Meaning
"Defining the meaning of higher degrees can provide clarity for institutions, for students, and for a public that seeks to understand what unique educational experience will be had at that particular institution and what makes the investment in that experience worthwhile...Exploring the meaning of a degree thus involves addressing questions about what the institution expects its students -- undergraduates and graduates alike -- to know and be able to do upon graduation, and how graduates embody the distinct values and traditions of the institution through their dispositions and future plans."
- WSCUC 2013 Handbook of Accreditation, pg 29
Meaning can be defined through PLOs and Curriculum Maps
Program Learning Outcomes
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Successfully solve and demonstrate to others multistep problems in Organic, Analytical, and a third sub-discipline of the field. In at least one case, critical evaluation of the quality or usefulness of the data presented must be evaluated and explained.
Written and Oral Communication: Reports of independently obtained laboratory results and analysis must be presented in the scientific format. The effectiveness of presentation and the linguistic quality of the report will be evaluated. A seminar must be presented on a current or historical topic in chemistry in which all of the chemistry department community is invited to attend. The effectiveness and quality of presentation will be evaluated.
Technical Skills: Each student in the major will be evaluated on their technical competence in the laboratory with respect to operating the chemical instrumentation and properly handling apparatuses specific to certain sub-disciplines.
Applying Chemistry for Society: Students will demonstrate the ability to use chemistry knowledge to address a problem or question that has the potential to impact the broader, non-scientific community at a local, regional or global scale.
