MBA Program Closure Experience
The closure experience provides the student an opportunity to synthesize the academic information that has been contributed to his or her academic portfolio. The closure experience takes the form of both written and oral presentations requiring the student utilize the contents in his or her portfolio. The writing component of the closure experience is a reflective essay based on the contents of the portfolio. Suggested scenarios for oral presentation include a simulated job interview, formal presentations to graduate faculty, etc. Whatever the scenario given to the student he or she will have to rely on the contents of their portfolio in order to complete the experience.
Portfolio Contents
A student’s portfolio will contain at least one sample of work selected by the course instructor for each upper-level course and elective. The student is free to select up to two additional samples of his or her work from core and elective courses. These samples should not be rewritten or revised beyond the version that was graded by the professor. The instructor will provide an evaluation of each student’s required contribution for the course. The evaluation may be the instructor’s original grades and comments on the contribution. Alternatively, the instructor may simply specify how well the student’s performance achieved the course objective. For each component of the student's contribution that illustrates a course objective the instructor will specify if the component exceeded, achieved, or failed the objective.
Reflective Essay
In essay form, the student will describe how the portfolio's contents demonstrate the student’s success in achieving the vision of the MBA program. The student may write about how each contribution meets one or more of the “Competencies for the MBA Program” implied by the mission statement. An additional purpose of the reflective essay is for the student to recognize that his or her work fits into a coherent whole and that upper-level courses and electives are not simply a random selection but do have an overall purpose. Also, the student will evaluate how well his or her expectations, as specified in their initial contribution to their portfolio, were met. The reflective essay will be completed during finals week of the student’s graduation semester.
Portfolio Evaluation
Each student’s portfolio will be evaluated by the MBA Portfolio Committee, which will be composed of three members of the MBA faculty. The contents (reflective essay & contributions) will each be evaluated as: Unacceptable, Acceptable, or Outstanding. The contributions will be evaluated as a whole and the reflective essay will be evaluated on the basis of how well it succeeds in achieving its purpose. In order to receive the MBA degree a student’s portfolio must be evaluated as at least “Acceptable” by the MBA Portfolio Committee. These portfolio evaluations will be completed during finals weeks of the student’s graduation semester.
