BL A260 Human Physiology, Prof. Stark
Fall 2008 Assessment
Material from the assessment form that was administered is in plain
text.
Student replies and material added during analysis is in italics.
This is the course assessment, not the teacher evaluation - those are
administered by the department, are on-line, and are anonymous. Please reply
to this e-mail by typing your replies in the appropriate places. In the
event that you have comments you insist on having anonymous, write or print
your comments and put them in my box.
My interpretation of the history of assessment
"Assessment" in Missouri spread after the mid 1980's "Value
Added" program of Northeast Missouri State. It was originally intended
"to reliably evaluate the quality of educational training." In
April, 1998, SLU's Biology Department adopted a policy of having graduating
majors take the Graduate Record Exam, interpreting "assessment"
as "program assessment." On September 21, 2000, "each faculty
member" was charged to "develop an outcome assessment tool."
At this time, the interpretation was one of "student outcomes assessment."
In December 2002, "course assessment" replaced "student outcomes
assessment;" faculty were directed to collect information used to change
or improve the course in keeping with SLU's web blurb on assessment [http://www.slu.edu/opdr/SLU_Assessment.html]
("Assessment results are utilized to improve courses and curriculum").
There is a link to the assessment reports I have prepared since assessment
was mandated at SLU:
http://starklab.slu.edu/CV/Assessment.htm
In addition to being useful to me for teaching this course in the future,
BME (the Department of Biomedical Engineering) makes use of this information
for its accreditation.
Here are the stated objectives of the course:
BL A260 Human Physiology was created in 2004 by chairs of Biology and Biomedical
Engineering (BME). It is the third and final biology requirement (after
Principles of Biology I & II [BIOL 104 & 106]) for BME students.
BME majors successfully completing Human Physiology will know systems physiology
(homeostasis, circulation, respiration, digestion, nervous system, etc.)
comprehensively at a level that does not have those prerequisites (biological
chemistry and cell biology) needed for biology students.
"The course fulfilled these objectives."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.1
I learned a lot of information from this course, and I think it has greatly
improved my note taking skills.
"These objectives were reasonable."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.27
Comments:
The course was challenging, yet able to manageable so long as you stayed
kept up with the material.
"I learned a lot in this course."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.2
Comments:
I learned much more than I anticipated.
The course gave general information as well as specific pathways and organic
molecules found in the human body.
"BIOL 104 & 106 provided adequate preparation for this course."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.94
Comments:
Neither agree nor disagree
Only BIOL 104 provided information that went with this course. BIOL 106
had virtually no relevance to this course.
"This Human Physiology course a good idea for your third semester requirement."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.94
Comments:
Neither agree nor disagree
some students i think would do fine in the higher level physio class. I
heard that mcb really shouldn't be a co-requisite
I enjoyed it this semester to break up a lot of the other math orientated
courses.
"The selection of topics for emphasis was reasonable."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.27
Comments:
I liked how the systems of organs were covered and also more specific
pathways for so of them were covered. The nervous system was also interesting.
"The level of the textbook was appropriate."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.6
Comments:
Great book, thorough, useful
The pictures and diagrams were very helpful and the explanations helped
to give a different viewpoint of some of the lecture material.
"The level of the lecture coverage was appropriate."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.3
Comments:
Once again, the course was challenging which allowed me to learn a lot.
"Having outlines on the web was useful."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.0
Comments:
Could be more comprehensive and inclusive though
This allowed me to listen to the professor more in class rather than copying
notes. Personally, I believe I learn better when I can listen to the instructor
at the time of lecture.
"Having applicable test questions from the last three years on each
outline helped for learning and for studying for tests."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.1
Comments:
Very good
The example test questions were an accurate gauge as to how well I knew
the material. This allowed me to know what areas I should study more.
helped to see if you were ready to take the test or not. and then tell
you what you needed to look at some more
"Having figures and condensed portions of the outline on PowerPoint
presentations was appreciated."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.4
Comments:
Appreciated yes, helpful no; not inclusive enough, hard to infer the
information presented
can they be on the notes as well
I learned a lot more from the figures because then I could actually see
what it was we were talking about.
It helped with taking notes in class
"Having lecture sound recordings on-line as PodCasts was appreciated."
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. disagree 4. strongly disagree
Average=1.44
Comments:
Don't know many people who used them
I only used these a few times, however I think it is a good idea because
if I ever got sick I could still listen to the class notes.
Extremely helpful and useful. Maybe vidoe podcasts eventually in the future?!
Make a statement about the relevance of SLU's 5 dimensions to this course
and its assessment (http://www.slu.edu/opdr/Five_Dimensions.html)
I didn't know SLU had these 5 dimensions....
It would take a while to talk about the 5 individually, but as a whole,
this course was reasonably relevant to SLU's 5 dimensions
I think the course promoted the 5 dimensions quite well, with the only
exception being spirituality. However, that is a good thing because as
we all know, spirituality does not mix well with science.
I think that this course had relevance to all of SLU's 5 dimensions. The
classroom had a sense of open-mindedness and everyone was encouraged to
talk and ask questions. Because of this, I believe that everyone in the
class gain a lot of knowledge and had an enjoyable experience.
Are there any topics you would like to be added to the syllabus in future
years?
More correlations to pathophysiology as well, it makes information more
pertinent and fun to learn.
Not that I can think of.
I would have enjoyed more discussion of the effects of heavy weight training
on the body (endurance exercise was discussed a bit), but then again I think
I would have been the only one in the class who cared.
No
See next question.
No
Are there any topics you think should be reduced or eliminated?
I think a lot of the first test information can be incorporated into
the rest of the course better instead of just providing random examples
and claiming various impertinent ties. Otherwise, a good amount of material
was covered very well.
I didn't think any of the topics were too long or irrelevant.
No
The only thing I would change would be the layout of the material. It seemed
like there was a lot of information about the nervous system early on.
I wish this was closer to the actual nervous system lecture. However, the
idea of the G coupled protein receptors were brought out throughout the
entire course. So maybe have all the nervous system information early on.
No
Plan for next year:
(1) It is clear that only fine tuning will be necessary
(2) I will try, following comments from previous years to make the course
more targeted to BME especially by trying (again) to get a guest lecture
from the BME faculty.
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this page was last revised 1/09/09