Common Assignment/Final

Anatomy of a Superhero

Submitted by Neil Raymond on

I created a series of discussion assignments for my BIO201 courses titled Anatomy of a Superhero for the purpose of prompting students to think about human anatomy and physiology from a different perspective and to help reinforce the principles of normal human anatomy and physiology.

Life Sciences Assessment: Moving to PLO assessment

Submitted by Rachel Smith on

In AY19/20 Jeff Miller created a Life Sciences Assessment tool that uses 24 questions to measure understanding of general biology concepts along with critical thinking, reading comprehension and data analysis skills in a biological context.  The tool was used in multiple BIO course sections primarily taught by FT faculty and a CATS by Shannon Manuelito (Aug.

Economics Writing Assessment

Submitted by Erik Huntsinger on

The ECN faculty were interested in assessing our students' writing skills as we assign reserach papers to them each semester using the standard writing rubric.  Students' essays were collected at the end of the fall 2020 semester for analysis in spring 2021. This began with an inter-rater reliability study to normalize our responses, followed by assessing for baseline data.

Assessment of a Common Assessment

Submitted by Sylvia Ong on

CATS purpose:  See if a statistically significant difference existed on final exam scores (common assessment) between a 16-week online course & an 8-week online course, based on different class lengths of GBS151-Introduction to Business.  Given the upcoming HLC visit and emphasis upon institutional learning objectives (ILO's) and class learning objectives(CLO's), I wanted to assess student learning in this top 40 class, where students use critical thinking skills to successfully pass the final exam.    

Limits at Infinity

Submitted by Becky Baranowski on

Update: In Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, I continued to use the scaffolding handout that addressed conceptual understanding of limits at infinity (as described in this CATS). This handout addresses EMCC's ILO of critical thinking along with the CLO of choosing the most appropriate tool/technique to solve a problem. In both Fall and Spring semesters, I had similar results with roughly 75% of students (both semesters) answering the limits at infinity question correctly on the final.

Common Final Calculus (Traditional vs. Learning Community)

Submitted by Becky Baranowski on

Not all faculty have the time or nor want to teach in the calculus/physics learning community.  So, how do we help faculty who teach stand alone calculus courses?  Also, stand alone calculus courses do not have another instructor present to help emphasize concepts.  So, Becky is teaching a stand alone calculus course in Fall 18 to see if she can cut down on some competencies, incorporate labs, and she will compare her course to other instructors who teach non-learning community calculus courses.  Did Becky's class perform the same, worse or better on the common final?

New Chemistry Concept Inventory - EMCCi

Submitted by Fiona Lihs on

Introductory Chemistry (CHM130) instructors have been using a pre/post test at the beginning and end of the semester in the hope of using the data to determine how conceptual understanding changes as a result of instruction. The original test was not personalized to the curriculum with several topics not even addressed and as a result it was insufficient for detecting student misconceptions. A new Concept Inventory (EMCCi) was developed, thanks to an EMCC learning grant, that was personalized to the CHM130 curriculum.

"I love statistics": How mastery learning changed students' learning

Submitted by display_name_fallback on

Statistics elicit overall student angst, which affects grades, attitude, attrition and learning. Although students attended tutoring, were allowed to re-do homework and engaged in interactive classroom experiences, PSY 230 course retention rate remained at 25%. I used a different pedagogical technique this semester - Mastery Learning - which was used successfully in K-12 grades. Rather than a traditional letter grade or percentage on assignments, students received "not yet" grades and instructor feedback. Resubmissions were accepted as many times as necessary to reach mastery.

"Le Repertoire de la Cuisine" Textbook Assessment

Submitted by Jon Hill on

CUL205 is a sophomore level course, which introduces students to French cuisine.  In the French culinary culture, “Le Repertoire de la Cuisine” is a world-renowned book used in advanced culinary courses.  The book is a reference book of ingredients and not a “how to make” the food item.  The goal of this CATS was to determine if the book was too advanced for students at a community college.   Students in CUL205 are to write menus as part of their lab assignments, and they had to reference the textbook a minimum of 6 times for each menu during the course.  A pre

Comparing Final Exam Scores

Submitted by Becky Baranowski on

Every semester, students perfrom poorly on the final exam for calculus I (MAT22X); the average is typically a D/F.  Students are given an indepth review guide of all topics in the course along with the answer key that includes detailed steps on how to do each problem.  I often make changes to my pedagogy, handouts, activities, exams, homework, and other assessments every semester. In Spring 17, two main things changed in my MAT221 course.  

I want to go green, but will it bring down my mean? Examining differences in mean scores using paper vs. electronic quizzes in statistics courses

Submitted by Erica Wager on

Is there really a need to kill another tree if CANVAS provides a medium for quizzes? In a quasi-experimental design, introductory stats students across two semesters (SP and FA ‘16) with two different instructors self-reported the number of hours spent studying for a common cumulative quiz. One group used e-quizzes, the second used paper quizzes. Results are as follows:

MAT091 Common Final Exam S16 F16

Submitted by Sarah Lockhart on

Math faculty have developed a MAT091 complete common final exam to be required to be given by adjuncts and as an option for full time faculty.  Since the first implementation, the questions have been reviewed and changes have been made as necessary.  One of the purposes of the common final is to give instructors guidance on the competencies that are most important.  Another purpose is to identify where students are doing well and also not so well so that we as instructors can adjust our teaching.  Each instructor receives their individual reports as well so they can comp