Jason D. Powell
Ferrum College
Saturday, October 15, 2011
1:30-2:30 PM
ACA Summit
Asheville, NC
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Briefly:
Who are you?
 Where do you teach?
 What subject(s) do you teach?
 What do you hope to gain from this session?
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Ferrum College is a 4-year college serving ~1,500
primarily residential undergraduate students in rural
southwestern Virginia
The chemistry program operates mostly in a service
capacity to other programs (Pre-Professional Science,
Health Sciences, Agriculture, Biology, Environmental
Science, Horticulture, Sports Medicine)
~60 students per year take introductory chemistry, ~50
students per year take general chemistry, ~20 students
per year take organic chemistry, and upper-level
chemistry courses have ~15 or fewer students
All students majoring in the natural sciences take a 3semester sequence of 2-credit courses for junior and
senior seminar in which they research and develop a
synthesis question related to their major and minor
fields of study
1. Liberal Arts
Through experiences in the Core Requirements, the
Ferrum College graduate will
• Demonstrate integrated knowledge in the liberal arts
• Demonstrate information literacy, using available
technology when appropriate
• Demonstrate competency in quantitative skills and
reading
2. Critical Thinking
Through opportunities to engage in critical thinking,
both curricular and cocurricular, the Ferrum
College graduate will
• Think critically and solve problems through
analysis, evaluation, inference, induction, and
deduction
3. Communication Skills
Through experiences in both the Core Requirements
and the Major, the Ferrum College graduate will
• Communicate with unity of purpose and coherent
organization consistent with standard rules and
recognized conventions using appropriate
methodologies
4. Competence in Academic Discipline
Through experiences in the Major, the Ferrum College
graduate will
• Demonstrate a depth of knowledge, capability and
ethical reasoning in a chosen field
5. Citizenship
Through opportunities, both curricular and cocurricular, the Ferrum College graduate will
• Demonstrate awareness of local, national and global
issues
• Demonstrate personal responsibility
• Collaborate with people of diverse cultural attitudes,
beliefs and values
CHM01.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding
of fundamental chemical principles and the evidence
and reasoning that support them.
CHM02.
Use quantitative reasoning skills to sample,
analyze, and interpret data for problem solving.
CHM03.
Use and understand relevant methods, tools,
and techniques in chemistry.
CHM04.
Integrate and apply knowledge and skills
independently and cooperatively in a professional
setting.
CHM05.
Understand the relevance of chemistry to
concerns of society.
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Students averaged 88.8% on first writing
assignment and 92.6% on second writing
assignment
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Improvements attributed by students to a better
understanding of the elements of the rubric, even
though the second writing assignment was
perceived as being more difficult and less guided
Consistent improvement in items related to
content-matter understanding and appropriate
research skills, no significant change in scores
related to writing mechanics
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Embedded assessments allow for more efficient use of
faculty time, and results are more relevant to essential
student learning in specific courses
Rubrics provide a quick and easy way to standardize
faculty scoring of student work by using specific
desired traits
Customizing rubrics using common elements makes
the assessment useful to the campus unit and to a
specific instructor without impinging on academic
freedom
Consistent usage of campus-wide rubrics allow
students to develop an understanding of faculty
expectations with respect to various student learning
outcomes

Ferrum’s QEP is “Critical Thinking for
Success”
New formative rubric for critical thinking skills
incorporated into the rubric this semester
 Students just handed in their first paper on
Wednesday…
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Jason D. Powell
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
jpowell@ferrum.edu
www.ferrum.edu/academics/faculty/jason_powell.aspx
(540) 365-4376
Garber Hall – Room 224
80 Wiley Drive
Ferrum, VA 24088