2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Data was collected from four plant materials courses over eighteen years, two at the undergraduate level, Trees and Shrubs for Sustainable Built Environments (HORT 306) and Plants for Sustainable Landscapes (HORT 308), and two at the graduate level, Plants for Landscape Design (HORT 608) and Plants for Landscape Design II (HORT 609), and analyzed for trends in student performance and benchmarks which might be associated with student success. Data included student enrollment, midterm grades, final grades, number of unexcused absences, student reported study times for various activities, student major, student experience (class rank), whether the courses were required or not, and perceived difficulty levels of the courses. The frequency of A and B grades increased during the most recent three or four year span in response to grading and assessment changes that emphasized study and assessment of chunks of related information, while moving comprehensive testing to designated midterm and final assessments. Midterm grades were highly predictive of final course grades in all four courses with R² = 0.91 (HORT 306) and R² = 0.77 (HORT 308) for the undergraduate courses, and R² = 0.64 (HORT 608) and R² = 0.64 (HORT 609) for graduate courses, at P ≤ 0.001. This suggests a major key to success was getting off to a strong start. The only other benchmark significantly associated with final course grades were the number of unexcused absences which were all negatively correlated at R² = -0.54, -0.42, -0.50, and -0.50, for HORT 306, HORT 308, HORT 608, and HORT 609, respectively, at P ≤ 0.001. Hence, consistent attendance was another key to success. Lesser changes between midterm and final grades were observed for fall than spring courses, particularly for seniors. Self-reported time spent studying was not correlated (P ≤ 0.05) with final course grades, suggesting efficiency of study may be more important than length of time spent studying for the courses. Perceptions of courses as moderately difficult on average (7.5 – 8.0 out of 10.0) were remarkably stable overall, but varied considerably by major, means of 5.3 to 8.4, and experience, 7.3 for seniors to 8.1 for freshman. In general, majors from biological, agricultural, and basic science areas achieved higher grades in the undergraduate plant materials courses than those from social sciences, education, or arts curricula; however this was not predictive of individual students’ grades.