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(Article by Phyllis Noah, communications coordinator)

            Shawnee State University launched a pilot program spring semester, the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential, that points students to their true gifts and talents for work.
            Gov. Ted Strickland and Chancellor Eric Fingerhut have asked all institutions of higher learning to actually document and show the intellectual development of undergraduates.
            “Beginning this fall, all public institutions of higher education in Ohio will have to document a number of things including if the students are learning in core areas and if they are doing better as seniors than they are as freshman,” said Darrell Rudmann, interim director of Planning and assistant professor of psychology.
            The MAPP program test was given to 110 English composition students in spring semester. This summer it will be given to senior seminar students.
            From the results of the test, students can learn which methods of study work best for them and help them choose a career path.
            “The students met and surpassed our goal for the pilot,” Rudmann said. “Of the 110 students, I picked out the scores in the top 20 percent and randomly pulled a name to win a 4G nano video iPod.”
            Diana Erwin was the winner of the iPod. With a range of scores from 400 to 500, the average score was 438 with Zachary Taylor scoring the highest at 497 on the MAPP test.
            The basis of MAPP is motivation. This is something that cannot be learned or taught, it is simply "what makes you tick." MAPP is a tool for students and educators to align a person's motivations with the work they do. Taking the MAPP is getting one step closer to building a satisfying career based on the student’s natural motivations.
            Several areas are analyzed with the MAPP test, including tasks a person wants to perform on a job, temperament, aptitude, relating to people, things, data, reasoning, the applied use of mathematics and the usage of language. The test results also present 10 of the top 20 career areas that match with a student’s motivations and it also rates their interest in various types of jobs.
            “Hopefully, MAPP will become integrated into one of the classes or even as they come into orientation,” Rudmann said. “It’s a multiple choice, standardized test and motivation-based assessment that helps students to identify their strengths.”