Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Undergraduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Major [UG] / Program [Grad]
Program Name: Geological Sciences BS (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
The department faculty meets each spring, after classes are over, to discuss how the changes we implemented based on previous years’ assessment activities have resulted in improved learning outcomes. We also discuss additional changes we would like to make based on what we have learned from the assessment process.
Starting in June 2021, we are implementing an exit survey of our graduating majors that includes questions about the students’ perceptions of how well they have met the specific outcomes of their major.
Review Process:
The department full-time faculty meets annually to review all aspects of our majors, and to make recommendations to the whole department for improvement. This process is led by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The conclusions of those discussions are reviewed by all full-time faculty, and presented in department annual reports. This year we met on May 27, 2021 during an all-day, online faculty retreat. Other faculty meetings are held throughout the year (approximately twice per month) in which we continuously work towards gathering and interpreting data for reviewing our majors, and how well our curriculum is achieving our learning goals
Resulting Program Changes:
The 2009 revisions to our department curricula included consolidation of three majors (Geology, Geophysics, and Geology-Geophysics) into a single Geological Sciences major, and updating the Environmental Geoscience major, starting with the class of 2014. In 2015, we modified the learning goals for the Geological Sciences major. One more recent change that was based on our 2015 assessment is that, due to lack of faculty currently available to teach the Geological Field Mapping and Methods course, we (temporarily?) removed that requirement from this major. This change was particularly important over the past year as many field camps were not run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During our May 2021 meeting, we spent time reflecting on the full year of online and hybrid teaching during the pandemic. We focused on what we will take with us when we return to normal, in-person teaching in the fall 2021 semester. Faculty spoke about the many new things they brought to classes this year, including: more sophisticated use of Canvas for all course materials, including video lectures (informed by CTE/CDIL workshops and resources); flipped classroom approaches; integrating mindfulness activities; student-made videos; video-based virtual field trips; class “exit ticket” surveys; and the challenges of giving online exams. We discussed extensively that many of us now have greater awareness that students are often
struggling with academic and non-academic challenges. We all want to develop better skills to be aware of and support students during times of crisis. We also talked about ways to support first-generation and URM college students. The recent Diversity Summit on campus provided many excellent materials in these areas, which we shared amongst the faculty.
During our May 2021 meeting, we decided to implement an annual exit survey of our graduating seniors. We used a survey used by the Environmental Studies Program since 2017 as a template. We decided to modify it to allow anonymous responses. It includes questions about the students’ perceptions of how well they have met the specific outcomes of the Geological Sciences major. It also provides a measure of how well our curriculum is serving our students in their success in further education and employment beyond their BC undergraduate experiences (goals 6-7). The survey will go out next week, and the responses will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Program Committee in the summer and fall. This will guide modification of the survey for next year, when we plan to send it out to students in April. We have also been inviting former students to come back to BC after graduation to meet with current majors and lead discussions about their post-BC education and employment experiences. We think that it is time to have a comprehensive review and perhaps restructuring of our major programs. This is a significant undertaking, and we are considering whether to begin it during the 2021-22 academic year. In particular, we would like to critically evaluate our curriculum through the lens of enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
The 2009 revisions to our department curricula included consolidation of three majors (Geology, Geophysics, and Geology-Geophysics) into a single Geological Sciences major, and updating the Environmental Geoscience major, starting with the class of 2014. In 2015, we modified the learning goals for the Geological Sciences major. One more recent change that was based on our 2015 assessment is that, due to lack of faculty currently available to teach the Geological Field Mapping and Methods course, we (temporarily?) removed that requirement from this major. This change was particularly important over the past year as many field camps were not run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During our May 2021 meeting, we spent time reflecting on the full year of online and hybrid teaching during the pandemic. We focused on what we will take with us when we return to normal, in-person teaching in the fall 2021 semester. Faculty spoke about the many new things they brought to classes this year, including: more sophisticated use of Canvas for all course materials, including video lectures (informed by CTE/CDIL workshops and resources); flipped classroom approaches; integrating mindfulness activities; student-made videos; video-based virtual field trips; class “exit ticket” surveys; and the challenges of giving online exams. We discussed extensively that many of us now have greater awareness that students are often
struggling with academic and non-academic challenges. We all want to develop better skills to be aware of and support students during times of crisis. We also talked about ways to support first-generation and URM college students. The recent Diversity Summit on campus provided many excellent materials in these areas, which we shared amongst the faculty.
During our May 2021 meeting, we decided to implement an annual exit survey of our graduating seniors. We used a survey used by the Environmental Studies Program since 2017 as a template. We decided to modify it to allow anonymous responses. It includes questions about the students’ perceptions of how well they have met the specific outcomes of the Geological Sciences major. It also provides a measure of how well our curriculum is serving our students in their success in further education and employment beyond their BC undergraduate experiences (goals 6-7). The survey will go out next week, and the responses will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Program Committee in the summer and fall. This will guide modification of the survey for next year, when we plan to send it out to students in April. We have also been inviting former students to come back to BC after graduation to meet with current majors and lead discussions about their post-BC education and employment experiences. We think that it is time to have a comprehensive review and perhaps restructuring of our major programs. This is a significant undertaking, and we are considering whether to begin it during the 2021-22 academic year. In particular, we would like to critically evaluate our curriculum through the lens of enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Attachments (if available)