and other means of
communication.
Students will achieve a level of critical thinking skill in the
classroom enabling them to write, produce and edit
materials with balance, fairness and objectivity.
Students will receive a grade of B or higher in all classes
in the graduate program, most of which require high levels
of critical thinking awareness.
Students will be assessed by faculty as to ability to analyze
and synthesize information and in ability to maintain fairness
and objectivity by the faculty meetings and by other ways of
communication.
Students will create final projects that reflect technological
proficiency.
Student grades in graduate school must be B or higher in
all courses, including those requiring technological
proficiency.
Faculty will assess technological proficiency of students;
internships will require technological proficiency.
Students will take mandatory course in Media Law and Ethics
and write a paper in the field.
Student will receive a grade of B or better in a media law
and ethics course.
Students in the professional development track will be
expected to participate in research projects and take a
class in mass media research
All students must receive at least a B in the mass
media research course.
Students will be expected to attend court sessions to
observe the judicial process, and to raise questions in
class.
Participation in the annual community poll or use of
current data to create papers and reports is a sign of
successfully comprehending research.
Show mastery of written and spoken communication skills
needed in effective research presentations.
Students will give at least one research presentation
during the annual graduate student symposium.
Graduate Director will report on student research
presentations in annual graduate program annual report.
Students in the graduate program academic services track
must present research papers inside and outside of the
classroom at local, national or international scholarly
meetings.
Students will write at least one paper displaying
critical thinking skills related to mass communication
via research papers in each graduate core course.
Core graduate course professors must maintain
classroom records on the number of papers written by
each student that displays critical thinking skills
At least one student/faculty research paper will be presented
at a scholarly conference.
Faculty members must show conference program as
evidence of conference presentation.
Graduate director will list the conference presentation in
the annual graduate program report
New technology needed to gather and analyze research data
will be discussed in graduate core course titled, Research
Methods
Research Methods course professor will discuss
technology used in the gathering and analyzing of
data in mass communication research projects and
activities.
Research Methods graduate professor will maintain
classroom records regarding students exposure to new
technology used in research data gathering and analysis.
Students will display ethical values throughout their pursuit of
the master's degree in journalism and all research
endeavors.
Students will display their understanding of ethical
philosophies taught in graduate level core courses
through classroom discussions and examinations
Faculty members will include specific lectures and other
classroom activities to ensure student understanding and
mastery of ethical reasoning and application in research
activities.
Demonstrate ability to write journalistically on deadline, using
standard grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Demonstrate strong ability to research and gather useful
information on deadline, for journalistic products.
After taking a comprehensive common final exam, 70% of
journalism students will pass the core journalism courses
of Language Skills and Mass Media Methods with a B or
better. After taking a comprehensive final exam, 70% of
journalism students will pass the skill journalism courses
of News Writing and Reporting with a B or better.
Faculty review of test scores and discussion on ways of
improving student performance will show or indicate that 80%
of faculty think that students are showing progress from
beginning to end of semester.
After taking a comprehensive final exam, 80% of
journalism students will pass the Use of Information
Resources plus News Writing and Reporting with a B
or better
About 80% of students will show progress from beginning
to end of semester.
Demonstrate ability to apply media law and ethics in critically
analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information.
As part of assessing this outcome, 80% of journalism
students will pass Media Ethics, Communication Law
and their sequence capstone projects with a B or
better.
Student participation in Practicum.
Demonstrate ability to use technical/electronic journalism
tools.
As part of assessing this outcome, 80% of journalism
students will pass their sequence Capstone projects
with a B or better.
Survey of employers – 80% of supervisors will respond that,
when measuring this outcome, FAMU journalism grads are
more effective or somewhat more effective than graduates of
other journalism programs. 80% of employer surveys will
indicate that FAMU students are above average in knowledge
and expertise on equipment used in entry level positions.
Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills
and professionalism in appearance.
In sequence capstone project and senior exit
interview/portfolio presentation, 80% of journalism
students will pass the project and presentation with a
B or better.
Employer surveys. 80% of supervisors will respond that, when
measuring this outcome, FAMU graduates are more effective
or somewhat more effective than graduates of other
journalism
programs. 80% of employer surveys will indicate that
FAMU graduates are above average in these categories.