Natural Sciences Service Courses Program Assessment
Step 1 – One sentence capturing essence of service courses program
Brainstorm ideas – How would the world be worse off without our service program?
 The college would become defunct—no accreditation
o We play pivotal roles for
 Education
 Nursing
 Social work
 Students are able to view the world from a scientific perspective which may
compliment and/or contrast with other views from their programs
 Students in non-science majors are directly exposed to scientific applications
 Technical content requirements providing the foundations for professions served
outside the division
 Students learn how systems/instruments/techniques used in their profession work
from a theoretical perspective
Essence statement—The Natural Sciences (NS) service program provides technical and
theoretical foundations essential for applications used by all of the mission programs at LC and
exposes those students to ways of thinking that are essential in performing their work effectively.
Step 2 – Program Stakeholders and Interests
Stakeholders and associated interests
 Nursing Division
 Allied Health-skills and content
 Radiography-skills and content
 LPN-content
 Interests
o Anatomy & Physiology Biol 252 & 253 (content)
o Microbiology Biol 250 (content & skills)
o Pathophysiology Biol 312 (content)
o Genetics for the Allied Health ID 307 (content)
o Physic 108
o Chem 101 & 108 sequence
 Business and Technical School
 Medical Assistant—content and some skills (Biol 175)
 Education
 Elementary Education—skills and content (NS 171 & 172)
 Kinesiology—content (Biol 252 & Chem 101/108/111)
 Social Science
 Social Work-content (Biol 175)
 DONSAM Faculty
 Recruit students for majors
 Change science attitudes : “Shock and Awe”
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Students approach life from an informed perspective
Appreciation of the scope of science in general → allows broader
perspective from point-of-view of teacher
LCSC students
 Educational value
 Fulfills degree requirements
 Gain usable skills
 Successfully complete certification examinations
o HOBET
o NCLEX (RN & PN)
o ARRT → Rad. Tech.
o PRAXIS
Clients for our graduates
 Safe application of medical procedures
 Graduates can create effective learning environments
o Accurate content
o Can explain content such that clients can understand
 Effective Communication of issues directly concerning them
LCSC administration
 Must have majors that can be accredited
 Graduates add value to society
Future Employers and clients
 Technical skills and knowledge
 Preparedness
Step 3 – Scope of program
What the program is
o NS courses provide content that cannot effectively be delivered by others
o NS courses predominantly populated by non-NS majors
 pathophysiology biol 312
 PHYS 108 and Biol 252/253
What the program is not
o Not providing service for Sec Ed majors
o Mathematics not part of service program
o Not part of core
Step 4 – Current and Future Goals
Current Goals:
1. Define Service as a program with manageable elements
2. Set up a quality assessment system with buy-in and input from all faculty involved and
determine future value of this process
3. Generate regular discussion about service issues (once or twice a sem) within DONSAM
4. Determine course enrollment limits in terms of our ability to deliver quality courses and
labs within our current resources (was in future goals)
5. Understand the motivations of the other divisions in order to work together and maintain
high standards
Future Goals:
1. Continuing quality and meaningful communication among vested interests/divisions →
adaptable to changing standards of recipient divisions (particularly in regards to
certification standards)
2. Include enrollment trends in planning for line item faculty needs as these programs grow
3. Provide state of the art equipment and lab facilities and classroom technology such that
our students can practice the professional behaviors and skills required of them in the
workplace
4. Identify and recruit more majors through a coordinated effort
5. Assess the impact these courses have on the division, divisions served, and the institution
(was in current goals; reworded it not belongs in future goals)
6. Possible expansion of course offerings
Step 5 → Products/assets/resources of the current and future program (highlights what’s valuable
about program)
1. Students adequately prepared for their major study (students have what the recipient
divisions are wanting; e.g., Nursing)
2. Curriculum broad enough to cover all programs served
3. Competency in instruction
4. Small class size → better student teacher interaction
5. Manageable instructor loads
6. 295/395/495 provides student and faculty support in laboratory settings
Step 6 → Key processes, structures, and systems associated with the program which will help
accomplish current and future goals
1. Teaching at appropriate level: establish and agree upon an appropriate level; gather
information from peer institutions; attendance of teaching workshops and conferences
2. Regular assessment of service class goals: attendance of assessment workshops;
practicing the process to demonstrate to colleagues and students
3. Educating the service program faculty on assessment practices (such as classroom and
course assessment)
4. Interactions with recipient departments: dialogue with recipient divisions (share course
syllabi)
Step 7 → Qualities, with characteristics, to develop Performance Criteria
1. Responsive
 Recognizing needs of people served
 Alternate delivery forms (e.g., distance learning)
 Acknowledging and implementing new technology and pedagogy
 Realizing institutional resource capabilities
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Meeting the intended expected outcomes
A strong needs analysis of our stakeholders is regularly assessed to maximize the consensus
expected learning outcomes for all students with innovative delivery means within given
institutional resources.
Measures:
 Client satisfaction (e.g., response time)
 Ability to do “needs analysis” of stakeholders
 Implementation of change
2. Success-oriented
 Successful entry to major program (e.g., Nursing, Rad. Tech.)
 Provides knowledge and skills transferable to other programs
 Passing certification exams
 Successful application of content to major program (e.g., Nursing)
 Data-driven mechanism to inform all parties of student success
The students’ success in the service program is assessed by their application of content to major
programs or certification exams, and the ability to provide transferable knowledge and skills to
other programs.
Measures:
 Level of achievement in served programs and certification exams
 Feedback from recipient programs on student preparation
 Retention of students in college
3. Communication (Interdivisional)
 Clearly established contact points (individuals in other divisions to discuss needs)
 Clearly explain our perspective
 On-going course-specific dialogue
 Listening to concerns from recipient programs
 Impact: mutual understanding and respect of each others needs and contributions
Individuals in recipient divisions will be identified to facilitate on-going dialogue to ensure
course delivery that satisfies both populations and results in mutual understanding and respect of
each others needs and contributions.
Measures:
 Level of interaction between vested programs (freq. and productiveness of meetings)
4. Challenging
 Greater breadth of knowledge
 High expectations
 Critical thinking
5. Availability
 Variety and number of course offerings
 Scheduling of courses to maximize student use
6. Efficient
 Courses broad enough to serve multiple recipient programs
7. Quality teaching
8. Friendly
 Teacher availability
 Small class size
9. Innovative
 Use of new technology
 Practice new pedagogy
10. Applied
 Use of content in major program (e.g., Nursing, Rad. Tech.)