SPRING 2015 SLO/PLO ASSESSMENT REPORT
Date: June 29, 2015
Name of Person Reporting: Said Pazirandeh
Name of Department and/or Discipline: Physical Sciences
1. a. List the courses/certificates/programs your discipline/department assessed in
the Spring 2015 semester.
The following courses were assessed during the Spring 2015 semester:
Chemistry 212- SLO #1
Geography 1-SLO #4
Geography 2- SLO #1 and #4
Geography 15-SLO #4
No PLOs were assessed during this reporting period.
b. For each one, indicate whether the benchmark (standard for student success)
was reached.
Instructors report benchmarks achieved in all the assessments above. In two
assessments (Geography 2 and 15) weaknesses were observed in some criteria of
analysis, even though overall benchmarks were achieved. For these courses,
recommendations have been made to address the noted deficiencies.
2. Summarize the major assessment results for courses/programs in your area.
Assessment results for Chemistry indicate adequate knowledge of concepts and
theory to properly interpret and explain the mechanism of a reaction. Additional
tutoring services could benefit student success by reinforcing these skills through
additional practices.
Some of the assessment results for Geography courses indicated strong need of
tutors for students in this area to supplement their knowledge of mathematical
computations and critical analysis of data
3. Summarize what changes have been made or are planned to be made as a result of
the assessments.
Assessment results from Geography courses indicate a need for providing more
instruction for critical evaluation of information sources for assignments in these
courses. These changes will be implemented in future assignments in each course.
4. Follow up on previous assessments:
(1) If an SLO was assessed previously, compare the results with the earlier
assessments:
(a) Have the recommended changes been implemented?
Some of the recommendations from Fall 2014 assessments in Chemistry 65
course were implemented during Spring 2015 and continue in Summer
instruction. Preliminary results from implementation of these changes indicate
improved student performance and success. Formal assessment of SLOs based
on these modifications will be scheduled during the next academic year.
(b) Has the follow-up textbox been filled in on the SLO online system?
Some of the follow-up textboxes have been completed on the SLO online system.
Faculty who did not complete these textboxes for previous assessments will be
asked to complete them before start of Fall 2015 semester.
(2) How have the findings led to improved student learning?
Assessment of SLO #2 for Chemistry 65 in Fall 2014 indicated need for more
practice examples for solving of moderately complex mathematical chemistry
problems. In response to these results, instruction in class was modified to
include more examples and additional practice problems were provided on the
class website for independent student practice. Initial results of student work in
class during latter part of Spring 2015 semester indicate a greater knowledge of
problem-solving skills for many students in the course.
Assessment of SLO #3 for Chemistry 65 in Fall 2014 indicated need for more
guidance for students to present and analyze results of their experimental data.
In response to these results, additional instruction was provided to students in
form of a “Report Form” to enable them to adequately analyze results of their
data in the experiment. Initial results of these modifications indicate that
students were able to present a more comprehensive analysis of their results at
the end of the experiment.
Formal evaluation of both these SLOs will be done again in the next academic
year.
5. Have the results of your assessments been shared and discussed among the
members of your program? (Provide dates and any minutes of meetings as
evidence. Please also post relevant minutes in the Department Notes section of
the SLO Online system.)
Full-time faculty regularly discuss results of assessments in their courses and the
resulting modifications to instruction based on these assessments. The faculty are
reviewing the assessment schedule for each SLO in each course and will develop and
present a complete schedule of assessment to the full department faculty at the
beginning of semester in Fall 2015.
6. Have the results of your assessments been shared and discussed with members of
your advisory committee (if vocational program)?
Not applicable.
What resource requests are planned as a result of the assessments?
7. Have the assessment results been posted on the online system?
All assessment results have been posted on the online system.