Biology 121
Departmental Assessment

A system for continuous improvement — from data collection to compliance reporting, in one place.

Bio 121 Departmental Assessment Subcommittee · Richard J. Daley College · City Colleges of Chicago

The Big Picture

What is Assessment?

Assessment answers one question:

Are students learning what we're teaching?

We pick a specific skill, measure it, look at where students struggle, change our instruction, and check whether it worked.

Why it matters

HLC and ICCB don't just want to see that we collected data — they want evidence that we used it to improve.

Our Bio 121 track record shows exactly that.

The Process

The Assessment Cycle

1
Form 1
What are we assessing?
2
Form 2
What did we find?
3A
Form 3A
What are we changing?
3B
Form 3B
Did the change work?

Each form feeds the next. The system generates all four automatically from the assessment data.

Where We Are

Bio 121 — Three CSLOs, Continuous Improvement

CSLO 1 — Characteristics of Life

50%
F22
83%
S23
▲ +33 pts · Complete ✓

CSLO 2 — Hierarchical Org.

78%
F22
100%
S23
▲ +22 pts · Complete ✓

CSLO 3 — Scientific Method

76.8%
F24
86.7%
S26
▲ +9.9 pts · Active

Spring 2026 data is partial — 3 of 7 sections reporting. Full data pending.

CSLO 3 Deep Dive

Run 1 Item Analysis — Fall 2024

Q1 Hypothesis
67.2%
Q2 Exp. Design
64.0%
Q3 Controls
44.4%
Q4 Conclusions
58.1%
Q5 Good Hyp.
87.9%
Q6 Observations
94.4%
Q7 Predictions
54.0%
Q8 Pos. Controls
59.4%

Weakest: Controls & Variables — 44.4%

Department-wide concern. Not section-specific — all sections scored low on this item. This suggests a curricular issue.

Strongest: Observations — 94.4%

Students can distinguish observations from interpretations. Build on this strength for advanced applications.

125 students assessed · Median 65.8%

8-item instrument · Post-Lab 5 · 50% mastery benchmark

The Challenge

The Current Process is Fragmented

📝
Quiz lives in Brightspace — dependent on OIT for deployment
📊
Data aggregation runs through DOMO — broken since March 30
📧
Reassessment plan is a separate email survey — arrives weeks later
📄
Student guide is a PDF attachment — another place to look

Four platforms. Four places to look.

That's friction — and friction is why participation is low.

Only 1 of 6 faculty completed the reassessment survey this semester.

The Solution

One System. One Link.

The Biology Assessment Hub puts the quiz, the study guide, the faculty dashboard, the reassessment plan, and the compliance reporting in one place.

No Brightspace dependency. No DOMO. No separate survey. No PDF attachments.

Open Biology Assessment Hub

🔬 Students

Study guide → quiz → instant results

📊 Faculty

Section data → item analysis → reassessment plan

🏛️ Chair

All sections → trends → forms → ICCB

Student Experience

Study → Quiz → Results

1️⃣
Select section, enter name
2️⃣
Review study guide — all 8 concepts from Lab #5
3️⃣
Take timed quiz — 8 questions, 1 minute each, backtracking allowed
4️⃣
See results immediately — score, pass/fail, missed concepts
"Your submission has been recorded"
Open Student View

What happens to the data?

Responses go directly to a Google Sheet. Aggregation is instant across all sections — no DOMO, no filter cards, no waiting on OIT.

Faculty and chair see results in real time as students complete the quiz.

Faculty Experience

See Your Data. Respond in Context.

🔐
Log in with CCC email + personal access code
📊
See only your sections — enrolled, completed, mastery rate
🎯
Item analysis shows which concepts your students missed
System auto-identifies weakest items (below 65%)
✏️
One question: "What are you planning to do differently?"
Open Faculty View

That's the entire reassessment plan.

One text box. In context. With the data right there. No separate survey to find in email.

Multiple sections?

Switcher buttons at the top. BD / HJ / KNPM — click to switch. Each section's data loads independently.

Chair Experience

Department Oversight — Four Tabs

📊 Overview

Historic trend cards for all 3 CSLOs. Run 1 item analysis. Equity panel — course success, gender, race with flagged subgroups.

🔬 CSLO 3 Live

All 7 sections side by side. Participation, mastery, plan status. Department-wide item analysis — curricular vs. section-specific issues.

📄 Generate Forms

Click a button → Form 1, 2, 3A, or 3B auto-populates from the data. Print as PDF or download as Word. No blank templates.

🏛️ ICCB

18 out of 18 program review fields auto-populated from assessment data. Zero manual entry.

The chair view is not visible to faculty. Faculty see only their own sections and department-wide aggregates.

Access & Privacy

Your Data is Protected

🔐
Access codes are encrypted with a one-way hash. The coordinator cannot see, recover, or access anyone's code.
👤
Faculty see only their own sections. You will never see another instructor's individual results — only department-wide aggregates.
🏛️
The chair sees all sections for department oversight. This view is not accessible to faculty.
🔄
Forgot your access code? Contact jnino5@ccc.edu. A temporary code is set manually — the coordinator never sees your chosen code.

Try It Now

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What's Next

Fall 2026 — CSLO 3, Run 3

📋
Subcommittee reviews the system now
🗓️
FDW departmental meeting — presentation and walkthrough
👥
Bio 121 faculty onboarded for CSLO 3 Run 3
📊
Existing data from Runs 1 and 2 carries forward
🔬
Summer 2026: Bio 121 HN soft runway section
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