NWCCU MSU Billings Self-Study Report
October 2008
Standard 2.D - Graduate Programs
As a Carnegie classified public Masters institution, MSU Billings offers graduatedegree
programs in education—with options in elementary/secondary education,
special education, school counseling, reading education and early childhood
education—psychology, public relations, public administration, rehabilitation
and mental health counseling, health administration, athletic training, and sport/
recreation and fitness management. The University is committed to ensuring that
all of its graduate students complement the theoretical study of a subject with
investigation and practical application.
Standard 2.D.1 - Graduate Program and University Mission
MSU Billings has a set of Core Values that flow from the University Mission
and guide departments and colleges in making decisions about graduate programs.
The University’s Mission, Vision, and Core Values emphasize the importance of
being responsive to the changing needs of learners and their communities. Growing
from two Masters programs in one college (1965-1992) to ten degree-granting
programs across three colleges today, Graduate Studies has evidenced a commitment
to these goals, helping students across the state and beyond develop new knowledge,
expertise, leadership, and civic responsibility.
The University’s commitment to both access and excellence is addressed by the
increasing number of graduate-level courses offered online. In the College of Allied
Health Professions, the Master of Health Administration program is an online
program; other programs offer varying numbers of online classes.
The availability of online classes and programs is considered a strength since
it expands opportunities to participate in graduate programs to areas not currently
served by the Montana University System. Students are enrolled in graduate
programs throughout Montana, across the United States, and from outside the
United States. The University’s commitment to technology, both in terms of
equipment in classrooms and faculty offices and in providing ongoing technology instruction and support for faculty, has resulted in a significant proportion of faculty
members who are proficient in teaching online.
As is often the case, a commitment to goals can lead to unintended consequences.
Expansion of online offerings, although consistent with University goals and values,
has created new challenges for the University. Online courses allow many students
who would not be able to take campus courses to complete all or parts of programs
online. At the same time, many students who could take campus classes prefer the
convenience of online learning. As a result, enrollment in campus classes is impacted
by the availability of the same courses online. Students either choose to take the
online section over the campus section in a given semester or wait until they can
take required courses online. Finding a healthy balance between online and campus
offerings that will maximize graduate student opportunities while not endangering
the viability of campus classes is an ongoing challenge.
A second challenge arises from the fact that faculty members may have little
face-to-face contact with students who choose online classes or are enrolled in online
programs. Faculty members express concerns that qualitative elements that must be
developed and assessed through personal interaction may be negatively impacted by
online instruction. One solution instituted by the College of Education for a graduate
online Teacher Preparation Program was to require students to attend a five-week
summer session over two summers; courses better suited to campus delivery were
offered during the summer sessions, and faculty members had the opportunity to get
to know and assess cohort participants.
Evidence:
- 1.1 Mission Document;
- 2.5 Graduate Catalog; Table of online offerings by program
Standard 2.D.2 - Graduate Program Assessment
Outcomes assessment is crucial to the ongoing success of graduate programs.
Graduate faculty must have reliable indicators that graduate students possess
the requisite content knowledge, research skills, and professional competencies
appropriate to each graduate program in order to evaluate and strengthen programs.
The nature of graduate education includes attention to the values of the discipline,
research methodology, major questions in the discipline, professional competencies
and current literature in the field. Graduate students are expected to demonstrate
a deep understanding of the disciplinary literature, as well as to formulate their
position relative to that literature/research/praxis. This level of sophistication is not
widely expected of undergraduate students. As graduate program enrollments have
increased, colleges have expanded graduate offerings so that few programs now
require graduate students to take undergraduate courses. When enrollment does
not justify separate courses for graduate students, most instructors make additional
requirements of graduate students to assure that they are asked to go beyond what is
required of undergraduate students.
Infusing graduate programs with programmatic outcomes and multiple measures
of those outcomes has required rethinking the basic structure of most programs. At
this point all graduate programs have identified specific and measurable outcomes
that are indicated in the graduate catalog. Colleges are still in the process of
determining how best to measure outcomes. For example, College of Education
faculty have developed a set of six standards outlining what graduate students must
know and be able to do that applies to all COE graduate programs. The COE
Graduate Committee will present a proposal to the college Fall 2008 to require
all master’s candidates, both those seeking initial teaching licensure and those
seeking an advanced degree, to demonstrate that standards have been met by writing
and defending a thesis or by passing a written comprehensive exam and either an
internship or an action research project. Graduate candidates in other colleges are
required to engage in significant research appropriate to their field of study and to
produce documents, portfolios, research reports, or a thesis, either within program
courses or as a capstone to their program (described in section 2b).
Programs linked to specific disciplinary accreditations focus on the learning and
performance of their students. Expectations for classroom work and presentations
for terminal documents vary somewhat from program to program. However, while
this is to be expected, attention to these areas is consistent both at the program level
and through the governing councils of the University. The Graduate Committee has
the responsibility to oversee the integrity of graduate education across the campus.
Specifically, the Graduate Committee, made up of representatives from the three
colleges offering graduate degrees, reviews course and program changes, identifies
and addresses issues affecting graduate programs across campus, and establishes,
enforces, and reviews graduate policy.
Evidence: 2.5 Graduate Catalog
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