Review Assessment Report

Part 1: Contact & Program Identification

Report Year and Contact Information
Academic Year	Modified By	Date Modified
2020-2021	[email protected]	2021-11-10T18:25:40.334Z

School	Name of Program	Courses
MSE	Physics AS Degree	None

Part 2: Program Summary

Provide a high level review of the program to include highlights, successes, challenges, significant changes, and significant resources needed to support the program
We have faculty that are passionate about student success and we have crafted a strong physics curriculum that emphasizes problem solving and analysis. The Physics AS degree has attracted a small number of declared majors each year and has produced an appropriate number of graduates. We have recently developed a full suite of online physics courses, providing more flexible options for our students.

Provide a high level review of the program to include highlights, successes, challenges, significant changes, and significant resources needed to support the program

We have faculty that are passionate about student success and we have crafted a strong physics curriculum that emphasizes problem solving and analysis. The Physics AS degree has attracted a small number of declared majors each year and has produced an appropriate number of graduates. We have recently developed a full suite of online physics courses, providing more flexible options for our students.

Part 3: Data Review

	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021
Annual number of graduate awards is greater than 10	5	0	4
Number of declared majors	120	96	91
Average Class Size	n/a	n/a	n/a
Annual Average Class withdrawal rate is 30% or below (SAGE 35%)	n/a	n/a	n/a
Annual C-Pass rate for coursework is 60% or above	n/a	n/a	n/a
Average class fill rate at 60% or above capacity within a term or over a year	n/a	n/a	n/a
Graduate Transfer to 4-year Schools	n/a	n/a	n/a
Full-time Faculty Coverage by Section	n/a	n/a	n/a

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above
It is puzzling that there were no Physics AS graduates during 2019-2020. This observation is particularly puzzling since 2019-2020 had 42 Engineering AS graduates, and the curricula are so closely aligned. Research into possible explanations did uncover that 13 of the 18 students that completed Physics III in Spring 2019 are no longer in Degree Works. Twelve of these students have 60 to over 100 credit hours completed and some have multiple CNM degrees. It is unclear at this point if there was an issue that impacted identification of Physics AS graduates.

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above

It is puzzling that there were no Physics AS graduates during 2019-2020. This observation is particularly puzzling since 2019-2020 had 42 Engineering AS graduates, and the curricula are so closely aligned. Research into possible explanations did uncover that 13 of the 18 students that completed Physics III in Spring 2019 are no longer in Degree Works. Twelve of these students have 60 to over 100 credit hours completed and some have multiple CNM degrees. It is unclear at this point if there was an issue that impacted identification of Physics AS graduates.

Part 4: Program Learning Outcome Analysis

Learning Outcome	Population or Course(s) Assessed	Description	Summary of Assessment Results
4. Use Ohm's Law and Kirchoff's Laws to find currents in circuit branches and voltage drops across circuit elements.	PHYS 1320	Final Exam	Thirty-four students were assessed and 91% passed the assessment. The average score was 7.6 on a scale of 0 - 10.
2. Use the principles of work, conservation of energy and/or conservation of momentum to solve a Newtonian mechanics problem, describe the relationships between physical quantities in the equations, and conduct dimensional analysis.	PHYS 1310	Final Exam	Seventy-eight students were assessed and 76% passed the assessment. The average score was 6.1 on a scale of 0 - 10.

Interpretation of Assessment findings
Our six-year cycle plan allots two academic years to each SLO in the event students do not do well and we need to reassess. The above SLOs were slated for the years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. Our students performed well in Fall 2019, so we did not repeat the assessments in 2020. We have no new findings to report. In 2019 in PHYS 1310 we assessed SLO 2. Seventy-eight students were assessed. The average score was 6.1 out of 10 points, and 76% of the students met the target score of at least 5/10 points. In 2019 in PHYS 1320 we assessed SLO 4. Thirty-four students were assessed. The average score was 7.6 out of 10 points, and 91% of the students met the target score of at least 5/10 points. Our lecture students did well solving complex, multi-part physics problems. For PHYS 1310, we used the same SLOs as the previous year and graded using the same rubric, and we saw an increase in the pass rate from 58% in 2018 to 76% in 2019. For PHYS 1320, we used a different SLO and thus do not have a direct comparison.

Interpretation of Assessment findings

Our six-year cycle plan allots two academic years to each SLO in the event students do not do well and we need to reassess. The above SLOs were slated for the years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. Our students performed well in Fall 2019, so we did not repeat the assessments in 2020. We have no new findings to report. In 2019 in PHYS 1310 we assessed SLO 2. Seventy-eight students were assessed. The average score was 6.1 out of 10 points, and 76% of the students met the target score of at least 5/10 points. In 2019 in PHYS 1320 we assessed SLO 4. Thirty-four students were assessed. The average score was 7.6 out of 10 points, and 91% of the students met the target score of at least 5/10 points. Our lecture students did well solving complex, multi-part physics problems. For PHYS 1310, we used the same SLOs as the previous year and graded using the same rubric, and we saw an increase in the pass rate from 58% in 2018 to 76% in 2019. For PHYS 1320, we used a different SLO and thus do not have a direct comparison.

Part 5: Additional Action Plan in Support of Student Learning (If Appropriate)

Upcoming Year	Changes Planned for the upcoming year	Data Motivating this change
2021-2022	None.	Student success suggests that no major changes are warranted.
2021-2022
2021-2022

Please select all of the following that characterize the types of changes described in the above action plan

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