2009
Third Year Review
Informatics Program Assessment Report,
Department of Computer and Information
Sciences
Informatics is the understanding of the impact of technology and information on people,
the development of new uses for technology, and the application of information
technology in the context of another field. Informatics at IU South Bend equips students
to study Information Technology, consider its social impact, and find ways to use
technology to solve problems. The aim is to produce qualified information technology
professionals who understand the ways people work with and use information, and who
can develop solutions that are effective and easy-to-use. Usually, informatics is
combined with another field of study or cognate. A number of cognates have been
identified, such as bioinformatics, social informatics, business, new media, and health
care.
Hossein Hakimzadeh
5/9/2009
Table of Contents
Assessment Report ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Appendices............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Appendix - A: Assessment Plan ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Appendix - B: Senior Exit Survey........................................................................................................................................ 9
Appendix - C: Alumni Survey ........................................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix - D: Employer Survey ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Appendix - E: Sample Academic Advising Form .............................................................................................................. 12
Appendix - F: Updated Informatics Prerequisite Structure ............................................................................................. 13
Appendix - G: Updated Informatics Course Syllabi ......................................................................................................... 14
Appendix - H: INFO-I202 Faculty Inventory (Direct Measurement) ................................................................................ 15
Appendix - I: INFO-I308 Junior Capstone (Direct Measurement).................................................................................... 16
Appendix - J: INFO-I450 Senior Capstone (Direct Measurement) ................................................................................... 17
Appendix - K: INFO-I451 Senior Capstone (Direct Measurement) .................................................................................. 18
Appendix - L: Program Graduates ................................................................................................................................... 19
Appendix - M: Prior Assessment Documents .................................................................................................................. 20
2
Third Year Review
Informatics Program Assessment Report
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Indiana University South Bend
Assessment contact person, and person preparing the report, (if different):
Hossein Hakimzadeh
Attach the three previous annual reports
This is the first year informatics assessment is being performed.
Attach an updated departmental assessment plan
Please see Appendix A.
Describe any changes to the program's educational goals since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those
changes.
The program’s educational goals are newly developed in 2008-2009. Our new program goals have been inspired by the previous computer
science educational goals, by substantial study of the ABET/CSAB (Computer Science Accreditation Board) guidelines, and by attending a
number of assessment conferences and workshops. The program goals have been aligned to provide a more manageable and insightful
annual assessment. The new goals are more measurable and will allow the program to develop a path for continuous improvement. This
year is the first year that these new program goals are being implemented in the informatics program.
Describe any assessment techniques used for measuring the Educational Goals that have been added or
discontinued since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes
As indicated in the previous question, the entire assessment plan as well its educational goals, and the measurement of those goals have
been newly developed in 2008-2009. These new goals and assessment measure are captured in the table below:
Learning Goals
1) Written and Verbal Communication
skills.
2) Analytical and statistical skills.
3) Micro and Macro level problem
solving skills.
4) Understanding of the societal and
ethical issues as they relate to
computing professionals.
5) Ability to work independently and
as part of a team.
6) A depth of knowledge developed in
a cognate area.
Ethical and
societal
issues (I202)
DM
Junior
Capstone (I308)
DM
DM
Senior Capstone
(I450, I451)
Senior Exit
Interview
Alumni
Survey
Employer
Interview / Survey
DM
IM
IM
IM
IM
DM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
IM
DM
DM
DM
Cognate
Faculty
Interview
Academic
Advising
IM
IM
DM: Direct assessment of learning goals
IM: Indirect assessment of learning goals
To properly assess the above learning goals, we employ the following direct and indirect measures:
a. Direct measures

Review of the understanding of ethical and societal issues as they relate to computing professionals, demonstrated in I202 (Social
Informatics). (Will be implemented in the future)

Review of junior-level work by the faculty member teaching the junior capstone course (I308)

Review of senior-level work by the faculty members teaching the senior capstone courses (I450, I451)
b. Indirect measures

Senior exit survey (Appendix B)

Alumni survey (Appendix C)

Employer Interview/Survey (will be implemented in the future) (Appendix D)

Cognate Faculty Interview (Review of cognate area work with possible input from cognate faculty). (A survey form has to be
developed and periodic surveys will be implemented in the future)

Academic advising (Appendix E)
3
Attach any assessment instruments that have been used during the past three years, and the data collected, (or,
summarized data, if that is more appropriate.)
During the past year the program has used the following direct and indirect assessment measures:





Review of junior-level work by the faculty member teaching the junior capstone course (I308)
Review of senior-level work by the faculty members teaching the senior capstone courses (I450, I451)
Senior exit survey (Appendix B)
Alumni survey (Appendix C)
Academic Advising (Appendix E)
What analysis has been done with this data? What conclusions has your department drawn?
What changes have been made to the program as a result? (Curriculum, classes offered, classes discontinued,
scheduling, advising, faculty education etc. . .)
Our program modifications during the last 3 years are the result of two separate efforts; 1) Informatics program review and refinement
(locally on our campus and within IU), and 2) Analysis of Assessment Data
Below we will first report on the Informatics Program Review and refinements, and then we will report on the analysis of assessment
data.
1)
Informatics program review and refinement (locally on our campus and within IU):
Informatics is a new program to IU South Bend as well as IU in general. The program was initially adopted in its entirety from the curriculum
developed by the School of informatics at IU Bloomington. After offering the program for a number of years, our faculty as well as those in
IUB and IUPUI, did identify a number of issues that needed to be addressed. In 2007, we (IUSB Informatics) proposed a realignment of the
prerequisite structure for the courses in the informatics program (Appendix F). This realignment was due to the fact that the existing
prerequisite hierarchy allowed students to take upper level courses with insufficient preparation. This issue prevented the faculty from
introducing more complex topics, since many of the students did not have the proper prerequisites.
As the result of the comprehensive review of the informatics curriculum in 2007, discussions in the faculty curriculum committee, as well as
the discussions with the university wide School of Informatics faculty the following problems have been identified and remedial actions have
been taken: (see Table-1)
Problem Identified
Students lack proper skills in
upper level courses.
Course goals and outcomes
are not clearly defined.
Action Required
Realignment of the
prerequisite hierarchy.
Redesign of course goals
and outcomes.
Students in I101 do not
receive the proper
introduction to Informatics
as a discipline. The course
is closely modeled after
CSCI-A106.
Redesign of I101 (to
introduce more
mathematical foundations of
informatics, programming
and problem solving skills,
and introduction to data
representation and
modeling).
Redesign of I308 to include
more data structures and
algorithms.
Students in upper level
courses lack the necessary
knowledge of data
structures.
Cognate Programs lack
sufficient consistency and
structure.
Problem identified through
academic advising.
Develop articulation
agreements between
informatics and departments
that offer cognates.
Rationale
To better prepare students in I308
Status
Complete
The original course descriptions developed by IU,
were somewhat vague and lacked details and
needed to be clearly defined.
Better prepare the students entering the I210
(C++ programming class.) Provide a more
realistic understanding of the informatics as a
discipline.
Complete
Discussions with colleagues teaching upper level
courses such as I320, as well as discussions with
faculty at IUB and IUPUI (at the Informatics
conference in 2006 in Indianapolis) identified an
insufficient ability to apply appropriate data
structure concepts as a barrier that prevents
students from being able to undertake substantive
senior projects.
Being a new program, during 2003 to 2007 the
director of informatics tried to accommodate
student needs and at the same time work with
cognate departments to develop a tailor made
cognate for each student. This sometimes
resulted in students in the same cognate program
finishing with different sets of requirements.
Starting 2007, the process of solidifying the
articulation agreements with the cognate
departments was sped up.
Complete
Complete
Underway
9 completed, 2 in
progress
Table – 1
4
2)
Analysis of Assessment Data
As the result of the analysis of the direct and indirect measures and the assessment data collected the following problems have been
identified and remedial actions have been taken: (see Table-2):
Problem Identified
Lack of sufficient elective
courses
Capstone experience needs
to be more rigorous.
(review by the I450/I451
faculty)
Insufficient opportunities for
internship
Insufficient problem solving
skills
Action Required
Offer more elective courses.
Coordination of I451
instructors to provide
students a uniform, multi
phase course assignment /
project.
Increase the number of
available internships for
informatics students.
Increase classroom and
laboratory exercises and
assignments that expose
students to problem solving.
Rationale
While considering student input obtained during
advising sessions and while administering the
senior and alumni surveys, a number of students
indicated interest in increasing the informatics
elective offerings.
Students in informatics complete their studies at
IU South Bend by taking C450 (Information
System Design) and I451 (Information System
Implementation). These two courses are
designed to provide a realistic design and
implementation experience to students. Having a
multi-phased project in these two courses will
better prepare the students for the work
environment.
While considering alumni surveys responses, as
well as national studies, it has become clear that
students can significantly benefit from hands-on
experiences that can be obtained through
internships. In addition, some of our external
stakeholders (employers such as St. Joseph
Hospital), have expressed the desire to hire our
students as interns to help them train their
personnel (specifically physicians) in the
operation of their new EMR (Electronic Medical
Records) system.
Providing more internship opportunities to our
student will improve their motivation toward and
understanding of the informatics discipline. It also
allows our local and regional employers to
become familiar with the quality and capability of
our students.
During class brain storming sessions, as well as
review of assignments, and during face-to-face
help sessions in I308 (Junior Capstone) course, it
became clear that the majority of students lack
sufficient problem solving skills. This was evident
in their inability to break down the problem, in
small manageable components (called classes),
and then systematically implementing each class,
and integrating those classes into an overall
solution.
Status
Underway
Starting fall 2009, C490
Computer Security will be
offered as a Topics in
Informatics course (I400)
Underway
The faculty teaching I451
have discussed and agreed
on a common project format
for this course
Underway
Aside from individual
internships, in 2007,
informatics and computer
science developed an
internship relationship with
St. Joe Hospital. In addition,
our faculty have received a
5 year grant to support up to
4 interns per year for in
house projects.
Underway
A two prongs approach has
been taken to remedy this
issue. First, we are
introducing a new Pre-CS /
Pre-Informatics course in
the fall of 2009 which
focuses on problem solving.
Second, students in I308
are provided with significant
number of in-class problem
solving exercises to improve
their abilities in this area.
Table – 2
The alumni survey only yielded two responses. One student is currently attending graduate school and one is working as a software
engineer. Both felt the program provided them with a solid background; however one indicated that many employers seem to require more
programming background, or more professional certifications.
How did assessment data and analysis support these changes?
Please note the “Rationale” column in tables 1 and 2 above.
What changes does the department plan to make in the coming years to the program and to assessment techniques,
and why?
No major curricular changes are planned for the coming year. However, a number of rubrics for measuring direct assessment needs to be
developed and employed in both core and cognate courses.
5
How were faculty, students, administration, alumni and other groups involved in assessment?
The faculty, students, and alumni were involved in the collection of the following direct and indirect assessment data:
Assessment Measure
Review of junior-level work by the faculty member teaching the junior capstone course (I308)
Review of senior-level work by the faculty members teaching the senior capstone courses (I450, I451)
Senior exit survey
Alumni survey
Academic advising
Constituent Involvement
Faculty
Faculty
Senior Students
Alumni
Faculty, Students
The administrators for the program (Department Chair and Informatics Director) coordinate the process. Academic dean and the vice
chancellor receive copies of the assessment plan and reports.
How were assessment data and results shared with faculty, students, administration and alumni?
The assessment data are shared with the faculty at departmental meetings. Also, the department’s assessment plan as well as it’s reports
are publically available through the department web site.
In one paragraph, please summarize the most important impacts of assessment on student learning in the program.
The informatics program is a new and evolving program; as such its curriculum and program goals will continue to evolve. Assessment is an
important component of refining and improving the quality of this new program. As the result of our review and assessment efforts, the
following components have been improved:








Course level goals and outcomes have been developed
I101 has been refined to better support I210 and I211
I308 has been redesigned to include more data structure to better support upper level course.
I308 has been refined to include more brainstorming and problem solving components.
I451 has been refined to include a substantial multi-week, multi-phased assignment, exposing students to a realistic database
development project.
The prerequisite hierarchy for the entire informatics program has been reviewed and restructured to provide better prerequisite
support for upper level courses. The proposed changes were approved by the university dean for informatics and have been
implemented at IU South Bend since 2007.
A new course that focuses on problem solving has been designed and will be offered starting Fall 2009.
More internship opportunities have been developed.
Is there any other information that you would like included in this report?
Additional documentation is included as appendices to the report.
6
Appendix – A
Informatics Program Assessment Plan
7
Appendix – B
Senior Exit Survey
8
Appendix – C
Alumni Survey
9
Appendix – D
Employer Survey
10
Appendix – E
Academic Advising Form
11
Appendix – F
Updated Informatics Pre-requisite Structure
(Before 2007 & After 2007)
12
Appendix – G
Updated Informatics Course Syllabi
13
Appendix – H
Direct Measurement for
INFO-I 202 Ethical and Societal Issues
Will be implemented in the future
Learning Goals
1) Written and Verbal Communication skills.
2) Analytical and statistical skills.
3) Micro and Macro level problem solving skills.
4) Understanding of the societal and ethical issues as they relate
to computing professionals.
5) Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
6) A depth of knowledge developed in a cognate area.
2006
2007
2008
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
NA
NA
NA
Note:

Learning goal # 4 will be measured based on class discussion of social and ethical issues, as well as the final paper for the course.
14
Appendix – I
Direct Measurement for
INFO-I 308 Junior Capstone
Learning Goals
1) Written and Verbal Communication skills.
2) Analytical and statistical skills.
3) Micro and Macro level problem solving skills.
4) Understanding of the societal and ethical issues as they relate
to computing professionals.
5) Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
6) A depth of knowledge developed in a cognate area.
2006
2007
2008
NA
NA
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
2
3
0
3
2
1
2
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
2
1
2
3
1
0
3
4
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
2
1
2
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
1
0
4
3
Note:



Learning goal # 2 was measured based on homework score, and in-class assignments and test score.
Learning goal # 3 was measured based on class discussions to decompose large problems, and homework score.
Learning goal # 5 was measured based on individual programming and other homework assignments.
15
Appendix – J
Direct Measurement for
INFO-I 450 Senior Capstone I
Learning Goals
1) Written and Verbal Communication skills.
2) Analytical and statistical skills.
3) Micro and Macro level problem solving skills.
4) Understanding of the societal and ethical issues as they relate
to computing professionals.
5) Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
6) A depth of knowledge developed in a cognate area.
2006
2007
2008
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
0
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
8
0
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
1
0
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
0
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
6
1
1
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
0
1
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
0
2
1
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
0
7
1
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
0
1
0
0
Note:



Learning goal # 1 was measured based on project documentations and presentations.
Learning goal # 3 was measured based on homework score.
Learning goal # 5 was measured based on team project.
16
Appendix – K
Direct Measurement for
INFO-I 451 Senior Capstone II
Learning Goals
1) Written and Verbal Communication skills.
2) Analytical and statistical skills.
3) Micro and Macro level problem solving skills.
4) Understanding of the societal and ethical issues as they relate
to computing professionals.
5) Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
6) A depth of knowledge developed in a cognate area.
2006
2007
2008
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
4
0
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
3
1
0
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
Excellent:
Good:
Satisfactory:
Needs more work:
NA
3
4
0
0
Note:



Learning goal # 1 was measured based on documentation and discussions from a semester long project over five phases.
Learning goal # 3 was measured Based on SQL Homework assignments.
Learning goal # 5 was measured Based on a semester long project over five phases.
17
Appendix – L
Program Graduates
In 2006 Informatics graduated 2 students:
Richard A. Folkner
Laurie A. Seall
Leonardo Bumbaca
In 2007 Informatics graduated 2 students:
Renfro, Donald E.
Rodriguez, Moises
In 2008 Informatics graduated 5 students:
Zachary T. Shultz
Craig Michael Chamberlin
Clarence E. Helm (Highest Distinction)
Daniel Martin Ramsey
Garth R. Mason
18
Appendix – M
Prior Assessment Documents
19