Strengthening Student Success 2007
Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
Wednesday, October 3rd
Basic Skills Initiative
This session will focus on the role that researchers can
play in moving the Basic Skills Initiative forward. For
more information about the Basic Skills Initiative at
http://css.rpgroup.org/uploads/RPBasicSkills2007v2f.pdf.
View Video of Presentation
Findings from Learning Communities at Kingsborough College
Faculty and staff from Kingsborough College will present the latest findings from an MDRC study on the impact of learning communities upon student success; they will describe their efforts to improve and institutionalize the program based on the lessons they learned. Kingsborough's learning communities have attracted national attention because of their levels of student achievement as well as the rigor of the studdies conducted by by MDRC over the past two years.
Mary Visher, MDRC
Rachel Singer, Kingsborough Community College
Stuard Suss, Kingsborough Community College
Janine Graziano-King, Kingsborough Community Collge
Strand: Student Services
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West Hills High School Cal-PASS Curricular Alignment Project
Want to reduce remediation in English? Wouldn't it be great to have students prepared to succeed in English because we aligned English instruction from high school to college? This presentation documents the efforts to develop stair-stepped curriculum spanning two segments of education: High School, to Community College.
Cali Linfor, San Diego State University (SDSU)
Michelle Liddell, SDSU/West Hills High School
Cece Boehme, West Hills High School
Strand: Cal-PASS, English
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The Transfer Gap Project: Inquiry Into "Transfer-Ready" Community College Students Who Do Not Transfer
Panelists will discuss a pilot project, the Transfer Gap Project, conducted at Long Beach City College (LBCC) in collaboration with University of Soughtern California (USC). The project was created to explore the benefits of various assessment strategies to understand why some transfer-ready students do not transfer and why some UC-ready students transfer instead to less-selective institutions. LBCC data on student outcomes indicate that more than 20% of eligible students do not transfer. In our presentation, we will share the tools used and findings of the student profiles, student interviews, and campus assessments, including recommendations to redress the gaps.
Hannah Alford, Long Beach City College
Michael Tuitasi, Long Beach City College
Bianca Galicia, Long Beach City College
Lindsey Malcom, USC, Cneter for Urban Education
Amalia Marquez, USC, Center for Urban Education
Strand: Student Services, Cross-Discipline
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Accelerated Learning: Remediation Reconsidered
Too often developmental education programs define students by what they lack and design remedial programs that slow down material or simply repeat the unsuccessful experiences that students have had before. These three examples at Pasadena City College, Cabrillo College and Community Colleg of Denver take the opposite approacy - acceleration - and create lively, intenseive, immersive, and interactive learning environments where students are challenged and supported in their efforts toward academic success.
Brock Klein, Pasadena City College
Diego Navarro, Cabrillo College
Ruth Brancard, Community College of Denver
Strand: Basic Skills
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Planning for, Interpreting, and Using Assessment Data
Led by a faculty member and a researcher, this session is designed to help practitioners make informed and useful decisions about assessment. What is the question driving an assessment? How extensive does the research effort need to be to answer the question? What is a reasonable sample? When are rubrics, surveys, longitudinal studies, other data studies appropriate? How do you know the results are valid and reliable enough for use? How do good studies inform (but not determine) good decisions about use? How do faculty and researchers effectively collaborate on these studies?
Gary Williams, Crafton Hills College
Fred Trapp, Long Beach City College
Strand: Student Learning Outcomes, General Education
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Helping Students with Their Study Skills in the Sciences
I know my students can do much better! our students may have little or no experience learning science and find it difficult to approach the subject matter and perform to the best of their ability. Their level of understanding might not match their performance level. This session will explore proven strategies to improve learning by making students aware of the skills required to succeed, such as time management, learning styles, ways to approach the ext, and note-taking.
Richard Baiardo, Evergreen Valley College
Kathy Sorenson, American River College
Strand: Sciences, Social Sciences
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Achieving the Dream: Building a Culture of Evidence to Strengthen Student Success
This session is designed to present a model for effective use of data to improve student outcomes. It draws on the experience of colleges involved in Achieving the Dream, a national initiative intended to help more community college students succeed. The presenters will demonstrate tools developed through Achieving the Dream to assist colleges in evaluating innovations in programs and services and measuring the extent to which a college's organizational structure supports evidence-based decision-making to strengthen student success.
Brad Phillps. Cal-PASS
David Jenkins, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
Assessing Transfer Level English
For several years, College of San Mateo's instructional and student services faculty and staff have been engaged in the student learning outcomes (SLOs) assessment cycle. The English Department in particular has articulated learning outcomes for all levels of its composition courses and has recently completed an assessment cycle for its transfer freshman-level (1A) compost ion course. This session will present the English Department's first completed assessment cycle at the department/program level for English 1A: the SLO's assessed for this course, the methodology followed, the results - including some surprising ones - of the assessment, and the subsequent actions taken by the English Department.
Sandra Comerford, College of San Mateo
Strand: English
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Spanning the Divide between Research and Classroom Assessment
This session offers two perspectives and experiences on the role of research in the classroom and will address partnerships and actions research in assessing student learning outcomes. One presentation will provide tools and templates to assess SLOs and data from completed projects with strategies for institutionalizing the process and building an environment of assessment. The other presentation will discuss the new campus-Based Researcher model that was recently implemented in the Dan Diego Community College District. The rationale for this model, as well as the practical aspects of its implementation and the increased collaboration between faculty/staff and IR, will be presented.
Bill Grimes, San Diego Community College District
Yvonne Bergland, San Diego Mesa College
Susan Mun, San Diego Mesa College
Gail Conrad, San Diego Mesa College
Genevieve Patthey-Chavez, IPASS/Los Angeles City College
Joan Thomas-Spiegel, IPASS
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Creating Spaces to Dialogue, Expanding Ideas, and Widening Possibilities
While teaching is often an individualized and unique experience, Cal-PASS' inter segmental Professional Learning Councils (PLCs) connect faculty by providing a supportive forum for discussion that crosses educational boundaries, Cal-PASS' Regional Coordinators will interactively demonstrate how PLCs go about creating spaces to facilitate dialogue, expand ideas, and widen possibilities.
Michelle Kalina, Cal-PASS
Shelly Valdez, Cal-PASS
Virginia Moran, Victor Valley College
Lynn Fowlere, Los Rios CCD
Ron Williams, San Bernardino County Office of Education
Bob Wendel, Merced Union High School District
Virginia Horowitz, Cal-PASS
Alana Nicastro, Cal-PASS
Strand: Cal-PASS
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Using Summer Bridges to Jumpstart Student Success
This session will feature two presentations of successful summer bridge programs. Cochise College's (Arizona) high school to college summer bridge program helps students transition into a student learning community where they are provided with continued support such as intrusive advising, tutoring and workshops to ensure their academic success. Pasadena City College has developed two summer bridges: XL, a six-week program that leads to a first-year experience, and Math Jam, a two-week program linked to a fall semester counseling and tutoring intervention. Presenters will discuss the positive impact that the bridges have had on student success and faculty development.
Doris Jensen, Cochise College, AZ
Ben Berry, Cochise College, AZ
Grace Mah, Cochise College, AZ
Brock Klein, Pasadena Community College
Ann Davis, Pasadena Community College
Strand: Student Services, Basic Skills
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Four Trajectories of Student Learning in a Composition Class
This presentation will explore how a technology-based pedagogy enhances student learning in a paragraph-to-essay level developmental composition course at Glendale Community College. In the fall of 2006, three faculty members collected the work of four developmental composition students for a full semester. The data includes videotaped interviews, think-aloud, writing process, and small group work; plus all the student pre-writing (brainstorming, clustering, outlining) and writing (paragraphs and essays) for every assignment. The faculty will describe some of the "nitty gritty" of students' learning habits, self-image, cognitive challenges and breakthroughs.
Chirs Juzwiak, Glendale College
Monette Tiernan, Glendale College
Strand: Basic Skills
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Planning for and Improving Student Success and Institutional Performance in the Future
According to Secretary Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education, “To meet the challenges of the 21st century, higher education must change from a system primarily based on reputation to one based on performance.” By discussing insights into that pronouncement and, more generally, into the confluence of trends in public policy, globalization, technology acceleration, and student psychographics, California community colleges will better understand the intent of mounting policy expectations for measurably improving and accounting for student performance, as well as how technology must be used to plan for and achieve both student and institutional success in the years ahead.
William Graves, SunGard Higher Education
Kenneth Meehan, Fullerton College
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Tracking Cognitive Factors Among Students Using Student Services: Findings of a Multi-College Study
This presentation will review findings of a multi-college study conducted during the spring semester of 2007. The study explored whether cognitive/motivational factors – such as academic self-efficacy, self-regulation, and academic goal clarity – are correlated with academic outcomes (e.g., GPA, course completion, and fall-to-spring retention). The study also examined whether the cognitive/motivational assessment tools we studied can be used to assess SLOs in DSPS, EOPS, and other Student Service functions.
Shanon Gonzalez, Coastline Community College
Jerry Rudmann, Irvine Valley College
Strand: Student Services, Social Sciences
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Follow the Rainbow to the Pot of Gold: Embedding General Education Assessment in Program Review
Embedding General Education assessment in Program Review can make it both more rewarding (financially and otherwise) and risky for the departments involved. Yet, assessment’s tie to planning and budgeting is one of the key themes in the new accreditation standards. Three schools share their assessment method, its role in program review and the results of the entire process.
Norv Wellstry, Cosumnes River College
Rory O’Brian, Cabrillo College
Mary Alancraig, Cabrillo College
Janet Fulks, Bakersfield College
Strand: General Education
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Transformation and Coordination of Developmental Education Programs
The review of literature on effective practices identities centralization and coordination of the developmental education program as an organizational priority. Both campuses began with a sense of compelling need to change their basic skills instruction. Contra Costa College now has an independent academic skills department and Chaffey College has reorganized a campus-decentralized basic skills discipline curriculum. What can other campuses learn from the stories of these two campuses in terms of the process of reorganizing developmental education?
Laura Hope, Chaffey College
Ellen Smith, Contra Costa College
Jason Berner, Contra Costa College
Sherry Sharufa, Contra Costa College
Strand: Basic Skills
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Thursday, October 4th
Contextual Learning – Work as the Context for Learning Basic Skills
Too often, students with strong vocational aspirations get lost in the time-consuming maze of developmental course work in English, Reading, and Mathematics. This session will explore the use of contextualized learning and acceleration as a means of strengthening student persistence and success. Washington State’s I-BEST program explores the ways that connecting and co-teaching basic skills directly with vocational education can provide motivation, context and support for students. Community College of Denver’s FastStart program contextualized its coursework by integrating career exploration and educational planning with developmental course work in an accelerated developmental learning community format.
Israel Mendoza, Washington State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges
Ruth Brancard, Community College of Denver
Strand: Basic Skills
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Student Equity Efforts at Three Community Colleges: Hartnell, San Joaquin Delta, Las Positas College
Two statewide initiatives are working with community colleges with a focus on issues of equity in student achievement. A panel of team members from three “Equity for All” colleges will discuss the ways in which the Equity Scorecard has been a useful framework for assessing student equity and institutional accountability. Campus leaders from the Campus Change Network will discuss how an inquiry-based process of dialogue, assessment and learning leading to planning and action served as a useful and catalytic framework for their equity-based reform efforts. They will provide concrete examples of successes and challenges in effecting changes in institutional policies and practices.
Lindsey Malcom (Facilitator), University of Southern
California, Center for Urban Education
Kathy Hart, San Joaquin Delta College
Janice Takahashi, San Joaquin Delta College
Sue Homer, City College of San Francisco
Pam Luster, Las Positas College
Ann Price, California Tomorrow
Strand: Student Services, Math, English, Basic Skills
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Integrating Student Services with Learning Communities in SSPIRE Initiative
Learning communities are often cited as a promising strategy for improving student success. But creating classes with a common cohort of students and integrated curriculum may not be enough for many developmental level students. The colleges on this panel will discuss how they infused learning communities with student services to improve learning and deepen students’ connections to academic advising, financial aid, and other services. These efforts are part of the Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) initiative, in which nine colleges are receiving funding from The James Irvine Foundation to improve their integration of instruction and student services.
Evan Weissman, MDRC (Moderator)
Rogeair Purnell, The James Irvine Foundation (Moderator)
Edwina Stoll, De Anza College
Lysette Trejo, Mt. San Antonio College
John Acuna, Santa Ana College
Strand: Student Services
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Technology Tools for Facilitating Learning Outcomes Assessment
The presenters will demonstrate several technology-based approaches to assessment. Topics will include 1) use of scanning technology to assess embedded SLOs, 2) Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) to promote student writing while effortlessly capturing learning assessment data, 3) Web-based, wireless, and off-line assessment and tracking and more!
Pat Arlington, Coastline Community College
Jerry Rudmann, Irvine Valley College
Strand: Cross-Discipline, Social Services
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Providing Relevant Learning Experiences: Allowing Exploration Beyond the Science Classroom
Establishing a connection to the “real world” aids students’ learning experience. This session will provide examples of how individual student interest can be folded into the curriculum by designing projects that not only solidify concepts but also expand the sphere of knowledge and experience. A collaborative project in Chemistry, a technical individual investigation in Biology, and a multidisciplinary symposium will be discussed.
Florence (Nini) Cardoza, Sierra College
Michelle MacFarlane, Sierra College
Harriet Wilson, Sierra College
Strand: Sciences
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Developing a Student Learning Outcomes Process and Getting Buy-In
Learn about a systematic approach for developing and implementing student learning outcomes and assessment. Skyline College spent over a year developing a structure (referred to as the SLOAC Framework) for moving through the SLO and assessment cycle. Through this process emerged a core of experts who now lead and mentor colleagues through an adopted process that has increased knowledge, produced widespread SLOs and assessments, and generated many meaningful discussions on student learning across disciplines. This session will include numerous templates, models and examples for practical application.
Karen Wong, Skyline College
Christine Roumbanis, Skyline College
Cathy Hasson, Skyline College
Strand: Student Learning Outcomes, General
Education, Student Services, Cross-Discipline
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Rethinking Mathematics in the Developmental Classroom
The new 2006 American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) standards underscore the importance of active and interactive learning in mathematics. Mathematics faculty from Merced College and College of the Sequoias will present work they are doing to engage students more actively in developmental mathematics. Faculty from Merced College are looking at social learning theory and will present results of a math efficacy survey. Faculty from College of the Sequoias will share hands-on assignments that focus on helping students to learn mathematics in a community of classmates.
Stan Mattoon, Merced College
Caroline Dawson, Merced College
George Woodbury, College of the Sequoias
Stephanie Logan, College of the Sequoias
Strand: Basic Skills, Math, Cross-Discipline
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Teacher Education – A College Approach to Developing Future Educators
Are you looking for a multifaceted approach to educating future teachers? This presentation is for you! This teacher program combines academic and student services to create the following: (1) a team approach to a successful college experience, (2) college going advocacy and retention, and (3) strengthening the three stages of the teacher education pipeline (recruit, travel, exit) for the future teachers in our community. A learning community enables students to enroll in general education courses with a teacher education focus. Join us to hear more about the program’s mentoring, monthly huddles and many other components.
James Preston, West Hills College Lemoore
Jacqueline Shehorn, West Hills College Lemoore
Pedro Avila, West Hills College District
Strand: Cross-Discipline, Student Services
archive not available
Basic Skills for Future Nursing Students
Career aspirations can provide motivation and context for effective student learning. Basic skills classes can contextualize the material in ways that encourage development of practical skills and support an emerging professional identity. This presentation will highlight two approaches for pre-nursing/health students. One is a mathematics sequence with supplemental nursing applications in pre-algebra, algebra, intermediate algebra and clinical calculations. The second is an intensive pre-Nursing/Health Bridge Program at Mt. San Antonio College where a cohort of students fulfill their mathematics and English basic skills requirements and subsequently their science classes in intensive semester-long learning communities that link content courses and aggressive counseling.
Justine Wong, Mathematics Educator
Lysette Trejo, Mt. San Antonio College
Strand: Basic Skills, Math
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Mathematics of Chemistry – Applications (MoCHA) Bridge Program
Pulling your hair out over the lack of preparation of students to succeed in STEM coursework? Frustrated that teaching Chemistry requires the teaching of Algebra to students who should have these skills already? This presentation will discuss an innovation designed to meet these challenges through a collaborative effort of a high school district and community college intended to teach students useful and necessary math functions as they apply to chemistry.
Steve Rodecker, Sweetwater Union High School District
Tinh-Alfredo V. Khuong, Southwestern College
Strand: Cal-PASS
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Restructuring Courses to Meet Students’ Needs in the SSPIRE Initiative
As community colleges work to serve and retain a student population with diverse and changing academic needs, three colleges have met the challenge head-on by restructuring courses and academic support services in interesting ways. American River College, College of Alameda, and Pasadena City College have taken different approaches to restructuring, both inside and outside the classroom. Representatives from these campuses will discuss their efforts as part of the Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) initiative, in which nine colleges are receiving funding from the James Irvine Foundation to improve their integration of instruction and student services.
Michelle Ware, MDRC (Moderator)
Brock Klein, Pasadena City College
Rod Siegfried, American River College
Jannett Jackson, College of Alameda
Strand: Student Services
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Examples of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment in the Social Sciences
This panel will include social science instructors who are successfully assessing course and program SLOs using authentic assessment, Calibrated Peer Review (CPR), and rubrics.
Jerry Rudmann, Irvine Valley College
Don Johnson, Coastine Community College
Strand: Social Sciences
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Learning From Data: Conversations Between Faculty and Institutional Researchers
There is a movement towards “data-driven decisions.” Yet people often feel that researchers and faculty speak different languages. How can institutional research be a resource to faculty? What questions can faculty ask? How can researchers help faculty understand the patterns and the implications of findings? Two campuses, City College of San Francisco and Merced College, will describe the ways that faculty and institutional researchers work together to frame questions about the impact of a program over time and use the analysis of data to go more deeply into the nature and uses of evidence.
Bob Bauer, Merced College
Jennifer McBride, Merced College
Steve Spurling, City College of San Francisco
S. Erin Denney, City College of San Francisco
Strand: Basic Skills
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Strategies to Create, Measure, and Document Program Effectiveness in Student Services Programs
This session highlights two different approaches to assessing student learning outcomes in student services. The Caballero de Cordero’s assessment model used at Allan Hancock College focuses on one major competency and its relevant student learning outcomes. The Sacramento City College approach for student services assessment relies upon Ruth Stiehl’s methods for analyzing learning pathways and assessment of outcomes from those pathways.
Angela Caballero de Cordero, Allan Hancock College
Richard Erlich, Sacramento City College
Alan Keys, Sacramento City College
Strand: Student Services, Student Learning Outcomes
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Talking Through Assessment: The Use of Dialogue to Create Methods and Analyze Their Results
Faculty love to talk to each other about teaching, yet often have little time for it. The new accreditation standards provide wonderful opportunities for faculty to engage with each other as they design assessment methods and then work to analyze their results. But how to make it more than an exercise? Two colleges share how they have embedded dialogue into their assessment processes, resulting in meaningful exchanges and discussions of the big questions that lie at the heart of teaching and learning.
Janice Tomson, Long Beach City College
Marcy Alancraig, Cabrillo College
Strand: General Education, Student Learning Outcomes
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Student Learning Outcomes and Administrative Unit Objective as Part of an Electronic Program Review Process
Mt. San Antonio College will present their substantive and inclusive program review model. Their model includes student learning outcomes, administrative unit objectives and links to budget. They will demonstrate the use of the Nichols five-column model for institutional effectiveness and program review using the software TracDat from Nuventive and how information technology, SLO/AUO Implementation Team and Research worked on this system. Nuventive
Is a leading provider of comprehensive, integrated real-time solutions that enable its customers to support the continuous process of assessing, managing and improving learning. Nuventive customers are institutions, faculty, administrators, students and private sector users in 20+ countries.
Kate Scott, Mt. San Antonio College
Scott Johnson, Nuventive
Strand: Cross-Discipline
archive not available
Evaluating a Non-Randomized Trial: A Case Study of a Polot to Increase Pre-Collegiate Math Course Success Rates
De Anza College’s Math Department is conducting a pilot to increase the success rates for students in developmental math courses involving three assessment components. To provide timely information to students, instructors and counselors on student needs and classroom effort, the EnableMath software provides instructors and students weekly updates on progress students are making in homework mastery; the Noel Levitz’s College Student Inventory (CSI) provides students and counselors information on student attitudes, needs and goals; the end of class survey provides instructors feedback on student satisfaction with the program. Hear results from two years of implementation.
Andrew LaManque, De Anza College
Strand: Math, Basic Skills
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Using “The Emperor’s New Clothes” as a Critical Thinking Exercise
Can one piece of literature used in four educational segments really be used to teach critical thinking? This presentation is a result of three years of work to develop continuity of curriculum throughout the segments in critical thinking. Learn how this process can work to align this critical skill across the segments and in your classroom.
Leanne Maunu, Palomar College
Denise Crienjak, CSU San Marcos
Martha Stoddard-Holmes, CSU San Marcos
Sue Zolliker, Palomar College
Beth McNalley, Mission Hills High School
Jayne Braman, Palomar College and CSU San Marcos
Strand: Cal-PASS, English
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Using CCSSE Data to Strengthen Student Success in California Community Colleges
In Spring 2007, sixteen California community colleges participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for the purpose of using CCSSE results to improve practices, programs, and policies related to student engagement, learning, and retention. This highly interactive session will highlight the CCSSE 2007 cohort and the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement cohort national results, with a special focus on results from California community college. The session focus includes the many ways in which California community colleges can use CCSSE and CCFSSE data to strengthen student success.
Kay McClenney, Director, CCSSE, (Moderator)
Pamela Mery, City College of San Francisco
Kimberly Coutts, Mira Costa College
Barbara McNeice-Stallards, Mt. San Antonio College
Strand: Student Services
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Reading Between the Lives: Students’ Experiences in Reading
An English instructor and four students at Chabot College created the video, Reading Between the Lives. In this video students talk candidly about their backgrounds as readers, their struggles, their perceptions of instructors, and their view of themselves as learners. The movie challenges teachers across the curriculum to find new ways to engage this struggle and provide more guidance to students than simply saying, “Read chapter 2.” The video is an effective tool for faculty and students to open the campus conversation and directly address issues of literacy.
Sean McFarland, Chabot College
Andrew Pierson, Chabot College
Students from Chabot College: Christina Watson, Megan Justus,
Monique Williams
Strand: Basic Skills, English, Social Sciences, Cross-Discipline
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Sustainability for Student Learning Outcomes Assessment – Beyond the First Step
While some colleges have trouble getting started, some experience a different kind of problem. Despite having made good starts, or even great strides, they lose momentum or a turn of events may even undo progress. Some efforts remain isolated and are seen as some particular individual’s/group’s work, unconnected to the rest of the college. What are the sustainability issues lurking in the wings? How can they be avoided? How do we put connected processes in place that move the college toward actual, meaningful use of assessment for improvement in student outcomes? Join our panelists in a conversation about sustaining the effort.
Janet Fulks, Bakersfield College
Marcy Analcraig, Cabrillo College
Linda Umbdenstock, Long Beach City College
Robert Johnstone, Foothill College
Strand: General Education, Student Learning Outcomes
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Two Studies on the Role of Financial Aid Promoting Student Success
MDRC reports on findings from a performance-based scholarship program in Louisiana where students are offered a $1,000 scholarship for each of two semesters if they stay enrolled at least half-time, and they earn at least a “C” or better grade point average. Presenters will also describe efforts being made to replicate and study the program in other locations. The second presentation reports on findings from a statewide community college financial aid survey examining the effect of financial aid office characteristics on the enrollment, retention, and success of financial aid students. Policy implications will be discussed.
Tom Brock, MDRC
Michael MacCallum, Long Beach City College
Strand: Student Services
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Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? Using Student Surveys to Assess and Improve Literature Courses
Faculty in English at Riverside Community College began the task of assessing literature courses using a small self-study survey for students. The surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the semester and were designed to measure students’ self-perception of their writing and analytical abilities as well as their content-based knowledge; the specific questions were drawn from Student Learning Outcomes common to all literature courses. This presentation will share methods, results, analysis, as well as future projects and suggested changes in outcomes and teaching practices that resulted both from the study and the faculty discussion surrounding it.
Kelly Douglass, Riverside Community College
Strand: English
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Understanding Students’ Behavior and Perception of the Learning Experience
Understanding our students’ “inner characteristics” benefits not only us but also them as they are made aware of how they can be used to help enhance their performance. This session will present several different ways to gain insight into student characteristics, needs, and expectations. Included will be discussions on learning styles, grading practices, student self-descriptions of learning, and engagement and self-reliance.
Alex Amigo, Sierra College
Sheela Free, San Bernardino Valley College
Katherine McLain, Cosumnes River College
Jennifer Molina-Stidger, Sierra College
Jeanne Edman, Cosumnes River College
Marybeth Buechner, Cocumnes River College
Strand: Sciences, Basic Skills, Cross-Discipline, Student Services, English
archive not available
General Education Assessment Buffet: Methods the Work
Assessing General Education is a challenge: there are so many options for assessment that range across the entire curriculum. What works best for one college is an anathema to another. Three colleges with very different approaches explain the techniques they’ve developed and how they fit their college’s culture.
Brian Thiebaux, Palo Verde College
Nancy Ybarra, Los Medanos
Cindy McGrath, Los Medanos
KC Greaney, Santa Rosa Junior College
Strand: General Education
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Informed Placement Report (IPR): Innovations Supporting Student Success in the Sciences
Ever wondered how students ended up in your classroom without the prerequisite skills they needed to succeed? Come and hear how a Sciences Professional Learning Council is providing meaningful information to the counseling staff at their respective schools using Cal-PASS data and a reporting device called “Informed Placement Report.”
Steve Rodecker, Sweetwater Union High School District
Stephanie Cruz, Sweetwater Union High School District
Strand: Cal-PASS, Sciences, Student Services
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Reports on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Comparing SLOs and Performance Measures in Online and On-Campus Instruction
Are online and on-site instruction truly equivalent? This session by the @ONE Scholars Program presents the empirical experiences of two community college faculty who conducted research on identical online and face-to-face courses. You will learn about the two studies, discover when online and on-site instruction are most comparable, explore the gap between SLO attainment and raw performance scores, and discuss implications for teaching.
Behzad Izadi,Cypress College
Roy Mason, Mt. San Jacinto College
Kathy Booth, @ONE Scholars Program
Darla Cooper, Santa Barbara City College
Michelle Barton, Palomar College
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Tools for Understanding Complex Text: Reading Apprenticeship
Reading Apprenticeship (RA) makes visible the complex invisible processes of reading and provides students with literacy tools to become independent, strategic readers. Merced College has implemented Reading Apprenticeship training for its Supplemental Instruction (SI) leaders. This has proven to be a natural connection in that SI and RA share common goals: collaborative learning, making learning visible, and creating independent learners. The success of this training has led the college to explore different avenues for RA campus-wide, including tutor training and faculty development.
Jennifer McBride, Merced College
Jane Braunger, West Ed/Strategic Literacy Initiative
Strand: Basic Skills
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Learner-Centered Environments in Science Courses
Providing opportunities for students to come together and work as groups enhances their learning and increases their continued success. This session will explore the advantages gained by students that lead other students in a Peer-Led-Team-Learning (PLTL) Program and by students who participate in a multi-year learning community supported by peer mentors, student services specialists, faculty and counselors.
Elena Pravosudova, Sierra College
Florence (Nini) Cardoza, Sierra College
Terri Maddux, Sierra College
Strand: Sciences, Cross-Discipline
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Teaching Outside the Box: An Integrated Approach to Equity and Diversity
Explore the challenges educators face and strategies for working with students who represent various language and cultural groups, may be the first generation to attend college or be returning to college, or may be under-prepared for our courses. Varying our teaching strategies can help energize students and improve learning: Using PowerPoint (and its mistakes), collaborative learning/group work (both with people and via technology), tools for getting students active, adding internet, when to lecture (and not to). We will also provide evidence of how strategies have had an impact on student learning and have attendees share their effective strategies.
Phillip Maynard, Mt. San Antonio College
Jane Patton, Mission College
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Math Faculty as Ethnographers: Learning from Students’ Math Histories
Student success rates for Beginning Algebra (first course in Algebra) is alarmingly low, not only at Long Beach City College, but across the state. Math faculty and researchers at Long Beach City College describe how engaging in math history interviews with individual students shifted the focus from a student deficit model (i.e. student under preparedness) to a focus on faculty and institutional practices to address low achievement in this gatekeeper course. By becoming researcher-practitioners, the math faculty were able to gain insight on how students learn and experience math, therefore, rethink and revise their practices leading to improvement in student outcomes in math.
Hannah Alford, Long Beach City College
Linda Bell, Long Beach City College
Kristin Hartford, Long Beach City College
Strand: Math
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Maximizing Student Learning Through Real-Time Assessment
Formative assessment during class time helps faculty make sure that students are on track in their conceptual understanding. Modern wireless technology allows interactive and student-friendly ways to achieve this, and, at the same time, create a positive and active learning environment that includes even the most passive students. Come join the fun by participating in the process!
Amelito Enriquez, Canada College
Jennifer Molina-Stidger, Sierra College
Charles Iverson, Canada College
Strand: Math, Sciences, Social Sciences, Cross-Discipline
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Friday, October 5th
Assessing Developmental English
Skyline College developed Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for all English courses in an effort to foster consistency in course expectations, enable instructors to assess student reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, establish a dialogue between instructors within a framework of student learning, and make instructor expectations transparent for students. Having piloted a plan to assess SLOs for our developmental-level English class, we will share both the difficulties and successes for improving teaching and learning through assessment, and integrating assessment into our daily classroom practices. We will share our data, provide our assessment plan, essay rubric, and student survey, and welcome your problem-solving insights.
Ariel Vigo, Skyline College
Lucia Lachmayr, Skyline College
Karen Wong, Skyline College
Strand: English, Basic Skills
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Faculty Use of Cal-PASS Research to Illuminate Practice
Data can drive decision making at the Faculty level. Sounds BORING! No – this presentation focuses on how faculty in Cal-PASS Professional Learning Communities are using information about their students who transition from segment to segment to improve student outcomes. It will include updates on current research at Cal-PASS and how this research has been used by faculty relevant to language arts, math, science, and counseling, thus EMPOWERING faculty to make informed decisions about their students.
Terrence Willett, Cal-PASS
Nathan Pellegrin, Cal-PASS
Strand: Cal-PASS
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Alchemy @CSM: Turning a Basic Skills Initiative into Institutional Student Learning Outcomes Assessment through WAC and ePortfolios
In an ongoing effort to integrate learning across the curriculum, and prompted by the needs of below-college-level writers enrolled in transfer-level discipline classes, College of San Mateo faculty launched a pilot Writing Across the Curriculum project. This project used student ePortfolios to assess the work of students in the writing-intensive discipline classes. By framing the assessment within CSM’s institutional student learning outcomes, faculty began to see those outcomes as a valuable element in a process of academic renewal. We are offering an alchemic model, though small in scale, of genuine teaching initiatives transmuting into meaningful institutional assessment.
Jean Mach, College of San Mateo
Cheryl Gregory, College of San Mateo
David Danielson, College of San Mateo
Strand: Basic Skills
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Exploding the Paradigm for “Basic Skills Instruction:” Changing a Campus Culture
What can faculty learn from examining their own classrooms, and those of their colleagues? English and Social Science faculty at Chabot College have created a faculty inquiry group to look for ways to engage under-prepared students-whether they are in basic skills classes or in college-level classes that do not have pre-requisites. An English teacher found that many unsuccessful students had received passing grades on assessment of their analytic reading, reasoning, and writing. She concluded that the problem was not ability, but sustainability. Participating faculty will share the process of the faculty inquiry group and what they are learning.
Tom DeWit, Chabot College
Katie Hern, Chabot College
Michael Thompson, Chabot College
Jane Wolford, Chabot College
Strand: Basic Skills, English, Social Sciences, Cross-Discipline
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When Technology Makes a Difference: Studying the Impact of Interactive Learning Technologies on Student Performance
This session presented by the @ONE Scholars Program will report on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Technology has the potential to enliven instruction, animate material, and shift the focus of a course from instructor to student. But how effective is it in enhancing student performance? This session explores the research of two California Community College faculty who studied the impact of technology-based learning tools on test scores, highlights where technology made the biggest difference for student learning, and outlines implications for teaching.
Bill Doherty, Evergreen Valley College
Cynthia McGregor, Southwestern College
Amelito Enriquez, Canada College
Kathy Booth, @ONE Scholars Program
Darla Cooper, Santa Barbara City College
Michelle Barton, Palomar College
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Work it Backwards!
This presentation focuses on designing backwards from program-level student learning outcomes in the context of a Developmental Math Program and looks at how teaching to what we value (e.g. problem-solving, communication, use of multiple representations, quantitative literacy, and meta cognitive skills) changes the types of math problems and class activities we use at Los Medanos College. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to analyze examples of course outlines, exams, class activities, and student work with an eye on how the alignment with program-level learning outcomes fosters achievement of these broader skills and abilities.
Myra Snell, Los Medanos
Strand: Basic Skills, Math
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Early Reflections on Implementing a Rubric Based Institutional Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Paradigm
Foothill has completed two years of a 4-year phasing in of a rubric assessment model for our institutional SLOs - which we call the 4-C’s. Our first rubric was developed for Critical Thinking in 2005-06, with implementation completed in the 2006-07 school year on 100-150 artifacts of student work. This session will provide reflections on the process of developing the rubric; a description of one possible infrastructure developed to handle obtaining the artifacts and scoring them and data analysis and insight derived from the first implementation cycle.
Robert Johnstone, Foothill College
Rosemary Arca, Foothill College
Strand: General Education, Student Learning Outcomes
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DIAL: A Model for Program Assessment
Two faculty members from Cochise College in Arizona will share their institution’s model of cyclical program assessment called DIAL: Design, Implement, Analyze, Launch. The session will include a video presentation, handouts, and a hands-on activity.
Stacie Munger, Cochise College, AZ
Eric Mapp, Cochise College, AZ
Strand: Cross-Discipline
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Transforming a College Culture to Embrace Student Success Through Learning Communities
“It’s a long and winding road….” This session will present the journey that one community college has taken in order to increase success for students entering college with academic challenges. An assessment model was employed which led to the development of learning communities that bridges student services with instruction. Specific, hands-on strategies will be shared that include instructional strategies and student development. The initial focus was on addressing entering students’ basic skills limitations. In search of improving student learning outcomes, faculty have embraced this model and have worked to expand it to various disciplines, including math, English and pre-nursing.
Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Mt. San Antonio College
Raul Rodriquez, Mt. San Antonio College
Tom Mauch, Mt. San Antonio College
Matt Munro, Mt. San Antonio College
Patricia Maestro, Mt. San Antonio College
Strand: Cross-Discipline, Student Services
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Moving Toward Alignment: One Region’s Experiences and Insights
Freshman English in community college and in the university are supposed to be aligned. That is NOT always the case and students are affected by the lack of alignment. English faculty from the community colleges and the university have been working for two years on creating aligned shared expectations of their students no matter what institution they attend.
Ryan Griffith, Grossmont College
Micah Jendian, Grossmont College
Strand: Cal-PASS, English
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Recognizing the Strengths and Needs of Traditionally Underrepresented Students in the SSPIRE Initiative
Many community colleges have emerged as highly diverse post secondary institutions that enroll a growing number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. As part of the Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) initiative, nine community college campuses are focusing efforts on integrating student services with instruction in order to increase the achievement and retention rates of developmental level students from these underrepresented groups. Panelists from three participating SSPIRE campuses will discuss the opportunities and challenges of exploring new ways to respond to the academic, financial and cultural needs and attributes of their students.
Oscar Cerna, MDRC (Moderator)
Susan Flatt, Merced College
Ruben Arreola, Taft College
Victoria Hindes, Victor Valley College
Strand: Student Services
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Reading and Writing in the Mathematics Classroom
Mathematics faculty frequently observe that students struggle with word problems and rarely read the textbook. How much of the obstacle is literacy and how much is mathematics? At College of the Desert, a math teacher had students outline a chapter and realized that they didn't know how to read their math textbook. At Pasadena City College, a teacher has students rewrite word problems in their own words and read each others’ interpretations before they rewrite them in mathematical terms. These two faculty will present how they strengthen literacy to strengthen student mathematics performance.
Lynn Wright, Pasadena City College
Laura Graff, College of the Desert
Yu-Chung Chang, Pasadena City College
Dustin Calhan, College of the Desert
Strand: Basic Skills, Math, English
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Student Learning Outcomes Program Outcomes Buffet
What is the best way to assess program student learning outcomes? Are there differences in horizontal programs with little or no prerequisites versus vertical programs composed of a sequence of courses? Are there any key differences to consider in designing assessments for vocational programs compared to transfer or basic skills? Skyline College will share its assessment process and results from its Cosmetology program while College of the Canyons will share the work done by its Economics program. Cosumnes will discuss program outcomes for its transfer Biology students.
Marybeth Buechner, Cosumnes River College
Regina Pelaya, Skyline College
Lea Templer, College of the Canyons
Strand: Student Learning Outcomes
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Thinking Differently About the Costs and Benefits of Non-Traditional Developmental Education Programs
Research and experience clearly show that the way we currently do developmental education – “one instructor, one classroom, primarily lectures with a limited suite of support services” is ineffective, particularly for underserved populations. Alternate approaches frequently improve student success, but the most common excuse for not implementing such programs widely is perceived cost. The Basic Skills Initiative report describes a promising perspective that focuses on incremental revenue generated from increased FTES associated with great student success. Colleges can apply this modeling to to real-world programs. Join a rousing discussion of the tool itself, the societal economic payback angle, and the theory behind the approach.
Robert Johnston, Foothill College
Strand: Basic Skills
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Documenting Student Learning Outcomes Evidence
A panel will compare various methods and strategies for tracking progress and documenting evidence based on their experience. Coordinators have expressed concern not only about how to do this but how the process was arrived at and fits the college culture. Panelists will address such questions as: how does the college come to its decision; how did its approach to tracking and documentation evolve; how is it embedded in college routines; how does it affect participants’ apprehensions about and enthusiasm for student learning outcomes; how does it affect the seriousness by which the participants and the college deal with student learning?
Tina Inzerilla, Las Positas College
Kate Scott, Mt. San Antonio College
Linda Umbdenstock, Long Beach City College
Strand: Student Learning Outcomes
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