Annual Program Review Update
*Be sure to include information from all three campuses.
Program/Discipline:
Date:
_____ECONOMICS____________
_____Fall 2007__________________
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.
College of the Redwoods’ ability to supply Economics courses has been drastically
reduced over the last several years. We routinely used to offer 6 sections of Economics
classes per semester. Now we are only able to offer 2, a reduction of approximately 66%.
The principal reasons for this reduction in offerings are:
•
•
•
Retirement of 2 Full-Time faculty without replacement in 2005 and 2002. There
are currently no FT Economics faculty.
Lack of PT faculty who meet Minimum Qualifications and limitations on the
teaching load our Minimally Qualified PT faculty can carry.
Loss of one of our PT faculty in Spring 2007 semester.
At the same time, demand for Economics courses has been growing strongly over the last
several years and is expected to continue to grow in the future.
•
•
•
Enrollment in Business 10, the first course in the Business certificates and
degrees, has grown by 138% since Fall 2002. Economics 1 and Economics 10 are
required courses for Business degrees and are typically taken after Business 10.
Based on a survey of student intentions (see Appendix E), we expect 179 of the
269 Fall 2007 Business 10 students to participate in a Business degree program or
certificate.
All of these 179 will need to take Econ 1 and 143 of those 179 (who plan to take
the Business AS degree) will also need to take Econ 10. We will need to offer at
least 4 sections of Econ 1 and 3 sections of Econ 10 per semester just to serve
these students, let alone any General Education students.
1/25
•
•
College of the Redwoods has added a Virtual Enterprise through our Center for
Entrepreneurial Studies. This simulated business represents an innovative
approach to teaching students how to apply what they’ve learned in the
classroom. We believe this program will attract a significant number of students
to CR’s business program as it comes online in Fall 2008. (A detailed description
of the CES and VE can be found in the Business department comprehensive
review.)
The Economic Fuel Student Business Plan competition has been created. We can
expect this to be a continuing source of growth for Economics classes as it
becomes more widely known.
Summary: Over the last several years, CR’s inability to offer additional economics
courses has become a bottleneck for the rapidly growing Business program and has
limited the ability to CR students to fully exploit the exceptional opportunities available
to them through the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Virtual Enterprise and Economic
Fuel competition.
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.
Our three classes are aimed at different audiences, involving different levels of general
education interest and rigor. Because of this, and because we have shifted the
composition of our offerings, the data must be broken down by course for proper
analysis.
In addition, faculty assignments have shifted, so in some cases, it makes sense to keep
track of how that affects the data.
ECON 1 (Macroeconomics): This class is traditionally taken by both General Education
students and Business students. Since Spring 2005, the class has been made more
rigorous.
•
•
•
•
•
The proportion of sections taught during the summer has risen from 1/7th to 1/4th.
These summer sections have lower census and section fill, but higher retention
and success rates.
Average class size for non-summer sections has increased from 28 in Spring 2005
to 37 in Spring 2007 to 47 (census) in Fall 2007. Non-summer section fill has
increased to 94% even as the class has been made more rigorous.
The number of non-summer sections offered has been slashed by 80% from 5 in
Spring 2005 to 1 in Fall 2007. But total enrollment has fallen by only 66%.
Thus decreasing total enrollment has been driven by strict TLU budgets, not by
lack of student demand or overall CR enrollments.
Success rates for non-summer sections have risen from approximately 64% to
78%. Success rates for summer sections have remained constant at 100%.
2/25
•
The output of effective teaching (average class size * success rate) for our nonsummer sessions has risen from 21 successful student outcomes per section to 28
successful student outcomes per section.
ECON 10 (Microeconomics): This class is traditionally more appealing to Businessfocused students than to the General Education students. Traditionally, we have offered
only one section of this per semester, with no summer sessions. This class experienced
significant changes in Spring 2007. A new instructor was assigned and the class was
made more rigorous, to better prepare these business-focused students for potential
upper-division economics and business classes post-transfer. Since Spring 2005,
•
•
•
Enrollment fell from 29 in Spring 2005 to a low point of 16 in Fall 2006. Since
then, the class and enrollment have started to recover, growing to 26 in Spring
2007 and 27 (census) in Fall 2007 even as rigor was increased.
Retention rates declined slightly from 94% to 89% with the increased rigor.
Success rates for this class have also declined somewhat, from approximately
78% to 73%.
The output of effective teaching (average class size * success rate) fell from 25
successful student outcomes per section in Fall 2005 to a low of 12 in Fall 2006,
then partially recovered to 21 in Spring 2006.
3/25
ECON 20 (Economic History of the United States): This class meets General Education
requirements at CR, but does not qualify as an elective for Business students.
Traditionally, we have only offered one section per semester, with no summer sessions.
In the Spring 2007 this class was assigned to a new part-time instructor, who has since
left to pursue other opportunities. We view the data produced by this instructor as highly
atypical.
•
•
•
Typically, enrollment and average class size have been 42-49, with section fill
being 84% to 98%.
Success rates have averaged 65% and the output of effective teaching has been
around 29 successful student outcomes per section.
For the atypical Spring 2007 semester under the now-departed part-time
instructor, enrollment was 21, section fill was 53%, but the success rate rose to
100%, giving successful student outcomes per section also 21.
4/25
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,
b. Does not represent duplication of other training programs (in the region), and
c. Is of demonstrated effectiveness as measured by the employment and
completion success of its students.
The Economics discipline does not have a terminal degree or certificate, so the exact
labor market outcomes for our students are difficult to track. But sectors drawing on the
skills that students learn in Economics classes are growing quickly. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics (www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.t01.htm) estimates that employment in the
“Professional and Business services” and “Finance” sectors will grow by 27.8% and
10.5% respectively between 2004 and 2014.
In addition, the National Association of Colleges and Employers salary survey
(www.naceweb.org) consistently places Economics majors as the most highly paid nontechnical graduates (average starting salary approximately $47,000). Related
quantitative-analytical fields such as Finance and Accounting also score very highly,
showing that employers are willing to pay good money instead of just lip service for
these skills.
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.
The Center for Teaching Excellence, Information Sciences Division, Student Learning
Center, and Virtual Enterprise all combine to offer us excellent support and
infrastructure.
5. Does your discipline need additional support from Student Services beyond that
previously provided?
We find ourselves well-supported by Counseling and Student Services. However, our
classes tend to involve some mathematical skills that are a bit rusty for some students.
5/25
We believe we can make dramatic progress in successful learning outcomes with just a
few hours per week of SLS-funded tutoring from students who’ve successfully completed
the course before.
Human Resource Needs
6. Complete the Faculty Employment Grids below (please list full- and part-time faculty
numbers in separate rows):
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Total Teaching % of Total
Load for fall Teaching Load
by Full-Time
2006 term
Faculty
Economics 9 TLUs
0%
% of Total
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
Changes from
fall 2005
Explanations and
Additional Information
(e.g., retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
100%
60% cut in Lack of qualified
TLUs (from faculty due to
22.5 to 9)
retirement of FT
faculty (2005S)
without
replacement
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Total Teaching % of Total
Load for
Teaching Load
spring 2007 by Full-Time
Faculty
term
Economics 18 TLUs
25%
% of Total
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
Changes from
spring 2006
75%
33% cut in Reduction in TLUs
TLUs (from not as severe due to
27 to 18)
borrowing FT
faculty from other
6/25
Explanations and
Additional Information
(e.g., retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
disciplines,
additional
recruitment of PT
faculty.
Do you need more full-time faculty? Associate faculty? If yes, explain why and be sure to
include data sheets justifying the need.
We need more full-time faculty. We currently have no full-time economics faculty.
We only have 1 part-time faculty member, though we are assisted by 1 full-time faculty
in the Humanities and Communications division (History), who occasionally offers 1
section of Economics 1 at the Del Norte campus.
•
•
•
•
•
At the beginning of the semester, our sections of Economics 1 are usually nearly
full or full with a wait-list. We are unable to offer additional sections due to lack
of qualified faculty and so must turn students away who would otherwise be able
to take Economics 1, a required course in the Business degrees and certificates.
We are often unable to offer Economics 20 due to lack of qualified faculty.
We have no ability to attract additional students to CR by offering on-line classes
because all our faculty resources are committed to maintaining our bare minimum
of traditional classes.
Our ability to fulfill our curriculum, program review, etc responsibilities is
endangered by the instability and lack of continuity that comes from having no
full-time faculty.
We have been unable to recruit additional PT faculty who meet minimum
qualifications.
7/25
7. Complete the Staff Employment Grid below (please list full- and part-time staff
numbers in separate rows:
Staff Employed in the Program
Assignment (e.g., Full-time
Part-time staff
Math, English) (classified) staff (give number)
(give number)
Business &
Technology
Division
1
0
Gains over Prior Losses over Prior
Year
Year (give
reason:
retirement,
reassignment,
health, etc.)
+1
Do you need more full-time staff? Part-time staff? If yes, explain why and be sure to
include data sheets justifying the need.
Our current level of staff support is adequate.
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.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Currently, the economics faculty consists of 1 part-time faculty member, who
carries approximately 90% the FTES load. Approximately 10% of our FTES load
is carried by faculty borrowed from Humanities and Communications, History
department.
Our lack of qualified faculty, both full and part time, severely impairs our ability
to serve the needs of CR students in their general education needs.
Our lack of human resources also impairs our ability to serve the needs of the
Business degrees and certificates. Econ 1 and Econ 10 are required core classes
for these fast-growing programs.
Our lack of qualified faculty, both full and part time, leaves us unable to offer online classes. We thus miss a significant growth opportunity for CR’s enrollment.
Our ability to sustain the long-term development, administration, and curricular
compliance of the economics discipline is doubtful without at least full-time
faculty for a stable core.
Our ability to recruit sufficient part-time faculty is hampered by our lack of fulltime faculty to task with that responsibility.
8/25
Based on the results of the Student Intentions survey conducted in the Business 10,
we need to be able to supply 31.5 TLUs of instruction per semester just to meet the
needs of the expected Business program enrollees. We could meet this level of
supply with 1 FT and 1 PT faculty.
To be able to offer 1 section per semester of Econ 1 and Econ 20 for General
Education students not enrolled in the Business program, we would need to be able
to supply a total 40.5 TLUs of instruction per semester. To meet this level of supply,
we would need 1 FT and 2 PT faculty.
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 economics department has access to excellent computer facilities in the Information
Sciences computer lab and Virtual Enterprise.
Our lecture and classroom facilities are adequate at the present time.
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.
Our equipment needs have not changed and are being met within the current Information
Sciences / Business and Technology budget.
When resources allow, and in conjunction with other departments and appropriate
campus technology providers, we are interested in exploring classroom response systems
(“clickers”) to enhance classroom interactivity and improve learning outcomes.
In addition, when resources allow, there are software packages (such as ESPlanner)
which allow students to experience sophisticated economic simulations without advanced
mathematical skills.
Learning Outcomes Assessment Update
11. How has your area or program been engaged in student learning outcomes
assessment?
a.
Summarize your results.
9/25
The Economics discipline does not have a capstone course or terminal point. Our student
learning outcomes are focused on either the promotion of General Education goals or
supporting the Learning Outcomes of the Business program.
a1) General Education. All 3 of our course offerings meet the General Education
Program Outcomes in the following ways:
Effective Communication:
•
Students in Econ 1 and Econ 10 are tested on their comprehension of textbook readings, which are
written by scholars of international reputation based at Harvard and Princeton respectively for use
by students at those institutions. On their problem sets, they are tested on their ability to read and
create graphs that communicate complex ideas such as equilibrium and comparative statics.
•
Students in Econ 20 take exams which feature paragraph and essay-length questions, which
require clear and concise writing under time pressure. They also write a term paper, which is
assessed for college-level written communication skills.
Critical Thinking:
•
Students in Econ 1 and 10 are assessed via problem sets and quizzes on their comprehension of
analytic concepts such as cost-benefit analysis, marginal analysis, opportunity cost, the application
of the scientific method to the social sciences and role of theoretical models in the scientific
method.
•
Students in Econ 20 are assessed via both their exams and their term paper on their ability to
extract relevant data from reference sources, transform raw data into usable information where
necessary, and use that information to assess whether a given thesis is supported by the
information gathered.
Global/Cultural Context:
•
Students in Econ 1 and Econ 10 are assessed via problem sets and quizzes on their comprehension
of the principle that different choices can be supported by reference to different values, goals, or
preferences. They learn that economic rationality consists of an individual’s purposeful pursuit of
a goal, and goals will vary widely across individuals, cultures, and times. They learn how to
understand how a particular public policy may be desirable from some perspectives, but not from
others.
•
Students in Econ 20 are assessed via their exams and their term papers on their comprehension of
historical social institutions and the role of those institutions in shaping both the behavior of
individuals living under them and the evolution of current social institutions.
Personal Responsibility:
•
Students in Econ 1 and Econ 10 are assessed via problem sets and quizzes on their ability to
distinguish between factual and value claims, their ability to predict how changes in the economic
environment may directly impact their lives, their understanding of basic principles of finance and
the impact of those principles on their personal economic well-being.
10/25
•
Students in Econ 20 are assessed via exams on their ability to recognize parallels between
historical episodes and current events, thus their ability to see how people have historically
adapted to economic change and the advantages or disadvantages of pursuing similar strategies in
similar situations. They are also assessed via their term paper on their information competency by
combining aspects of library literacy, research literacy, and internet research.
11/25
a2) Support of Business Program Learning Outcomes:
Demonstrate general understanding of the economic, social, legal, technological and
ethical considerations faced by all businesses.
•
•
On their problem sets and quizzes, Econ 1 students demonstrate their understanding of key
macroeconomic measures such as GDP, the unemployment rate, price indices and exchange rates,
the interrelationships between output, unemployment, inflation, interest rates and exchange rates
and their ability to analyze the impact of shocks to the macroeconomy in both the long and the
short run.
On their problem sets and quizzes, Econ 10 students demonstrate their ability to construct cost
curves and derive a firm's supply curve from its cost structure, illustrate the impact of consumer
preferences and budget constraints on demand, derive demand for a factor of production from
factor productivity and output prices, identify when the market equilibrium is efficient and when it
is inefficient, appraise which theoretical market structure best matches a given real-world
situation, and evaluate market interventions for their impact on efficiency and equity.
Demonstrate general understanding of interconnected global issues faced by businesses in
the 21st century.
•
•
On their problem sets and quizzes, Econ 1 students demonstrate understanding of topics including,
but not limited to: international capital flows, the determination of exchange rates, the role of
comparative advantage in dictating trade flows, the distribution of gains and losses among export
industries and import-competing industries, the impact of economic growth or stagnation abroad
on US-based businesses.
On their problem sets and quizzes, Econ 10 students demonstrate understanding of topics
including but not limited to: how changes in overseas markets affect markets and businesses in
the US, environmental externalities (pollution and CO2), global common pool resources (e.g. deep
ocean fisheries), interrelationships between output and input markets at home and abroad, and the
effect of international trade on market structure and market power.
Evaluate business opportunities and risks through critical thinking and problem solving.
•
On their problem sets and quizzes, Econ 10 students demonstrate their ability to use concepts such
as elasticity to derive the revenue-maximizing price and marginal revenue, their ability to separate
costs into sunk, fixed, variable and marginal components, and their ability to estimate marginal
profit and profit-maximizing output or price. They also demonstrate their ability to use time-value
of money principles to calculate the net present value of an investment opportunity.
b. What did your program learn from these results that enabled you to improve
teaching and learning in the discipline?
It has been very helpful to learn what the 4 major General Education Program Outcomes
are. We will be examining our syllabi and lesson plans to ensure that we truly do deliver
on these outcomes.
In addition, while we have always worked very well with the Business department, it was
helpful to see their Program Learning Outcomes so that we can ensure that Economics
classes add value for Business students, rather than just representing hoops for them to
jump through.
12/25
c.
How have part-time faculty been made aware of the need to assess SLOs?
Part-Time faculty have been intensively consulted on the composition of this entire
section.
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.
We submitted updated course outlines to the curriculum committee in early September
2007. They were approved, subject to minor modifications, on 9/14/2007. They were
resubmitted with those modifications on 9/17/2007.
Our last course outlines for Econ 1 and Econ 10 had been written in 1989. Due to the
changes in the format and required content of course outlines over the last 18 years, these
curricula were essentially rewritten from scratch. We have added Math 106 (Elementary
Algebra) as recommended preparation for these classes to improve student outcomes.
In addition to the changes in the course outlines, we are continuing our process of adding
experiential/participatory learning through in-class experiments.
In addition, for our Economics 20: American Economic History course, we made
significant additions to document how the course fulfills the CSU Advisory Committee
on General Education’s requirements for the “United States History, Constitution, and
American Ideals” requirement. We have added English 150 (College Reading and
Writing) as recommended preparation for this class to improve student outcomes.
13. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives planned
for the next year.
Virtual Enterprise Business Capstone Experience:
•
Over the next year, we plan to work closely with the Business department on the Virtual
Enterprise project. This will be a capstone experience for the Business majors, and the Economics
department will be the main support for those students who wish to focus on Finance during that
experience.
Start offering online sections:
13/25
•
We believe that by offering online sections, we will be able to better serve students
located in Del Norte or Mendocino, who are now essentially cut off from our discipline.
We also believe this will better serve students who cannot make the traditional section
times. Both of these will likely increase FTES generation.
We are also considering a major restructuring of Economics offerings in two different
ways.
Abolish Econ 1 and Econ 10 in favor of Econ 11 and Econ 2:
•
•
Currently, Business A.S. students must take both Econ 1 and Econ 10. The first several
weeks of those classes are redundant with respect to each other. Thus there is the
possibility of combining those two 3-unit, 4.5 TLU courses into one comprehensive
“Econ 11: Principles of Economics” for Business students. This would bring our
methods into harmony with the integrated Micro-and-Macro introductory principles
courses at many CSUs (HSU Econ 210) and UCs (UC Berkeley Econ 1). Due to the
redundancy of the first several weeks, this also opens the option of either keeping the
same level of instruction (reducing the total units and TLUs required to 5 units and 7.5
TLUs) or intensifying the instruction (but keeping the total units at 6 and TLUs at 9.)
A complementary change would be to steer students with a General Education interest in
economics, but no interest in the Business program, into an “Econ 2: Survey of
Economics” course, modeled on such courses as HSU’s Econ 104 or Chico State’s Econ
101. This would be a less technical course than the current versions of Econ 1 or 10, with
more emphasis on contemporary issues and less emphasis on mastering the material
necessary to pursue upper-division Economics or Business courses post-transfer.
Institute large lectures with small discussion sections
•
•
•
•
We believe there may be significant learning benefits for CR students and financial
benefits to CR from reorganizing the teaching of our courses that would otherwise have
been offered in at least 3 sections.
A 3 unit, 4.5 TLU course (e.g. Econ 1, Econ 10, or the potential Econ 2) formerly
offered in 3 sections of 40 students each could be offered as 2 1-hour lectures to all 120
students (2 units, 3 TLUs) and 4 1-hour discussion sections of 30 students (1 unit, 1.5
TLUs) each. Many economics lectures are dense with theory, and many students find
themselves unable to absorb more than 1 hour in one sitting. We also believe the
reduction in class size for the discussion sections and the exclusive focus of those
sections interaction with faculty, rather than passive attendance at a lecture, would
improve the amount and quality of that interaction.
Aside from the educational improvements this change would create, it would reduce the
combined TLUs required to instruct those 120 students from 13.5 to 9 without decreasing
FTES generation.
A similar strategy would also be useful for the potential Econ 11 course, resulting in
similar benefits to the students. If 3 sections of Econ 11 were to be offered in this new
format, this strategy would save 18 TLUs without sacrificing FTES.
14/25
14. Complete the grid below
Course
Economics 1
Economics 10
Economics 20
Year Course Outline
Last Updated
1989
1989
1999
Year Next Update
Expected
2007
2007
2007
Goals and Plans
15. If you have recently undergone a comprehensive review, attach your Quality
Improvement Plan if applicable.
16. If you do not have a QIP, what goals and plans does your area have for the
coming year?
Recommendations for Quality Improvement are noted below.
15/25
Recommendation 1
Recommendation: Recruit 1 Full-Time faculty, with the goal of supplying 22.5 of our
40.5 projected TLU demand with Full-Time faculty.
Planned Implementation Date: Begin recruitment early in 2008.
Estimated Completion Date: Beginning of Fall 2008 semester.
Action/Tasks:
•
Secure administrative approval for recruitment.
•
Publicize opening to ensure maximum possible pool of qualified applicants
•
Form hiring committee
•
Process first round applications
•
Contact applicants for interviews
•
Determine whether any applicants are suitable and rank their suitability
•
Contact desired applicants with offers
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome:
Successful recruitment qualified applicant to meet a small majority of projected TLU
needs while keeping the Economics program a net financial benefit to the rest of the
college.
Estimated Cost(s):
•
Gross costs of $80,000/year in salary and benefits for new Full-Time faculty. Net costs
would be lower, since it would no longer be necessary to borrow FT faculty from
Humanities and Communication Division.
•
Referring back to section 2, we can expect each section of Econ 1 to generate 35-45
enrollments, each section of Econ 10 to generate approximately 25-30 enrollments, and
each section of Econ 20 to generate 35-40 enrollments.
•
With 1 FT faculty, we can add 22.5 TLUs (2 sections of Econ 1, 2 sections of Econ 10,
and 1 section of Econ 20). Based on past enrollments given above, we will generate 155
to 185 section-enrollments (16-19 FTES) per semester
•
Since CR gets $4565 per FTES, these sections would generate $72,779 to $86,865 in
revenue per semester or $145,558 to $173,731 per year.
•
Even after deducting the cost of hiring new faculty, the net benefit to CR of adding this
faculty would be approximately $80,000 per year.
•
Even if the low end of these projections overstates the increase in enrollment by 100%,
adding faculty resources to the Economics department would generate near zero (-$200)
net costs.
•
We have attempted to make these projections as conservative as possible, and thus
represent the most modest case possible that adding this position will be a net benefit,
rather than a net cost, to CR.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
16/25
Consequences if not funded:
•
Inability of the expected 180 Business A.S. students to finish their degrees in a timely
manner, due to the bottleneck of Econ 1 and Econ 10.
•
Damage to the reputation of the fast-growing Business program as students discover they
cannot complete their degrees in a timely manner.
•
Loss of enrollment at CR, both directly due to lack of Economics sections and indirectly,
as students avoid CR due to inability to complete their degrees.
•
Loss of approximately $80,000/year of net benefits to CR.
•
Inability of the Humboldt Community to make full use of the exceptional economic
development opportunities presented by Economic Fuel and the Virtual Enterprise.
•
Inability of students with a General Education interest in Economics to pursue that
interest, due to all spaces in Econ 1 and Econ 10 being taken by Business A.S. students.
•
Inability of the Economics department to sustain professional and program development
due to lack of dedicated full-time faculty with the long-term interests of the program at
heart.
•
Damage to CR’s reputation due to lack of any full-time faculty in one of the 5 major
social sciences.
•
Inability to reorganize Economics courses for more beneficial FTES/TLU ratio.
•
Inability to improve articulation due to lack of full-time faculty with the long-term
interests of the program at heart.
17/25
Recommendation 2:
Recommendation: Offer online sections to serve Mendocino, Del Norte, and KlamathTrinity and non-traditional students.
Planned Implementation Date: Jan 2008
Estimated Completion Date: Aug 2008
Action/Tasks:
•
Submit revised course outline to curriculum committee.
•
Get funding for faculty to teach online sections
•
Recruit faculty to teach online sections
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome: Online courses offered starting in Fall 2008.
Estimated Cost(s):
•
Gross costs of approximately $15,000/year for 9 TLUs per semester of Part-Time
Faculty to teach 4 online sections per year. These would consist of 1 section of
Econ 1 in both spring and fall, and 1 section of Econ 10 in the spring and 1
section of Econ 20 in the fall.
•
Even if these sections only average about half the enrollment of our usual face-toface sections (15 instead of 30 students per section) we will generate 60 sectionenrollments (6 FTES) per year.
•
Implementing this recommendation would add $28,172 in revenue and cost
$15,000, thus generating approximately $13,172 in net benefits for CR.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
Consequences if not funded:
•
Approximately $13,000 of net benefits lost
•
Students at district campuses will continue to lack access to Economics courses,
or will be served with Econ 1 courses at a very inefficient FTES/TLU ratio.
•
Non-traditional students will be unable to enroll in Economics classes or
contribute to CR’s FTES.
18/25
Recommendation 3:
Recommendation: Consider revising Econ 1 and Econ 10 into Econ 2 and Econ 11.
Planned Implementation Date: Jan 2008
Estimated Completion Date: Aug 2008
Action/Tasks:
•
Survey of Student Interest and Intentions
•
Consult with Business Faculty
•
Consult with Counseling and Articulation
•
If considered desirable, write new course outlines and submit to curriculum committee
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome: Evidence-based decision that improves or does not
harm all the following criteria: student learning outcomes, articulation, and enrollment.
Estimated Cost(s): $0 but possible net benefit if availability of differentiated classes proves
more attractive to students and thus increases enrollment.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
Consequences if not funded: N/A
Recommendation 4:
Recommendation: Consider moving to large lecture + small discussion format
Planned Implementation Date: Jan 2009
Estimated Completion Date: Aug 2009
Action/Tasks:
•
Survey of Student Interest and Intentions
•
Consult with Business Faculty
•
Consult with Administration, Counseling and Articulation
•
If considered desirable, write new course outlines and submit to curriculum committee
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome: Evidence-based decision that improves or does not
harm all the following criteria: student learning outcomes, articulation, total enrollment and
FTES/TLU ratio.
Estimated Cost(s): Expected net benefit due to improved FTES/TLU ratio if considered
desirable and implemented, $0 otherwise.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
Consequences if not funded: N/A
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Recommendation 5:
Recommendation: Conduct a more detailed SLO assessment
Planned Implementation Date: Jan 2009
Estimated Completion Date: Aug 2009
Action/Tasks:
•
Link course SLOs and course assessments (tests, quizzes, homework, term papers) more
closely.
•
Recruit faculty to audit relationship between course SLOs, student performance on
assessments, and grades assigned.
•
Produce summary report of audit results for 2008 Annual Update.
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome: Completed Summary included in 2008 Annual
Update.
Estimated Cost(s): No direct monetary cost.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
Consequences if not funded: N/A
Recommendation 6:
Recommendation: Form Community Advisory Committee (along with rest of IS dept.)
Planned Implementation Date: Jan 2009
Estimated Completion Date: Aug 2009
Action/Tasks:
•
Consult with possible committee members
•
Nominate members to administration
•
Schedule meetings with approved members.
Measure of Success/Desired Outcome: Production of recommendations from committee
Estimated Cost(s): Expected net benefit due to improved grant funding.
Who is Responsible: Helen Edwards
Consequences if not funded: N/A
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Instructional Program Review—Appendix B: Annual Update Forms
Annual Program Review Update
Campus/Program Needs Worksheet
Resources
This section to be filled out by the program at each campus
Please list/summarize the needs of your program on your campus below
List Resources Needed for Academic Year______2008-09____________
1.
2.
3.
4.
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This section to be filled out by
Subcommittee
Degree of Justification
Approval Status
(as substantiated by the
program review)
Approved
Not
Very
High ModerateLow
ApprovedHigh
Annual Program Review Update
Campus/Program Needs Worksheet
Faculty
This section to be filled out by the program at each campus
Please list/summarize the needs of your program on your campus below
List Faculty Positions Needed for Academic Year________2008-09__________
1. 1 Full Time for face-to-face classes at Eureka Campus.
2. 1 Part Time (9 TLUs) for online classes to serve district campuses and
non-traditional students.
3.
4.
5.
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This section to be filled out by
Subcommittee
Degree of Justification
Approval Status
(as substantiated by the
program review)
Approved
Not
Very
High ModerateLow
ApprovedHigh
Instructional Program Review—Appendix E: STUDENT INTERESET
SURVEY FROM BUSINESS 10, Fall 2007
BACKGROUND: During early September, Fall 2007, the following survey was administered to the
Business 10: Introduction to Business classes at CR. Traditional face-to-face classes were given the survey
in anonymous Scantron form while online students were given the survey via Blackboard’s survey tool.
For the raw scantron data cards or Blackboard output, please contact michael-dennis@redwoods.edu.
211 students out of the 269 students at census were successfully surveyed. The results below are rounded
to the nearest 1% and thus may not total to 100% due to rounding.
SUMMARY ANALYSIS:
I) Extrapolating the responses of the 211 to the whole 269 census-enrollees, the absolute values for
question 2 would be:
Likelihood of eventually enrolling in Business Degree or Certficate?
# of students
Likelihood
99
A = Definitely
50
B = Probably
65
C = Maybe
34
D = Not likely
17
E = No chance
4
BLANK
If we assign probability weights of Definitely = 1, Probably = 0.8, Maybe = 0.5, Not Likely =0.2 and No
Chance = 0, we get an expected 179 expected enrollees in a Business Program or Certificate.
Based on the responses to questions 4 and 5, we would expect about 80% of these to be Business AS and
20% to be Business Certificates, or 143 expected Business AS students and 36 expected Business
Certificate students.
II) Extrapolating the responses of the 211 to the whole 269 census-enrollees, the absolute values for
question 3 would be:
Likelihood of eventually enrolling in Business Technology Degree or Certficate?
# of students
Likelihood
31
A = Definitely
47
B = Probably
89
C = Maybe
68
D = Not likely
29
E = No chance
5
BLANK
If we assign probability weights of Definitely =1, Probably = 0.8, Maybe = 0.5, Not Likely =0.2 and No
Chance = 0, we get an expected 127 expected enrollees in a Business Technology Program or Certificate
Based on the responses to questions 4 and 5, we would expect about 75% of these to be AS Office
Professional and 25% to be AS Computer Support Specialist, or 95 expected Business AS students and 31
expected Business Certificate students.
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III) Students in the online sections were more likely to already have enrolled into another major or program
and declare the probability of enrolling in Bus or Bus Tech was ‘Not Likely’ or ‘No Chance.’ To the extent
that they were interested in Business or Business Tech, a higher fraction of them were interested in Bus
Tech and a lower fraction of them were interested in Business than the face-to-face students.
IV) It would be reasonable to infer from III that, section sizes being equal, offering an additional online
section would attract more students to BUS 10 than offering an additional face-to-face section.
DETAILED DATA
1. Are you currently enrolled in a Business or Business TECHNOLOGY Degree or Certificate Program?
35% A= Yes, Business
2%
B= Yes, Business Technology
45% C = Neither, I'm not enrolled in any degree or certificate program at CR
17% D = Neither, and I'm already enrolled in another degree or certificate program
0%
BLANK
2. How likely is it that you will eventually enroll in a Business Degree or Certificate Program? If you
answered A for #1 above, please mark A here.
37% A = Definitely
19%
B = Probably
24%
C = Maybe
13%
D = Not likely
6%
E = No chance
3%
BLANK
3. How likely is it that you will eventually enroll in a Business TECHNOLOGY Degree or Certificate
Program? If you marked B for #1, please mark A here.
8%
A = Definitely
23%
B = Probably
20%
C = Maybe
34%
D = Not likely
14%
E = No chance
2%
BLANK
4. If you are already enrolled in a Business or Business TECHNOLOGY Degree or Certificate Program,
which one is it? Please leave blank if not already enrolled in a Degree or Certificate Program.
27%
5%
3%
1%
8%
A = BUSINESS: A.S. General Business
B = BUSINESS: Certificate of Achievement, General Business
C = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: A.S. Office Professional
D = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: A.S. Computer Support Specialist
E = Other BUS or BUS TECH degree or certificate
56%
BLANK
5. If you not are already enrolled in a Business or Business TECHNOLOGY Degree or Certificate
Program, which one would you be most likely to enroll in? Please leave blank if you’re already enrolled in
a program or have no interest in a Business or Business Tech program.
33%
13%
A = BUSINESS: A.S. General Business
B = BUSINESS: Certificate of Achievement, General Business
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9%
3%
7%
C = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: A.S. Office Professional
D = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: A.S. Computer Support Specialist
E = Other BUS or BUS TECH degree or certificate
36%
BLANK
6. Which best describes your reason for taking BUS 10?
12%
A = It fulfills my Social Science General Education requirement – I’d have been just as
happy taking a psychology or history class instead
14%
B = Of the Social Science GE classes, this was the most appealing
33%
C = I’m interested in the Bus or Bus Tech degree or certificate programs
34%
D = I have or am likely to start my own small business soon
3%
E = I needed more units to get up to full-time status
3%
BLANK
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