Mathematics at SBU - Goals and Objectives

Program Goals and Objectives

Department of Mathematics

Mathematics Major

2010-11 Goals and Objectives

Below are the goals and objectives for the mathematics major. You will also see how the department assesses the program to be sure students (and the department itself) are meeting these goals and objectives. The assessment results help the department to know what it is doing well (so it can keep doing that well) and where it has weaknesses (so it can develop strategies to strengthen these areas and then to know if these changes were effective). If you look at other math programs, they will have similar goals and objectives and similar methods of assessing. There is a link to the left "Why SBU?" that details three aspects of our program that we feel are important to consider as students select a college.

Goal 1: All mathematics majors will become familiar with the standard tools and structure of mathematics.

Objectives:

The student will be able to:

Assessment Method:

Use the techniques of statistics to describe data sets.

Major Field Test

Praxis Exam

Student work on Final Exam in MAT 3343

Compute correctly the derivative and integral for standard functions.

Major Field Test

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 1195, 2255, 2263

Perform standard matrix computations

Major Field Test

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 3323

Goal 2: All mathematics majors will become able to apply the tools and structure of mathematical systems.

Objectives: The student will be able to:		Assessment Method:
	Perform complex mathematical tasks to solve multi-step problems	Major Field Test Praxis Exam Student work in all courses
	Compare similarities and contrast differences in number systems,	Major Field Test Praxis Exam Student work in MAT 3313, 3333, 4663
	Compare similarities and contrast differences in axiomatic systems.	Major Field Test Praxis Exam Student work in MAT 3313, 3333, 4483, 4663

Goal 3: All mathematics majors will become able to creatively solve mathematical problems.

Objectives:

The student will:

Assessment Method:

Be able to contribute effectively to group efforts to solve mathematical problems.

Student work on collaborative papers in MAT 3313, 3363, 4663

Graduate Survey

Be able to design and implement and to locate and evaluate different strategies for solving mathematical problems.

Major Field Exam

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 3313, 3373, 4483, 4663, EDU 4513

Be prepared for career success and/or further study in mathematics.

Graduate Survey

Be able to adapt to changing employment demands.

Graduate Survey

Goal 4: All mathematical majors will become able to communicate mathematical results to others in written and oral work.

Objectives:

The student will be able to:

Assessment Method:

Use proofs as an effective tool for communicating results.

Student work on proof in MAT 3313, 3333, 4663, 4483

Design graphs to accurately convey information.

Major Field Exam

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 1195, 3343, 3373

Restate and explain the definitions for common mathematical terms.

Major Field Exam

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 3313, 4663, and EDU 4513

Evaluate which is the appropriate tool to use for solving a given problem.

Major Field Exam

Praxis Exam

Student work in MAT 3353 and 3373

Evaluate the effectiveness of a mathematical process as applied to a particular situation.

Major Field Exam

Praxis Exam

Communicate effectively in their career.

Graduate Survey

Explain how differences in life assumptions produce differences in life, just as differences in axiomatic systems produce differences in mathematical structure.

Student work in MAT 3313, 4483, 4663

Graduate Survey

Assessment Results

We graduate 5-10 students per year, but this is not enough for us to feel comfortable releasing group results on the Major Field Test (which are taken during a student's senior year, typically). The MFT is taken by students at a variety of types of schools (such as those preparing most of their majors for graduate school) and has some topics we do not have room for in our program at SBU. This does not fit all of our majors, so we have looked for another external test to use. However it is the only external test of this type that we know of.

The Praxis is a test taken by all students seeking math certification in Missouri. Since 2006, we have been able to get information on how our students have performed on the secondary Praxis and middle school mathematics Praxis. These results are available here.

The method of sampling student work in courses was begun in 2002 and we are still analyzing the trend data to see if there are strengths and weaknesses we can identify. The data we have from this is available here.

Some information from our last graduate survey, taken in 2006, is given below.

Graduate Survey

A graduate survey is sent out every five years. In 2006, we sent it to graduates of the past ten years. We sent out the survey to 102 graduates in early-April (later than we had hoped to send it out). We had about 15 returned for lack of a current address (some of these we were able to track down and most were glad we had taken the time to track them down). We had 25 surveys completed (following an extension of the deadline a couple of times).

Strengths

On the graduate survey, the faculty is consistently identified as strength of the department, combined with small class sizes which allows for personalized attention. Nearly all returned surveys (22 of 25) had some written comment on strength of the department. Items having over 80% responding as agree or strongly agree were:

My mathematics degree from Southwest Baptist University prepared me well for my current job.
My mathematics degree from SBU developed the problem solving skills needed for my job (at 92%).
My mathematics degree from SBU developed my ability to contribute effectively to group efforts in solving mathematical problems.
My mathematics degree from SBU has helped my ability to meet the changing challenges of my employment.
I feel I am successful in my job (at 96%).
I am very satisfied with my mathematics degree from Southwest Baptist University (at 92%).
I am very satisfied with my current job (at 92%).
I was able to find employment in a reasonable time.
In the past year I have often looked for further information to help me in my present occupation.
While at Southwest Baptist University, I thought a lot about how one recognizes the problems of integrating life's assumptions, absolute truth, and personal faith.
While at SBU, I was challenged to examine the complexity and order of the number systems and the effect that changes in assumptions have on outcomes.
While at SBU I was challenged to examine the professional values and attitudes necessary for my occupation.

Only one item, "Knowing what I do now about my major and the employment opportunities it allows, I would choose to major in math at SBU again," had a disagree/strongly disagree response of 20% or more and it was just 20% disagree. This is five students and only one of them has ever been employed in the field of mathematics to use their SBU degree. There are only 11 of the 25 currently working in the field of mathematics (and only 14 of the 25 ever having been employed in the field of mathematics). This is lower than anticipated, but some may narrowly define the field of mathematics as they provided negative responses. Even with lower responses on choosing to major in math at SBU again and employment within mathematics, our graduates are very satisfied with their math degree, with how it prepared them for their current job, and with their current job.

Weaknesses

On the graduate survey, comments about specific weaknesses seemed to follow the themes of:

limited course offerings
Need for additional rigor

Comments on Weaknesses

With a student population of 40-50 majors, it is difficult to offer as wide a variety of courses as students might desire. Student population contributes to the rigor issue as we have a wide variety of ability levels in our math classes. It is a difficult balancing act between teaching with enough rigor to prepare a few students for further mathematical study (which is what the MFT measures) and not overwhelming some students (who have no intention of further mathematical study, but have chosen the difficult field to major in as an undergraduate). In some sense this is a weakness, but in another sense it is a strength. We care about all of our students and work hard to enable them all to succeed. Some schools intentionally use some beginning math classes (such as Calculus) to "weed out" weaker students from their program.

Page last revised September 28, 2010.