IV - Orange Coast College
SLOs-- Planning & Results2009-2010
Program Name: ___Biology______
Program Lead: ______Farah Sogo______
Type of Outcome: CSLO ______X PSLO _Biology Department (please check type of outcome)
(Identify Course) (Identify Program)
Institutional LearningOutcomes: Communication; Thinking Skills; Global Awareness; Personal Development & Responsibility
Program Mission Statement / Intended OutcomesList all SLOs/PSLOs / Means of Assessment & Criteria for Success / Analysis of Data Collected / Use of Results
Include any resources on Doc. V
The Biological Sciences department mission is to
- instill a desire in our students to learn more about the biological sciences,
- encourage critical thinking about how life functions in the natural world, and
- help students become scientifically literate citizens who can make informed decisions about biologically related issues.
Which ISLO is outcome linked to? / What are the specific assessment tools that will establish the degree & extent of what is to be achieved? Use the Assessment Toolbox – Part 1 to help you determine the best assessment method to use. It can be accessed on the OCC portal, Program Review Committee site, Assessment Toolbox tab.
What is the criterion for success? / Summarize findings vis-à-vis outcomes, means of assessment, & criteria for success. Include your process for determining who participated in the assessment and the sample size.
What do the data tell us about your process in terms of goals, outcomes, and means of assessment, defined criteria for success, implementation process, and data collection? / What do the data tell us about program improvement:
- What, if anything, do we need to do at the program or course level to improve student learning or service?
- What resources are necessary?
SLO #1:
After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able use the scientific method to design, carry out, summarize, evaluate tests of biological hypotheses using modern laboratory equipment and present their findings in a written laboratory report. / The assessment took place in Biology 181, Biology 210, and Biology 185. All three courses had the assessment take place in the laboratory portion of their course. Each had assignments appropriate for their subject matter that required the students to
1) Design and carry out an experiment in laboratory using the scientific method. All assessments were carried out during the Spring of 2009
2) Provide a full written report summarizing their findings.
Biology 181:The students designed, carried out, and summarized their findings in the form of a report involving experiments in yeast to determine the location of invertase. Assessment was based on the score each student received on their laboratory report.
Biology 210: The students designed, carried out, and summarized their findings in the form of a report involving experiments in which unknown bacteria were evaluated and identified. Assessment was based on the score each student received on their laboratory report.
Biology 185: The students designed, carried out, and summarized their findings in the form of a report involving experiments on seed germination and growth. Assessment was based on the score each student received on their laboratory report.
The criterion for success was for 70% of the students that completed their respective courses would score 70% or higher on their laboratory report / In Biology 181, 210, and 185, the percent of students that met the criterion for success were 94.7%, 92.4%, and 90.1% respectively.
Sample size was as follows:
Biology 181- The assessment included 152 students spanning 9 sections of Biology 181L.
Biology 210: The assessment included 66 students spanning 3 sections of Biology 210L.
Biology 185: The assessment included 71 students spanning 3 sections of Biology 185L.
The data indicate that the Biology program is meeting the goals of this PSLO with great success. / The success of this assessment indicates that we should continue to offer assignments which allow the student to make scientific choices and analysis by carrying out experiments in which in whole or in part they have designed.
The resources required to maintain excellence in this area is access to computers with internet, access to databases that allow students to download current scientific literature, maintain lab sizes of 30 or less (an increase of lab size would make labs such as these impossible to carry out), and have access to writing clinics and tutoring as English is a second language for many of our students.
SL0 #2:
After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to describe the biological processes that occur within or among organisms (e.g., protein synthesis, cell-to-cell communication, digestion, reproduction, nutrient flow through an ecosystem). / The assessment took place during Spring 2010 in Biology 100, Biology 181, Biology 185, Biology 221, and Biology 283. All the assessments took place as written answer or multiple choice questions during lecture or final exams. Each course tested an aspect of this SLO as follows:
Biology 100:Protein synthesis and reproduction-15 multiple choice questions were administered during a lecture exam. Only the online section of the course participated in the assessment.
Biology 181 (Bialecki):Cell/Cell Communication- A written question on this topic was administered during the 2nd lecture exam.
Biology 181 (Sogo): Cell/Cell Communication- A written question on this topic was administered during the 2nd lecture exam.
Biology 185:
Biology 221:Urine Formation- 3 multiple choice questions on this topic were administered on the final exam.
Biology 283: Transcription- A written problem was given on their 2nd exam that covered this topic
The criterion for success was that of the students participating in the assessment, the average class score will be 70% or higher. / The courses that met the criterion were: Biology 221, Biology 181 (Sogo), Biology 283
The courses that did not meet the criterion were: Biology 181 (Bialecki), Biology 100
The sample sizes for each assessment were as follows:
Biology 100:the assessment included 37 students. The average score for the questions was 60.3%
Biology 181 (Bialecki): The assessment included 69 students. The average score for the question 42.5%.
Biology 181 (Sogo): The assessment included 129 students. The average score for the question was 72.2%.
Biology 185:
Biology 221: The assessment included 190 students in both lecture sections for this course.. The average score for the questions was 73%.
Biology 283: The assessment included 29 students. The average score for the question was 80.7% / The mixed results of this assessment indicatethat our students find this material challenging and need additional instruction.
Analysis of the courses that did not meet the criterion are as follows:
Biology 181-This course has no Biology prerequisite and has an 18.6% attrition rate (according to the latest program review). It is therefore important to take into account when the course is assessed. Many of the students that eventually drop do poorly on the assessment, leaving questions blank- resulting in a “0” score. This dramatically affects the average. For example in Sogo’s Biology class, 14 students received a “0” on this question of which 7 of them dropped. Overall, 17 students that received less than 70% dropped the course.
Using the early alert system may help get struggling students the help they need. Encouraging students to use the Writing Center could give them the confidence to at least attempt an answer. Increasing the English prerequisite could improve the average writing skills of those that enter the class. In addition, more reading assignments may allow students to practice scientific reading so that they might be more prepared for the language encountered in textbooks and exams.
Biology 100 (online):
Spending more time addressing biological processes and/or monitoring student understanding prior to an actual exam could improve the outcome. Without comparison with a “live” class, it is difficult to assess whether the online forum (which puts more responsibility of time spent on subjects on the student) contributed to the outcome.
Biology 221, and 283 met the SLO criterion. However, some of these assessments were very close to the 70% cut off. It may be prudent to lower the cut off percentage for this PSLO to account for dropped students that leave assessment questions blank. Overall, as a department the following resources will help us to improve the outcome of this PSLO.
1) More Full-Time faculty. For example Biology 100 is almost void of Full-time faculty. Our current program review demonstrated an immediate need to repopulate and increase our Full-time faculty. Since the review, we have had yet another retirement without replacement. An increase would allow us to organize and to make the changes necessary to improve this SLO.
2)Smaller class size.
Our current program review clearly showed that the larger the class size, the lower the success and retention of the students. Since it is predominantly the students that drop that do poorly on the assessment, the data indicate that class size reduction could improve the outcome.
SLO #3
After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to describe the variations observed in organisms and explain how populations have evolved through time. / The assessment took place during Spring 2011 in Biology 100 (online section), Biology 182, Biology 280, Biology 282, Biology 210, and Biology 185. Each of the assessments will take place requiring essay, short answer, or multiple choice during lecture or final exams. All assessments included a variety of questions regarding evolution and organismal variation.
The criterion for success was that of the students participating in the assessment, the average class score will be 70% or higher. / The percent of students that received a passing grade or higher on this assessment was 77.6%, when each course is weighted equally*. This indicates that the criterion for success was met for this PSLO.
* %= (68.4 + 72.4 + 91.0+ 78.7) +75.5 + 71.9)/ 6 courses= 77.3%
An alternative method of analysis that weights each student equally** also indicates that the criterion for success was met for this PSLO at 77.0%.
** %= (45/301)72.4 + (48/301)78.7 + (21/301)91 + (19/301)68.4 + (96/301)75.5 + (72/301)71.9= 75.3 %
The breakdown for each participating course is below:
Biology 100 (online section):the assessment included 45 students and involved 12 multiple choice questions embedded in an exam. The average score for the questions was 72.4%
Biology 182: The assessment included 48 students and involved 4 multiple choice questions and one short answer question embedded in an exam. The average score for the questions was 78.7%.
Biology 280:The assessment included 21 students and involved 6 essay exam questions. The average score for the questions was 91%.
Biology 282: The assessment included 19 students and involved a single essay exam question. The average score for the questions was 68.4%.
Biology 210: The assessment included 96 students and involved a single essay exam question. The average score for the questions was 75.5%.
Biology 185: The assessment included 72 students and involved a essay exam questions and multiple choices questions embedded on a class exam. The average score for the questions 71.9% when the multiple choice and the essay questions are weighted equally. / Analysis and reflection of the overall results as well as achievement on specific questions led to the following ideas that may help improve student success:
1. Focus on presenting the scientific method behind evolution and not just evolution as a collection of facts to be memorized and “believed”.
2. Improvement on the wording of the questions so that students can answer the questions to the best of their ability.
3. Computational a research tools that give the students an opportunity to explore these ideas further in a laboratory setting.
4. Consider redesigning Biology 185 to include more evolutionary biology.
Specific resources that would assist in maintaining and improving student achievement for this PSLO are:
1. Computer software programs that allow students to explore evolutionary concepts and population dynamics by manipulating data and assessing the outcome, research tools to allow students to gather data on organisms in the area such as binoculars, porometers and Shermann Live Traps
2. Student and faculty access to more peer-reviewed scientific journals
3. Have field trips funded and the timeline for the paperwork involved for fieldtrip requests be more flexible to allow for the spontaneity required for biological occurrences that are not predictable.
4. Parscore scanner with software that allows us to determine more than just the average student achievement. Knowing how many students meet PSLO criteria would be more valuable.
SLO #4
After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to perform literature searches using scientific databases to enhance their understanding of biological concepts. / A rubric will be used to assess this PSLO in: Bio 181, 182, 185, 220H, 221, 282 in the fall 2008 semester. Success will be measured as 70% of all students who complete the course will be able to
1)Find and cite a scientific article acceptably (vs. unacceptably)
2)Relate the information as appropriate in a written assignment acceptably (vs. unacceptably) / Of students assessed individually, in total 244 of 297 (82.1%) students across four courses successfully met the criteria set by the department. / The department is pleased with its students’ performance on this PSLO; we exceeded our cutoff by 12%. Maintaining accessibility of computers, teaching computer labs, and network access is essential to maintaining our success. We believe that our students would have an even higher success rate if they had access to peer-reviewed discipline-specific scientific journals in the library at OCC.
Some academic dishonesty was discovered during the assessment, and maintaining and enhancing plagiarism detection software accessibility is important.
IV - Orange Coast College
SLOs – Assessment Plan2009-2010
PSLO Assessment CalendarProgram Name: Biological Sciences Department / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012
PSLO / Prior Assessment
Year / Fall 2009 / Spring 2010 / Fall 2010 / Spring 2011 / Fall 2011 / Spring 2012
1.The Biological Science program, students will be able use the scientific method to design, carry out, summarize, evaluate tests of biological hypotheses using modern laboratory equipment and present their findings in a written laboratory report. / Spring 2009
2. After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to describe the biological processes that occur within or among organisms (e.g., protein synthesis, cell-to-cell communication, digestion, reproduction, nutrient flow through an ecosystem). / X
3. After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to describe the variations observed in organisms and explain how populations have evolved through time. / X
4. After completing courses in the Biological Science program, students will be able to perform literature searches using scientific databases to enhance their understanding of biological concepts. / Fall 2008