Final Report
Anatomy and Physiology I Course Assessment Fall 2014
Enrollment for the 2014 fall semester in Anatomy & Physiology was approximately
600 students. There were 3-hour lecture and 3-hour laboratory sessions per week
covering a total of 20 and 25 lecture and laboratory sections, respectively. The
assessment data was taken from 12 of the 25 laboratory sections, comprising five
tenured, two tenure-track and an adjunct faculty members. Some tenured faculty
members assessed two sections. Data collection was done mostly during the second
and third weeks of November from12 questions assignment divided into three
sections.
Assignment 1.
The first four multiple-choice questions were used to assess students’
understanding of the axial and appendicular skeleton (attached).
Results:
Twelve of the 25 laboratory sections were assessed as follow:
Excellent
4 out of 4
Very good
3 out of 4
Satisfactory 2 out of 4 and
Poor
1 or none out of 4
Table 1. BI-301 Students’ knowledge of skeleton
_________________________________________________
Instructors 4/4 ¾
2/4 ¼
_________________________________________________
H3B
6
10
4
1
M3
7
4
2
1
H5
0
1
5
4
C5L
1
2
2
3
C2L
9
5
1
1
JL2
4
5
7
0
E2
10
3
2
6
J4
5
4
3
0
C3L
7
1
4
2
H3L
2
5
3
2
M4
0
11
0
3
Anonymous 3
4
4
2
Total
54
55
37
25
_________________________________________________
Assignment 2.
Assessment was based on questions 5-8 of the attached questions. This covered
students’ understanding of bone histology.
Results
The rubrics used are the same as in Assignment 1.
Table 2. BI-301 Students’ knowledge bone histology
_________________________________________________
Instructors 4/4 ¾
2/4 ¼
_________________________________________________
H3B
5
8
3
5
M3
5
2
4
3
H5
1
1
6
2
C5L
1
2
5
0
C2L
5
6
5
0
JL2
3
5
4
4
E2
4
5
2
10
J4
5
2
2
3
C3L
4
4
5
1
H3L
5
1
1
5
M4
3
6
4
1
Anonymous 5
2
2
4
Total
46
44
43
38
_________________________________________________
Assignment 3.
Assessment in this section was based on the vertebral curvatures of the skeletal
system. Only two of the 12 sections provided results as detailed in table 3.
Results:
Table 3. BI-301 Students’ knowledge of vertebral curvatures
_________________________________________________
Instructors 4/4 ¾
2/4 ¼
_________________________________________________
J4
5
4
3
0
C3L
7
1
4
2
Total
23
5
0
3
_________________________________________________
Summary
Anatomy & Physiology BI 301 Rubric
Student
Excellent
Assignment 1
4/4 correct
Knowledge of
the axial and
appendicular
skeleton
Results:
54/171
= 31.6%
Very Good
3/4
Satisfactory
2/4
Poor
1/4
55/171
= 32.2%
37/171
= 21.6%
25/171
= 14.6%
Assignment 2
4/4 correct
Recall of bone
histology
Results:
46/171
= 29.9%
3/4
2/4
1/4
44/171
= 25.7%
43/171
= 25.1%
38/171
= 22.2%
Assignment 3
4/4
Understanding
of
abnormal
vertebral
curvatures
Results:
23/31
= 74.2%
3/4
2/4
1/4
5/31
= 16.1%
0
= 0%
3/31
= 9.7%
Discussion:
A total of 171 out of an estimated 240 students from the 12 sections selected
participated in the assessment, giving an estimated 71% respondents. This value
also corresponds to retention of BI-301 students during the 9th week of the
semester.
Regarding students’ knowledge of the axial and appendicular skeleton in the
laboratory, 31.6% scored excellent i.e. answering all four questions correctly while
14.7% performed poor i.e. answering one or less. From Table 1 about 64% scored
three out of four (i.e. Very Good).
Students’ knowledge in bone histology as observed in assessment 2 was low
compared with knowledge in axial and appendicular skeleton. While 26.9% scored
excellent, 52.6% scored Very Good. Also, 22.2% performed poorly as compared to
14.7% in assessment 1.
The third assessment on students’ knowledge of the vertebral curvatures was done
by only two of the 12 instructors. Interestingly, 74.1% score excellent (i.e. 4 out of 4)
and 90.3% scored at least 3 out of the 4 questions.
Recommendations:
It would be interesting to determine the students’ retention in the sections used for
the assessment at the end of the semester. Also, as suggested in the BI-301
assessment done in 2013, it would be a great idea to do the assessment toward the
end of the semester. This would eliminate students who will withdraw from taking
the course later than the 9th week. It is highly recommended that this study be
repeated for three consecutive semesters in order to draw a better conclusion.
Finally, though optional, it is recommended that instructors include the vertebral
curvatures in their laboratory sessions.