MOCK CSAH Departmental/Program Assessment Implementation
This document will explain how an assessment project will be carried out and what will be done with the results.
Department/Program:
Assessment Coordinator for this program:
Department Chair:
Date updated/submitted:
Biology
David Howard
David Howard
5/25/13
Complete the following grid.
Student Learning
Outcome(s)
Method(s) to Collect
Evidence
Description of what direct or
indirect measure(s) will be
used. Direct measures are
encouraged. (Enter one
method per row; add rows as
needed.)
Method(s) to Analyze/
Evaluate*
Brief description of how the
evidence will be collected,
analyzed and by whom. (When
applicable, include scoring
criteria or rubric in an
Appendix.)
SLO1: written comm
Assessing students’
performance on a 1.5 hour
free-writing in response to a
prompt.
As part of BIO491, biology
90% of students sampled
capstone, students perform a
will score >70% on the
writing assignment. A
standardized rubric.
standardized rubric will be used
to gather data on a random
subsample of student writings.
These will be scored by the
biology assessment committee.
Data will be gathered and
analyzed by departmental
assessment committee.
College of Science and Health Assessment
Criteria (OR benchmark) for
Success. State the target or
the minimum results
needed to indicate program
success on this outcome.
Or, indicate that results will
serve as baseline data.
Page 1 of 3
Timeline
List the semester/dates when
the evidence will be collected
and evaluated.
Spring 2013, Spring 2014
Apr 2013
Student Learning
Outcome(s)
SLO2:oral comm
SLO3: evolution
Method(s) to Collect
Evidence
Description of what direct or
indirect measure(s) will be
used. Direct measures are
encouraged. (Enter one
method per row; add rows as
needed.)
Assessing students’
performance on a 20 minute
oral presentation. Student
presents a literature review
of a current biology topic.
Method(s) to Analyze/
Evaluate*
Brief description of how the
evidence will be collected,
analyzed and by whom. (When
applicable, include scoring
criteria or rubric in an
Appendix.)
As part of BIO491, biology
capstone, students give an oral
presentation. A standardized
rubric will be used to gather
data on all biology majors.
These will be scored by
instructor teaching the
capstone class. Data will be
gathered and analyzed by
departmental assessment
committee.
Pre and post quizzes
Student responses on multipleadministered in all sections choice quizzes gathered from
of each core course and for D2L. Evaluated by Evolution
the departmental curriculum across the curriculum
as a whole (pre:BIO105;
committee in Summer 2013.
post:BIO491). Quizzes are
Final report to department
multiple-choice with each
September 2013. Data will be
item addressed the
gathered in BIO105 and BIO491
Evolution LOs assigned to
Spring 2014 and Spring 2015
each course. Isomorphic
for longitudinal study.
items are paired in the
pre/post quizzes. In Bio105
(pre) and BIO491 (post) the
quiz assesses all the
Evolution LOs for the entire
curriculum.
College of Science and Health Assessment
Criteria (OR benchmark) for
Success. State the target or
the minimum results
needed to indicate program
success on this outcome.
Or, indicate that results will
serve as baseline data.
Timeline
List the semester/dates when
the evidence will be collected
and evaluated.
On oral presentation in
BIO491, 90% of students
will score >80% on
standardized oral
presentation rubric.
Spring 2013, Spring 2014
On final evolution
assessment (BIO491) quiz,
90% of students score >70%
on evolution items.
Data gathered in all core
classes: Fall 2011, Spring
2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013.
Data only collected in
BIO105/491: Spring 2014,
Spring 2015.
Page 2 of 3
Apr 2013
Student Learning
Outcome(s)
SLO4: information flow
SLO5: functional units
Method(s) to Collect
Evidence
Description of what direct or
indirect measure(s) will be
used. Direct measures are
encouraged. (Enter one
method per row; add rows as
needed.)
An ad hoc committee will be
charged in 2013-2014 with
developing a set of learning
objectives for this SLO. They
will develop a quantitative
assessment of student
knowledge for this topic.
Method(s) to Analyze/
Evaluate*
Brief description of how the
evidence will be collected,
analyzed and by whom. (When
applicable, include scoring
criteria or rubric in an
Appendix.)
The measure will probably be a
multiple choice quiz to be
administered in BIO105,
BIO203 or BIO306, and BIO491.
An alternative would be to
have the capstone writing
assignment provide qualitative
data on student understanding
of this topic.
An ad hoc committee will be This measure will probably be a
charged in 2014-2015 with
multiple choice quiz to be
developing a set of learning administered in BIO105, BIO
objectives for this SLO. They 203 or BIO315, and BIO491. An
will develop a quantitative
alternative would be to have
assessment of student
the capstone writing
knowledge for this topic.
assignment provide qualitative
data on student understanding
of this topic.
Criteria (OR benchmark) for
Success. State the target or
the minimum results
needed to indicate program
success on this outcome.
Or, indicate that results will
serve as baseline data.
Timeline
List the semester/dates when
the evidence will be collected
and evaluated.
Initial results from planning
stages will serve as baseline
data to set departmental
goals.
2014-2015
Initial results from planning
stages will serve as baseline
data to set departmental
goals.
2015-2016
*Examples of methods to analyze or evaluate evidence: apply a rubric to course embedded assignment, score on specific multiple-choice questions embedded within an exam,
external evaluation by national testing agency
Some types of program assessment using indirect measures such as alumni surveys, exit interviews, learning environment surveys
can offer useful data for overall program evaluation and can be reported in academic program reviews. However, these are not
suitable to completely replace direct measures of assessment for any program student learning outcomes.
College of Science and Health Assessment
Page 3 of 3
Apr 2013