Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Undergraduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Major [UG] / Program [Grad]
Program Name: Economics BA BS (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
(a) Faculty teaching spring semester electives will use a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being highest) to evaluate senior research papers, projects, and/or final exams in their courses with respect to each of the learning outcomes detailed in (1) above. The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) will construct average scores across courses. Annual reports will be maintained in department files.
(b) Reports will be maintained in department files of annual faculty meetings held to assess (i) strengths and weaknesses of our students collectively in both
our required and elective courses, (ii) the breadth and depth of our elective offerings, and (iii) whether the curriculum (prerequisites and/or course offerings) need modification.
(c) In addition, the DUS will form and chair a faculty committee every third year to formally review the undergraduate curriculum and make recommendations to be discussed at the annual faculty meeting. A written report will be maintained in department files. The next review is scheduled for fall semester 2023.
Review Process:
The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) will have primary responsibility for arranging teacher reviews, designing and evaluating exit surveys, and designing/implementing all program modifications. The DUS will be assisted by the undergraduate academic advisor. The DUS reports to and is advised by the department faculty at an annual meeting to discuss undergraduate issues, curriculum, and program modifications.
Resulting Program Changes:
The following changes have been made in the past few years based on data similar to those described above.
Changes in last three years:
(a) For the Class of 2023 and beyond, the major will still require eleven courses, however, it will have only five required courses, leaving six required electives for students to explore their interests. This will enable majors to have more time in discovery of topics of their choice and less time on the more elementary Principles sequence. The introductory course is now a single 4-credit course rather than two 3-credit courses. The total credits required therefore becomes 36 credits.
(b) Several new elective courses at both the lower (2000) and upper (3000) levels have been added providing greater variety of course choice for our students.
(c) The number of upper-level electives that require econometrics as a prerequisite has changed in the last three years from three to four electives to approximately half of all electives. This allows us to make econometric analytical analysis a basic skill for all of our majors and for those particularly interested in data analysis to have more experience in this area, in line with reclassification of the Economics major to STEM-qualified status. This drastic increase was made possible by the addition of a number of newly developed 3000-level courses (such as Experimental Economics) and also converting existing 3000-level courses (such as Economics of Inequality) to include an Econometrics prerequisite. Many of these courses also have students writing their own econometric paper or doing other econometric analysis that allows some freedom in working on topics of primary interest to the student.
Changes in the last year:
(a) Beginning with the class of 2025, Economics will no longer be a CSOM concentration. This decision was made to better align the MCAS Economics major and minor, which now both require econometrics. The CSOM concentration does not require econometrics and only requires two electives beyond the Principles and Theory courses. Approximately 10% of CSOM students choose the Economics concentration while at least 100 students who complete the MCAS Economics major requirements.
(b) Begun in spring 2021, the Department now offers a 1-credit Stata course (ECON1158). Two sections were taught by an Economics Ph.D. student during the inaugural semester. This class is nearly identical to what the TFs/TAs have done with the Statistics lab (ECON1150) and is modeled after a 1-credit course CSOM offers in R for similar reasons to those outlined below. The addition of this course to the Economics curriculum will: 1) assist CSOM students who took BZAN1135 (Business Statistics) instead of ECON1151 (Statistics) and would like to take econometrics, which require Stata; 2) help transfers who have taken statistics at their previous institution where Stata was not used; and 3) offer a class that
may be of interest to a wide variety of BC students interested in doing empirical work. The decision was just made to convert this course into P/F moving forward.
(c) The DUS collected statistics from faculty concerning undergraduate research/URFs from 2015-2020. There were nearly 100 undergraduates involved in research with nearly half of the opportunities coming from Professors of the Practice, close to a quarter from Assistant Professors, and about a third from Full Professors. About two-thirds of the projects required econometrics information was collected on post-graduation jobs as well. A few of these students are highlighted on the Department’s webpage.
(d) The DUS introduced a new process for undergraduates interested in doing research/URFs (Undergraduate Research Fellowship). The application process has been automated and can be accessed via the Department’s webpage for Undergraduate Studies. The student dossiers are stored, shared, and secured using a departmental drive.
(e) Two new professors, both Professors of the Practice, have taken over as the faculty liaison to the BCEA (BC Economics Association) and the Director of ODE (Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Economics Honor Society). The profiles and pictures of the Executive BCEA Board are now included on the Department’s webpage.
(f) In accordance with the new Vice Provost for Global Engagement’s hopes for study abroad, and in the Department’s efforts to assist and support the Office of International Programs, the Department’s webpage will be showcasing student testimonials about study abroad experiences with special emphasis given to where and when the student studied abroad, and any post-college plans they have.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
The following changes have been made in the past few years based on data similar to those described above.
Changes in last three years:
(a) For the Class of 2023 and beyond, the major will still require eleven courses, however, it will have only five required courses, leaving six required electives for students to explore their interests. This will enable majors to have more time in discovery of topics of their choice and less time on the more elementary Principles sequence. The introductory course is now a single 4-credit course rather than two 3-credit courses. The total credits required therefore becomes 36 credits.
(b) Several new elective courses at both the lower (2000) and upper (3000) levels have been added providing greater variety of course choice for our students.
(c) The number of upper-level electives that require econometrics as a prerequisite has changed in the last three years from three to four electives to approximately half of all electives. This allows us to make econometric analytical analysis a basic skill for all of our majors and for those particularly interested in data analysis to have more experience in this area, in line with reclassification of the Economics major to STEM-qualified status. This drastic increase was made possible by the addition of a number of newly developed 3000-level courses (such as Experimental Economics) and also converting existing 3000-level courses (such as Economics of Inequality) to include an Econometrics prerequisite. Many of these courses also have students writing their own econometric paper or doing other econometric analysis that allows some freedom in working on topics of primary interest to the student.
Changes in the last year:
(a) Beginning with the class of 2025, Economics will no longer be a CSOM concentration. This decision was made to better align the MCAS Economics major and minor, which now both require econometrics. The CSOM concentration does not require econometrics and only requires two electives beyond the Principles and Theory courses. Approximately 10% of CSOM students choose the Economics concentration while at least 100 students who complete the MCAS Economics major requirements.
(b) Begun in spring 2021, the Department now offers a 1-credit Stata course (ECON1158). Two sections were taught by an Economics Ph.D. student during the inaugural semester. This class is nearly identical to what the TFs/TAs have done with the Statistics lab (ECON1150) and is modeled after a 1-credit course CSOM offers in R for similar reasons to those outlined below. The addition of this course to the Economics curriculum will: 1) assist CSOM students who took BZAN1135 (Business Statistics) instead of ECON1151 (Statistics) and would like to take econometrics, which require Stata; 2) help transfers who have taken statistics at their previous institution where Stata was not used; and 3) offer a class that
may be of interest to a wide variety of BC students interested in doing empirical work. The decision was just made to convert this course into P/F moving forward.
(c) The DUS collected statistics from faculty concerning undergraduate research/URFs from 2015-2020. There were nearly 100 undergraduates involved in research with nearly half of the opportunities coming from Professors of the Practice, close to a quarter from Assistant Professors, and about a third from Full Professors. About two-thirds of the projects required econometrics information was collected on post-graduation jobs as well. A few of these students are highlighted on the Department’s webpage.
(d) The DUS introduced a new process for undergraduates interested in doing research/URFs (Undergraduate Research Fellowship). The application process has been automated and can be accessed via the Department’s webpage for Undergraduate Studies. The student dossiers are stored, shared, and secured using a departmental drive.
(e) Two new professors, both Professors of the Practice, have taken over as the faculty liaison to the BCEA (BC Economics Association) and the Director of ODE (Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Economics Honor Society). The profiles and pictures of the Executive BCEA Board are now included on the Department’s webpage.
(f) In accordance with the new Vice Provost for Global Engagement’s hopes for study abroad, and in the Department’s efforts to assist and support the Office of International Programs, the Department’s webpage will be showcasing student testimonials about study abroad experiences with special emphasis given to where and when the student studied abroad, and any post-college plans they have.
Attachments (if available)