Program: Cell & Molecular Biology (PhD)
Degree: Doctorate
Date: Fri Oct 07, 2011 - 10:46:46 am
1) Below are your program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
1.Sufficient breath and depth of knowledge to assume responsibility for teaching classes in Cell and Molecular Biology at least at the undergraduate level, and teaching experience in these and related topics;
2. Knowledge of the process of research, including: familiarity with techniques for searching the literature; principles of measurement; and practical experience in the design and conduct of scientific experiments, collection of data, and interpretation of data sufficient to enable students to interpret current literature, and to embark upon the next level of development as researchers;
3. Familiarity with the mechanics of scientific reporting sufficient to enable students to prepare a publication for a scholarly journal;
4. Experience with oral presentation of material sufficient to enable students to prepare and deliver reports on their work at seminars or meetings of scientific societies;
5. A degree of understanding and scientific maturity sufficient to enable students to assess the work of others;
6. An understanding of the administrative procedures common to academic departments.
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: http://web.me.com/cmb2011/CMB/ Student Handbook. URL, if available online: www.hawaii.edu/cmb/
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: UHM Catalog. Page Number: 257 Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: NA Other: Portions are distributed to prospective applicants by e-mail Other: 3) Below is the link(s) to your program's curriculum map(s). If we do not have your curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.
- 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) For the period June 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
All 6 SLOs listed in question 1 were assessed.
The goal of our continuous assessment activity is to intercept any student with deficiencies as soon as possible and to remediate those deficiencies.
6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #5.
The Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program assesses each student continuously in order to identify problems as early as possible.
The Chair utilizes CMB graduate faculty committees and student advisors as need be.
When a problem is identified, the program Chair, CMB Student Advisory Committee and the student's academic mentor discuss the issue. If necessary, a brief report generalizing the student's performance is then presented at a faculty meeting.
Recommendations are made and usually implemented.
In this past assessment period the CMB faculty have identified two program weaknesses.
First, we need a more organized approach to teaching critical bioinformatics and biostatistics skill sets required of the molecular and life science bench researcher. (SLO2)
We have developed and have in place a new Biostatistics and Bioinformatics course(CMB 671). The CMB graduate faculty is considering making this course a graduation requirement.
Second, our students need to improve their skills in making oral presentations of their work . (SLO4)
We now require that at least once a year every student in our program make a poster and do an oral presentation of their work at a conference or symposium. Previous to public presentation, the poster and oral defense are critiqued by a group of senior level students and faculty. The students' mentor must also approve the final revision before public presentation.
7) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
All CMB PhD students(35) submitted evidence to be evaluated.
The evidence evaluated was course exams, qualifying exam results(for 2nd year students), reports of laboratory skills mastered, publications of work, conferences and scientific meetings attended, oral presentations in seminars, journal clubs and scientific meetings and final oral defenses of dissertations.
8) 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: 9) 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: 10) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #5:
Summarize the actual results.
All second year PhD students(11) passed their qualifying exam in this period. Students are given 2 chances to pass the different parts of the qualifying exam. All second year PhD students passed on the first try during the 2010-2011 period and were allowed to move on to the next phase of their training.
Our PhD students (35) must complete all course work with at least a "B" grade. All have done so in the 2010-2011 period.
The results of other pieces of evidence are evaluated on an individual basis. There have been no unacceptable performances from any CMB PhD student in the 2010-2011 period.
The majority of our PhD students (95%) meet all SLOs by the end of their training and graduate within 5 years of starting our graduate program. In this period we had five PhD students complete their degree requirements and graduate.
11) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
The Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program assesses each student continuously in order to identify problems as early as possible.
The Chair utilizes CMB graduate faculty committees and student advisors as need be.
When a problem is identified, the Program Chair, CMB Student Advisory Committee and the student's academic mentor discuss the issue. If necessary, a brief report generalizing the student's performance is then presented at a faculty meeting.
Recommendations are made and usually implemented.
In this past assessment period the CMB faculty have identified two program weaknesses.
First, we need a more organized approach to teaching critical bioinformatics and biostatistics skill sets required of the molecular and life science bench researcher. (SLO2)
We have developed and have in place a new Biostatistics and Bioinformatics course. The CMB Faculty is considering making this course a graduation requirement.
Second, our students need to improve their skills in making oral presentations of their work . (SLO4)
We now require that at least once a year every student in our program make a poster and do an oral presentation of their work at a conference or symposium. Previous to public presentation, the poster and oral defense are critiqued by a group of senior level students and faculty. The students' mentor must also approve the final revision before public presentation.
12) 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 making an effort to engage the entire CMB graduate faculty in evaluating SLOs rather than just our various committees and senior faculty. We are especially encouraging our junior faculty to have a voice and give us fresh insights and practical suggestions into handling student needs that crop up during the year.