Reviewers' Notebook: Assessing Student Outcomes

From CSWiki

The CS faculty are never satisfied; it seems to be in our nature that we continually want to make our program and courses better.

Through contacts and study with those outside the college, we regulary work to keep up with current ideas regarding curricula, pedagogy, recruitment and retension of students, the use of labs, etc.

Within the department, we frequently talk with each other about current circumstances: how are courses going, what successes have we just seen, what challenges and opportunities can we identify, how can we refine current offerings and activities to do even better?

In addition, the CS faculty works hard to listen. Informally, we frequently ask students for their reactions to course activities, learning environments, etc. For example, when a student comes to see a faculty member with a course-related question, it is not uncommon for the instructor to conclude the session by asking the student for perspectives on the course, curriculum, facilities, and the like.

More formally, periodically we seek input from graduating senior majors through exit interviews, and for a 3-year period we utilized the ETS Major Field Test in Computer Science. For external reviews, we also collaborate with the Office of Institutional Research on surveys of alumni.