The efforts to assess student learning in the Economics Department started with a review of our mission, vision and student profile.  These discussions led the faculty to agree on the importance of developing plans to evaluate educational outcomes in both our functions, as providers of "service" economics courses to other Departments, and in our professional training of economists.  This agreement led us to develop plans and strategies to evaluate educational attainments in both populations.

Regarding our professional education for economists we adapted and implemented a senior survey in 2002 and again in 2004. This survey was distributed among the graduating class and active faculty in both cases.  The discussion of these results as well as the revision of the Department’s vision, mission and student profile led to several actions: we requested the reorganization of courses in the undergraduate curriculum, we revised and created several courses, and we researched and changed transfer requirements. We also completed a several year effort to establish a list of elective courses for the degree.  The selection of recommended courses was based on two criteria, namely that the course referred to at least one element in the graduating student profile, and that the course served as part of a sequence for a second degree that is commonly paired with economics. 

We are now in the process of revising the tittles and descriptions of several elective courses in Economics, as well as developing some other new courses.  There is a survey for alumnae being a developed, in order to follow-up on our students’ career, graduate programs, and their assessment of their undergraduate education.  This year we interviewed the senior class in order to begin documenting their view of the Departmental curriculum, teaching staff and student services.  We plan to develop instruments to stimulate direct student involvement in our assessment plans.

The most important service course we offer is Principles of Microeconomics. In order to assess student learning in this one semester course, an achievement test was developed.  It has been administered in all sections of this course for a period of two years.  The results have been regularly discussed at Departmental meetings, and with regards to this course several actions have been identified and implemented to improve student learning: a web page was developed to provide students with applications to real economic situations in Puerto Rico for the course's basic concepts, several strategies to integrate technology in the course have been developed and individually assessed, and we have developed a learning community among professors relating to the teaching and learning strategies most successful for each professor each semester.  In general terms the results in this achievement test have improved over time, and we consider them to be very good in general (over 70% correct in eight of the fifteen questions in the test, and 68% correct answers overall).

Over the past five years the efforts in the assessment of student learning at the Economics Department have had a great impact among us.  From the sharing of individual student evaluations and course grades to the development of the community of learners between faculty, we have been able to recognize our strengths and the quality of our teaching, and we have been able to focus our efforts in the next level of questions regarding excellence in education.  The process has made our Department strong and our student’s better economists and better citizens.

One question that is constantly asked by people outside our Department is whether professors showed any reluctance to implement the different assessment strategies.  We feel that the University was very successful in educating us about assessment, and in choosing the faculty members to lead the units into learning the assessment philosophy.  These strategies were extremely successful at every level in the organization, as our recent experience with accreditation points out. At the level of our Department the clue was to be able to identify the assessment practices already in-place and to involve all of us in the construction of new strategies based on those we already had implemented.  We find that assessment can be successful in environments were the quality of teaching is the first priority, as it is the case in the Economics Department.

Next week our Department will discuss the final report for this year’s assessment of student learning initiatives, and we will approve the new strategies that we will implement next year.  We feel confident enough to assess student learning (with pre and post tests) in two more core courses and complete the evaluation of the sequence of Introductory Economics courses for students in Economics and in Business Administration.  This year we also completed an analysis of the actual sequence of courses that our students take as they progress in our Program.  With this information we will identify the capstone courses or sequences that we should target for further developments in the research on student learning. 

The assessment of student learning in economics has served to identify two important areas of opportunity for our Department, and in 2005-06 we will begin developing a Graduate Program and we will host the first Economic and Financial Education University Center, affiliated to the National Council on Economic Education.  The fact is that by giving an honest view to what we do so well, we now feel confident to take economic education to the population outside the Department: professionals and K-12 students.  The Economics Department has a very ambitious plan, and we know that assessment practices will keep us in track to attain those goals.