Department-based ASSESSMENT
Academic Year 1996-97
Introduction. The Department of Geography was formed in 1969 as a separate department. Formerly it was part of a combined department of Geography and Geology. The discipline covers both the physical and social sciences. In the mid 1970s the department began to break up the general degree and the broad teaching of the discipline into subdivisions, special curricula with their own major codes, which focused upon the applied nature of geography. These tracks within the geography undergraduate degree reflect the different job opportunities which geographic education offers. The department now has six such tracks in addition to the geography major. There are no formal subdivisions or foci in the graduate program. Graduate students choose courses and a thesis topic according to their own interests.
The department has a history of irregular assessment activities over the past ten years. We are now trying to regularize our assessment activities on an annual, formal basis as an independent activity by an assessment committee, under the general supervision of the department chair, and distinct from the annual newsletter upon which we based our assessment activities in the past.
I. STATEMENT OF GOALS
1. Undergraduate. The general objective of the undergraduate program is to give all geography majors a broad knowledge of the physical and human-cultural properties of the world as well as an understanding of geographic techniques. The department hopes that students will incorporate this geographic knowledge in the forming of a lifelong Weltanschauung (world view) and will use it in their day-to-day approach to problem solving. An immediate goal of the undergraduate program is to equip students with sufficient geographic training so that
The special curricula in the undergraduate degree program are as follows:
• Cartography • Premeteorology
• Environmental Geography • Urban Planning
• Environmental Prelaw
• Geographic Information
• Systems Analyst
Their goals are similar to the general goals of the undergraduate program stated above but modified to reflect the particular applied techniques and possible careers involved.
2. Graduate. Master's program. The objectives of the Master's program in its main outline are similar to those of the undergraduate program, with some additions. Graduates in both the thesis and nonthesis tracks, besides having a thorough understanding of physical and human geography, should have a specialized understanding of one of the subfields of geography as well as a proficiency in one or more geographic techniques such as cartography, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and quantitative methods. In addition, as a result of the researching and the writing of a thesis, graduates in the thesis track should be able to conduct research in physical or human geography supported by one or more specific techniques and be able to present the results of their research in both oral and written form. Experience in oral presentation is gained in seminars and research papers in connection with lecture courses. Graduate students are encouraged to present the results of their research to the faculty and students at the department colloquium held three time each term during the academic year.
3. Qualitative. Both the undergraduate and graduate program have a capstone course, the senior seminar at the undergraduate level and a geographic thought course at the graduate level. These courses instill both the historical and current relevance of Geography to the economic and social life of humans and the importance of protecting, managing, and restoring the natural environment and the earth as the home in which human beings and other species of animals and plants live. The senior seminar for undergraduates includes, as part of its program, group presentations to the entire class in which parts of a report are presented by different students in an environment which simulates workplace conditions.
II. EVIDENCE OF ACCOMPLISHING GOALS
The alumni survey activities during 1996-97 followed our previous pattern of enclosing a questionnaire with the annual newsletter, the Geogram (see the 1996 assessment report). These were unsuccessful and unsatisfactory in furthering the assessment goals of the University although they were of very great interest to the Department of Geography as indications of alumni activities. Of four hundred alumni to whom the Geogram was sent, only fourteen returned a completed questionnaire. It should be pointed out that this questionnaire was put in terms of a five-year survey. It asked the relevant questions regarding the relationship among courses taken in the Department and their usefulness taken in their present career. However, it did not state that the questionnaire was aimed specifically at first and second year alumni.
The returned forms were from alumni working in diverse occupations such as Environmental Science Technician with Environmental Services Management in Cleveland, Ohio; a captain with USAir in Pittsburgh International Airport; a teacher of physical science at an Ohio University branch campus; a planner in the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio; a planner with the Ohio Department of Development in Columbus OH; a planning technician in Waster Ohio; a senior research associate with the Department of Forest Resources in St. Paul, MN; a professional land surveyor (self-employed); a physical scientist with the Defense Mapping Agency in Reston VA; an assistant director of the Geography Education Program with the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.; and a GIS analyst with Prudential Health care.
The Department now has in place new assessment procedures which will fulfill the aims of Ohio University. It provided an exit questionnaire to its 56 graduating undergraduate majors and received 46 completed returned forms. The introductory comments on the form stated in part, "The Department hopes to survey you again at the end of your first and second years as alumni in order to ascertain your thoughts in retrospect regarding your geographic training, particularly the extent to which it enables you to obtain employment and the extent to which your geographic training is pertinent to your career."
Exit Survey Responses (June 1997)
1. The students were asked the extent to which their academic experience fulfilled their expectations of the discipline of geography which they had when they first became a geography major. The responses were favorable (n=46):
Yes: 72 percent To some extent: 28 percent
2. The students were asked the extent to which their academic experience fulfilled their expectations as to what they might learn which would prepare them for getting a job upon graduation (as far as they were presently aware. The results were as follows (n=46):
Yes: 39 percent To some extent: 54 percent No: 7 percent
3. The students were asked the extent to which their experience in the Department of Geography and their courses increased their general awareness and understanding of spatial interaction, of landscapes, and of the natural environment. The responses were as follows (n=46):
Yes: 99 percent To some extent: 1 percent
The survey also asked students what subject matter they would like to see expanded or what new courses they would like to see introduced. Not surprisingly the responses reflected the tracks which the students were following and their desires for additional information. Generally the students were pleased with the learning experience which they received in the Department of Geography and with the openness and accessibility of the professors.
The Department's course offerings are undergoing change in response to the comments from students, the interests of the faculty, and faculty perceptions of the trends and practices in the discipline of Geography. During the past year the Department has introduced two new courses which give more depth in the environmental track (Geography 316 Biogeography and Geography 317 Landscape Ecology) and has restructured the fields methods course (Geography 476). The Department also taught American Ethnic Geography (Geography 320) for the first time during the winter of 1997 and will teach US Historical Geography (Geography 328A) for the first time during the 1997-98 academic year.