BUSAC Presentation to the Biology Division

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BUSAC Presentation to the Biology Division

• 2005-2006

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Introductory Questions
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Field of Interest
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Are you happy at Caltech?
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Are you happy as a biology major?
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Interesting Trends

• More people happy as a biology major than as a
  Techer (78 vs. 60)
• People are happier with their major than with the
  school as a whole
• Significant decrease in happiness during junior
  and senior years
• What causes this downward trend?

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Structure and Content of the Biology Curriculum
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Average Satisfaction Rating
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Suboption Choices
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(No Transcript)
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Student Comment/Suggestions

• The suboptions would be helpful in giving
  students a focus.
• More classes would need to be offered in
  different fields for suboptions to work.
• There is student interest for the following
  suboptions biochemistry, computational biology,
  molecular/cell biology, macro-biology,
  neurobiology

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Mechanics of the Curriculum
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Scheduling

• Satisfaction Rating 5.03
• Are Classes Appropriately Distributed Among the
  Three Terms?

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Scheduling (cont.)

• Comments
• Introductory courses can conflict with core
• Not enough to do third term sophomore year
• Biology classes conflict with each other
• Recommendations
• Move some first and second term classes to third
  term
• Try to minimize time overlaps for biology classes

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Student Satisfaction
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Class Units

• Overunited
• Bi 8 (took the course prior to this year)
• Underunited
• Bi 117
• Bi 122
• Bi 123
• Bi 145

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Curriculum

• Comments
• Professors do not seem enthusiastic about
  teaching low level courses
• Outlined tracks for students
• More macrobiology
• Suggestions
• Create a system of suboptions with guidelines
• Update information in the course catalogue (Bi 8
  9 listed as sophomore year classes)

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Teaching and Course Specifics
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Student Satisfaction
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Do advisors professors respect your opinion?

• Response
• Comments
• Sometimes appear annoyed or impatient
• Seem more concerned about their research
• Difficult to get in touch with them

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Increase communication between professors and the
  TAs
• Review homework sets before they are distributed
• Increase communication between professors and
  students
• More office hours from the professors
• Publicize an ombudsperson at the beginning of the
  class
• www.its.caltech.edu/busac

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The worst part about being a biology major

• 68 of the people that responded said that the
  introductory courses were the worst ones they had
  taken
• Comments
• The intro courses do not prepare you well
• Too little macrobiology
• Professors are not passionate about teaching

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The worst part about being a biology major

• Suggestions
• Reorganize Bi 8 and 9 so that Bi 9 can build off
  of Bi 8 or act as a continuation
• Introduce more macrobiology courses
• Encourage participation from the students
• Have publicized office hours

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The best part about being a biology major

• Bi 10, Ch 41, Bi 113, and Bi 117 are common
  favorites
• Comments
• The research is amazing
• You learn about the latest research in class
• There are many options
• The professors are better than in other
  departments

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Thank you for your time!

• If you have any questions or comments, please
  feel free to e-mail Neha at das_at_caltech.edu