Three types of assessment have been utilized, beginning in Fall 1998 after completion of the first full year of classes. The three types:

• The Faculty Survey
• The Stetson Survey
• ETS Major Field Tests

The Initial Assessment: The Faculty Survey

Beginning in Fall 1998, the College of Business surveyed faculty regarding content and level of coverage for courses taught each term.

• Content: all of the curriculum elements identified in the AACSB Curriculum Content Standards (Section C.1 - both undergraduate and graduate).
• Level of coverage: specified as Some (less than one class period), Moderate (one to two class periods), or Primary (three or more class periods). Occurrences of each coverage level are expressed as a percentage of the total number of courses sampled.

The content and coverage data are presented here in two forms:

Tabular Data All Elements by Semester		Graphical Data by Curriculum Element Semester-to-Semester
Undergraduate Fall 1998 Spring 1999 Fall 1999	Graduate Fall 1998 Spring 1999 Fall 1999	Undergraduate Graduate

In addition, the survey asks faculty to describe assessment methods for each of the curriculum elements. Details of responses to this portion of the survey are archived in hard copy at the College.

The Faculty Survey method yields useful results, but it obviously portrays only the faculty perspective of curriculum.

The Stetson Survey

In the fall of 1999, at an AACSB Continuous Improvement Symposium, Stetson University described a research project: a program which they had developed to assess performance with regard to AACSB curriculum standards. To the FGCU attendees at the conference, it was notable for its inclusion of three groups: students, alumni, and faculty, in the assessment process.

With the permission of Stetson, the FGCU College of Business adapted and expanded the survey, by

• adding additional questions unique to the University and College Mission,
• creating a separate survey instrument for graduate students/faculty/alumni.

The survey was first administered at FGCU in Spring 2000, and for a second time in Spring 2001. It is normally given to faculty, students in their graduating year, and alumni (one and five years after graduation). To establish a larger alumni population, the 2000 survey included all alumni of the College since the 1997 opening. Subsequent surveys will include only the one- and five-year alumni.

The undergraduate survey (students and alumni) includes 22 questions encompassing ·

• The perspectives that form the context for for business, as listed in Standards section C.1.1; ·
• Foundation knowledge areas listed in section C.1.2.b; ·
• Oral and written communication per C.1.2.c; ·
• Additional areas of University learning outcomes and College core competencies.

The graduate survey (students and alumni) includes 20 questions encompassing ·

• The perspectives that form the context for for business, as listed in Standards section C.1.1; ·
• Core areas described in C.1.3.a; ·
• Basic skills per C.1.3.b ·
• Additional areas of University learning outcomes and College core competencies.

The faculty survey includes 28 questions to cover the content of both undergraduate and graduate surveys.

Each survey question is structured in three parts, each with a response on a 1 to 5 scale: ·

• How much coverage of the item is there? ·
• How much coverage should there be? ·
• How important is this item?

The analysis of survey data includes comparison of measures of central tendency within and across the three subject groupings within the College of Business.

The ultimate numerical output, for each curriculum item on the survey, is identified as an Action Index (AI). A higher AI indicates a combination of 1) a high importance, and 2) a lower coverage than what there "should be". As the name implies, a higher Action Index indicates a higher need for improvement in that area of the curriculum relative to other areas. The analysis results in separate AI data for Undergraduate and Graduate curricula.

View Action Index Data and Charts

ETS Major Field Tests

Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a provider of a wide variety of assessment instruments, one category of which is Major Field Tests.

These instruments assess students' academic achievement in their major field of study. The Major Field Tests provide valid, reliable measures of student accomplishment in 14 academic disciplines, one of which is business. National comparative data are provided for each test.

These tests go beyond the measurement of factual knowledge; they evaluate students' abilities to:

• analyze and solve problems
• understand relationships
• interpret material

Individual student scores are reported, as well as department demographics and summaries of scores.

The test was administered to graduating Seniors each Spring: 53 students in 2000, 62 in 2001, 62 in 2002, and 89 in 2003.

Unique to the Major Field Tests are assessment indicators or scores that relate to sub-fields within a major field of study - accounting or marketing within the business major, for example. This feature helps a department examine student strengths and weaknesses in various areas of the total curriculum.

View Major Field Test Data and Charts