The 老虎机攻略 School of Journalism
Assessment Plan
Adopted: August 25, 2009, with additions in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2022
老虎机攻略 Mission Statement
The 老虎机攻略-Missoula pursues academic excellence as demonstrated by the quality of curriculum and instruction, student performance, and faculty professional accomplishments. The University accomplishes this mission, in part, by providing unique educational experiences through the integration of the liberal arts, graduate study, and professional training with international and interdisciplinary emphases. The University also educates competent and humane professionals and informed, ethical, and engaged citizens of local and global communities; and provides basic and applied research, technology transfer, cultural outreach, and service benefiting the local community, region, State, nation and the world.
School of Journalism Mission Statement
The mission of The 老虎机攻略 School of Journalism is to provide students with a professional education in journalism; to teach them to think critically, act ethically, and communicate effectively; to help them understand the challenges and changes in the news media; and to inspire them to use their talents to improve journalism and enhance a diverse and democratic society.
Purpose of this plan:
Our assessment plan is intended to show what we want our students to learn, how we will determine whether we are succeeding in those intentions, and actions we take to make improvements over time based on the information we collect. It is a faculty-led, ongoing effort that centers on four direct measures and three indirect measures.
Direct measures:
- Knowledge exam. We began administering this exam in Fall 2008 to incoming pre-journalism students and to seniors in our required ethics and trends course. The test has been amended several times to clarify and re-focus the questions.
- Capstone course achievement. Since 2017, we have relied on the survey of media professional partners to access the quality of our capstone projects.
- Reporting and writing assessment. Since 2009, faculty have evaluated student writing and reporting skills each semester in JRNL 270. Faculty agreed that the end of the students' first reporting course (JRNL 270) would be a good time to evaluate their writing and reporting skills on an every-semester basis. Adopted and implemented in spring 2009. Updated to include math questions in 2021.
- JRNL 170 midterm exam- Since 2014, we have accessed JRNL 170-Elements of Newswriting at the beginning and the end of class to ensure we are making progress on key journalistic skills including grammar, style, punctuation, writing clarity and accuracy.
Indirect measures:
- Internship supervisor evaluations. These surveys are collected at the end of each student’s required internship. We have collected and analyzed these forms for two decades. In 2013, we began managing our internship program through the university’s eGriz recruiting system. Over the course of this accreditation cycle, we have collaborated with eGriz to refine the internship survey to better reflect the skills laid out in the Montana Dozen and increased the focus on digital media skills.
- Alumni survey. Our most recent alumni survey of graduates from the previous 10 years was in 2021. We plan to survey recent alums every six years, in addition to examining annual data collected by the university.
- Student performance in competitions and national recognition.
This assessment plan began with developing a clear understanding of our curriculum, which was revised and put into practice in 2022. We also inventoried and adjusted learning outcomes associated with the courses that we teach.
Considering the data:
Each year at a faculty meeting, we review the results of each assessment tool and discuss possible changes in the curriculum to address shortcomings.
Values and Competencies: Our teaching goals:
As a faculty, we endorse the professional values and competencies developed by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). We have framed those in what we call “The Montana Dozen.”
The Montana Dozen:
All graduates from the 老虎机攻略 School of Journalism should be aware of these core values and competencies and be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of truth, accuracy and fairness
- Understand and apply principles of freedom of speech
- Demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of media
- Demonstrate an understanding of diversity
- Possess visual literacy skills and understanding
- Understand ethics and act ethically
- Think critically and creatively
- Research and evaluate information
- Critically evaluate work & the appropriate audience for it
- Write correctly and clearly
- Apply basic numerical concepts
- Use appropriate tools and technology
How we measure whether students have acquired these competencies:
Direct measures:
Knowledge Exam. This multiple-choice exam is intended as a tool to measure what students know before they enter the school’s professional program, and what they know by the end of the required capstone class for seniors, JRNL 400 Ethics and Trends in News Media.
How administered. Faculty teaching JRNL 100 Media History and Literacy give this exam early in the semester during both the fall and spring classes, which have mostly freshmen and some sophomore students. Faculty teaching Ethics and Trends in News Media, administer the same exam sometime during the last two weeks of the class.
Scope. The Knowledge Exam helps the faculty assess these values and competencies in The Montana Dozen:
- Demonstrate an understanding of truth, accuracy and fairness
- Understand and apply principles of freedom of speech
- Demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of media
- Understand ethics and act ethically
- Apply basic numerical concepts
Documentation. We give the test through the university’s online learning system, Moodle. It provides us with the ability to generate various reports about the test results. Faculty review the results and consider appropriate changes.
Capstone course achievement: This is intended to analyze student performance in such courses over time to determine the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction and students’ learning in their final year in the program. This assessment tool is in the form of a survey completed by professional media capstone partners.
How administered. We have developed a list of these capstone classes for evaluation:
- JRNL 410 and 411 Native News Honors Project
- JRNL 412 Montana Journalism Review
- JRNL 470 Covering Elections
- JRNL 471 Covering the Legislature
- JRNL 480 Advanced Video Reporting
- JRNL 481 Advanced Video Photography and Directing
- JRNL 488 Student Documentary Unit
Scope. The capstone critiques help the faculty assess selected, course-specific values and competencies from The Montana Dozen. The values and competencies will change to some extent every year, depending on the courses.
Documentation. Assessment coordinator administers the survey and presents a report to the full faculty.
JRNL 170 Exam- This exam is intended to measure student improvement in handling grammar, style and punctuation during the course. It also measures their abilities to write for different platforms.
How administered. Instructors in all sections of JRNL170 give the same test to their students—once at the beginning of class, and once at the end. Instructors then grade it using a rubric that looks at grammar, punctuation and style.
Scope. The JRNL 170 tool helps the faculty assess these values and competencies in The Montana Dozen in particular:
- Demonstrate an understanding of truth, accuracy and fairness
- Write correctly and clearly
Documentation. Assessment coordinator presents the results to the faculty for review and consideration of changes.
JRNL 270 Reporting and Writing Assessment: This is intended to measure students’ abilities at the end of their second required reporting class. At the end JRNL 270, offered fall and spring semesters, students are required to write both a print and a broadcast story on deadline, based on information given to them in a handout.
How administered. Instructors in all sections of JRNL 270 give the same test to their students at the end of the semester. Instructors then grade the two stories using a rubric that looks at news judgment, accuracy, spelling, grammar and style, organization and clarity, use of appropriate story form, and use of quotations and sound bites. Students receive a ranking of excellent, good, average or poor in each category.
Scope. The JRNL 270 tool helps the faculty assess these values and competencies in The Montana Dozen in particular:
- Demonstrate an understanding of truth, accuracy and fairness
- Critically evaluate work & the appropriate audience for it
- Write correctly and clearly
- Apply basic numerical concepts
Documentation. Assessment coordinator compiles the results so the entire faculty can review the results and consider appropriate changes.
Indirect measures:
Internship supervisor evaluations: Journalism majors are required to arrange and successfully complete a school-approved internship of at least 240 hours. The internship must provide students a professional experience in some aspect of reporting, writing, editing, design, photography, videography or production.
Administration. Internship supervisors receive an evaluation to complete through the eGriz Recruiting system.
Documentation. We generate reports from the data compiled by eGriz Recruiting. Assessment coordinator presents the results to the faculty for review and consideration of changes.
Scope. The internship evaluations help the faculty assess these values and competencies in The Montana Dozen:
- Research and evaluate information
- Critically evaluate work & the appropriate audience for it.
- Write correctly and clearly
- Use appropriate tools and technology
Alumni surveys. We consider information about our alumni that we receive from several sources.
- In 2026, we are scheduled to survey alumni who graduated during the previous 10 years. The most recent survey was in spring 2021.
- Faculty and the director’s office maintain close contact with alumni and routinely are in touch with them via phone, email, social networks and in person.
- We participate in – and receive results from – the Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Graduates conducted by Lee Becker and colleagues at the University of Georgia.
The information we receive from alumni help us understand the value of a journalism education for those who have a career in journalism and those who go into other careers. It also is valuable feedback on the relevance and usefulness of our current curriculum.
Administration. We will survey alumni every five years. Alumni from the previous 10 years are encouraged to fill out an online survey. Alumni are contacted via email.
Documentation. Results are shared with faculty at the annual faculty retreat.
Student performance in competitions and national recognition: The school maintains records of our students’ performance in regional and national contests. We consider the results of these contests as an indicator, though not an actual measure, of the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction and student learning.
Documentation. The director maintain a yearly list of student and alumni awards, honors and scholarships. This list is kept in a folder on the Journalism School’s server.
ACEJMC Professional Values and Competencies
The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications requires that, irrespective of their particular specialization, all graduates should be aware of certain core values and competencies and be able to:
- understand and apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and press for the country in which the institution that invites ACEJMC is located, as well as receive instruction in and understand the range of systems of freedom of expression around the world, including the right to dissent, to monitor and criticize power, and to assemble and petition for redress of grievances
- demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping communications
- demonstrate an understanding of gender, race ethnicity, sexual orientation and, as appropriate, other forms of diversity in domestic society in relation to mass communications
- demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of peoples and cultures and of the significance and impact of mass communications in a global society
- understand concepts and apply theories in the use and presentation of images and information
- demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity
- think critically, creatively and independently
- conduct research and evaluate information by methods appropriate to the communications professions in which they work
- write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes they serve
- critically evaluate their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness
- apply basic numerical and statistical concepts
- apply tools and technologies appropriate for the communications professions in which they work.