Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Exit tests (assessment plans)

----- Original Message -----
From: Stan Dodds <dodds@RICE.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 19, 1999 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: Exit tests


Would you be willing to post your 'one sheet of paper'? Many of us
will be facing this mandate sooner or later, and it would be helpful
to know what others have done.

Thanks


Below is our plan--not yet formally accepted by the College, but in the same
spirit as our assessment plan for the General Education portion of the
College curriculum (which I also was an integral part of writing.) Also
note that we have NO physics majors, so this plan is primarily for our
Chemistry majors. The Senior Comprehensive that is referred to is a
research/literature paper and oral presentation, not a test (although in the
past this DID include a home-brew comprehensive exam--which we have since
dropped.) The main philosophy here is to assure a formalized plan for
assessing the content and format of the overall curriculum, but then to
leave the individual assessment of student performance to the individual
instructors in their courses (this is after all why we give tests and assign
grades). The more important external assessments are post graduate
placements and feedback from both our graduates and the schools/businesses
to which they go.

Rick

P.S. The formatting and fonts are lost in this e-mail version, but it CAN
fit on one page.


DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY & PHYSICS ASSESSMENT PLAN

1. The department formally assesses the content and the format of the
curriculum on a regular basis.

a) The content and lab components of the curriculum are materially affected
by the desire of the department to remain an American Chemical Society (ACS)
approved program. This requires periodic reviews both for the required
report to the ACS and to accommodate changes in the ACS guidelines.

b) While the content areas important to the major are outlined extensively
in the ACS guidelines, the Department notes the general areas for
consideration of academic achievement include developing the student's:
i) Understanding of chemical models of the world including fundamental
chemical concepts and principles.
ii) Proficiency with most common modern chemical techniques (synthesis &
analysis) developed in the laboratory courses.
iii) Facility with chemical communication including using correct chemical
vocabulary in written and oral work.
iv) Use of the chemical literature with a goal towards an ability to search
it effectively and to read at the undergraduate level for comprehension.

c) The department has experienced a number of personnel changes over the
past few years. This has served to open an ongoing dialog formalized in
departmental meetings to review in detail the courses and their content.
This review serves the need to better integrate the individual courses into
the overall curriculum and to better mesh these individual course offerings
with each other. This review also helps to better define the role of
service courses like Physics and Math, with special emphasis on the Chemist'
s needs from the Physicists. It is expected that this process will continue
for the foreseeable future.

2. The nature of the learning process in the discipline is fundamentally
hierarchical. All courses have one or more prerequisites in the major and
in supporting courses. A student's failure to achieve success at the
average level in any course in the major precludes her from being able to
achieve success in subsequent courses. This built-in assessment tool allows
the department to follow each student's academic achievement without the
need of extensive external assessment tools.

3. Once the overall curriculum and the individual course content has been
established through the procedures above, it is the assigned instructor's
responsibility to design the course around those guidelines. The assessment
of student performance within those classes is clearly a matter for the
instructors and the department trusts in the expertise and professionalism
of all the faculty to do this well.

4. Final Departmental assessment of individual students is done through:

a) The senior comprehensive.

b) The advanced writing proficiency.

5. Additional informal assessments are done through:

a) Monitoring student acceptance into graduate schools, medical schools,
governmental and industrial positions.

b) Correspondence with past graduates.

c) Discussions with past graduates at professional meetings and at the
annual Women Chemist's Symposium held here on campus.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY & PHYSICS
ASSESSMENT PLAN

1. The department formally assesses the content and the format of the
curriculum on a regular basis.

a) The content and lab components of the curriculum are materially affected
by the desire of the department to remain an American Chemical Society (ACS)
approved program. This requires periodic reviews both for the required
report to the ACS and to accommodate changes in the ACS guidelines.

b) While the content areas important to the major are outlined extensively
in the ACS guidelines, the Department notes the general areas for
consideration of academic achievement include developing the student's:
i) Understanding of chemical models of the world including fundamental
chemical concepts and principles.
ii) Proficiency with most common modern chemical techniques (synthesis &
analysis) developed in the laboratory courses.
iii) Facility with chemical communication including using correct chemical
vocabulary in written and oral work.
iv) Use of the chemical literature with a goal towards an ability to search
it effectively and to read at the undergraduate level for comprehension.

c) The department has experienced a number of personnel changes over the
past few years. This has served to open an ongoing dialog formalized in
departmental meetings to review in detail the courses and their content.
This review serves the need to better integrate the individual courses into
the overall curriculum and to better mesh these individual course offerings
with each other. This review also helps to better define the role of
service courses like Physics and Math, with special emphasis on the Chemist'
s needs from the Physicists. It is expected that this process will continue
for the foreseeable future.

2. The nature of the learning process in the discipline is fundamentally
hierarchical. All courses have one or more prerequisites in the major and
in supporting courses. A student's failure to achieve success at the
average level in any course in the major precludes her from being able to
achieve success in subsequent courses. This built-in assessment tool allows
the department to follow each student's academic achievement without the
need of extensive external assessment tools.

3. Once the overall curriculum and the individual course content has been
established through the procedures above, it is the assigned instructor's
responsibility to design the course around those guidelines. The assessment
of student performance within those classes is clearly a matter for the
instructors and the department trusts in the expertise and professionalism
of all the faculty to do this well.

4. Final Departmental assessment of individual students is done through:

a) The senior comprehensive.

b) The advanced writing proficiency.

5. Additional informal assessments are done through:

a) Monitoring student acceptance into graduate schools, medical schools,
governmental and industrial positions.

b) Correspondence with past graduates.

c) Discussions with past graduates at professional meetings and at the
annual Women Chemist's Symposium held here on campus.