Archived Assessment Report
| Program | Biotechnology Certificate |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Midpoint Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 2. Safety: Demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and the handling and disposal of biological and chemical wastes. | Do students demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and handling and disposal of radioactive, biological, and chemical wastes? Learning Outcome: 1. Communication: Demonstrate professional conduct and interpersonal communication skills in interactions with laboratory personnel, staff, and other members of the scientific community. Focus area question: 1. Do students demonstrate professional conduct and interpersonal communication skills? |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. Safety: Demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and the handling and disposal of biological and chemical wastes. | 2. Safety -- Questions will be embedded in exams, laboratory practical, final exam 1. Communication -- Professional laboratory notebook | BIOL 2720 BIOL 2720 | 2. Safety -- A minimum of 70% of students will achieve passing scores on questions related to safety. 1. Communication -- At least 70% of students will achieve a passing grade on their final laboratory notebook assessment. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. Safety: Demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and the handling and disposal of biological and chemical wastes. | 2. Safety - 93% of biotechnology students achieved passing scores on part of the laboratory final related to safety. One student disposed of their finished product in the wrong container. 1. Communication - 100% of Biotechnology students achieved a passing grade on their final laboratory notebook assessment. | 2. Safety - These results support the idea that biotechnology students are competent in maintaining safety in a laboratory setting. 1. Communication - These results support the focus area in that these students demonstrate proficiency in communicating science through their laboratory notebook and conducting themselves professionally in a lab setting. | 2. Safety - 14 out of 15 students demonstrated competency in maintaining safety in the lab. This is perhaps not surprising as this summer semester was the third semester in the program and all students have had three semesters to learn how to move safely through the lab 1. Communication - These results demonstrate that biotechnology students demonstrate competency in professional conduct and communication skills in a lab setting. |
| 2. Safety: Demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and the handling and disposal of biological and chemical wastes. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Safety AND Communication: It would be more meaningful to assess multiple times in one year to see changes over time rather than to just assess at the end of the program. |
| Type of Change | |
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | Safety AND Communication: A change in the assessment approach only. Assess at the end of Fall 2024 in BIOL 2710. Then assess again at the end of Summer 2024 in BIOL 2720. |
| What data motivated the change? | Safety AND Communication: All biotechnology students overall seem to demonstrate competency by the end of the program. It would be beneficial to check in on their competency at the end of the first semester of the program. Then, that could be compared to their competency at the end of the program. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | Safety AND Communication: This might make our assessment more meaningful in that we can see how student competency changes through the course of the biotechnology degree. Our outcomes are already good, it might be good to see if the outcomes are equally good at the end of the first semester. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Safety: Demonstrate an understanding of basic laboratory safety and the handling and disposal of biological and chemical wastes. | Safety - Questions embedded in exams, laboratory practical, final exam Communication - Professional Laboratory Notebook | BIOL 2710, BIOL 2720 |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Second Round Results | Intepretation of Results, Pre- and Post-Change | Follow up questions, possible next steps |
|---|
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.