Annual Program Review Update
*Be sure to include information from all three campuses.
Program/Discipline: _Physical Science (PHYSC)____
Date:
_9/28/07____________
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 lifescience courses.) If not, skip to #2.
Note: curricular changes should be addressed under 12-14.
The Physical Science discipline is composed of one course, PHYSC 10. It is a General
Education course accepted by CSU and UC schools. The curriculum is outdated and
plans are in place to update the curriculum in Fall 2007.
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.
One section of PHYSC 10 has been offered in the last two years. The course was offered
at the Mendocino campus in F2006 with a respectable enrollment of 23. The section fill
rate was at 104.5%, the retention rate was 87% with V1 and V2 success rates of 60.9 and
73.9% respectively. These numbers are comparable to other GE courses such as ASTRO
and GEOL. However, the small sample size cannot be used for intensive comparisons.
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.
Not Applicable
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.
Professional development funds and availability of library resources have been sufficient
for the physics instruction provided during the last five years.
1
5. Does your discipline need additional support from Student Services beyond that
previously provided?
Due to the paucity of offerings from PHYSC there has not been a perceived need for
additional support by student services. With the possibility of reinvigorating this course,
support from Student Services should be discussed with the appropriate personnel.
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
Load for fall
2006 term
% of Total
Teaching
Load by
Full-Time
Faculty
% of Total
Teaching
Load Taught
by Part-Time
Faculty
Changes
from fall
2005
Physc
5
0
100
+5 TLU
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
Full-Time
Faculty
% of Total
Teaching
Load Taught
by Part-Time
Faculty
Changes
from spring
2006
Physc
0
N/A
N/a
0
Explanations and Additional
Information (e.g., retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
Do you need more full-time faculty? Associate faculty? If yes, explain why and be sure
to include data sheets justifying the need.
No. There is not a need for more full-time or associate faculty.
7. Complete the Staff Employment Grid below (please list full- and part-time staff
numbers in separate rows:
Staff Employed in the Program
Assignment
Full-time (classified) Part-time staff
(e.g., Math,
staff (give number)
(give number)
English)
Gains over
Prior Year
Physc
A.. One - shared
MSE office
coordinator
0
0
B. 0% of the
physical science
technician position
0
0
Losses over
Prior Year (give
reason:
retirement,
reassignment,
health, etc.)
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 staff is adequate for this discipline.
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.
All full-time physical-science faculty are qualified to teach the course, as the course is a
mixture of Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Astronomy and Meteorology. Recently,
one of these faculty members has expressed an interest in teaching the course on a regular
basis.
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.
Due to the introductory nature of the course, the lecture format of the course, and the
availability of equipment and materials for demonstrations and examples that already
exist in other disciplines that constitute PHYSC 10, the current facilities and materials are
adequate for the program.
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.
See above, answer to 9.
Learning Outcomes Assessment Update
11. How has your area or program been engaged in student learning outcomes assessment?
a.
Summarize your results.
PHYSC 10 is the only course in the discipline. Its course outline is outdated and scheduled
to be revised in Fall 2007. The course outline will be updated and or revised to include
course learning outcomes and to place the course within the proper discipline(s).
Discussions with fellow faculty in the area concerning assessment are informative and will
be used to engage in course learning outcomes assessment.
b.
What did your program learn from these results that enabled you to
improve teaching and learning in the discipline?
Not applicable at this time. By the next annual update, we hope to have a first run of data
collection informing faculty of rates for students achieving course learning outcomes.
c.
How have part-time faculty been made aware of the need to assess SLOs?
There is only one part-time faculty who has taught the course in the last two years. At this
time no contact has been made with the faculty. This is one of the goals of the program.
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.
Not applicable at this time.
13. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives planned for the
next year.
As stated earlier, the plan is to revise and update the single course in Physic in Fall 2007.
Course learning outcomes will be aligned with other physical science GE courses.
Discussion between instructors concerning the measurement of student success in
achieving course learning outcomes should be initiated.
In addition, this course is being considered for implementation in a variety of formats.
Since this is a lecture only course and it has not been offered consistently in the past, it is
essential a course that can be modified for a variety of formats. One thought is the largeclass format. Currently, only one courses in the natural sciences is offered in a large-class
format. This might be problematic for enrollment should anything happen to the districts
ability to offer sections of that course (e.g. a sabbatical). Another possibility is teaching
online sections of the course. There are zero sections of natural science courses offered in
the natural sciences. The full-time faculty who has expressed an interest in teaching
sections of this course has begun a dialogue with a publisher’s representative concerning
the availability of course materials for such a purpose.
14. Complete the grid below
Course
Physc 10
Year Course Outline Year Next Update
Last Updated
Expected
1982
Fall 2007
Goals and Plans
15. If you have recently undergone a comprehensive review, attach your Quality
Improvement Plan if applicable.
Not Applicable
16. If you do not have a QIP, what goals and plans does your area have for the coming
year?
Plans:
1. Revise and Update the curriculum for Physc 10 by Fall 2007
2. Initiate discussions with other faculty concerning assessment of student success in
achieving course learning outcomes for GE courses
3. Develop, in conjunction with other faculty, assessment protocols for student success
in achieving course learning outcomes for GE courses.
4. Investigate possibility of offering Physc 10 as an online course.