Dr. Sara M. Lindsay
Associate Professor, SMS
UMaine
In 2014, The School of Marine Sciences was recognized as a Signature Education Program at the University of Maine on the strength of its successful and innovative undergraduate and graduate programs. Data from a (then) recently completed Alumni Survey helped build the case that our undergraduate program was successful in training students for a variety of science-related careers and post graduate education, noting that our recent graduates highly valued their experiences in the program. In its most recent self-study for program review (2013), SMS identified a plan for assessing student learning outcomes in the undergraduate major, including a first attempt at a program-wide assessment instrument that focused on student understanding of primary production and several other topics contributed by faculty. A key factor in the success of any assessment plan lies in closing the loop between gathering data and reflecting upon it to inform programmatic policy. In this seminar, I aim to close that loop by providing an update on the SMS assessment results for a cohort of students (2013-2017), some of the instructional changes those results have already informed, and changes we might want to consider. I will also review the undergraduate curriculum as it relates to core concepts in ocean literacy and core competencies, in order to begin a conversation about opportunities to improve student learning outcomes
Polycom availability with Darling Marine Center, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and Bigelow Laboratories
Host: Rebecca Van Beneden