Chemistry Third Year Review Report - May 2008

Evaluation Rubric

Assessment contact person, and person preparing the report, (if different):

Bill Feighery, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

Attach 2005, 2006 and 2007 annual reports:

Attached (note: the 2004 report is the last third year review)

Attach an updated departmental assessment plan:

Attached

Describe any changes to the program's educational goals since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes.

The educational goals of the department have not changed since the last Third Year Review.

Describe any assessment techniques used for measuring the Educational Goals that have been added or discontinued since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes

We are using the same assessment techniques.

Attach any assessment instruments that have been used during the past three years, and the data collected, (or, summarized data, if that is more appropriate.)

A copy of our Graduate Exit Survey is attached.  In summary, our graduates are pleased with the experience they receive and rate our program as meeting or exceeding their expectations.  Copies of the instruments used as direct measures (student records, standardized tests, lab practicals) are not included but are commented on.

What analysis has been done with this data? What conclusions has your department drawn?

Each year the chemistry faculty review the exit surveys and student comments are considered and discussed.  In addition, the faculty review and discuss the results of our direct measures.  Appropriate action is then taken.

What changes have been made to the program as a result? (Curriculum, classes offered, classes discontinued, scheduling, advising, faculty education etc. . .)

The following changes have been made:

Biochemistry major has recently been approved and our first majors graduated in May 2006.

Capstone Course, C301: Students are now assigned faculty mentors at the beginning of the semester.  Students are required to meet with their mentor and to give a “background” seminar before their senior seminar.

Elective Courses: We will be offering a new elective for our majors, Environmental Chemistry, C303, scheduled for Fall 2008.

How did assessment data and analysis support these changes?

Assessment data and analysis supported these changes in the following manner:

Over the course of a number of years our program went from biochemistry being an elective course, to biochemistry being a required course, to offering a biochemistry minor, to the recent approval of the major.  This was the cumulative result of faculty effort, student need interest, and analysis of trends in local and national employer need.

In faculty analysis of the performance of student performance in our capstone course, we realized that students often misjudged the expectations of the faculty.  Consequently, by assigning mentors and having the students do background seminars, we can intervene earlier in the process and ensure that students understand and meet the expectations for the course.

Student responses on the exit survey, informal discussions with students, scheduling, and faculty input all pointed to the need to increase the number of elective courses offered by the department.  Environmental Chemistry is being offered in response to this need.

What changes does the department plan to make in the coming years to the program and to assessment techniques, and why?

At present, we do not plan to make any major changes to the program.  Recently, the American Chemical Society (ACS) released new “Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor’s Degree Programs”.  Our program is an ACS approved program; analysis of the new guidelines indicates that our program still meets the criteria for ACS approval and student certification.  We will still use ACS exams to aid with assessment of student performance, and use the exit survey to measure satisfaction with the program.  One new assessment technique that we are planning is an alumni survey.  We recently contacted our alumni with a letter and plan to follow –up with a survey request in the near future.  We have also started to collect data on what our graduates do after graduation.  This may help in determining future changes in the program.

How were faculty, students, administration, alumni and other groups involved in assessment?

Primarily, faculty are involved in the collection and analysis of the assessment data.  Students are involved as far as taking the ACS exams and filling out the exit surveys.  As mentioned, we hope to soon survey our alumni.  The administration is not directly involved in our assessment efforts (although have supported changes like offering the Environmental Chemistry course.

How were assessment data and results shared with faculty, students, administration and alumni?

Assessment is discussed at almost every faculty meeting, and our reports are posted on our web site (as well as the assessment committee’s site).

In one paragraph, please summarize the most important impacts of the assessment of student learning on the program.

Perhaps the most important general impact of assessment is that it has allowed us to indentify and focus critically on the central features of our program.  We have developed a small and manageable set of student learning goals that we now use to guide discussions about our program and changes that we make.  A more specific impact of assessment is found in the way we have changed our capstone course.  Students are now aware of our goals and expectations and are better equipped to show us that they are meeting these goals and expectations.

Is there any other information that you would like included in this report?

No.

 

Graduate Exit Survey

Student Learning Educational Goals of the Department of Chemistry

A graduate in chemistry will:

1. demonstrate mastery of the fundamental principles of chemistry
2. demonstrate mastery of laboratory techniques and methods
3. have high-level cognitive skills of observation, analysis, and synthesis
4. possess good critical thinking and problem solving skills
5. have well developed written and oral communication skills

Given the goals listed above, please complete the following Graduate Exit Survey (please use the reverse side for additional comments):

A. How well did you achieve each of the departmental goals (circle one)?

1. Exceeded expectations          2. Met expectations                 3. Did not meet expectations

Comments:

B. What aspects of your education in this program helped with your learning and why were they helpful?

C. What might the program do differently that would help you learn more effectively, and why would these actions help?