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Student Surveys

In order to continually evaluate and improve the undergraduate program, the Geography Department administers surveys to graduating seniors. Students were asked to rate their level of agreement with several statements about the program and the department. The chart below shows the responses to this section of the survey.  The level of satisfaction among graduating seniors was quite high for almost all questions.  Students were somewhat less satisfied with the technical teaching facilities and the level of community among undergraduates.

What do Geography students say about the program?

Students were also asked open-ended questions about specific aspects of the department.  These are some of the positive comments made by students about:

Faculty

"All [faculty] members were accessible and helpful."

"Every one was very approachable."

"I had extensive contact with the faculty--which I did not have in my previous major."

"...have high expectations, are great motivators, and have excellent knowledge of their subfield."

Courses

"I rank UMD Geography courses very high."

"..the upper level courses were excellent."

Technical training and facilities

"The GIS, cartography and remote sensing courses were challenging. The professors and TAs were knowledgeable and helpful. Lab courses were helpful in learning new programs and analysis methods."

"The technical courses are directly applicable to future jobs...I gained hands on experience with ArcView and ArcInfo."

"Great computer lab."

Advising

"Advisors are patient, knowledgeable and courteous."

"The Advising Office staff was outstanding in explaining course requirements and semester-by-semester registration."

"Advisors were VERY good...VERY HELPFUL."

"Everyone who works in the Advising Office has always been very helpful, friendly, willing to spend time helping, and very quick with responses to questions."

Overall

"Keep up the good work!"

"Great experience overall."

"Geography is the most underrated department on campus. Functions much better than my other major."

What are we doing to make things better?

In response to some of the issues raised in student surveys, the department is in the process of updating its computing facilities. New PCs were purchased in the Fall 2002 semester, increasing the number of computers available to students and also giving them access to GIS and remote sensing software packages that were not available for the UNIX computers. Additional computers will be incorporated in the coming semesters. The addition of a new faculty member in GIS will strengthen both the GIS and human geography curriculum.

Upper-level courses in physical geography are currently being reevaluated with the intent of diversifying the course offerings.

Students and faculty are working together to revitalize the Geography Club and GTU to promote a higher level of community among undergraduates.

The faculty are working on developing departmental-specific questions as part of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences' teaching evaluation instrument, which will provide data that is more germane to departmental teaching needs.