Fernando Gilbes Santaella

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ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING IN THE GEOLOGY
DEPARTMENT AT UPRM

• Fernando Gilbes Santaella
• Assessment Coordinator
• UPRM-Department of Geology
• gilbes_at_cacique.uprm.edu

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Some Facts of the Department

• Founded in 1967 by Dr. John D. Weaver
• Graduate program started in 1995
• It currently has 11 professors
• With over 100 undergraduate students and around
  20 graduate students

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Students graduated in the Department of Geology
during the last 11 years
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Geology Department Vision

• The Geology Department of the University of
  Puerto Rico at Mayaguez seeks to provide the
  highest levels of education through continuous
  revision and expansion of our educational,
  research, and outreach programs in order to
  produce well-trained, competent, academic and
  professional geoscientists capable of responding
  to societal needs.

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Geology Department Mission

• The Geology Department will develop in each
  student, critical thinking, enthusiasm,
  initiative and the necessary skills to become
  lifelong students of Earth Sciences. Emphasis
  will be placed on learning basic concepts and
  techniques through research, in an environment
  that promotes the development of professionals
  with social, cultural and humanistic sensibility
  as well as profound ethical values.

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Geology Student Profile

• Skills and Values
• Critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Team working skills
• Communication skills in Spanish and English
• Computer literacy and its scientific applications
• Knowledge of up-to-date scientific tools and
  techniques
• Awareness of contemporary scientific issues
• Awareness of ethical implications in science
• Ability to learn by him/herself (lifelong
  learners)
• Knowledge
• Scientific Concepts
• Paleontology
• Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
• Structure Tectonics
• Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (including
  volcanology)
• Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology
• Hydrogeology
• Geophysics and Seismology

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Assessment of student learning

• As first step, we prepared a questionnaire
  focused on the curriculum
• Three major areas were evaluated
• skills and values
• scientific knowledge
• overall performance
• Recommendation were generated for closing the
  loop of assessment.

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The questionnaire was submitted to 44 junior and
senior students

• 29 students enrolled in fall 2004
• Geol 4045 (Petrogenesis of Crystalline Rocks)
• Geol 4046 (Sedimentary Env. and Lithogenesis)
• Geol 5026 (Tectonics)
• 15 students enrolled in spring 2005
• Geol 4009 (Stratigraphy)
• Geol 4057 (Environmental Geophysics)
• Geol 5006 (Sedimentation)

The average enrollment in the Geology Department
is 100 students per semester, which means that
the collected data represented around 29 in
fall 2004 and 15 in spring 2005 of the entire
students population.
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Effectiveness of the curriculum in developing
skills and values
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Effectiveness of the curriculum in developing
scientific knowledge
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Percent () of students that consider as poor or
deficient the effectiveness of the curriculum in
developing the knowledge of specific fields in
the Geology Department
Field Area Dec 04 May 05
Paleontology 26 27
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy 0 13
Structure Tectonics 15 20
Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology 7 20
Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology 4 13
Hydrogeology 44 27
Geophysics and Seismology 41 7
Environmental Geology 11 20
Geochemistry 63 54
Engineering Geology 44 13
Mineralogy 11 20
Geology of Puerto Rico 37 7
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Performance of the Geology Department according
to the interviewed students
Criteria Dec 04 May 05
Variety of Courses C C
Laboratory Equipment and Facilities C C
Faculty B B
Flexible Curriculum C B
Courses Content B B
Research Opportunities C B
OVERALL PERFORMANCE C B
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Main Conclusions of the Curriculum Assessment

• In the last 11 years we have graduated 108
  students, of which 50 have been Hispanic females
  (an underrepresented group in US).
• Our curriculum is strong in developing skills and
  values. But, scientific tools and techniques,
  and ethics must be improved.
• The curriculum is strong in sedimentology,
  stratigraphy, geophysics, seismology,
  geomorphology, and mineralogy. However, according
  to students it is poor or deficient in
  geochemistry.
• The overall performance was graded B, which
  demonstrate that we are okay, but must improve
  certain areas.

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Closing the Assessment Loop in Geochemistry

• Hired a geochemistry professor in fall 2005.
• Specific assessment for geochemistry topics in
  spring 2006.

IMPROVEMENT
ASSESSMENT
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A similar questionnaire with geochemistry topics
was submitted to all faculty and 14 senior
students registered in the Caribbean Geology
course

• Four main areas were selected with a total of 67
  topics.
• phase diagrams/phase equilibria (22 topics)
• thermodynamics (9 topics)
• igneous/metamorphic petrology (26 topics)
• stable isotope geochemistry (10 topics)

The main areas and topics were suggested by the
new geochemistry professor.
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Examples of Questionnaire
For Faculty
Thermodynamics Thermodynamics Thermodynamics Thermodynamics
Topic Not covered Briefly mentioned Covered in detail
Ideal Gas Law
Laws of Thermodynamics
Equilibrium Constant
For Students
Thermodynamics Thermodynamics Thermodynamics Thermodynamics
Topic Never heard of Familiar, but dont remember I know this well
Ideal Gas Law
Laws of Thermodynamics
Equilibrium Constant
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Faculty Results
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Students Results
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Percent () of students that consider as poor or
deficient the effectiveness of the Geology
curriculum in developing the geochemistry
knowledge
New professor in geochemistry
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Final Conclusions/Further Steps

• Additional assessments suggest that our
  deficiency in geochemistry is due to the wrong
  impression produced by lacking a professor in
  that area.
• Many geochemistry topics are part of current
  courses, but apparently the students do not
  recognize them as part of their scientific
  knowledge in that specific area.
• Since there is not a specific course in
  geochemistry the students think they are not
  receiving that knowledge. A course in
  geochemistry will be offered in spring of 2007.
• Geology Symposium in Geochemistry.

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Next Step in Assessment

• Undergraduate Research
• Two semesters vs. one semester
• Time table for proposal, research, written report
  and oral presentation
• Amount of students per professor
• Selected areas of research
• Professors vs. students expectations
• Next semester we will start the analyses of the
  data already collected during the last two years.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• Faculty of the Geology Department
• Johannes Schellekens (Departments Director)
• Wilson Ramirez (member of the assessment
  committee)
• Aaron Cavosie (geochemistry professor)
• Oficina de Avalúo para el Aprendizaje y
  Mejoramiento Continuo of the Faculty of Arts and
  Sciences