Master's in City Planning Student Learning Assessment

Student Learning Outcome Assessment

Download a printable pdf of the below Student assessment charts

The SDSU MCP program faculty refined its student learning outcomes (SLOs) assessment metrics during the spring 2018 semester through a series of meetings and discussions. The MCP program will conduct an assessment every semester beginning in fall 2018, via an online survey sent to faculty. This is a requirement of our university, as well as the accrediting body.

The tables below show the SLOs, assessment metrics, and student learning outcomes for the 2017-2018 academic year. The actual assessment results are presented in the second table. This represents the MCP program’s first year conducting an assessment of our students’ attainment of learning outcomes. We intend to repeat this effort every semester, develop reports and use this information to examine potential curriculum changes.

MCP Program SLO's and Assessment Metrics

MCP Program SLO Assessment Results

As shown above, in terms of General Planning Knowledge, the majority of our students are either meeting or exceeding expectations. In terms of Planning Skills, the majority of our students also meet or exceed expectations, with the lowest performance in “written, oral, graphic communication” and “quantitative and qualitative methods.” And finally, in terms of Values and Ethics, we find the majority of students meeting or exceeding expectations with the lowest performance in “governance and participation.” We are pleased to have developed and administered our program’s first SLO assessment this year, and look forward to using this important information to refine our MCP program curriculum. We would also like to develop and administer simple entrance and exit exams, to track students’ opinions about their educational experience, as well as our success in graduating students who meet the intended learning objectives.

Prior to the development of our new SLOs assessment metrics, we conducted an MCP Alumni Survey in 2017 to gauge the perceptions of the preparation former students received in specific topic areas related to our goals and objectives. Ten survey questions were directed at determining how well the MCP program prepared them for specific planning-related understanding, sensibilities, and skills. The 2017 survey results indicate that alumni have very positive beliefs about how well they were prepared by the education received at SDSU’s MCP program.

The survey showed that there is almost complete agreement on the part of SDSU MCP alumni that they were prepared for “understanding the economic, social and cultural factors in city and regional growth and change,” (34% strongly agreed and 65% agreed). Additionally, there is almost complete agreement among our alumni that the MCP program gave them “an appreciation of key ethical issues in planning and public decision-making” (22% strongly agreed and 77% agreed).

The surveyed alumni reported the lowest level of agreement with how well they were prepared for developing “clear, accurate and compelling text, graphics and maps” (23% disagreed and 4% strongly disagreed). The next lowest level of agreement was related to how well the MCP program provided “the opportunity to gain on-the-job training through internships that strengthened in-class learning” (14% disagreed and 4% strongly disagreed).

Over 90% of MCP alumni believed their education prepared them in the following areas:

• Understanding issues of equity and social justice
• Developing specialized skills and knowledge related to, for example, transportation, housing, urban design or the environment
• Assembling and analyzing ideas and information from diverse sources
• Analyzing data, both quantitatively and qualitatively
• Building skills to create and implement sound plans
• Building skills to involve stakeholders, engage the community, and work with diverse communities

Summary of SDSU MCP Alumni Opinions on Preparation Received in the Program

MCP Alumni Survey June 2017