Quiz/Exams

A new supplement for the microbiology text called Mastering Microbiology was recently released by the publisher. I had heard positive things about the Mastering Biology for BIO 181 (pre-req for micro) and decided to implement Mastering Micro in a like manner. For two semesters prior to utilizing Mastering, the average grade overall at the end of the semesters  was 74.64% (n=73).Not a bad average but many students indicated they wanted practice and micro is very conceptual. I was not sure exactly what I wanted to see with my students other than overall increase in performance.

I have just finished my first teaching class of MAT082 at EMCC. It was a nice experience for me. But there is one thing I felt like proposing to the structure of the course. I think there should be a midterm at the middle of the semester that covers half the syllabus (at least) and the exam format should be the same as finals. There are couple of positives in this :

1. Students will be introduced with the exam format

2. If the load of chapters are being reduced by half in the final then the students will have better chance to do good in it.

For many years now, math instructors have made the claim that a students' prior knowledge in algebra impacts their success in calculus.  If a student struggles with their algebraic skills, can they still pass calculus?  To test this hypothesis, I ran data for 188 students which spans from Fall 2005 to Fall 2013 comparing students' 1st exam scores (review exam of algebra) to their final grade in the course.

In Fall 2013, I taught two calculus courses.  One of them is linked with Physics (a learning community) and another one is in the traditional format.  In the traditional format, calculus is a prerequisite for PHY121.  With the learning community, students are able to take both MAT220 and PHY121 in the same semester.  The learning community students have the advantage of seeing the applications of calculus in the same semester while the traditional students will see the applications a semester later.      

5 -7 minutes

Maria Cecilia Rosales

I use what I call Dictation- Reflection to assess gramatical concepts, listening comprehension and writing skills.

I dictate ten conjugated verb forms from the active vocabulary list for the chapter in question (bailamos, trabajan, etc). Students are asked to:

1-      Write down the conjugated verb form I dictate (bailamos)

2-      Identify the infinitive form of that verb (bailar)

I administered a four question Pre-Post test in Spring 2012, Fall 2012 and Spring 2013.  The Pre-Post test is attached for your reference. In Sp12 and Fa12, students showed great improvement from Pre to Post test, however in Sp13, the percentage improvement from pre to post test dropped drastically.  Overall scores on the post test for 2012 were very high (see attached) and for Sp13 were low.  There were two main differences from last fall to this spring that contributed to the lower Pre-Post test results.

In CIS105, we offer common exams across all sections.   This assessment involves 5 chapters from the book. The teaching styles include:  class activities, lectures, reading assignments, videos, pre-quiz review in the classroom. The student is asked to take an open-book, multiple-choice, true-false quiz per chapter.   At the end of those 5 chapters, there is a combined multiple-choice, true-false Unit Test.

Reading quizzes account for 20% of the final grade in my ENH 254 ( Literature and Film) class. I decided last spring to change up my quizzes for each novel my students read in class.

While success rates are high in my calculus II courses (85-95%, depending on the semester), students struggle with integrating.  In spring 2008, students were required to write "recipe cards" on integration techniques for trigonometric substitution and integrals involving trignometry.  The average on the quiz was a 75%.  Students presented their steps to the class and worked on these recipes as a group days before the quiz.  In spring 2010, 2011, and 2012, I did not require students to create these cards; I highly recommended them, though.

Our goal was to raise the grade of muscle lab practicals. A muscle practical requires recognizing/naming 60 muscles, and stating  the action of those muscles. I hypothesized it should be easier for students to learn three rules and 8 joint movements, and reason out the muscle actions,  than it would be to memorize 60 names.  Students recieved a list of the name, origin, insertion, action of 60 muscles  a website showing muscle clay images,  flashcards,  and animations.

Unit Two of BIO181/BIO156 comprises Protein structure/function, Enzymes, Membranes/Osmosis and basic Cell structure.   I initially taught cell structure in a straight lecture format, but switched to a jigsaw method in 2010, and most recently to an "enhanced" jigsaw method (2012)

Does the student understand the FITT Principle?

          Information Literacy:  Use current FITT Principle Pre & Post Test.  Consider updating the test.

Can the student apply the FITT Principle to improving / maintaining their fitness level.

          Re-design the DYO WOW assignments ???

Has the student made changes to their exercise program to ensure improvement / maintenance in their fitness level.

Starting in Fall 2009, EMCC's ECN faculty (adjunct and residential) have developed and implemented the common ECN212 (Microeconomic Principles) final exam.  We first started by collaboratively identifiying what we expected all of our students to be able to do as a result of completing our courses, our Learning Objectives (LO) (see attached).  We then created multiple choice questions related to each LO (attached), and we all included the questions as part of our independent final exams.

Starting in Fall 2009, EMCC's ECN faculty have developed and implemented the common ECN211 (Macroeconomic Principles) final exam.  We first started by defining our discpline-wide Learning Objectives (LO) (see attached).  We then created multiple choice questions related to each LO (attached), and we all included the questions as part of our independent final exams.  Instructors recorded each students' response for each question in an excel spreadsheet and sent to me, who aggregated and analzed the results (See attached).

One of the keys to success in college is becoming a better reader. One challenge facing the college student in her or his forst two years is making the shift from passive reading for pleasure to active reading for learning. Further, many students do not realize that they need to improve their reading technique, especially if they have not place into a developmental reading class. My experience is that even my best students could benefit from a new perspective on how to read better. The method is familiar:SPQ3R.