Course Outcomes Guide (COG)
Directions: Please complete this form to document your progress toward improving
student learning. For each item, indicate your progress and your anticipated next steps.
Thank you!
Course Title: Bio101 Spring 15
Date: 5/27/15
Course Team: Lennon, Lewis, Trader
Expected Learning Outcomes
1. Students will access, process, analyze and synthesize scientific information
2. Students will use technology to gain knowledge and understanding of specific topics in biology.
3. Students will employ verbal, reading, and writing skills to demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of specific topics in biology.
4. Students will solve numeric problems to analyze biological data.
5. Students will interpret graphical data.
6. Students will apply the scientific method and scientific reasoning to generate and evaluate
hypotheses, experiments, data, and conclusions.
Assessment (How do or will students demonstrate achievement of each outcome? Please attach a
copy of your assessment electronically.)
 Assessment of learning lecture content:
 1 multiple choice/short answer exam (75)
 2 multiple choice / short answer exams (100 pts each)
 1 cumulative final exam, 100 points of which are common final (100)
 Pop quizzes and clicker questions built into class (points vary)
 Goals paper emphasizing metacognition and follow up at end of semester (5 pts each)
 Interest paper summarizing popular science article and relationship to class material (5
pts)

Assessment of learning for lab material:
 Pre and post lab quizzes (points vary )
 lab graphs/mini-reports (10 points each)
 Critical thinking paper evaluating data analysis (10 pts)
 student worksheets (points vary)
Validation (What methods have you used or will you use to validate your assessment?)
Online homework assignments are assessed automatically by online educational programs
designed by the publishers of the course textbook. Each assessment item is linked to a specific
learning objective and ranked by difficulty level 1-5.
All graphs and mini-reports are assessed using a common rubric.
The Common Final Exam has been developed in house by a team of instructors, both adjunct
and full time, and is used in all sections of the course. We will exam data gathered from the
final exam to determine efficacy of each question.
Dr. Lennon is creating a pre/post-test to assess student understanding of core concepts in the
class as well as prior knowledge. Proposed changes to Biology curriculum have put this on hold
until changes are cemented.
Results (What do your assessment data show? If you have not yet assessed student achievement
of your learning outcomes, when is assessment planned?)
Section
A
B
C
D
F
Avg on Gen
Avg on
(n= # completing
%
%
%
%
%
Ed portion of
Common
final exam)
Common
Final (%)
Final (%)
Combined
26
26
26
22
0
72.6
64
M01/M02 Trader
(n=19)
BIO-101-05 Lewis
0
50
36
7
7
67.7
65
(n=14)
Combined
8
35
16
27
13.5
69.7
62
M03/M04 Lennon
(n=37)
Final Exam Analysis:
The common final exam was administered in Moodle in the Spring of 2015. Data were
downloaded by K. Lennon and compiled for analysis by topic and by question to look for trends
in data and indicate areas on which we need to concentrate more time and/or resources. Data for
each question were analyzed to look for problems with the questions themselves. Questions on
which less than 20% of students answered correctly will be looked at carefully.
By Topic:
Data indicated that students struggled most with the topics of Cellular Respiration, Gene
Expression, and Cell Membrane Structure & Function, with the lowest performance in Cellular
Respiration.
Students were most successful with the topics of Graphical Analysis, Chemistry (Ch 2), and the
Scientific Method, with scores at or above 70% for 6 of the 14 topics and at or above 60% for 3
of the remaining 8 topics.
By Question:
Data indicate that questions 29, 53, 59, 60, and 63 are probably not doing a good job of testing
the students. Scores on these questions are markedly lower than on the other questions in the
final exam.
Bio 101 Spring 2015 Analysis of Final Exam by Topic
Ch 1: Scientific Method & the Characteristics of Life
Ch 2: Atoms, Molecules, Chemical Bonds, and Water
Ch 3: Large Biological Molecules
Ch 4: Cell Structure & Function
Ch 5.1: Cell Membrane Structure & Function
Ch 5.2: Biochemical Reactions & Energy Dynamics
Ch 6: Cellular Respiration
Ch 8: Mitosis, the Control of Cell Division, and Cancer
Ch 10.1: DNA & Replication
Ch 10.2: Gene Expression (Transcription & Translation)
Ch 11: Cell Communication
Ch 12: Biotechnology
Average % Correct
S15 Bio 101 Student Performance on Final Exam
by Topic or Chapter
90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Chapter or Topic
* Error bars indicate variation by instructor per calculated standard deviation.
Follow-up (How have you used or how will you use the data to improve student learning?)
The Biology curriculum, including the course content for Bio 101, are currently being reviewed
by the faculty of the Division of Math & Science. These data will help us to focus our course(s)
and teaching on topics with which students struggle most. Data indicated that we should
consider spending less time on the chemistry topics (Ch 1-2), and more time and energy on
topics like Cellular Respiration. This will allow us to develop teaching and learning materials and
approaches that are best suited to our students’ needs.
Analysis of the final exam itself revealed that coverage of topics varies greatly on this exam.
While topics like biological molecules, cellular structure and mitotic cell division are assessed
with 10 or 11 questions each, topics like cellular respiration and cell membrane structure and
function are assessed with only 5 or 6 questions each. This is likely to skew the data, and we
may not be getting a clear assessment of student understanding. The Biology 101/113 team will
review the structure of the final exam, and make adjustments based on these data. Ideally,
each topic should be assessed with a more similar number of questions.
After changes have been made to the Bio 101 curriculum, the final exam will have to be revised
to cover new material and delete that which is no longer covered. At this point, K. Lennon
proposes creating a pre-test to assess students’ level of understanding before instruction to be
coupled with a post-test. This will allow us to assess our students’ gains in addition to assessing
mastery.
Budget Justification (What resources are necessary to improve student learning?)
Turning Technologies “clickers” to use for formative assessment and active learning in class.
These are a valuable part of active learning in K. Lennon’s large lectures. They are currently on
loan from the Biotechnology program and LearnTech. We request a dedicated set and carrying
case.
Students will rely heavily on SLC services for:
- access to online course materials
- printing of course handouts and notes
- private tutoring
- group study