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BUSAC Presentation to the Biology Division

Analyzing the satisfaction levels of biology majors at Caltech, identifying trends, curriculum mechanics, student satisfaction, teaching specifics, and offering improvement suggestions for increased satisfaction and overall experience.

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BUSAC Presentation to the Biology Division

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  1. BUSAC Presentation to the Biology Division 2005-2006

  2. Introductory Questions

  3. Field of Interest

  4. Are you happy at Caltech?

  5. Are you happy as a biology major?

  6. 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?

  7. Structure and Content of the Biology Curriculum

  8. Average Satisfaction Rating

  9. Suboption Choices

  10. 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

  11. Mechanics of the Curriculum

  12. Scheduling • Satisfaction Rating: 5.03 • Are Classes Appropriately Distributed Among the Three Terms?

  13. 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

  14. Student Satisfaction

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

  16. 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)

  17. Teaching and Course Specifics

  18. Student Satisfaction

  19. 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

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. 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

  24. Thank you for your time! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail Neha at das@caltech.edu

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