Annual Program Review Update
*Be sure to include information from all three campuses.
Program/Discipline: Marine Science Technology (MST)_
Date:
9/17/07______
Trends and Relevant Data
1. Has there been any change in the status of your program or area? (Have you
shifted departments? Have new degrees or certificates been created by your
program? Have you added or deleted courses? Have activities in other programs
impacted your area or program? For example, a new nursing program could
cause greater demand for life-science courses.) If not, skip to #2.
Note: curricular changes should be addressed under 12-14.
No.
2. Have there been any significant changes in enrollment, retention, success rates, or
student demographics that impact your discipline? If so, please include data
sheets (Excel or Word format) showing these changes.
The Marine Science Technology Program is a multi-disciplinary program that
includes required core courses from the fields of biology, oceanography, and
computer science. In addition, MST students are required to complete several
other courses from a list of courses in disciplines that range from biology and
computer science to chemistry, environmental science, geography, geology,
math, meteorology, and physics.
Many students that are in the MST Program have listed their major as
university studies or transfer studies. All of the courses in this program are also
open to students not enrolled specifically in the MST Program. As a result of all
of these complicating factors, it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) at this
time to obtain data on enrollment, retention, or success rates of students in this
program.
3. Occupational programs must review the update of their labor-market data, some
of it provided by Institutional Research, to illustrate that their program:
a. Meets a documented labor market demand,
The MST Program is both a vocational and an academic program. Some
students complete the Program and earn jobs in a variety of different
occupations. Other students complete the Program and then transfer to private
or state colleges or universities for upper division studies in related fields.
Marine Science Technician is not listed as an occupation in most labor-market
surveys, and most students earn jobs as biological technicians, fishery
technicians, or in other related fields. For these reasons is impossible to
document that this program meets a labor market demand. On the other hand,
it has been my experience that all of our MST graduates either secure jobs in
this field upon graduation, or transfer to upper division institutions.
b. Does not represent duplication of other training programs (in the region), and
There are no other training programs in this region that duplicate the training provided
by this program.
c. Is of demonstrated effectiveness as measured by the employment and
completion success of its students.
Although employment success data is only anecdotal, I know that I regularly
receive more job announcements and direct requests for graduates to fill job
openings than I can fill with the number of students graduating from this
program.
Other Resources
4. Do you have needs (professional development, library resources, and so forth) not
previously required by the discipline or not previously addressed in budget or
equipment considerations? Please describe.
Travel funds and professional development opportunities have been available
for faculty in the past. To date, these needs have been sufficiently addressed.
5. Does your discipline need additional support from Student Services beyond that
previously provided?
The Marine Science Technology Program is only offered at the Mendocino Coast
Campus. Tutorial support for students in this discipline has been erratic.
Sufficient support is present during some semesters, but no student tutors at all
are available during other semesters. Library resource materials at this campus
are sufficient for the core courses in this program.
Human Resource Needs
6. Complete the Faculty Employment Grids below (please list full- and part-time
faculty numbers in separate rows):
One full-time faculty member coordinates and teaches most of the core
requirements for this discipline at the Mendocino Coast Campus. The difficulties
associated with documenting the load distribution for a multi-disciplinary
program such as this are addressed in the Trends and Relevant Data section (#2)
of this report.
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Total
% of Total
% of Total
Changes from
Explanations and
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Teaching
Load for fall
2006 term
Teaching
Load by FullTime Faculty
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
fall 2005
Additional
Information (e.g.,
retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
Changes from
spring 2006
Explanations and
Additional
Information (e.g.,
retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Total
Teaching
Load for
spring 2007
term
% of Total
Teaching
Load by FullTime Faculty
% of Total
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
Do you need more full-time faculty? Associate faculty? If yes, explain why and
be sure to include data sheets justifying the need.
No additional needs for faculty are anticipated at this time.
7. Complete the Staff Employment Grid below (please list full- and part-time staff
numbers in separate rows:
Staff Employed in the Program
Full-time
Part-time staff
Assignment
(classified) staff
(e.g., Math,
English)
(give number)
(1 – part-time
Mendocino – 1
part-time science
lab technician for
all science courses.
science lab
technician for the
Mendocino
campus give
number)
Gains over
Prior Year
None
Losses over
Prior Year (give
reason:
retirement,
reassignment,
health, etc.)
1 full-time
science lab
technician
retired in
S2007; replaced
by a part-time
technician this
semester
Do you need more full-time staff? Part-time staff? If yes, explain why and be sure
to include data sheets justifying the need.
Current staffing is inadequate for this discipline. CRMC’s full-time science
technician retired at the end of spring 2007. A part-time replacement position of
12 hours/week has been approved for this semester only, and those few hours are
inadequate to meet the needs of all of the marine science course offerings this
semester. If a full-time position is not approved for next semester, CRMC will be
hard-pressed to continue offering the full spectrum of marine science courses
that we have in the past.
8. If necessary, to clarify your needs, please comment on current available staff and
distribution of FTE's for contract and part-time faculty. Describe strengths and
weaknesses of faculty/staff as appropriate to program's current status or future
development.
See discussion in previous comments.
Facilities
9. Comment on facilities the program uses, their current adequacy, and any
immediate needs. Have your discipline’s facilities needs changed? If so, how?
Please provide a data-based justification for any request that requires new or
additional facilities construction, renovation, remodeling or repairs.
The facilities at the Mendocino campus are out-dated and none are ADA
compliant. The seats are too crowded together for students to pass safely among
the isles. The laboratory classrooms do not have a safe place for students to
store their backpacks, so the aisles are crowded. Not all of the labs have sinks at
the benches, which limits which courses we can offer. There is insufficient table
space for students to work with marine charts in our existing labs. At this time
most map/chart work is accomplished with students sprawled across the floor.
The ventilation systems are inadequate to exhaust formalin and other noxious
fumes. These are all items that could be covered with the funds from Measure Q.
The science faculty sat down with CR staff and architects to design modern labs.
Those plans were scrapped due to seismic concerns at the Eureka campus. No
further input has been solicited from science faculty regarding any new
construction.
Equipment
10. Have your discipline’s equipment needs changed? If so, how? Is equipment in
need of repair outside of your current budget? Please provide a data-based
justification for any request that requires a new or additional budget allotment.
Equipment needs have been constant at the Mendocino campus. Our
department budgets, National Weather Service compensation for weather
observations at the Mendocino campus, and Partnership for Learning
Excellence grants have helped to maintain these needs. The suspension of the
PLE program and the removal of the NWS weather station at the Mendocino
campus will eventually impact this discipline as equipment wears out.
Learning Outcomes Assessment Update
11. How has your area or program been engaged in student learning outcomes
assessment?
a.
Summarize your results.
Desired student learning outcomes have been identified this past year as part of
the revision of course outlines last semester. No additional assessment has been
undertaken beyond that which already took place in the classroom (e.g. papers,
tests, concept tests). During the lecture component of class, instructors actively
assess student learning using concept tests, small group exercises, and question
and answer. Examinations, laboratory exercises, and field reports allow
students to demonstrate their retention and comprehension.
b.
What did your program learn from these results that enabled you to
improve teaching and learning in the discipline?
The use of a variety of concept tests has allowed for clarification of concepts not
as well understood by the students and helped the department make small
content and time allotment changes accordingly.
c.
How have part-time faculty been made aware of the need to assess SLOs?
N/A
Curriculum Update
(Reminder: Send updated course outlines to the Curriculum Committee.)
12. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives undertaken
in the last year.
All of the core course requirements for the MST Program have had their course
outlines recently revised to include new student learning outcomes and
assessment tasks.
13. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives planned for
the next year.
Will continue to implement new student learning outcomes assessment.
14. Complete the grid below
Data included below only address the core course requirements for the MST Program.
Course
BIOL 1
BIOL 15
BIOL 24
BIOL 25
CIS 1/1L
OC 10
OC 11
OC12
Year Course Outline
Last Updated
1989
2007
2007
2007
2006
2007
2007
2007
Year Next Update
Expected
2007
2012
2012
2012
2011
2012
2012
2012
Goals and Plans
15. If you have recently undergone a comprehensive review, attach your Quality
Improvement Plan if applicable.
Not applicable to the oceanography discipline.
16. If you do not have a QIP, what goals and plans does your area have for the
coming year?
a. Develop a student learning outcomes assessment plan (and methods) to assess
the outcomes present in each of the course outlines updated last semester.
b. Continue to assess enrollment trends.