Botany
Results of Assessment
2003-2004 (submitted
10/15/04)
The "2002-2003 Results of Assessment" of the
Botany Department addressed, at length, Botany’s strengths and challenges as
determined by an outside evaluation team. Recommendations made by that team, in
addition to the department’s response, were covered in that same report. Every
effort is being made by the department to continue to respond in an aggressive
way to identified challenges and as of this date virtually all have been
successfully addressed.
One area not adequately covered in the past "Results of Assessment" reports has
been the response of the department to recommendations made by graduating
students and alumni which were solicited through exit interviews of graduating
students and informal consultations with alumni. Such challenges have been
gathered over the last four years and the department has been addressing each
challenge identified. Few new challenges have been garnered over the last two
years, however, due to the paucity of graduating seniors. The department
believes that we have reached a cyclic low in numbers of graduating seniors and
this year portends better things to come. Not since 1985 did we have such low
numbers, however, just as we did before, we expect to recover from this low
"productivity." Evidence suggests we are on the road to recovery and we have
recruited many more students that are serious about their education, active in
undergraduate research, and most likely we graduate in a timely manner. We
anticipate that in a few years we will see numbers of graduates near record
numbers as we did in the mid-1990s. At that time we were second in the nation in
the number of Botany majors, second only to Miami University (Ohio).
The strengths identified by both the professional evaluation team and by the
students and alumni have been dealt with in previous reports. A more detailed
response to the challenges identified through senior exit interviews and
informal consultations with alumni follows.
Challenge 1. Some departmental required courses are too time consuming
especially during the senior year with many required courses taken then. Should
have a "weeding" early rather than late in the program. The new curriculum
requirements will provide students with more options reducing this concern,
however.
Response: Since this challenge
surfaced, the department expanded the program options with currently three
distinct tracks or emphases. This provides an opportunity for students to
select courses that suit their needs with greater flexibility. This is
especially true for tracks B and C. Track A continues to be the most
inflexible simply because we are responding to the requirements imposed by
graduate schools for intensive quantitative courses. To avoid confusion we
have included a detailed explanation of our program and curriculum in the
Botany 2121 "Career Planning for Botanists" course. Now that almost all
majors have gone through this course, there seems to be less concern raised
over the rigorous senior-level courses.
Challenge 2. Students should be
encouraged to take advantage of more advisement.
Response: Not only are students
encouraged to take advantage of more advisement, they get more exposure to
advisement from the moment they sign-up for the Career Planning for
Botanists course. We also have a large nucleus of student majors that work
together in a room specially designated for majors which improves their
networking capabilities and considerable informal advisement takes place
here when faculty drop in to visit. Further improved advisement takes place
currently as more and more of our majors become engaged in research projects
and get to work closely with faculty. All student majors are also encouraged
to become active in the Botany Club since a number of the club activities
during the year involve inviting alumni and other guests to talk about their
professional careers and experiences. Some students simply do not avail
themselves of these advisement opportunities.
Challenge 3. The department should
develop more information seminars for its majors. For example: How should
students best prepare to meet the Portfolio requirement? How should students
best prepare to write a scientific paper? How should a student best approach a
thesis topic and research?
Response: The concerns expressed
in challenge 3 arose before we implemented the Botany 2121 "Career Planning
for Botanists" course. The most compelling reason for the course was to
provide an opportunity for the major to be exposed to the Portfolio
requirement of the department and to begin to develop those elements
required. One of the texts required for this course is: "Writing
Papers in the Biological Sciences", Victoria E. McMillan, Third Edition,
Bedford Books (Scientific American/St. Martin’s College Publishing Group,
2001, which provides the students an excellent resource for writing a
scientific paper. As more students are involved in research projects for
theses, they will gain more experience in developing the necessary skills to
communicate not only in written format but in oral communication as well.
The Career Planning for Botanists course also outlines the opportunities for
student research and how best to prepare for this experience. The rest is up
to the student.
Challenge 4. The department should
develop a Botanical Latin course.
Response: The department faculty
discussed this issue and concluded that a formal Latin course is really NOT
what the students are asking for. In pressing students on what they really
wish, it turns out they are especially confused as to the pronunciation of
scientific binomials. The request to consider developing a Latin course is
likely not an appropriate response inasmuch as botanical binomials use Greek
as much as Latin and for pronunciation there are few established rules so we
find Europeans pronouncing word differently than North Americans yet both
are correct. Students are encouraged, in the Botany 2121 course, to purchase
Botanical terms text resources or seek those on the internet to assist in
the meanings of roots, prefixes and suffixes, whether those be Latin or
Greek.
Challenge 5. The department should
offer more "Topics" courses.
Response: Since this challenge was
first made, the department has formally added a Topics course to its
offerings. We have offered a topics course on Issues in Modern Plant
Genetics, Flora of the Southern Hemisphere, and Medicinal Plants in response
to this challenge and are planning more such offerings in the future.
Challenge 6. Need more options or
emphases for the major. The requirement for a Chemistry minor is too restrictive
of other opportunities.
Response: This challenge is one
that preceded the restructuring of the department curriculum and program
requirements. We have since implemented three tracks. Track A maintains the
Chemistry as a minor (without exception) since this track is designed to
provide graduates with the quantitative background necessary for graduate
schools. It also gives students an emphasis on laboratory research whereas
Track B is a bit more flexible with a choice of minor and an emphasis on
field-oriented research skills. Track C is designed with maximum flexibility
in electives for the major and minor as well as meeting the needs of the
general student not knowing whether to emphasis laboratory or field skills.
Challenge 7. Need more hands-on,
outdoor activities and more extensive and diverse field trip opportunities.
Response: When Weber State
University was on the quarter system, spring quarter ran into June giving
Botanists the entire month of May to conduct extended fieldtrips at the best
time of the year for spring wildflowers. When we adopted the semester
calendar, the winter semester is completed in early May which adversely
affected our department’s ability to meet the need for more hands-on
activities. Nevertheless, the department has developed an extended fieldtrip
to southern Utah in late April which has helped to offset the difficulties
created with the semester calendar.
It should be noted that extended field experiences have financial resource,
liability, and personnel implications and are not to be taken lightly.
Sometimes students are not aware of these challenges. Additionally, an
extended fieldtrip to Mexico during spring break, a few years ago, has not
been a very pleasant experience and has burned out faculty enthusiasm. In
spite of this, a new field trip to the California coast is planned for
October 13-17, 2004.
Challenge 8. Need to develop more
internship opportunities for students.
Response: The internship
opportunities are covered in the Botany 2121 "Career Planning for Botanists"
course along with the "state of the art" of internships. In this course,
Greg Nielsen, Career Services Office, also deals with opportunities for
internships which come through his office. Also, the department receives
numerous notices from employers about internships available for summers.
These are posted in the majors room and for the last three years, more
notices of opportunities have appeared than we can fill with the present
number of majors.
Challenge 9. Students need an
opportunity to take some classes for fun - not just for fulfilling a major
requirement, i.e., need more elective courses.
Response: The revised curriculum
provides students with more options in course selection because we have
increased the number of elective hours at the expense of required courses.
This is especially true for Tracks B and C. Track A is still limited in the
number of elective courses from which the student selects. We have also
inserted a Topics in Botany course which provides flexibility to offer a
topic of interest to the students on a one-time basis or to test the depth
of interest in a topic of interest to both students and faculty. To a great
extent these topics are student-driven. Finally, the Botany Club and other
science clubs provide an opportunity to hear about many different topics of
interest to Botany student majors.
Challenge 10. Need a statistics course
specifically related to Biology.
Response: Perhaps in an ideal
world we could expect a specific Biometrics or Biological Statistics course
for Biology majors, though we might also expect to hear complaints about the
paucity of botanical examples. Some years ago, a decision was made to avoid
future proliferation of statistics courses across the curriculum and charge
the Department of Mathematics to deliver more sections of their statistics
course. To this end we strongly recommend that students take the Mathematics
QL1040 "Introduction to Statistics" course to meet their needs.
We also encourage our majors to participate in seminars given by Mathematics
faculty and students when they deal with biological data.
_____________
Update on the use of Portfolios in the
Department of Botany:
The use of the portfolio for assessment
remains the cornerstone of the department. Each passing year’s experience
with this instrument adds appreciably to the value of our assessment
capabilities and to student success. The faculty are increasingly relying on
the portfolio for formative evaluations and assisting students in keeping on
task with the process of developing a superior summative evaluation
instrument. This has now been adopted by the department into its culture and
accepted by students and faculty alike.
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