Archived Assessment Report
| Program | Pre-Health Sciences Degree: General Health Sciences |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Final Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | Do students demonstrate clear and concise oral and/or written scientific communication? |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | Do students demonstrate proper operation of laboratory equipment including electronic balances and microscopes? |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | Are students able to utilize a Punnett square to generate data and examine results from a cross involving a genetic disease? |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | Students will be measured on their ability to verbally communicate procedures and results with their lab partners during Osmosis lab (BIOL 1140L). Written communication will be measured via Gram-Staining lab reports (BIOL 2310L). A checklist and/or rubric will be used to track student data. | BIOL 1140L and BIOL 2310L | 75% or better of students should demonstrate successful oral and written communication skills. |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | Students will be measured on their ability to use electronic balances and microscopes successfully during the Osmosis lab (BIOL 1140L) and demonstrate proper gram-staining technique in Microbiology lab (BIOL 2310L) | BIOL 1140L and BIOL 2310L | 75% or better of students should demonstrate successful usage of laboratory equipment. |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | During the final lab practical, students will complete and properly analyze the results from a Punnett square on Huntington's disease. | BIOL 1140L | 75% or better of students should demonstrate the ability to work and analyze the results from the Punnett Square. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | BIOL 1140L results: Three sections of 1140L were assessed, totaling 52 students. A rubric & check-marks (points) were used to evaluate 4 areas of communication/social responsibility. • Overall - 43/52 students, or 83%, received 75% (our benchmark) or better of all possible points for this lab activity. Breakdown: • "student talks with peers to plan experiment" - 43/52 or 83% received a point for this measure • "Records mass of egg before and after soak using correct units" - 42/52 or 81% received a point • "Records egg mass & reports visible changes in notebook" - 47/52 or 90% received a point • Performs microscope steps to correctly view a slide - 44/52 or 84% received a point for this. BIOL 2310 results: 158 out of 205 students, or 77%, earned at least a 70% or better on the final lab report. | BIOL 1140L results: The majority of our students demonstrated a strong ability to communicate with their peers in experiment planning, as well as the ability to record accurate data for future analysis. BIOL 2310L: the majority of students demonstrated the ability to properly create a written report of lab results. | BIOL 1140 results: While the majority of our students demonstrate good oral and written communication skills, it was observed (anecdotally) that there is a small group of students that do not engage with their peers during a group activity. Another subset did not record any data from the experiment. It is noted that only three sections of Bio lab were assessed, for a total of only 52 students. |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | Data was not collected for this learning outcome - it was moved to a different Universal Theme where it fit better. | N/A | N/A |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | 79 students across 6 sections of BIOL 1140L were assessed. Overall, 80% of students were able to successfully complete and analyze this Punnett square. This genetics question was a three part problem: the first part required performing a Punnett square, the second part, interpreting the data, and the third part, analyzing the data. Looking at success rates for the individual parts, we see that 81% of students were able to set up and properly solve the Punnett square, 77% were able to interpret the results correctly, and 82% were able to analyze the data correctly. | The results support the hypothesis that at least 75% of our students will be able to work and analyze this problem. | The results indicated 80% of students were able to successfully complete and analyze this Punnett square. Interestingly, there were no big differences in students abilities to complete the three parts of the problem (solving the Punnett square, interpreting the results, and analyzing the results - 81, 77 and 82% respectively). It is possible that there are students who simply are unable to answer any of the three parts, thus accounting for the 20% who were unable to successfully complete the problem, but the data don't actually suggest this. When we break it down by student scores, we see that ~70% of students received 3 out of 3 points, but ~90% of students received 2 out of 3 points. This suggests that students are likely only missing one of the components. |
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | BIOL 1140L: no changes will be made to improve outcomes at this time as 80% or higher of students demonstrated competency with this outcome. However, as only a small number of instructors participated in assessment, changes will be made to simplify data collection. BIOL 2310L: steps will be taken to identify why a subset of students were unable to successfully complete the assignment. |
| Type of Change | |
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | BIOL 1140L: yes, the rubric used for data collection has been simplified. BIOL 2310L: at this time no change is planned in the assessment approach. Instead the focus is on better student performance with the assignment. |
| What data motivated the change? | BIOL 1140L: See above. BIOL 2310L: Approximately 23% of students did not demonstrate a 70% competency on their final lab reports. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | BIOL 1140L: We don't expect a significant change in student performance, just better numbers to support the conclusions. BIOL 2310L: Identifying why a subset of students struggle with the assignment should improve performance in future labs. |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | N/A |
| Type of Change | |
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | N/A |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | No changes are planned at this time. The results indicated that ~80% of students were successful in the assessment measure. However, the first round of assessment was based on a small number of class sections, so round two will be used to increase numbers for better data analysis. |
| Type of Change | |
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | No |
| What data motivated the change? | N/A- the only changes made will be to get better faculty participation to increase confidence in the data and conclusions. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A- the only changes made will be to get better faculty participation to increase confidence in the data and conclusions. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | BIOL 1140L: Same tool used for round one, but simplified for better participation and data collection. BIOL 2310L: same tool will be used for assessment | BIOL 1140L & BIOL 2310L |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | N/A | N/A |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | No changes are planned at this time. The results indicated that ~80% of students were successful in the assessment measure. However, the first round of assessment was based on a small number of class sections, so round two will be used to increase numbers for better data analysis. | BIOL 1140L |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose in oral and written form | BIOL 1140L: Rubric was simplified in an attempt to make it easier for instructors to collect data and make analysis less subjective. It was still time consuming and somewhat subjective. Nearly 3 times as many students were included in Spring 25 assessment data collection. Overall 96% of students received 76% (our benchmark) or better of all possible points for this lab activity. BIOL 2310L: The same number of sections and nearly the same number of students were included in Spring 25 data collection (185 versus 206). 72% of students earned at least a 70% or better on their lab reports. | BIOL 1140L: Although this assessment demonstrated our students demonstrate a strong ability to communicate with peers and plan experiments, a better assessment tool will be needed for the next time this Universal Theme is assessed. BIOL 2310L: Although a consistent ~75% students do well on this activity, more practice in lab or through supplemental materials might be beneficial to those students who struggle with lab reports. | |
| 7. Properly operate laboratory equipment to collect relevant and quality data | Data was not collected for this learning outcome - it was moved to a different Universal Theme where it has a better fit. | Data was not collected for this learning outcome - it was moved to a different Universal Theme where it has a better fit. | |
| 8. Analyze relevant issues utilizing concepts and evidence from the social/behavioral sciences | 179 students across 10 sections of BIOL 1140L were assessed. Overall, 78% of students were able to successfully complete and analyze this Punnett square. | This assessment tool will likely be used again as it was easy for instructors to record and analyze and is an objective measure of students abilities to solve this type of problem. Although nearly 80% of students are able to complete this type of problem successfully there is clearly a (consistent) population of students who struggle with it. More practice in lab or through supplemental materials might be beneficial to those students who struggle with this type of problem. |
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
No improvements were seen over the two assessment periods. This was not unexpected as no significant changes were made to our assessment measures. Results from the second round did, however, reinforce first round findings. The assessment process showed that a majority of our students communicate well, both verbally and in written form. However there continues to be a percentage of students who struggle to meet a minimum competency threshold. We as a department need to find ways to better support these students and help them achieve competency in these areas.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
No long term changes to our programs has been initiated at this time. The assessment measure for Course Outcome #1 – Communication in our BIOL 1140L course will need to be reevaluated. The measure we used was somewhat subjective and time-consuming (thus difficult) for instructors to do. No other long term changes to the current assessment measures are planned at this time.
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Measuring “Practicing Community” was not straightforward in our Biology courses. In the past, the majority of assessment has used objective measures such as how well students can solve a relevant problem. We had to consider other ways to measure this theme. We ultimately interpreted it in ways ranging from communication with peers, both written and verbally, to analysis of socially relevant issues in health or medicine, such as genetic diseases or genetic counseling.
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.
N/A