Archived Assessment Report
| Program | GEOL Science Gen Ed |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Final Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | Can a student differentiate between negative feedback loops (sustainable) and positive feedback loops (unsustainable)? Alternatively, can students identify the major impacts of rising sea level? Use a multiple choice question on the final exam/assignment. |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | Can students determine which of their activities are carbon sources versus carbon sinks? Alternatively, can students identify the major impacts of rising sea level? Use a multiple choice question on the final exam/assignment to determine. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | Final Exam (fall 2024) | GEOL 1110 DL and F2F | about 75% success rate is our goal |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | Final Exam (fall 2024) | GEOL 1110 F2F (with possibility of DL) | Goal is about 75% success rate |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | The success rate was 61% | These results are partly explained by the fact that some instructors may not have covered the material contained within the questions. | We did not reach our target goal of 75% student success regarding this question. |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | Success rate was measured at 58%. | These results are partly explained by the fact that some instructors may not have covered the material contained within the questions. | We did not hit our target goal of 75%. |
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | We will focus on the importance of topics that come at the end of the semester as still being vitally relevant to the course. With this assessment theme correlating nicely with climate change (taught at the end), future assessment questions will likely be addressed earlier in the semester. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | Yes. New questions may be considered. |
| What data motivated the change? | Timing of the assessment topic being at the end of the semester. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | With added emphasis, student success will hopefully match or exceed the target goal of 75%. |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | We will focus on the importance of topics that come at the end of the semester as still being vitally relevant to the course. With this assessment theme correlating nicely with climate change (taught at the end), future assessment questions will likely be addressed earlier in the semester. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | Yes. Potentially changing the questions asked on the final exam. |
| What data motivated the change? | Timing of the assessment topic being at the end of the semester. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | With added emphasis, we hope to see an improvement in student success. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | Question on the Final Exam | GEOL 1110, Face-to-face |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | Question on the Final Exam | GEOL 1110; Face-to-face |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | Student success rate increased to 77%. | None at this time. | |
| 2b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Ethical Reasoning | We saw an increase in the success rate to 71%. | None at this time. |
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
Yes. The percentage of correct responses to the assessment questions improved - hence students demonstrated a greater understanding and/or a greater sense of self-identifying important topics that they could then include on their notecard for use on exams.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
Yes. As a result of this assessment process we put more emphasis on ensuring the syllabus topics were covered in a more comprehensive manner. In addition, due to the amount of material students are expected to retain in this gen ed course, we also allowed a one-page notecard to be used on the final exam.
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Within the geological sciences, practicing community is demonstrated in the way that students can analyze a geological concept that has potential major impact on the community in which they live. To this end, we have focused on assessing topics that integrate community concerns to see if students can correctly identify and analyze these topics.
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.
We have recently hired more part-time instructors. This has led to inclusivity of evolving teaching styles and methods of instruction (in particular with the introduction of hybrid courses). This has made us consider our method of gathering assessment, which we may change in the future.