Unit: Chemistry
Program: Chemistry (BA, BS)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Wed Oct 07, 2015 - 5:28:20 pm

1) Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs) and Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

1. Quantitative and qualitative description of atoms, ions, molecules and their mixtures.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

2. Quantitative and qualitative description of reactions of atoms, ions and molecules.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

3. Reactivity & energetics: equilibrium, thermodynamics and kinetics.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

4. Electronic configuration of atoms and molecules: quantum mechanics.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

5. Fundamentals of carbon chemistry.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

6. Stereochemistry as a foundation of structure and reactivity.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

7. Mechanistic reasoning for prediction and analysis of reactivity.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

8. Design and execution of synthetic schemes.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

9. Molecular structures from spectroscopic data.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

10. Make measurements & write laboratory reports.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

11. Data analysis for production of analytically valid data.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

12. Documentation and interpretation of experimental results.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

13. Fundamentals of coordination and organometallic chemistry.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/chem/academics/undergraduate/
Student Handbook. URL, if available online:
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number: http://www.catalog.hawaii.edu/schoolscolleges/arts-sciences/departments/chem.htm
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/chem/course-program/undergraduate/
Other:
Other:

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2015:

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 learning assessment activities between June 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015?

Yes
No (skip to question 16)

6) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015? (Check all that apply.)

Create/modify/discuss program learning assessment procedures (e.g., SLOs, curriculum map, mechanism to collect student work, rubric, survey)
Collect/evaluate student work/performance to determine SLO achievement
Collect/analyze student self-reports of SLO achievement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups
Use assessment results to make programmatic decisions (e.g., change course content or pedagogy, design new course, hiring)
Investigate curriculum coherence. This includes investigating how well courses address the SLOs, course sequencing and adequacy, the effect of pre-requisites on learning achievement.
Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 7)
Other:

7) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place in the last 18 months.

A continued area of concern is the progression of a student through the sequence of General and Organic Chemistry courses (CHEM 161-162-272-273). Typical transmission rates are routinely 70% or less each semester; i.e., a significant population of students in each of these classes earn grades of “C-minus” or lower, as they do not demonstrate satisfactory mastery of the subject material. These students cannot move to the next course in the sequence, so their progress in their respective degree programs is slowed. Collectively, there is a significant, negative impact on four-year graduation rates for the STEM fields, among other issues.

For 100-level General Chemistry courses, part of the challenge is the widely varying background knowledge of our incoming students, which makes it difficult to teach the core courses Chem 161-162 at an appropriate level.  In 2013, we introduced a remedial course, Chem 131, which teaches concepts that should have been learned in high school chemistry.  Students who pass this course should be prepared to suceed in 161.  This year we re-introduced an accelerated course, Chem 171, which teaches all of the material in 161-162 in one semester, and incorporates more math concepts.  Students who have a strong foundation, typically two years of high school chemistry, find this course more engaging.  By removing the weakest and strongest students from 161, the course instructors are able to focus the level of instruction appropriately.

For 200-level Organic Chemistry courses, the "failure to progress" rate is unacceptably high, around 50% last year.  The course instructors feel this is because the students do not understand how to study this material, which is best learned by actively working through problems.  To teach these study skills, we have piloted a program in which all students in 272-273 must also sign up for a recitation section, 272R or 273R.  These recitation sections are led by Junior and Senior undergraduates that obtained 'A' grades in prior years and have good communication skills.  Evaluation of the effects of these recitations on exam and course grades is ongoing.

We are also looking at our General Chemistry Placement Exam, and in particular, trying to understand why there are specific questions that a large percentage of students get incorrect. Changes in wording or wholesale changes in the types of questions are being evaluated.

The restructuring of our upper-division curriculum is being evaluated through American Chemical Society recertification and through graduating student exit surveys.

8) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 6? (Check all that apply.)

Direct evidence of student learning (student work products)


Artistic exhibition/performance
Assignment/exam/paper completed as part of regular coursework and used for program-level assessment
Capstone work product (e.g., written project or non-thesis paper)
Exam created by an external organization (e.g., professional association for licensure)
Exit exam created by the program
IRB approval of research
Oral performance (oral defense, oral presentation, conference presentation)
Portfolio of student work
Publication or grant proposal
Qualifying exam or comprehensive exam for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation (graduate level only)
Supervisor or employer evaluation of student performance outside the classroom (internship, clinical, practicum)
Thesis or dissertation used for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation
Other 1: Aggregate student transmission rates through the core chemistry courses 161-162-272-273
Other 2:

Indirect evidence of student learning


Alumni survey that contains self-reports of SLO achievement
Employer meetings/discussions/survey/interview of student SLO achievement
Interviews or focus groups that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Student reflective writing assignment (essay, journal entry, self-assessment) on their SLO achievement.
Student surveys that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Other 1:
Other 2:

Program evidence related to learning and assessment
(more applicable when the program focused on the use of results or assessment procedure/tools in this reporting period instead of data collection)


Assessment-related such as assessment plan, SLOs, curriculum map, etc.
Program or course materials (syllabi, assignments, requirements, etc.)
Other 1:
Other 2:

9) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

Assessment of effectiveness of the Placement Exam and of changes in the 100-level curriculum was based on the percentage of students that progress through 161-162 or 171 on the first attempt.

Assessment of the effectiveness of Chem 272 recitations, first offered on a trial basis during the Spring 2015 semester, was base on the grades of the 292 students enrolled in CHEM 272 in Spring 2015, compared to the students enrolled in CHEM 272 in previous semesters.

Approximately 20 graduates were survey through exit surveys.

10) 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:

11) 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:

12) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 6. For example, report the percent of students who achieved each SLO.

In Fall 2014, 70% of students in Chem 161 achieved each SLO and progressed to Chem 162, as compared to only 55% in Fall 2012.  This suggests that the introduction of Chem 131 has positively affected the transmission rate in the 100-level Chemistry courses.

In Spring 2015, 68% of students enrolled in Chem 272 achieved each SLO compared to 34% in Fall 2014.  The recitation program has been extended to Chem 273 and assessment of the effect of recitations is ongoing.

American Chemical Society recertification of our chemistry degrees was successful, however, the evaluation noted that students are not being trained on advanced analytical instrumentation, as required, and this needs to be addressed within the next 3 years.  Discussions are ongoing regarding the best way to address this issue given the current budget constraints.

13) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

Assessment procedure changes (SLOs, curriculum map, rubrics, evidence collected, sampling, communications with faculty, etc.)
Course changes (course content, pedagogy, courses offered, new course, pre-requisites, requirements)
Personnel or resource allocation changes
Program policy changes (e.g., admissions requirements, student probation policies, common course evaluation form)
Students' out-of-course experience changes (advising, co-curricular experiences, program website, program handbook, brown-bag lunches, workshops)
Celebration of student success!
Results indicated no action needed because students met expectations
Use is pending (typical reasons: insufficient number of students in population, evidence not evaluated or interpreted yet, faculty discussions continue)
Other:

14) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

For the 100-level courses, we are still collecting data regarding student transmission rates.

For the 200-level courses, we have formally required recitation sections for all students in 272 and 273. College funds were requested and received (ca. $40,000) to pay undergraduate section instructors a modest stipend.  Data collection is ongoing to better understand the effects of these changes.

For upper-division courses, faculty discussions are ongoing regarding how best to purchase instrumentation and to incorporate these concepts into existing courses.

15) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

None

16) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.

N/A