The Planning Accreditation Board requires this information be posted for the Bachelor of Science in Regional Planning program.
Student Achievement1
The
Bachelor of Science in Regional Planning strives to prepare students for leadership
positions as professional planners. Program graduates acquire ethical and
conceptual knowledge, as well as a broad range of technical skills, land use,
environmental training to articulate community problems and plan for
sustainable communities. The capstone course RGPL 498: Planning
Practicum taught in the Fall semester is used to determine program student
achievement. The course introduces students to the process of formal inquiry
and helps them develop the skills needed to read and evaluate the research of
others.
Students are exposed to the development of structured questions to
guide inquiry, bibliography research to set their inquiry in the context of the
work of other scholars, research design and the selection of research methods,
and takes them through the development of an original research project paper.
The course uses three assessment indicators: 1) Portfolio, 2) Research Paper,
3) Research Presentation to determine mastery of Program Outcome 2: Analytic,
Design and Communication skills: Apply written, oral, graphic and visual
communication skills in preparation and presentation of plans and research.
A summary of performance of graduating seniors follows:
Summary of Indicator 1: Portfolio
Students are required to
develop a professional portfolio that includes a resume, reflective essay on
the major, highlights of at least six of their best work (projects/papers), and
2) a research project paper.
Eight student portfolios were evaluated
by three faculty members and two external evaluators over the Fall and Spring
semesters of AY 2018-19. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out
of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators.
Summary of Indicator 2: Research Paper
Eight student research papers were evaluated by the instructor
of the course. Out of eight students, four students (50%) exceeded requirement by
scoring more than 90%, three students (37.5%) met the requirement by scoring in
between 80-89%, and 1 student (12.5%) met the requirement but below expectation
by scoring in between 70-79%.
Summary of Indicator 3: Research Presentation
Eight students presented their research orally to a jury of at least two faculty members and the instructor. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators. In addition, students are required to present their research papers at the annual IUP Scholars Forum2, sponsored by the Graduate School during Research Week, prior to a final grade for the course. During the 2019 Scholars Forum, two students received university awards—one for oral presentation and another for best poster.