Department of Business Administration Assessment Summary
The following statements support Standard Four – Effectiveness and Improvement related to Assessment as required by the Northwest Commission.
A.1 Since acquiring National accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) in 2008 the Department of Business Administration has maintained and promoted a continuous cycle of improvement and data analysis in both quantitative and qualitative platforms. The Department Curriculum Committee established the School of Business Mission Statement:
The College of Southern Nevada School of Business Mission is to provide quality business education programs working collectively and responsibly to meet the lifelong learning needs of our diverse community. We will achieve our mission by:
· Partnering with the business community by bridging business theory and practical applications throughout our curriculum.
· Developing values-centered leaders and advancing responsible business practice through education that is entrepreneurial in spirit, ethical in focus and global in orientation to help shape today’s diverse business environment.
· Promoting professional development for our faculty and staff which examines current business trends and proven strategies to cultivate an educational experience with creativity, technology, interpersonal group and team dynamics.
Our Mission provides and overarching framework in which to foster ongoing student achievement and success as well as program effectiveness. Our data collection efforts, Mission Statement, and complete ACBSP report appear on the Department of Business Administration Homepage (www.CSN.edu) and are readily accessible.
A.2 The Department of Business has maintained an active Curriculum Committee that focuses on Assessment, Accreditation, and Curriculum Review. This committee, which meets every two weeks, just recently completed a comprehensive program review that will result in Curriculum changes and enhancements for the 2015-2016 academic year. Stable commitment has resulted in teaching faculty having a direct role in the evaluation of programs. Examples of these efforts include: reviewing current curriculum for the 2016-2017 college catalog, adding the ENT Certificate and AA Program, Updating and revising the AAS degree in Marketing, creation of two Certificates of Completion in Real Estate and Start-ups, and ensuring our Certificates of Achievement are direct pathways to the AAS degree.
A.3 The Department of Business has maintained an ongoing assessment strategy that is multi-dimensional in scope and focus. Programs are assessed, for example, through development and administration of a Comprehensive Exit Exam that is distributed to all program graduates. This exam includes questions related to core curriculum content in which students would be expected to demonstrate proficiency. The Department also has formed an alliance with the College’s Institutional Research Office in order to establish quantifiable transfer data of our students. In addition, student program satisfaction is measured through use of a Student Exit Survey that will enable faculty to tap into student program success, along with the standard college course evaluations that are administered to all students each semester.
A.4 As the Department of Business Mission Statement serves as a framework, so too do the course outcomes that are created and established by our faculty Curriculum Committee. All course outcomes are approved and contain action items and overall goals for students completing any class. The learning outcomes are now standardized. All degrees and certificate programs are correlated for student achievement pathways for completion.
A.5 Program assessment data and evaluation are completed on a consistent basis through use of a Comprehensive Exit Exam, Student Exit Survey, Student Transfer Data, and Program Review initiatives with stakeholder engagement as part of the overall process. This includes the Business Advisory Board that meets with department faculty on an ongoing basis.
A.6 Because the National accreditation of the ACBSP requires ongoing review of department assessment processes, faculty involved in committee initiatives have direct contact with data and the assessment process. The practices of collecting data through a survey instrument, course evaluation, exit exam, and stakeholder input, etc. all yield authentic forms of data that provide a pathway to continuous improvement programs and course offerings.