Chem 3000 Syllabus

Assessment Report

CHEM 3000 (formerly 3600) – FALL 2006 

Instructor: Stephen Bialkowski 

Course Description: This is a lecture course addressing aspects of modern chemical analysis with an emphasis on chemical equilibrium. Volumetric, gravimetric, and instrumental methods are described. 

Enrollment: 41 

Assessment method: An American Chemical Society (ACS) standardized final was used for course assessment and performance evaluation purposes.  

Outcomes Data: The ACS standard examination on Analytical Chemistry was used as the final examination. Class performance numbers are; an average of 26.27 points (out of 50); a standard deviation of 6.94; and a median of 25. The class has performed closer to the national averages the previous two years I taught this course and gave ACS standard examinations.  

The statistics reported by the ACS for students from across the nation are; an average of 28.48, a standard deviation of 7.58, and a median score of 29.  

The two means are not statistically different at a 95% confidence level. The standard deviations are similarly indistinguishable.  

The median of this year’s USU class is lower than the national average, indicating that more students did worse than did better than the national average. So the students that did well on this examination did very much better than the average. This is seen in the class profile. There was a group of students that did very well, pulling up the class average. 

Summary:   

Spot checking the standard examination shows that students were weak in oxidation-reduction chemistry and some of the advanced instrumental methods. These topics are not covered in our course and so the students should not be expected to know this material. On a positive note, students scored on par with other chemistry majors across the country.  

Student-teacher evaluations were very low; 3.1 for overall course quality and 3.4 for instructor effectiveness. These are much lower than this course normally gets. Perhaps this is because the instructor fell and broke his clavicle early in the semester. The subsequent operation resulted in a staph infection that lasted until after Thanksgiving.  

Student remarks were varied. Few were aware of the instructor’s health problems. Many said that this was the worst class they ever had and said they should have a different instructor. The problem is that with the additional health care costs, the instructor could afford to go on short-term disability which cuts salary to ½ of regular.