how our students participate in the continued development of the assessment program, and communicate formally and informally about the program with faculty and peers.
how our students are actively serving on assessment committees.
What Do Students Contribute to the Agronomy Assessment Program?
As the primary "stakeholder" in our curriculum, students provide valued input in the assessment of learning. These items below allow us to document the ways in which learners contribute to curricular improvement and to document the achievement of learner outcomes.
Click on the icon beside each entry to examine. . .
| how our students explain and demonstrate their knowledge of the principles, the practices and the benefits of the assessment program. |
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how our students participate in the continued development of the assessment program, and communicate formally and informally about the program with faculty and peers. |
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how our students are actively serving on assessment committees. |
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Students Knowledge of the Assessment Program
New students in agronomy are introduced to the desired learning outcomes in two ways. In the Agronomy 110 Orientation Seminar, students are given a handout summarizing the Agronomy learner goals and an explanation of how those outcomes are being met through courses and other learning experiences required of agronomy students. At pre-registration time, learning outcomes are used to explain why certain courses and experiences are required. This gives students an understanding of the purposeful connections that exist among courses.
Student Participation in Development of the Assessment Program
A member of the Agronomy curriculum assessment subcommittee, Michelle Cook, was the keynote speaker at the Agronomy Club meeting on April 10, 2003. This club is the principle student organization connected with the agronomy curriculum. Information was provided on the the historical context of the development of the learner outcomes and the 2005 Curriculum, as well as the current efforts in developing measures, collecting data, analyzing data, and reporting results. Students were encouraged to provide feedback when asked through surveys, focus groups, and other measures. It was emphasized that results of departmental assessment would be used to improve and refine the curriculum. Students provided feedback during a question and answer period. There was interest in learning about the results of our upcoming employer survey as well as a desire to provide formative feedback to faculty in the early stages of a course. A follow up email was sent to all Agronomy undergraduates to communicate specific changes that have occurred because of the Agronomy 2005 curriculum revision and the curriculum assessment efforts. This message also illustrated how students have benefited from curricular changes and how their input will continue to shape and refine the Agronomy curriculum.
Students have provided data through focus groups, course evaluations, interviews, and surveys. Two focus groups of 6 to 8 students have been used to assess the freshman learning community in Agronomy and get feedback on student's first year experiences. Course evaluations are currently the main assessment tool used by faculty to assess efforts in individual courses. Students complete instructor ratings for all undergraduate course each semester. Since 1998, the course evaluation instrument has contained questions for assessing the perspectives expectations of the agronomy curriculum. An Agronomy Graduating Senior Survey was piloted with four senior students in fall 2002. Interviews with these students resulted in design changes to the survey.
A redesign of the Agronomy course evaluation instrument was piloted in the Agronomy 317, Principles of Weed Science course at the conclusion of the fall 2003 semester. The current course evaluation instrument is teacher-centered. A revised evaluation that included assessment of learner goals and student interest and contributions to the course was designed by members of the curriculum assessment subcommittee. Many students viewed our new approach to assessment as an improvement over the current instructor evaluation instrument. We received several comments that the new instrument was too long and took too much time to fill out. Students also questioned the need to assess outcomes that did not pertain to this specific class. These comments are being used to continue our redesign of the course evaluation instruments.
Student's Service on Assessment Committee
Two undergraduate students, appointed by the Agronomy Club, serve a one-year term as student representatives to the Agronomy Resident Teaching Panel and Curriculum Committee. The teaching panel advises the agronomy faculty and department chair on the Agronomy curriculum and in other matters related to the resident teaching mission of the department. The two undergraduate student representatives attend the twice a month meetings of the panel.