Review Assessment Report

Part 1: Contact & Program Identification

Report Year and Contact Information
Academic Year	Modified By	Date Modified
2021-2022	[email protected]	2022-10-12T15:52:52.402Z

School	Name of Program	Courses
MSE	Pre-Health Sciences Degree: Pre-Nursing	BIOL 1140,BIOL 1140L,BIOL 2210,BIOL 2225,BIOL 2310,BIOL 2310L,BIOL 2510,CHEM 1120,CHEM 1120L,MATH 1350,NUTR 2110,PSYC 2120

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
The LO #5 and 6 were assessed during this cycle. There was a difference in student performance between Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, with the students showing an increase in proficiency in both LOs when comparing the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. There was improvement in the Spring 2022 semester with about a 25% increase in success for LO#5, and about a 11% increase in success for LO#6 during the Spring term. This is the first of two years that these two LOs have been assessed, so a comparison to previous years isn't possible. The students had more difficulty with LO#5. The assessment tool for this outcome is a question on the midterm exam that requires students to be able to interpret a set of microbiology media and determine from the results what enzymes were produced based on the results.

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

The LO #5 and 6 were assessed during this cycle. There was a difference in student performance between Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, with the students showing an increase in proficiency in both LOs when comparing the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. There was improvement in the Spring 2022 semester with about a 25% increase in success for LO#5, and about a 11% increase in success for LO#6 during the Spring term. This is the first of two years that these two LOs have been assessed, so a comparison to previous years isn't possible. The students had more difficulty with LO#5. The assessment tool for this outcome is a question on the midterm exam that requires students to be able to interpret a set of microbiology media and determine from the results what enzymes were produced based on the results.

Part 3: Data Review

	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Annual number of graduate awards is greater than 10	250	122	112
Number of declared majors	366	334	263
Average Class Size	27.5	23.6	22.6
Annual Average Class withdrawal rate is 30% or below (SAGE 35%)	17%	18%	16%
Annual C-Pass rate for coursework is 60% or above	67%	61%	64%
Average class fill rate at 60% or above capacity within a term or over a year	83%	80%	70%
Graduate Transfer to 4-year Schools	28%	n/a	n/a
Full-time Faculty Coverage by Section	48%	50%	21%

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above
All metrics were met. It does appear that class fill rates dropped from 80% in 2020-2021 to 70% in 2021-2022. This may possibly reflect a student reluctance to take classes in a face-to-face setting. However, it does look like the annual C-pass rate has increased as compared to last year.

Part 4: Program Learning Outcome Analysis

Learning Outcome	Population or Course(s) Assessed	Description	Summary of Assessment Results
5. Employ critical thinking skills to judge the validity of information from a scientific perspective	BIOL 2310L.	Other Test or Quiz	The learning outcome assessed in both in person and online microbiology lab was "Employ critical thinking skills to judge the validity of information from a scientific perspective". In order to address this outcome a question from the midterm exam was used to determine if the students could correctly interpret the enzymes present in a bacteria that was inoculated into carbohydrate media. During the 2021-2022 cycle there were 328 students who took the midterm exam, with 154 students scoring a 70% or higher (correctly answered 7 out of the 10 questions). This represents 47% of students showing proficiency in interpreting the scientific data presented to the students. Breaking the data out by semesters, the Fall 2021 semester had 83/197 = 42% of students and Spring 2022 semester had 71/131 = 54% of students showing proficiency. Due to how the data was collected, the online vs f2f sections can't be separated. This will be addressed in the next assessment cycle.
6. Apply the scientific method to formulate questions, analyze information/data, and draw conclusions	BIOL 2310L.	Paper	The learning outcome assessed in both in person and online microbiology lab was "Apply the scientific method to formulate questions, analyze information/data, and draw conclusions". In order to address this LO the end of term paper was assessed in the discussion section where the students had to analyze and draw conclusions from the data they collected by completing a final project involving the identification of unknown Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. During the 2021-2022 cycle 302 students completed the final project, with 251 students scoring a 70% or higher on the discussion section of the independent paper that the student wrote. This represents 83% of students showing proficiency in applying the scientific method to their final project and analyzing the data the student generated. Breaking the data out by semesters: Fall 2021 148/186 = 79.5% of students demonstrating proficiency, Spring 2022 103/116 = 89% of students demonstrating proficiency.

Interpretation of Assessment findings
For LO#5 "Employ critical thinking skills to judge the validity of information from a scientific perspective" in Microbiology lab there was improvement from Fall 2021 to the Spring 2022 semesters. In the Fall 2021 semester there were 7 online and 7 face-to-face sections of micro lab, while in the Spring 2022 semester there were 4 online and 6 f2f sections of micro lab. It is possible that either the Fall 2021 semester being the first term that microbiology lab was offered post-pandemic that is the reason that students didn't preform well. Due to how the data was collected online vs f2f classes could not be clearly distinguished. In the 2021-2022 collection cycle, the student performance in online vs f2f classes will be collected so that the delivery method can be separated out. For LO#6 "Apply the scientific method to formulate questions, analyze information/data, and draw conclusions". Students also did better in the Spring 2022 term, although for this LO students were more successful in proficiency.

Interpretation of Assessment findings

For LO#5 "Employ critical thinking skills to judge the validity of information from a scientific perspective" in Microbiology lab there was improvement from Fall 2021 to the Spring 2022 semesters. In the Fall 2021 semester there were 7 online and 7 face-to-face sections of micro lab, while in the Spring 2022 semester there were 4 online and 6 f2f sections of micro lab. It is possible that either the Fall 2021 semester being the first term that microbiology lab was offered post-pandemic that is the reason that students didn't preform well. Due to how the data was collected online vs f2f classes could not be clearly distinguished. In the 2021-2022 collection cycle, the student performance in online vs f2f classes will be collected so that the delivery method can be separated out. For LO#6 "Apply the scientific method to formulate questions, analyze information/data, and draw conclusions". Students also did better in the Spring 2022 term, although for this LO students were more successful in proficiency.

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	Improvement in how the data for LO#5, 6 is collected. The data during this assessment cycle will be partitioned out in order to observe any differences in student proficiency due to the delivery of course material (online vs face-to-face). We will monitor LO#5 to see if proficiency continues to vary between Fall and Spring terms. There is not a clear reason for the differences between terms.	This year's data was collected in a way that did not allow the method of delivery to be cleanly separated out.
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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