Assurance of Learning
Curriculum Management and Assessment of Learning in Lubin
The mission of the Lubin School of Business is to develop our students' analytical, organizational and personal competencies in a comprehensive academic and experience-based learning environment dedicated to preparing students to successfully begin and advance in their chosen professional careers.
Lubin's faculty-led curriculum management program sets learning goals for each program and regularly assesses student performance to determine optimal improvements that will build student skills and contribute to their careers.
Our course-embedded approach to assessment engages the faculty at many levels including: developing learning goals, creating assessment exercises, evaluating performance, and implementing improvements based on the evidence. The faculty of the Lubin School of Business is committed to each student's success in every course and throughout the program.
The Lubin graduate learning goals are the skills the faculty expects students to master by graduation in the Master of Business Administration program. Each individual MS program has a set of goals representing the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in careers in those specialized areas. In addition, we evaluate student performance within our major areas of concentration.
Lubin's MBA Learning Goals
- Analyze and Evaluate Business Data
- Apply Theory to Practice
- Communicate Effectively
- Use Ethical Principles in Decision Making
- Anticipate and Manage Change in a Global Business Environment
- Work Successfully in Teams
The Curriculum Management Process
The Lubin School of Business has a comprehensive system of assessment and continuous improvement for all programs. Lubin's Director of Continuous Improvement works with the Graduate Curriculum Committee and Department Chairs to review assessment procedures, determine processes, evaluate student performance and recommend improvements to our programs. The Dean then evaluates plans and provides the necessary resources for execution at the school or departmental level.
Lubin faculty members contribute assessment materials including: papers, projects, assignments and exams from their courses depending on the learning goal of interest. Sometimes appropriate materials are not available from the general coursework so we ask faculty members to develop assignments for students. Faculty assessors then evaluate individual responses from samples of our student population.
The Lubin School of Business fully assesses each graduate program on a two year cycle. Program Directors are responsible for collecting materials, reporting assessment results and implementing improvements to their programs.
Continuous Improvement in Lubin's Graduate Programs
The faculty in Lubin strives to provide students the best possible mix of educational experiences to ensure learning. Over the past few years we have implemented the following programs to enhance student performance:
Since 2009 faculty members have reported coverage of the general MBA learning goals in their courses in the annual review process. The Lubin School now requires that all faculty teaching graduate courses identify the methods used to teach students the skills commensurate with the learning goals in their programs/departments. The learning goals pertain to the MBA majors, all Master of Science degrees, the Executive MBA, the Master in Finance for Professionals and the Executive Doctoral Program and determine annual faculty performance.
We expect students to act in an ethical and responsible manner both in the classroom and in the business world. Students in their course: participate in a simulation to enhance their knowledge of ethical conduct in business.
The Lubin School of Business stresses the importance of business analytics across the curriculum. Students in our programs complete analytics courses to improve their skills in analyzing business data and learn data visualization techniques. Graduate students have the option of completing the Analytics Boot Camp, a five-week deep dive into analytics with a seasoned faculty member.
In terms of improvements the LSB implemented a global business program during graduate orientation featuring discussions of cultural differences and articles about the BRIC countries. The program is now an integral part of our orientation program to acculturate students and welcome them to the school.
Our Pathways program prepares international students for the rigor of graduate studies. Students take up to three semesters of courses to ensure that they meet the demands of our faculty members.
During graduate orientation Lubin highlights the issues of managing change with student self-evaluations paired with discussions of organizational change management at Yahoo.
As part of our ongoing assessment processes we evaluate data from the Â鶹´«Ã½ office of Planning, Assessment and Institutional Research, such as the Survey of Student Satisfaction and we use employment data from Cooperative Education and Â鶹´«Ã½ Services to examine how employers perceive our students' skills.
Our process has been highly effective in determining areas where improvements may be necessary and the school regularly implements successful programs to address assessment related issues.