Program: Meteorology (BS)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Mon Oct 27, 2014 - 2:48:25 pm
1) Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs) and Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
1. Know the horizontal and vertical variation of temperature, moisture and wind in the atmosphere.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field)
2. Recognize the various scales of motion from turbulence to planetary scales.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field)
3. Evaluate the accuracy and precision of standard meteorological instrumentation.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively)
4. Apply basic atmospheric thermodynamic principles such as potential temperature, equivalent potential temperature, vapor pressure, mixing ratio and the first and second laws of thermodynamics to understand weather and climate issues.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field)
5. Apply basic atmospheric dynamic principles including equations with partial derivatives such as the equation of motion, various approximations of that equation, conservation of a quantity and key kinematic concepts such as divergence and vorticity to understand weather and climate problems.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field)
6. Predict the weather by diagnosing observations and interpreting guidance products.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively)
7. Design and execute basic computer programs to determine desired variables from raw data.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively)
8. Communicate study results and forecasts in both written and oral forms.
(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2c. Communicate and report)
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/MET/
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: UHM Catalog. Page Number: Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: NA Other: Other: 3) Select one option:
- File (03/16/2020)
4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.
0%
1-50% 51-80% 81-99% 100%5) Did your program engage in any program assessment activities between June 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning the curriculum to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys or tests, etc.)
Yes No (skip to question 14)6) For the period between June 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences is just embarking on assessing how well students are achieving the desired learning outcomes.
7) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #6.
The undergraduate students have been given a questionaire asking their opinions about a variety of issues. These include: course choices, material covered in the courses, the scheduling of courses and their advising.
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
Of the thirty or so undergraduates, approximately two-thirds responded.
9) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)
Course instructor(s) Faculty committee Ad hoc faculty group Department chairperson Persons or organization outside the university Faculty advisor Advisors (in student support services) Students (graduate or undergraduate) Dean/Director Other: 10) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)
Used a rubric or scoring guide Scored exams/tests/quizzes Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used) Compiled survey results Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam) Other: 11) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #6:
Summarize the actual results.
Issues included, but are not limited to: (1) students were not well prepared for ATMO 302, (2) students desired more opportunities to apply their knowledge in the real world, (3) students requested more experience with writing computer programs, (4) students wanted more experience in presenting a forecast, and (5) the students request more W and O focus classes within the Atmospheric Sciences.
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
These issues have resulted in the following changes over the last year:
ATMO 200 has become far less like ATMO 101 and much more like ATMO 302 with a greater use of derivatives and equations.
ATMO 406 has become a writing intensive course with a newly developed set of extensive notes.
ATMO 412 and 416: forecasting skill has been made more challenging. This class is now both writing and oral intensive.
New courses have been developed:
ATMO 320: The application of computer resources, in particular MATLAB for the undergraduates.
ATMO 495: Internship at a local TV station for those interested in broadcast meteorology.
13) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.
We are going to use the capstone courses 412 and 416 to assess outcomes 6, 7, and 8 using student learning products such as oral presentation and lab reports and the final exam.