Program Assessment

ACREF (Air Conditioning, Refrigerating, and Heating)

To assess this program, we used a combination analysis of student success rates and a capstone project. After the tests were administered the instructor reviewed the results and followed industry guidelines to determine which level of work falls below expectations, meets expectations, or exceeds expectations.

For the capstone project we chose to evaluate the students who were completing the program. Because this is a small program there were 6 students who took part in the hands-on part of this evaluation. Students were required to diagnose a heating and air-conditioning unit which had a problem created by the instructor. They were told what the customer complaint was and then worked as a team to determine what the problem was, as the instructor observed. They then had to estimate the cost of repair on a written work order and present this to the customer (the instructor), who then evaluated the work order to see if all necessary items had been done. This allowed the instructor to assess PSLO’S #1, #2, #3, and #4.

For the analysis of student success rates, we used the EPA 608 exam. Passing the EPA 608 exam allows a person to obtain a license to work with refrigerants that are restricted by the government. There were 11 students who took the air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration portion of this exam. Nine of these students became universal technicians meaning they can work on household refrigerators, commercial refrigerators, air conditioners and chillers. One student received type I and type II certification which allows them to work on everything except the chillers, and one student failed to pass any part of the exam. This exam was used to access PSLO #5.

Due to changes in the industry we were unable to assess PSLO #6.

Findings -After reviewing the data it was determined that no students failed to meet expectations. It was determined in the capstone project that four students met expectations and two students exceeded expectations. For the EPA exam portion, it was determined that students all students either met expectations or exceeded expectations. The student who did not pass the EPA exam is an ESL student and it was determined he did not understand the wording of the questions on the exam.

Where we go from here-

After analysis of the data it was determined that although the programming is meeting or exceeding expectations for student learning outcomes it still needs to be improved and expanded.

Because of this we are looking to change the program and implement a nationally recognized certification system. NATE (North American Technician Excellence) is recognized as an industry standard with stacking certificates that will allow students to have a stronger footing as they enter their chosen field. Students with only one or two certificates will be able to enter the job market and then return to classes as desired, to continue their education, stack certificates and improve their job outlook while making money. By offering these stacking certificates it will also help us meet our PSLO #6 by preparing students better for entry-level employment in the field and passing industry recognized exams. Some of the certificates available through the NATE program are Ready to Work, HVAC Support Technician, and HVAC Efficiency Analyst. The core exam that is offered tests the candidates general knowledge, construction knowledge, and HVAC/R (heating ventilation air-conditioning and refrigeration) specific knowledge in the areas of safety, tools, basic construction, basic science, achieving desired conditions, taking measurements, and basic electricity.

Implementing these changes will require an extensive rewrite of the program and an overhaul of the appliance and HVAC lab spaces. We will be creating additional classes for students to ensure we meet their educational needs and better prepare them for their careers. Along with this we will be requesting that the courses at LMC be recognized by NATE which will allow us to bring in additional students as the college would then be listed as a NATE certified school on their website.

Administration of Justice

We wanted to know if our students were performing at levels at or above the state average concerning transferring to the California State University system. We wanted to know if our students are employed in criminal justice agencies at levels equal to or greater than the statewide averages, and if our students where demonstrating excellent communications and critical thinking skills as well as demonstrating cultural and ethnical sensitivity. Our administration of justice students appear to be performing at or above statewide averages in the areas of program skill attainment. This area addresses our first program level student-learning objective. Our students are also faring well in employment prospects as compared to statewide averages of students who have completed a community college administration of justice course and sought employment; this is in line with our program’s second student learning objective. However, we need to do a better job of determining the type of employment indicated. We also need to improve our measuring instrument used to determine the effectiveness of our third program level student-learning outcome. Presently we use the success rate of students enrolled in ADJUS-160, Criminal Justice and the Community course, however that course is not requisite to graduating with a degree in the administration of justice and thus some students elect not to take it. We are considering requesting that ADJUS-160 be a required course in obtaining an associate’s degree in the administration of justice from Los Medanos College. We also plan to collaborate with the local police academy to determine how we can improve on the outcome of the clause in our third program level student-learning objective that calls for the student to demonstrate excellent communications skills, both oral and written. We believe that, that stakeholder should be able to provide information regarding the success rate of our graduates in the report-writing portion of their criminal justice academy training.

Acting

Our program collected CSLO and PSLO data with the distinct purpose of answering two questions. We wanted to find out how prepared our students were for transferring to a four year institutions and how we could improve our program to ensure a more successful pathway for our graduates.

We assessed courses that were major specific as well as general education courses to see if our methods of instruction were effective for students both in and outside of the major. We then collected data from graduates who had completed our program sequence and had left the department to pursue their academic and professional careers. We then analyzed the data to measure our effectiveness in course instruction and program structure.

We learned that students entering our program have high success rates when instruction is linked to project completion and that results improve if the project will be viewed by the public. We also learned that students who leave our program feel highly prepared to succeed % of the time.

In order to improve the training in our program we are looking to switch our curriculum to more project based learning and that our students who have left the program desired more course offerings in career preparation, on camera acting, and theatrical design. We will begin developing courses around these subjects and discuss with management concerning the appropriate times to schedule the courses.

Appliance Service Technology

To assess this program, we used a combination analysis of student success rates and an analysis of program data from processes already implemented. After the tests were administered the instructor reviewed the results and followed industry guidelines to determine which level of work falls below expectations, meets expectations, or exceeds expectations.

The analysis of program data was conducted by evaluating the results of the end of semester lab final taken by students. In this exercise they were required to diagnose between 8 appliances by themselves. On their worksheets they are list their steps for going through the diagnostic to allow me to evaluate the process that they’re using. First and second semester students are expected to complete about half of the project, third and fourth semester students should be able to complete 80% to 90% of the appliances in two hours. This process allowed me to assess PSLO’s #1, #2, #3, and #4.

For the analysis of student success rates, we used the EPA 608 exam. Passing the EPA 608 exam allows a person to obtain a license to work with refrigerants that are restricted by the government. There was a total of fifteen students who took the appliance portion of the EPA exam. Of these, fourteen students passed the appliance portion and received type 1 status. This exam analyzed PSLO #5.

For PSLO #6 the NCEE industry exam is not available to us at this time. Because of this I was not able to assess this outcome and will remove it until a new industry exam can be found or created.

Findings - Eleven students participated in the end of year diagnostic process. Of these students, eight were found to have performed as expected and three exceeded expectations. For the student success rate three students performed as expected and twelve students exceeded expectations.

Where we go from here-

The results of the assessment were as expected and although the program is teaching students about the appliances and how to diagnose them my personal experience in the field and surveys of employers have shown that there is additional training that needs to be done. That is why even before this assessment process I have been studying ways to meet the needs of industry better. This can be accomplished by revising the program to include soft skills necessary for today’s technicians. The industry today is looking for individuals who cannot only repair the product but also communicate well with the customers and take care of the customers home. To teach these skills I am looking to create a realistic kitchen and laundry room in the lab which will allow us to teach the students the proper way to install and uninstall product in a customer’s home without damaging countertops, floors, or cabinets. This space would also allow us to do customer interaction simulations and teach the student best practices for handling difficult situations while in a customer’s home as well as proper etiquette in their interactions with customers. This will go hand-in-hand with a modernization of the lab to make it a more attractive place for potential new students which should help to raise class sizes and help LMC provide much-needed technicians in the appliance industry.

Behavioral Science (Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology)

Anthropology

What you wanted to learn about your students

The focus was to determine if the students were successful in the following: utilizing critical thinking skills to analyze, evaluate and make decisions regarding current issues in anthropology, recognize the complexity of social, cultural, and global diversity, demonstrating and understanding the major theoretical perspectives, concepts and research findings in anthropology, demonstrate an understanding of biological and cultural, developments underlying behavior and the human experience, and Demonstrate the knowledge of the social and ethical implications and outcomes of gathering data, while doing fieldwork, participant-observation, and research. The target was 70% to determine student proficiency.

What you did

I wanted to conduct an analysis of how my CSLOs were mapped to my PSLOs. This mapped assessment process was designed to determine how well students in anthropology were able to do.

(CSLO 1 & 4 mapped to ) PSLO 1: Utilize critical thinking skills to analyze, evaluate and make decisions regarding current issues in anthropology.

(CSLO 4 mapped to) PSLO 2: Recognize the complexity of social, cultural and global diversity in anthropology.

(CSLO 1 mapped to) PSLO 3: Demonstrate understanding of the major theoretical perspectives, concepts and research findings in the field of anthropology.

(CSLO 2 mapped to) PSLO 4: Demonstrate an understanding of biological and cultural developments underlying behavior and the human experience.

(CSLO 5 mapped to) PSLO 5: Demonstrate the knowledge of the social and ethical implications and outcomes of gathering data, while doing fieldwork, participant-observation, and research.

What you learned

Overall the assessment data indicated that’s students did very well in the anthropology AAT Program in the fundamental anthropology courses. The assessment data indicated that 85% of the assessed students in the Anthropology Program (PSLOs) were either at the High Proficiency Level or the Meets Proficiency Level.

What you plan to do next to improve student learning

My plan to improve student learning will focus on new approaches and strategies designed help students understand the anthropological theories and research methods used in the field of anthropology.

I will examine new and creative approaches to present classroom exercises, video clips, newspaper articles and classroom discussions to highlight the topics under discussion.
I will continue to work with members of my department who have similar PSLOs to develop new approaches for classroom presentations.
I will also continue to work with other college faculty in professional development activities.
Repeat assessments.
Finally, I will develop new approaches and rubrics for student assessment

I believe that it is extremely important to continue to enhance the classroom experience for students. When students have a good classroom experience it tends to reflect itself in student performance and success.

Psychology

What you wanted to learn about your students

The focus of assessment was to determine if students in the psychology program were successful in the following areas: utilizing critical thinking skills to analyze, evaluate, and make decisions regarding current issues in psychology; recognizing the complexity of social, cultural and global diversity; demonstrate an understanding of the major theoretical perspectives, concepts, and research in the field of psychology; demonstrate an understanding of biological processes underlying behavior and experience, and demonstrate a basic knowledge of the principles of research design and ethical considerations in conducting research. The target was 70% to determine student proficiency.

What you did

We mapped CSLO’s to PSLO’s to determine proficiency in the psychology program. Two fundamental courses for the AAT in Psychology were used—Psychology-011 General Psychology and Psychology-010. Both of these courses build on core concepts and principles inherent in the discipline. Psychology-011(General Psychology) develops a broad base of knowledge, research, and appreciation for diversity by applying theories and principles of psychology to individual, social, and global concern. This course also emphasizes core knowledge about biological and social bases of behavior. Psychology-010, Individual and Social processes, focuses on core concepts and principles about improving adjustment and the overall quality of life. These concepts include social influence, personality, health and stress, social dynamics, and global concerns.

What you learned

Overall, the assessment results were very good. Assessment results for PSLO’s 1, 3, 4, and 5 were 85%-97.5%--well above the 70% target level for proficiency. Although PSLO 2 was above 70%, we would definitely like to improve proficiency in this PSLO to make it consistent with the high proficiency in the other PSLO’s. The data indicates that students were doing well in the foundation courses for the AAT in Psychology.

What you plan to do next to improve student learning

1. Repeat assessments.

2. Discuss results with Behavioral Science faculty that have similar PSLO’s.

3. Review, develop and change instructional strategies if necessary.

4. Review rubrics used for assessment.

5. Develop and attend flex workshops related to assessment, teaching strategies, program review and other topics related to program review

Sociology

What you wanted to learn about your students

I wanted to conduct an analysis of how my CSLOs were mapped to my PSLOs. This mapped assessment process was designed to determine how well students in sociology were able to:

(CSLO 1 mapped to) PSLO 1: Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical perspectives, concepts and research findings in the field of sociology;
(CSLO 1 mapped to) PSLO 2: Utilize critical thinking skills to analyze, evaluate and make decisions regarding current issues studied in the field of sociology;
(CSLO 4 mapped to) PSLO 3: Recognize the diversity of social, cultural and global perspectives;
(CSLO 3 mapped to) PSLO 4: Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of research and the ethical considerations involved in conducting research; and
(CSLO 3 mapped to) PSLO 5: Understand how theoretical perspectives can explain both the causes and the solutions of social problems.

What you did

The assessment examined 100 students. Sixty students were selected from Sociology 015 (Introduction to Sociology) and forty students were selected from Sociology 016 (Introduction to Social Problems). These two courses were selected because they represent the foundation courses for the Sociology AAT Degree (Sociology Program Degree).

What you learned

The assessment data indicated that students in the Sociology AAT Program were doing very well in the fundamental sociology courses. The assessment data indicated that 85% of the assessed students in the Sociology Program (PSLOs) were either at the High Proficiency Level or the Meets Proficiency Level. The remaining AAT Sociology Program courses (Sociology 012 – Introduction to Marriage and Family and Sociology 017 – Introduction to Research Methods) are directly related to the sociology foundation courses. Success in the foundation courses is a good indicator of student success in the Sociology AAT program.

What you plan to do next to improve student learning

My plan to improve student learning will focus on new approaches and strategies designed help students understand the sociological theories and research methods used in the field of sociology.
I will examine new and creative approaches to present classroom exercises, video clips, newspaper articles and classroom discussions to highlight the topics under discussion.
I will continue to work with members of my department who have similar PSLOs to develop new approaches for classroom presentations.
I will also continue to work with other college faculty in professional development activities.
Finally, I will develop new approaches and rubrics for student assessment.

I believe that it is extremely important to continue to enhance the classroom experience for students. When students have a good classroom experience it tends to reflect itself in student performance and success.

Biology

The Biological Sciences programs ought to determine the extent to which Biology major students meet proficiency in the program student learning outcomes (PSLO). Specifically, we determined to what extent we are supporting students in understanding the scientific process (PSLO #1), utilizing evidence to explain the relationship between structure and function (PSLO #2), utilizing an evolutionary framework in explaining unity and diversity (PSLO #3), and evaluating aspects of ecology and interactions among living organisms (PSLO #4).

We utilized a variety of assessments, including evaluating parts of students’ capstone ecology research projects and lab reports, administering pre/post in-class written assessments, and scoring lab practical/exam questions. Overall the general theme was that students are meeting proficiency (70% and above) in all but one of the outlined PSLOs (#1, 3, 4, but not #2). The details of what we found, and what we plan to do, are outlined below.

For PSLO 1, we found that students (~100%) showed evidence of understanding the scientific process. Distributing lab report sections throughout the semester (vs. submitting a final report) with feedback supported students in developing scientific analysis and writing skills. We will continue to provide feedback, give students opportunities to incorporate feedback, and share examples of excellent student work.

For PSLO 2, 60% of students met expectations in demonstrating an understanding of structure and function. This may be in part due to the PSLO itself being too wordy for instructors and students to make meaning of it. We plan to clarify and simplify this PSLO. To further support instructors we will create and share a list of structure/function examples to help ensure they are embedded in all of our curricula. Finally, we will incorporate more low stakes assessment opportunities (e.g., quizzes, practice questions) leading up to lab practical and/or lecture exams.

For PSLO 3, 70% of students met expectations in demonstrating understanding of unity/diversity: pre-to-post gains of the assessments were not as high as expected. Students did not bring up specific concepts (e.g., mechanisms of evolution), likely because they were not prompted to and the questionwas at the end of a long assessment. We will further revise and clarify our prompts on this assessment and more deeply embed evolutionary processes through all aspects of curriculum.

For PSLO 4, although students met proficiency, students need support connecting ecology concepts to their research projects. We propose more explicit connection between ecology research topics and lecture content. Mid-point research check-ins will incorporate course ecological concepts. Ecological concepts will also be introducedearlierso students have guidance on what project topics are possible.

Business (Accounting, Management and Supervision, Office Administration, Retail Management, and Small Business Operations)

Accounting

The Accounting program PSLO assessment was conducted to measure student proficiency. Course assessments from three sections of the foundational accounting course were used to measure student proficiency in the PSLOs. While accounting is traditionally a challenging program, many of the LMC Accounting students are performing well for this type of program. However, improvement opportunities are available, and it was discovered that more practice in class and at home along with more examples could be utilized to help improve student proficiency although student proficiency is already good in many respects. Department members will review current textbook resources, LMC Library resources, and practice opportunities with the aim of building a plan to incorporate the additional resources and practice opportunities into the lesson plans.

Management and Supervision (AS)

The majority of students in the management are performing exceptionally and applying the materials. This program is key for the managers in our community. Many students are already in management and bring relevant experience. They learn how to be better managers in the workplace based on the theories and concepts. It helps current managers to improve their outcomes, and helps employees to be prepared to advance. Additionally, it helps all students in managing life situations in and outside of work. Students engage well with the material because of the need and real-world applicability of the content. Diversity in the workplace is consistently changing, and continued training and professional development will be key in keeping the content current and relevant.

Management and Supervision (Certificate)

The Business Administration PSLO assessment was conducted to measure student proficiency. Course assessments from two sections of the advanced accounting curriculum were used to measure student proficiency in the PSLOs since all AST Business students complete the course as a major requirement and it incorporates all the PSLOs. The Business Administration program calls on students to display high level critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving along with resource (library, software, etc.) to report information and make business decisions. While students are graduating and transferring with their AST degree, the assessment shows opportunity to improve student accomplishment of the PSLOs. More relevant and integrated business material and decision-making opportunity along with more practice in class and at home including more examples could be utilized to help improve student proficiency. Department members will review current textbook resources, LMC Library resources, and practice opportunities with the aim of building a plan to incorporate the additional resources and practice opportunities into the lesson plans.

Business Administration

The Business Administration PSLO assessment was conducted to measure student proficiency. Course assessments from two sections of the advanced accounting curriculum were used to measure student proficiency in the PSLOs since all AST Business students complete the course as a major requirement and it incorporates all the PSLOs. The Business Administration program calls on students to display high level critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving along with resource (library, software, etc.) to report information and make business decisions. While students are graduating and transferring with their AST degree, the assessment shows opportunity to improve student accomplishment of the PSLOs. More relevant and integrated business material and decision-making opportunity along with more practice in class and at home including more examples could be utilized to help improve student proficiency. Department members will review current textbook resources, LMC Library resources, and practice opportunities with the aim of building a plan to incorporate the additional resources and practice opportunities into the lesson plans

Small Business Management

The majority of students in the program are performing well overall. The program fulfills a vital need in the LMC community as small business is an essential economic element. In addition, many LMC students, even those outside the Business Department, have a desire to start a small business. Students engage well with the material because of the need and real-world applicability of the content. However, many students today have varied learning styles and providing more, and different types of learning opportunities could be beneficial. Exploration of resources and approaches could further improve student engagement and proficiency.

Chemistry

What we wanted to learn about our students:

As we strive to achieve the Chemistry Department’s goal to prepare students for successful science-related careers, we want to learn the following about our students:

1) To what extent are our graduates prepared for the work needed at a transfer institution to complete their degree in Communication?

2) What can we do to improve program effectiveness and/or student learning in the department?

Specifically we want to improve transfer/completion rates and evaluate what is working or not working well in our instructional/program design.

What we did:

We collected assessment data from thoughtfully chosen sources including exams and lab projects, and we analyzed them to measure student proficiencies in the major content and skill areas of chemistry as outlined in our PSLOs. The data spanned several academic years and several different courses to reveal an overall picture of how well students learn chemistry in our program.

What we learned:

Overall students are learning a lot of chemistry! LMC Chemistry students can successfully apply the Scientific Method to solve a variety of problems. They can carry out complex chemical calculations (stoichiometry) that are used to analyze and predict chemical reactions, and our students are skillful in the laboratory completing intricate and advanced laboratory projects that involve chemical topics as such kinetics or NMR Spectroscopy. Our assessment results also revealed areas to refocus our teaching efforts. We are making some improvements to our classroom and laboratory activities, and already we see evidence that students are benefitting through more engagement and better test scores.

What we plan to do next to improve student learning:

We plan to build off the strengths of the Chemistry Program and add improvements to make it better. LMC students employ the Scientific Method successful, so we are providing more opportunities and emphasis to use it in more challenging situations, such as qualitative analysis. We will introduce more outside of class opportunities for students to practice predicting and balancing chemical equations, dimensional analysis, and stoichiometry. Specifically, online quizzes will be implemented in hopes of increasing the frequency of practice. In the chemical laboratory, we are working to incorporate more student-driven research experiences consistently and throughout the chemistry curriculum in hopes that opportunities to conduct research will improve data analysis skills. Furthermore, a pre-semester workshop has also been established that covers several chemistry topics at an introductory level in hopes of preparing students for a more advanced look at these topics in their chemistry courses at LMC. With the success of the pre-semester workshop for CHEM-025, we are planning to offer similar workshops for other chemistry courses to provide more support for our students.

Child Development

Administration Specialization

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

Assistant Teacher Permit

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

Certificate of Achievement

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

Infant Toddler Specialization

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

School Age Associate Teacher

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

School Age Development and Education

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

School Age Specialization

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

Special Needs Specialization

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

Communication Studies

To determine the level of success for LMC’s first associate degree for transfer, the Communication Department underwent a comprehensive PSLO assessment in 2016-2017. Our work involved collecting alumni post-transfer experiences at four year colleges, survey research on current speech students, and an aggregation of our course assessments.

We wanted to know if LMC students successful after they transfer in communication. Also, what we can do to make them more successful and engaged when they are still here.

We found that our students are wildly successful after they transfer. They often graduate on-time, feel prepared for their classes post transfer, and learn the skills we set out to teach them in our courses over 80% of the time. We won’t stop there though, we want to get that number to 100%. We’re planning to do that by improving opportunities to get involved in extracurricular activities, a library of internships, and of course— more interesting course readings!

Computer Science

Early Childhood Education

To assess our Program Student Learning Outcomes, we sent a Google survey to our former students. We emailed all the students who took Child Development 90, our capstone course over the last several years.

These are also many of our students that have graduated our program. We expect after graduation, that they entered the work field or transferred to a four-year university. Of course, many of our students both transferred and gained employment in the field.

We wanted to know if our students stayed in the field of Early Education and how relevant they found their coursework in their careers. We also wanted to discover what improvements we need to make as a program. Of those that transferred, we wanted to know if they felt prepared for university coursework. These are things that our PSLOs aimed to do: prepare students for work and transfer.

The results of the survey showed that we are proficient in meeting our PSLOs. We learned that students are pleased with the support, training and education they received in our department. Students also indicated that the Child Study Center lab opportunities for observation, coursework and internships proved indispensable to their preparation.

We plan to continue our own professional development to stay current in the field and offer examples of cutting edge practice. We will continue to build partnerships with important players in the field of early Childhood Education including West Ed, CCDE, First 5, County Office of Education, Head Start, Contra Costa County Child Care Council, local high school ROP and Academy programs, NAEYC, CCAMPIS, Child Development Training Consortium and the California Early Childhood Mentor Program. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always open to opportunities for collaboration.

English

We have a new English major with just a few students who have received the degree, so we were interested in how students are meeting the PSLOs in the required core courses: English 140 and 145. We looked at the CSLO assessments for these two required courses to determine how students are progressing. The strongest area for students in both courses was for PSLO #1 which addresses critical reading and thinking. Students met or exceeded proficiency for PSLO #2 which addresses responding to texts in critical, creative and personal ways. In both courses, students struggled with proficiency in PSLO #3 which addresses writing literary analysis. We were not surprised by these results as students often do not have a lot of preparation in writing literary analysis in English 100. Next Steps: We will have discussions as a department about how to address the need for students to get more practice before they take these core courses. We can address it as part of professional development in English 100 and also consider adding English 230 as an advisory to English 140 and English 145 to give students more experience in writing literary analysis before taking these core courses for an English major.

Developmental English:

Our investigation was primarily focused on how a student’s course sequence impacted his/her successful completion of a given PSLO. That is, were students in English 90 more successful in meeting the PSLOs (all or some of them) than students in English 90? To assess this, we used a capstone essay asking students respond to a prompt which asks them to incorporate multiple sources into a single, cohesive essay. In addition to this project, we’ve analyzed our success rates in English 100 relative to initial placement.

Overall, there’s a lot to be optimistic about when considering our new pathway. Among the most significant of findings is the competency in both reading and characteristics of effective learners among students in English 95. This is of significance given the design of the course, which is focused heavily on reading comprehension and on support for students’ affective domain. As part of this, students are reading between 2-3 full-length, non-fiction texts, a far cry from the requirements of English 90, which required students to ready only 1 full-length work (which was often fiction). The result of this focus shows an improvement in both reading and success habits of at least 40%, an uptick which would supercede most expectations. Likewise, more students from English 95 are utilizing the Center for Academic Support, which shows a greater awareness for programs that can support their academic goals.

This optimism is diminished, however, when confronted with the success rates in our more writing-centric PSLO (2), the scores of which show large disparities between the cohorts. Of significant importance is the fact that fewer than 60% of students exiting English 95 meet proficiency in PSLO 2. A an “accelerated” pathway, English 95 requires significantly more writing than English 70 and 90. The rationale of such a pathway is that students will be more successful given the intensive practice. If the the lower success rate holds true in CSLO assessment in the fall of 2017, the English Department will look to revise the course so that student writing scores achieve similar success as their reading.

Engineering

One change resulting from the evaluation of PSLOs is how some labs will be taught. Students will be required to think about how to assemble the lab apparatus, what variables to measure and how to take measurements. Previously, it was thought that the lab period was not long enough for the students to figure out how to assemble the apparatus and make measurements. This is probably still true for the more complicated labs, but it is possible to give the students more control for performing some simpler experiments.

Another conclusion is that we have far too many PSLOs. There is no need to assess the exact same PSLO in two different programs. Furthermore, there are many overlapping PSLOs, so we decided to rewrite several PSLOs to combine them. We have still managed to retaining the connections between LMC’s Engineering PSLOs and the student learning outcomes used by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), which accredits four year engineering universities.

We have reduced the number of PSLOs in Engineering from 8 down to a more manageable 5 outcomes. PSLO A includes outcome H, and has been rewritten to show that. PSLO B is redundant and has been eliminated, because engineering students have to take the PHYS 40-42 sequence, but Physics already has the same PSLO. The first part of PSLO G was combined with PSLO D, since both require students to demonstrate these professional behaviors of engineers. The second part of PSLO G, explaining contemporary issues, overlaps with PSLO E, so PSLO E has been rewritten to more explicitly include that part of PSLO G.

The changes may appear to be confusing, especially since all of the PSLOs after B were relabeled when PSLO B was eliminated. It is much easier to just present the new and improved PSLOs, which are as follows: Students who have completed the Engineering program at LMC will be able to:

A. apply their knowledge of math, science, and engineering, and use the techniques, skills, and tools of modern engineering, to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.

B. design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs.

C. demonstrate the behaviors of professional engineers, including ethical responsibility and lifelong learning.

D. communicate effectively and perform on multi-disciplinary teams.

E. judge the effects of engineering projects on society and the environment, and explain contemporary issues in engineering.

We believe that these new PSLOs will make program level assessment easier in the future.

ETEC

What you wanted to learn about your students?:

Were there any glaring weakness that might keep them from getting hired by related industry.

What you did:

Observed oral and written report presentations to determine weaknesses. Interviews with students to determine their basic skills.

What you learned:

Students struggle with both written and oral reporting. This also effects their ability to read technical manuals and instructions which limits their effectiveness learning on their own.

What you plan to do next to improve student learning:

Require a minimal level of English and Math prior to entering the ETEC program.

Fine Arts

The Art Department at Los Medanos College has identified the following learning outcomes for students in studio courses: 1. Demonstrate appropriate and safe practices in various two-dimensional media, three-dimensional media and computer-based studio environments. 2: Present, explain and justify conceptual design solutions using the vocabulary of design elements and principles, and critique the solutions of others in a thoughtful, constructive manner. 3. Research and synthesize examples of historical and cultural products with new ideas in order to improve the creative and conceptualization process.

Having developed these learning outcomes, our goal was to ascertain if these goals are limited enough in number, broad enough in scope and focused enough to provide us with data to accurately assess our program. Learning outcome #1: We found that most of the students surveyed (91%) were at or above proficiency. This represented the majority of the students in the classes that were assessed, based on rolling up the data from the assessment reports that were uploaded to the online campus “program review submission tool.” Learning outcome #2: we found that 86% of students were assessed at or above proficiency, based on data from the same assessment reports. Learning Outcome #3: We found that 87% of students were assessed at or above proficiency in these reports.

These learning outcomes are broad enough in scope to assess the variety of our program activities while allowing us to find areas that merit further investigation and development. For example, we found that instructor efforts to break up longer-term assignments and procedures into smaller steps that are accounted for in quizzes, etc., appear to be effective. In addition we are still investigating whether providing more choices of assignments helps with learning outcomes.

Having students give each other meaningful feedback was another theme that emerged. By the end of the semester, students give improved feedback in critiques, but in the beginning they tend to avoid commentary on each other’s work. We are exploring ways to speed this improvement up with peer critiques and group work.

For art majors, later on in their LMC studies, more opportunities to work on more self-paced, independently researched and executed projects, (and then hold each other accountable for fair, honest, constructive feedback) is an area we can explore for growth. Efforts to get more students into the foundation classes sooner in our program (Art Major advising day, Art Department Surveys, etc.) will accelerate our program success.

Graphic Communications

Journalism

What we looked at: Our assessment research looked at student learning outcomes for both the AA in Journalism and the AAT in Journalism through the lens of the stringbook —a portfolio of published work —as well as by analyzing the growing number of degrees awarded. We analyzed the portfolios of students enrolled in a capstone media production class based on the quality, quantity and diversity of content, as well as on attention to deadline and to precise presentation details. Students and instructors completed Portfolio Evaluation/Self-Evaluation forms, and instructors rated each portfolio on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the top score and representing a strong, diverse portfolio. The most diverse portfolios contained work in four of six major journalistic areas: objective reporting, opinion writing, photojournalism, informational and illustrative graphics, multimedia elements, and news presentation. The highest quality portfolios exhibited strong reporting and writing with solid news judgment and attention to news style. Quantity was measured on the basis of aggregation of course requirements.

What we found: We learned that the addition of a second journalism degree, an Associate of Arts in Transfer, has more than doubled the number of journalism degrees awarded each year. We also learned that while all students earning degrees are either highly proficient or proficient in the program-level student learning outcomes, if we dig a bit deeper we find two areas in which students need a bit more instructional support: developing relevant story ideas for media production, and creating more professional looking work portfolios.

What we are planning to work on: To address what we found in our program student learning outcomes assessment, we have devised three strategies:

1. We plan to distribute a survey to degree recipients to learn whether the graduating students themselves feel they were adequately prepared for the next level —either transfer or employment.

2. We plan to bolster instruction around developing relevant story ideas to meet the needs and interests of audiences.

3. We plan to offer students additional strategies for preparing professional looking physical and online work portfolios.

Recommendations for students: Potential journalism majors should devise an education plan that incorporates journalism courses early in their educational career at LMC so they can take multiple publication courses during their time here and build a strong portfolio of work to show off their diverse journalistic skills.

Kinesiology

We would like to know, in relation to PSLO 3…..1) how many students are transferring to a 4 year institution to continue the Kinesiology degree 2) of those students, how many are transferring with the AAT completed. We think students are choosing to transfer/pursue a degree in Kinesiology with their GE requirements met but not necessarily the AAT Kines.

We have found through District Research that a total of 62 AAT Kinesiology Degrees have been awarded from the start of the program in the 13-14 academic year, through the 16-17 academic year. The exact numbers per academic year are as follows:

2013-14 7

2014-15 20

2015-16 18

2016-17 17

Through discussion with students and Science Professors, we feel that the inability for students to enroll in the limited number/sections of Anatomy and Physiology classes offered has been a main hurdle for AAT completion. These classes are 2 of the main lower division requirements for Kinesiology majors. Students are challenged just getting enrolled/finding a space in the class, as they compete with Nursing and Bio majors for the seats. Students are not willing to extend their stay at LMC for another academic year and choose to take the classes at the 4 year level if they have 60 units and are ready for transfer otherwise.

We are not sure how to address this issue of space in the Anatomy/Physiology classes. We feel that students are transferring and continuing to pursue the Kinesiology Degree at the 4 year level, as the Kinesiology major continues to trend upward across the State and Country. We understand the students perspective in regards to moving forward as quickly as possible with transfer, knowing that a BS Degree is mainly their end goal.

With past Biology department chair, there was discussion in regards to offering Anatomy/Physiology section to a cohort of Kinesiology students. We discussed that this may be a way to get our Kinesiology students enrolled into these classes and that in working together as a cohort, we may see a successful outcome in course completion rates. We also discussed the idea that a section specific to Kines majors could be taught with application to physical activity, when appropriate.

Finally, our discussion was not pursued mainly due to Biology scheduling challenges. Possibly in the future, as the Brentwood campus opens (?), there will be space to consider offering a section specific to Kinesiology majors, or at least more space available for students to enroll. In doing so, we may

1) meet more students need for lower division major requirements of Anatomy and Physiology

2) increase the number of AAT Kinesiology degrees awarded at LMC.

Although we believe it is in the students best interest to finish their Anatomy/Physiology requirements at the JC level, we are satisfied knowing that students are transferring with the intention of a BS degree in Kinesiology, and that degree was identified and chosen at LMC.

Law Academy

The challenges for the Law Academy are not completing, but rather being qualified to enter the Academy.

Licensed Vocational Nursing

The Los Medanos College Vocational Nursing Program was on furlough status from 2012 to 2014 due to insufficient staffing. The Program was restarted and the first cohort accepted in the spring of 2015. This was a building and restoration phase of the program as a new director was brought on board to reestablished the program and recruit new faculty.

The reestablishment of the program gave us an opportunity to reassess our educational delivery methods and to assess the needs of the population of students that enter our program. Historically, we have found that we have students that are academically unprepared for the rigor of the courses. The past two cohorts of students that also included students that struggle with basic academic skills. We also discovered that the need for clear guidance and modeling regarding the expectation of professionalism in the classroom and clinical setting. Our students are motivated and hardworking, but many need tutoring support and academic mentoring to tackle the rigor of the course content. Students also lack of proficiency in math and writing skills. It is imperative that they gain proficiency in these skills to be able to pass the National Licensure Exam (NCLEX) and thus gain employment in the Nursing field.

In the past year we have introduced our students to a multitude of online resources and educational technology, including adaptive quizzing which gives the students real time feedback on their ability to critically think about the concepts that are taught in the classroom and at the clinical sites. We also increased our faculty mentoring/tutoring hours with the help of student success monies provided by the college. To aid in employability, we addressed the skills needed to be a successful employee and patient care giver. A Professional Skills Rubric was developed to give clearly identifiable behaviors that would improve our student’s professional behaviors. The Rubric was introduced into each of our courses and the students received a letter grade as well as immediate feedback throughout the semester to help them identify exactly what it means to behave professionally.

Overall, we have seen progress in the past year in many facets of the program, but more work still needs to be done. We are proud to report that our first graduating class (2016) since restarting the program obtained a pass rate of 94% on the NCLEX-PN Exam.

Math

Physics

Student performance on PSLOs 1 through 3 did not indicate a need for making significant changes. It has been found that ungraded assessments tend to indicate lower proficiencies than measured by graded assessments. In the case of graded assessments, the students have not only been exposed to the material during lecture and labs, but they also see the material re-emphasized more before exams and they make a greater effort to demonstrate proficiency when “it actually matters” for their grades.

PSLO 5 did not yield much useful information due to misunderstandings about the meaning of the question.

PSLOs 4, 7, and 8 indicated the need to have students perform more derivations, which will be done in class, homework and exams.

Finally, we have far too many PSLOs. Instead of just stating the most important outcomes, we included less important outcomes which were not essential, but would be “nice” if the students could do them. The result was that we had to spend just as much time assessing a relatively unimportant outcome as we spent on an important outcome. When it comes to the most important outcomes, the students tend to have better proficiencies than for the less important outcomes. This makes sense, since the important outcomes receive much more emphasis during the lectures and labs. We have decided to reduce the number of PSLOs in Physics from 8 down to a more manageable 5 outcomes. The rationale for eliminating PSLO 5 is that quantitative reasoning is covered in PSLO 2, and qualitative reasoning is covered in PSLO 6 while determining error estimates. PSLOs 7 and 8 are special cases of PSLO 2, so they are not necessary.

Process Technology

In this assessment we wanted to learn whether our program graduates have the interviewing, communication, troubleshooting, safety, and process technology skills to make them employable in the process industries. To answer this question, we looked at our PSLOs and assessed whether these outcomes were being met and whether they were adequate outcomes for the program.
We learned that the PTEC program is doing a great job at preparing students as process technicians. Most students graduating from the program find internships and jobs within six months of graduation. Alumni and employers have high praise for the program and instructors. Instructors in the program are highly experienced in the subject matter and in teaching.
When asked what they would do to improve student learning, students and industry representatives said that they expect a large percentage of learning in the process technology program to be done through hands-on experiences. In order to provide this type of learning we are acquiring new equipment and modules for our simulators that will facilitate hands-on learning. We are teaming up with companies in the Bay Area to provide internships, plant tours, and industry speakers that will bring the reality of the workplace into our classrooms.

Recording Arts

Registered Nursing

Increasing and accelerating student program completion is the college strategic priority that is most applicable to the nursing department. The nursing department has a nursing student who tutors his/her peers, a student mentor who is a recent graduated from the LMC nursing program. When a student is not performing at the minimum passing level in clinical or on exams, students are provided additional support in the form of frequent meetings with faculty and recommendations for improving study skills, tutoring, etc. In an effort to increase the number of students prepared for transfer, the nursing department offers the Nursing Career Seminar (RNUR-001) every semester which provides students with information on how to apply and be successful in the ADN program, but also how to prepare for transfer to a BSN program. In order to qualify for the ADN program, students must take the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) and score at or above the cut score. The cut score has been determined by the State Chancellor’s Office and is designed to predict and ensure student success in the ADN programs. If the student does not pass the TEAS, they are given the chance to remediate over the course of a year then retest

Studio Art

The Art Department at Los Medanos College has identified the following learning outcomes for students in studio courses for the AAT and AA Fine Arts Degrees: 1. Demonstrate appropriate and safe practices in various two-dimensional media, three-dimensional media and computer-based studio environments. 2: Present, explain and justify conceptual design solutions using the vocabulary of design elements and principles, and critique the solutions of others in a thoughtful, constructive manner. 3. Research and synthesize examples of historical and cultural products with new ideas in order to improve the creative and conceptualization process.

Having developed these learning outcomes, our goal was to ascertain if these goals are limited enough in number, broad enough in scope and focused enough to provide us with data to accurately assess our program. Learning outcome #1: We found that most of the students surveyed (91%) were at or above proficiency. This represented the majority of the students in the classes that were assessed, based on rolling up the data from the assessment reports that were uploaded to the online campus “program review submission tool.” Learning outcome #2: we found that 86% of students were assessed at or above

proficiency, based on data from the same assessment reports. Learning Outcome #3: We found that 87% of students were assessed at or above proficiency in these reports.

These learning outcomes are broad enough in scope to assess the variety of our program activities while allowing us to find areas that merit further investigation and development. For example, we found that instructor efforts to break up longer-term assignments and procedures into smaller steps that are accounted for in quizzes, etc., appear to be effective. In addition we are still investigating whether providing more choices of assignments helps with learning outcomes.

Having students give each other meaningful feedback was another theme that emerged. By the end of the semester, students give improved feedback in critiques, but in the beginning they tend to avoid commentary on each other’s work. We are exploring ways to speed this improvement up with peer critiques and group work.

For art majors, later on in their LMC studies, more opportunities to work on more self-paced, independently researched and executed projects, (and then hold each other accountable for fair, honest, constructive feedback) is an area we can explore for growth. Efforts to get more students into the foundation classes sooner in our program (Art Major advising day, Art Department Surveys, etc.) will accelerate our program success.

Theatre Arts

Our program collected CSLO and PSLO data with the distinct purpose of answering two questions. We wanted to find our how prepared our students were for transferring to a four year institutions and how we could improve our program to ensure a more successful pathway for our graduates.

We assessed courses that were major specific as well as general education courses to see if our methods of instruction were effective for students both in and outside of the major. We then collected data from graduates who had completed our program sequence and had left the department to pursue their academic and professional careers. We then analyzed the data to measure our effectiveness in course instruction and program structure.

We learned that students entering our program have high success rates when instruction is linked to project completion and that results improve if the project will be viewed by the public. We also learned that students who leave our program feel highly prepared to succeed % of the time.

In order to improve the training in our program we are looking to switch our curriculum to more project based learning and that our students who have left the program desired more course offerings in career preparation, on camera acting, and theatrical design. We will begin developing courses around these subjects and discuss with management concerning the appropriate times to schedule the courses.

Travel Marketing

Overall, the travel program was satisfied with the findings of the PSLO assessments. While the faculty would like to see a 100% success rate for each PSLO assessed, the faculty was satisfied to learn that so many of the students were successful. The survey of our graduates indicated that 100% of the alumni were favorable on the PSLOs assessed.

We will continue to assess our alumni in the future to make decisions that may improve our program.

Welding

This assessment of our PSLO’s allowed us to see how well our students are prepared for working in the welding industry. Those that meet or exceed the proficiency levels have gained sufficient knowledge and skills to be successful for a career in Welding. We were also able to see the differences or alignment of both the day and evening sections.

This assessment used final course grades in both day and evening sections from all students who completed Weld 10 in the Spring and Fall of 2017. It also used the final course grades from two day sections and two evening sections of Welding 11 – 43 Labs during the same time period.

Data was analyzed by student quantity and percentages. It was found that the overall majority were successful in engrossing our PSLO’s. This validates our program effectiveness in successfully training and providing the knowledge for the students to be successful in the Welding trade. The data illustrated there is a greater percentage of students meeting proficiency in the day section of Weld 10 than the evening. For the Weld 11 – 43 labs, it was found that a greater percentage of students met proficiency in the evening section than the day section.

Finally, it is desired to reduce the number of students in the “needs improvement” category. Steps have already taken place in the program to address this and over time it is expected to have a positive effect on student proficiency.

World Languages

As a department, we looked at both the completion numbers for ASL Certificates and the Perception of Students regarding how they met the program level outcomes. The research on Program Level Outcomes was taken from the Spring 2018 4th semester ASL course of 21 students (20 completed the survey). Currently the majority of our students have perceived their level of proficiency (outcomes) at an extremely well, or well. (see chart) Not one of the 20 students answered that they could not meet the proficiency outcomes at the program level. In PSLO outcome #1 and #4 students answered that they needed more instruction. This question in the survey related to students’ ability to sign at a level equal to the fluency in their primary language. Two out of 20 stated the need for more instruction on becoming as fluent in ASL as in their primary language. This interpretation is understandable as it takes many years to become fluent in a second or other language. Students also answered that they needed more instruction (2/20) in the area of ASL Culture. The ASL sign courses may wish to infuse more cultural assignments and practice in the Sign 50, 51,52, 53 series course.

The fall 2018 Flex is now scheduled and the outcomes of these studies will be shared. We have scheduled an additional ASL 50 and 53 for the fall semester as a result of our findings.

The Associates Degree in ASL is currently being written and has passed through phase 1. Earlier research shows high percentages of African American and lower income completers in ASL. We will be sharing ideas within the department on teaching and learning ideas that were implemented in ASL with these populations of students in order that the full department can benefit. Spanish had a significantly lower completion outcome percentage for underrepresented populations in 2017. ASL will assist the other world language leads with ideas on how to better retain African American and other at-risk student populations in their courses.

Finally, the department will attempt another Box2A (for the fourth time) during the next round of applications. We will continue to move forward on the completion of the ASL degree. All members of the department are invested in the outcomes and changes that will be made to ASL after this study.

Program Assessment

Assessment Summary Findings 2016-2017

Instruction Program Assessment Summary

Student Services Program Assessment Summary