Review Assessment Report

Part 1: Contact & Program Identification

Report Year and Contact Information
Academic Year	Modified By	Date Modified
2021-2022	[email protected]	2022-11-11T17:36:51.837Z

School	Name of Program	Courses
MSE	ASTR Science Gen Ed	ASTR 1010,ASTR 1010L,ASTR 1110,ASTR 1110L

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
Our general education program aims to develop scientific habits of mind and scientific reasoning in our students. Mastery of the skills assessed as part of our general education assessment program are part of a larger framework we have designed to help students become proficient in basic scientific inquiry and reasoning, as well as critical consumers of science journalism and media. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have developed a suite of general education science courses that are available both online and face-to-face. This has increased our ability to meet the needs of our students and thus help them fulfill their degree requirements.

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

Our general education program aims to develop scientific habits of mind and scientific reasoning in our students. Mastery of the skills assessed as part of our general education assessment program are part of a larger framework we have designed to help students become proficient in basic scientific inquiry and reasoning, as well as critical consumers of science journalism and media. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have developed a suite of general education science courses that are available both online and face-to-face. This has increased our ability to meet the needs of our students and thus help them fulfill their degree requirements.

Part 3: Data Review

	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Annual number of graduate awards is greater than 10	n/a	n/a	n/a
Number of declared majors	n/a	n/a	n/a
Average Class Size	22.8	26.3	18.6
Annual Average Class withdrawal rate is 30% or below (SAGE 35%)	19%	13%	16%
Annual C-Pass rate for coursework is 60% or above	73%	69%	77%
Average class fill rate at 60% or above capacity within a term or over a year	68%	80%	57%
Graduate Transfer to 4-year Schools	n/a	n/a	n/a
Full-time Faculty Coverage by Section	52%	94%	32%

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

Part 4: Program Learning Outcome Analysis

Learning Outcome	Population or Course(s) Assessed	Description	Summary of Assessment Results
3. Quantitative Reasoning	ASTR 1010/1010L	In-class Activities	In ASTR 1010L: Twelve students were assessed and 100% earned a perfect score.
1d. Reasoning/Conclusion	ASTR 1010/1010L	In-class Activities	In ASTR 1010L: Twelve students were assessed and 100% earned a perfect score.
1a. Problem Setting	ASTR 1010/1010L	In-class Activities	In ASTR 1010L: Twelve students were assessed and 100% earned a perfect score.
1b. Evidence Acquisition	ASTR 1010/1010L	In-class Activities	In ASTR 1010L: Twelve students were assessed and five (42%) earned a perfect score of 2 on a scale of 0 -2. The other 58% earned a score of 1--no students earned a zero. The average score was 1.42.
1c. Evidence Evaluation	ASTR 1010/1010L	In-class Activities	In ASTR 1010L: Twelve students were assessed and 100% earned a perfect score.

Interpretation of Assessment findings
Our students performed exceptionally well on the essential skills assessed in ASTR 1010L. The essential skills were assessed using in-class labs for the face-to-face classes and equivalent online lab activities for the distance learning sections. The labs require students to do investigations, interpret graphs, make calculations, evaluate statements, and draw conclusions, all while working in groups. The toughest essential skills were evidence acquisition for our astronomy students. The average scores on these essential skills were still acceptable (1.42 out of 2, respectively) but are areas on which we may wish to place more emphasis in the future. Our first step, however, will be to change our rubric to expand the scale and more finely delineate points. This will allow us to better assess exactly what aspect of each essential skill is most difficult for our students.

Interpretation of Assessment findings

Our students performed exceptionally well on the essential skills assessed in ASTR 1010L. The essential skills were assessed using in-class labs for the face-to-face classes and equivalent online lab activities for the distance learning sections. The labs require students to do investigations, interpret graphs, make calculations, evaluate statements, and draw conclusions, all while working in groups. The toughest essential skills were evidence acquisition for our astronomy students. The average scores on these essential skills were still acceptable (1.42 out of 2, respectively) but are areas on which we may wish to place more emphasis in the future. Our first step, however, will be to change our rubric to expand the scale and more finely delineate points. This will allow us to better assess exactly what aspect of each essential skill is most difficult for our students.

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	Revise our rubrics such that their scale is from 0 to 3 instead of 0 to 2.	We feel that requiring a perfect score of 2/2 to meet the criteria of passing an assessment is too strict, yet a score of 1/2 is too lenient. This year we opted to use 2/2, but if we scale our rubric differently, we can use a score of 2 out of 3 to be the minimum for passing an assessment, and that would roughly mirror our requirement of having a 70% or better in a course to pass. This will also allow us to more finely delineate partial credit, giving us more insight into what aspects of each skill are most difficult for our students. Revising our rubric will give us a better sense for how many students have adequate achievement on our essential skills and how to make curriculum changes to support them.
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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