Spring 2009
Program Review and Forecast
Guideline for Getting Started on PrOF
Background and Context: The purpose of program review is to periodically evaluate the changes and
assess various indicators of program effectiveness to creatively plan for the future. Although many of
these plans can be implemented at the program level, many of the plans need institutional support or have
college wide impact. For this reason, the PrOF process also informs the writing of unit plans as well as
planning and resource allocation at the college level.
COSUMNES RIVER COLLEGE
Program (or Service) Overview and Forecast (PrOF)
Instructional Programs
PROGRAM: Los Rios Study Abroad Program
PROGRAM REVIEW LEAD (Dept. Chair, Lead Faculty, Supervisor, Manager, etc):
Ellen Arden-Ogle, Director, Study Abroad (Manager)
Name/Signature
Date
List of Participants/Contributors:
Faculty
Discipline
Rob Knable
Diane RichyWard
Music
Art/Art History* not teaching a
full schedule as she is using
Type C leave
Anthropology
Humanities
Patrice Gibson
Kim Codella*
replaced Martin
Morales
Diane RichieWard
Mark Stewart
Lanny Hertzberg
Patti Redmond
Dan DuBray
Amanda Wolcott
Edward Hashima
Dian Self
Jeannie
Campanelli
Home
college
SCC
ARC
ARC
CRC
Art and Art History
ARC
Psychology
Anthropology
Communication Studies
Communication Studies
Anthropology
History
Anthropology/History
English
ARC
CRC
SCC
CRC
CRC
ARC
ARC
ARC
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Spring 2009
COSUMNES RIVER COLLEGE
Program Overview and Forecast (PrOF)
Instructional Programs
PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION (Roles and Functions)
This is the first Program Overview and Forecast for the Los Rios Study Abroad program.
Program Identification:
Study Abroad is a comprehensive program for students authorized under Los Rios Board
Policy P-7151 and administered under Regulation R-7151 which states, “The District shall
provide opportunities for international education within the community college experience.”
To facilitate this opportunity, Los Rios has participated with the Northern and Central
California Community College Foreign Study Consortium each semester since 1985.
Currently, Los Rios is a partner in the Northern California Study Abroad Consortium
(NCSAC). The Los Rios program is coordinated through Cosumnes River College, which
provides administrative and clerical support, and authorizes all the fte for the academic
classes, but is a district program, and is open to students and faculty throughout the district.
The program requires twelve units of completed college work (in non-performance classes)
with a minimum GPA of 2.5 in order for students to be accepted into the program. They
must enroll and maintain a minimum of 12 units during their semester abroad. Foreign
language instruction is offered as part of the program, as well as required cultural
instruction specific to the country of the semester or summer program.
All Los Rios tenured faculty members are invited to apply to teach in the program. The
Study Abroad Director reviews all applications for completeness but takes all qualified
applications forward to the NCSAC program selection and design meeting. The academic
deans and directors from NCSAC make the final faculty and class selection for each
program. Tenured faculty from NCSAC travel with the program and teach regular college
credit classes during a 13-week semester (5-6-weeks during summer). Adjunct and nontenured faculty are welcome to apply for summer programs. Faculty are paid their regular
salary by their home college district and are further compensated by a housing stipend, plus
one round trip airline ticket, and subsidized entrance to all Life and Culture class activities
that are included in the student program fee (e.g., cooking lessons in Italy, play attendance
in London, ballet in France, etc).
Program locations alternate in locations for fall and spring semesters and summer sessions.
Fall semester programs are offered every year in London, England. Every other year, an
additional fall program is also offered in Spain (split between Granada and Madrid) or
alternating with Paris, France.
The Spring semester program takes place in Florence, Italy.
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Spring 2009
Summer programs have been offered in Madrid and Salamanca, Spain; in Costa Rica;
Dublin, Ireland; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Rome and Florence, Italy; and Capetown,
South Africa.
NCSAC contracts with the American Institute for Foreign Studies (AIFS), which provides the
logistical support for travel, housing, and classroom space, in addition to on-ground student
support offices and student residential advisors. No NCSAC students are ever left to fend for
themselves if a difficulty arises. Students are responsible for paying their instructional
enrollment fees to the colleges and then contract directly with AIFS for the program
services.
The Study Abroad office is located on the CRC campus in the Visual and Performing Arts
complex. Through the Study Abroad program, Los Rios has institutional memberships in
California Colleges in International Education (CCIE), Institute for International Education
(IIE) and other study abroad organizational memberships. The Study Abroad Director (SAD)
is responsible for reporting all information on Los Rios to the IIE and CCIE, and attending
NAFSA national conferences to report on program status as professional development funds
allow.
The Study Abroad office is responsible for processing all student applications from initial
intake through final processing to receipt of airline tickets. The SAD conducts all orientation
meetings, recruits and monitors faculty, assesses student progress toward acquiring global
competence as part of the student learning outcomes, functions as the certified Gilman
Scholarship advisor for all Los Rios applicants, is the NCSAC student learning outcome
coordinator and responsible for monitoring NCSAC Articles of Operation, conducts associate
member orientation for NCSAC, is responsible for keeping abreast of changes in the laws
and researching same, and assessing the effectiveness of the program, as well as acting as
the program dean on a rotating basis for the NCSAC. In addition, because the district
supports individual faculty taking students on international study trips, the SAD has taken on
the task of acting a resource person and clearance for faculty members who don’t know
what forms need to be filled out and when. The SAD also meets with Los Rios Risk
Management, the Vice Chancellor of Education and Technology, individual faculty as
needed, and the International Education Committee to report on these, and other, issues.
A LOOK BACK
Describe key accomplishments, program changes or new program initiatives over the past four years.

For the first time, the Study Abroad program has a separate logo to identify
the program. The logo is part of a coordinated marketing and promotion
campaign to raise student awareness about the program.
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Spring 2009

A definition of “global competence” was developed that guides the
structure and function of the various parts of the program.
Global competence is a continuing process of acquiring specific economic, historical,
and geo-political knowledge which support the intercultural communication skills and
authentic lived experiences that allow a person to function in another culture, and
result in attitudes of cultural appreciation and interdependence.

Student Learning Outcomes were developed for the Study Abroad program,
and some may be used by the Northern California Study Abroad
Consortium (NCSAC) of which Los Rios is a partner.
Los Rios Study Abroad Program Student Learning Outcomes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Global Competence
Personal Growth
Continued Interest in Travel
Knowledge Acquisition
Development of Skills and Experiences
Attitude Enhancement and Change
1. As a result of participating in the Study Abroad program, the student will be able to
contextually appreciate, analyze, and articulate global competence.
2. The student will be able to successfully live and thrive in a culture not the student’s
own and grow individually and personally from the experience.
3. The student will incorporate an interest in international travel into the student’s
lifelong learning plan.
4. The student will incorporate specific cultural, geopolitical, economic, and social
knowledge into academic and personal contexts.
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Spring 2009
5. The student will develop skills to appreciate visual, historical and experiential cultural
products of cultures different from the student’s own.
6. As one consequence of participating in the Study Abroad program, the student will
question, analyze, and potentially change attitudes about the host culture that the
student had prior to the experience, and this attitudinal analysis will result in less
ethnocentric behavior.

Program Assessment – this component of the Study Abroad Program has
been strengthened and rewritten to assess student learning outcomes.
Because global competence breaks into three distinct sections: Knowledge;
Skills and Experiences; and Attitudes, the assessment questions are open
ended questions tied to those areas and the student learning outcomes.
Study Abroad Program Evaluation
Directions: As the last step in your Study Abroad program, please complete this overall
program evaluation. Student feedback is incorporated into our next set of orientations and
helps us improve the study abroad experience for everyone. Thanks for your help. (If you
need more room to answer, please feel free to use the back of this form as well. You can
sign your name or not as you wish.)
1. Where did you live in [city/country of study] (apartment, homestay or dorm facility)
and what do you wish you had known before you came to [city/country of study]?
[slo# 1, 2]
2. What were your initial impressions of [city/country of study]? How have those initial
impressions changed? [slo #1, 2, 6]
3. What classes, cultural events, Life and Culture guest lectures contributed to your own
understanding of the political, economic, social, artistic, and historical background of
the culture? [slo # 4, 5]
4. How have your study abroad experiences affected your views about other cultures,
and what did you discover about your attitudes towards other cultures? [slo #4, 5, 6]
5. What in your study abroad experience had the biggest impact on your attitudes about
cultural appreciation and interdependence? [slo # 4, 5, 6]
6. Did your study abroad experience encourage you to want to continue to travel and
spend time in other cultures? [slo #3]
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Spring 2009
7. Would you recommend this program and why or why not? Would you go again?
What would you tell a student considering the [city/country of study] program?
(These can be practical tips or more general observations) [slo# 1, 2, 6]
PROGRAM REVIEW
I.
ACCESS AND GROWTH
A. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that indicate
program strengths with respect to access and growth.
The Study Abroad program relies on students mainly from ARC and CRC. There are minimum
numbers that we must meet in recruitment in order to cover the basic faculty costs of the
program. In the last four years we have gone from barely meeting these numbers (and
consequently having to rely on other members of the NCSAC to over-enroll in order to cover
faculty housing stipends, airfare, etc.), to sometimes being over.
Program
Spring 09 Florence
# LRCCD
students
33
Fall 08 London
Fall 08 Granada
and Madrid
13
11
Spring 08 Paris
Fall 07 London
Spring 07 Florence
Fall 06 London
Fall 06 Granada
and Madrid
Summer 06 China
Spring 06 Paris
Fall 05 London
23
21
20
16
18
11
22
23
Faculty
Discipline
Rob Knable
Diane Richy-Ward
Music
Art/Art History* not teaching a
full schedule as she is using Type
C leave
Anthropology
Humanities
Patrice Gibson
Kim Codella*
replaced Martin
Morales
Diane Richie-Ward
Mark Stewart
Lanny Hertzberg
Patti Redmond
Dan DuBray
Amanda Wolcott
Edward Hashima
Jennifer Richie*
replacement for
Dian Self of ARC
Home
college
SCC
ARC
ARC
CRC
Art and Art History
Psychology
Anthropology
Communication Studies
Communication Studies
ARC
ARC
CRC
SCC
CRC
Anthropology
History
Anthropology/History
CRC
ARC
SCC
Another Access and Growth area is in the new use of the Gilman scholarship program.
The Gilman is part of the Fulbright Scholarship program and associated with the Institute
for International Education. The Study Abroad Director has attended certification
sessions and is registered as the Gilman Advisor for the Los Rios district. Students who
are also receiving the Pell Grant, are eligible to apply for the Gilman. In the academic
year 08-09, 50% of the students who worked with the Study Abroad Director on essays
and follow-on projects, were awarded scholarships up to $5000. This is a slightly higher
award rate than the four year colleges and universities, which have roughly one third of
their applicants accepted.
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Spring 2009
B. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that indicate
program areas that may need a response or change over the next four years with respect to access
and growth.
The dismal economic situation that accelerated in the fall 2008 has had a devastating
effect on the Study Abroad program. Additionally, it is very difficult for students to
save enough money for summer programs (given the higher air fares because of
seasonal adjustments in the air fares) without the availability of financial aid.
C. Based on the previous discussion of strengths and needs, briefly list planning ideas that could be
employed to strengthen your program in the area of access and growth.
The greatest need for the Study Abroad program is financial aid for student
applicants. While the Gilman is a good resource, it is limited to Pell Grant students
and there are not many other sources of financial aid other than student loans. The
Study Abroad Director has contacted each of the Los Rios college Foundations to
solicit one travel scholarship, which would pay for airfare for one student from the
college in each program, but this request has yet been funded.
The other great need is for a larger more coordinated marketing campaign and
strategy to get the word out about the program. There are numerous local and
NCSAC plans, best practices, and innovative approaches that might be tried to
increase attendance at program orientations and recruitment meetings, but there is a
significant lack of time to complete all of these plans.
D. If you used numerical or descriptive information that was not provided by the research office, please
list these sources below:
Study Abroad office records, BOT Policies and Regulations, NCSAC records and
minutes of meetings, and interviews/discussions with Study Abroad Faculty.
II.
STUDENT SUCCESS and TEACHING AND LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS
Data sources:
Study Abroad program assessments.
A. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that
indicate program strengths with respect to student success and/or teaching and learning
effectiveness.
The required Life and Culture class has great student support and feedback:
“The program's Culture class (and all of the classes offered) enhanced my learning
experience by integrating us into the everyday life of [city name], be it interviewing locals
about their views of the U.S. election (for my political science …class from…) to the art
history lessons at the [museum].”
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Spring 2009
“The Life and Culture program was excellent and enhanced our experience greatly. I would
have been in the dark so much of the time without that class.”
B. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that indicate
areas that may need a response or change over the next four years with respect to student success
and/or teaching and learning effectiveness.
More detailed pre-departure meetings =
“What do you wish you had known before you arrived in [country]?
To bring school supplies with you”
More widespread coverage of programs, financial aid, application due dates.
Better integration and set up of the web page.
C. Based on the previous discussion of program strengths and needs, briefly list planning ideas that could
be employed to strengthen your program with respect to student success and/or teaching and learning
effectiveness.
Better and more widespread advertising and marketing to increase student
awareness and participation at all four colleges.
 Ads in all college newspapers
 Ads on ITVS between classes
 Mass email to Pell Grant students
 Attend as many on campus fairs as possible
 Make sure faculty pass on the tri fold standing display boards
Work with students on Gilman applications, essays, and follow on projects.
Develop more contacts with NAFSA, CCID, IIE, and other governmental agencies to
enlarge base of strategies, contacts, and opportunities for LRCCD Study Abroad
students.
D. If you used numerical or descriptive information not provided by the research office, please list the
sources below:
Study Abroad program assessments.
E. Your Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Program SLOs
P-SLO 1 As a result of participating in the Study Abroad program, the
student will be able to contextually appreciate, analyze, and articulate
global competence.
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Spring 2009
P-SLO 2 The student will be able to successfully live and thrive in a culture
not the student’s own and grow individually and personally from the
experience.
P-SLO 3 The student will incorporate an interest in international travel into
the student’s lifelong learning plan
P-SLO 4 The student will incorporate specific cultural, geopolitical, economic,
and social knowledge into academic and personal contexts.
P-SLO 5 The student will develop skills to appreciate visual, historical and
experiential cultural products of cultures different from the student’s own
P-SLO 6 As one consequence of participating in the Study Abroad program,
the student will question, analyze, and potentially change attitudes about
the host culture that the student had prior to the experience, and this
attitudinal analysis will result in less ethnocentric behavior
__x__ No changes were made this review cycle to the program outcomes as this is the first PrOF
F.The Program SLO Alignment matrix
P-SLO
2:
Personal
Growth
P-SLO
3:
Travel
Interest
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
P-SLO 1:
Courses or
Activities
Life and Culture class
Residential choice
Academic classes
Pre-departure orientation
Location orientations
Host Country Field trips
Optional travel
opportunities
Departure activities
AIFS student services
F.
Global
competence
P-SLO 4:
Knowledge
X
X
X
X
X
X
P-SLO 5:
Skills &
experiences
P-SLO 6:
Attitudes
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
Outcomes Assessment Plan
Review the program student learning or service area outcomes assessments submitted by your program
over the last program review cycle as well as other local outcomes assessment information and respond
to the following:
1.
Briefly summarize the program assessments conducted over the past review cycle and what was
learned or changed as a result of these assessments
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Spring 2009

Students confirmed value of the Life and Culture class in all Study Abroad locations,
support and value of AIFS staff and programs (optional and part of program), value
of orientations and program features (including guided field trips and guest lectures).
Students were unanimous in their preference for the housing situation they had
selected; students in homestays affirmed that this was the best way to become
integrated into the host culture, while apartment living students felt their residential
situation allowed them to become more a part of the life of the host city. Paris
students who opted for the dorm situation were more pleased because of the location
and inclusion of a meal plan.
Student assessment confirmed academic rigor of classes offered through the NCSAC
model.
Students confirmed value of program by 100% recommendation to other students to
go on a program. Several students indicated interest in going on another NCSAC
program.
Levels of global competence were demonstrated by varying degrees in responses to
assessment questions.
Student grades in academic subjects are indicative of knowledge, skills and
experiences being acquired by students at an appropriate level.





2.
What program outcomes have NOT been assessed over the last review cycle?
NA
3.


Briefly discuss your assessment plan for the next four years (what you will assess, when you will
assess the outcomes, and how you might assess the outcomes).
Continue with assessment measures as currently used and explore the possibility of
creating one assessment measure for all of NCSAC so a body of assessment
measures can be used for continuous improvement.
Explore the possibility of collecting student journals for on-going qualitative
assessment in an interpretive social science case study methodology.
G. Not applicable to study abroad.
III.
PROGRAM ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS, including interactions with other programs
and services on campus (see Guidelines to Getting Started for a definition of this strategic area as
needed). In this section you will be asked to review numerical and descriptive information related to
organizational effectiveness to identify a) program strengths, b) program needs, and c) planning
ideas to strengthen your program in this area.
Data sources not applicable to study abroad.
A. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that
indicate program strengths with respect to organizational effectiveness.
NA
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Spring 2009
B. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that
indicate program areas that may need a response or change over the next four years with respect
to organizational effectiveness.
NA
C. Based on the previous discussion of program strengths and needs, briefly list planning ideas that
could be employed to strengthen your program with respect to organizational effectiveness.
Coordinated marketing campaign with perhaps regional assistance and
collaboration from NCSAC.
Continued work with the Gilman scholarship program.
D. If you used other numerical or descriptive information in your review that was not provided by the
research office, please list the sources below:
NCCSAC Articles of Operation
IV.
COMMUNITY, ECONOMIC, and WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, including external
partnerships (see Guidelines to Getting Started for a definition of this strategic area as needed). In
this section you will be asked to review numerical and descriptive information related to community,
economic and work force development to identify a) program strengths, b) program needs, and c)
planning ideas to strengthen your program.
Data sources not applicable to study abroad.
A. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that
indicate program strengths with respect to community, economic and workforce development.
Beginning to work more extensively with Gilman scholarship program.
B. Briefly list observations from the data and other numerical or descriptive information that
indicate program areas that may need for a response or change over the next four years with
respect to community, economic and workforce development
Financial aid information
C. Based on the previous discussion of program strengths and needs, briefly list planning ideas that
could be employed to strengthen your program with respect to community, economic and
workforce development.
Coordinate with NCSAC partners on coordination of efforts and Articles of
Operation normal review.
Marketing to outside sources.
11
Spring 2009
Develop more contacts with NAFSA, CCID, IIE, and other governmental agencies
to enlarge base of strategies, contacts, and opportunities for LRCCD Study Abroad
students.
D. If you used other numerical or descriptive information in your review that was not provided by the
research office, please list these sources below:
NCSAC Articles of Operation
PROGRAM FORECAST
I.
Local, short-term program planning : Review the planning ideas you previously identified in
Section C of the four planning areas (Growth/Access; Student Success & Teaching/Learning
Effectiveness; Program Organizational Effectiveness; and Community, Economic and Workforce
Development). Please identify the ideas you plan to implement in the next four years below:
Planning Agenda Item # 1.
Better and more widespread advertising and marketing to increase student
awareness and participation at all four colleges.
 Ads in all college newspapers
 Ads on ITVS between classes
 Mass email to Pell Grant students
 Attend as many on campus fairs as possible
 Make sure faculty pass on the tri fold standing display boards
Planning Agenda Item #2.
Work with students on Gilman applications, essays, and follow on projects.
Planning Agenda Item #3.
Develop more contacts with NAFSA, CCID, IIE, and other governmental
agencies to enlarge base of strategies, contacts, and opportunities for LRCCD
Study Abroad students.
II.
Long Term or Broader planning agendas: Please identify any long term planning agenda items for
your program or identify any unit/college-wide planning agenda items based on your PrOF.
Work with CTE faculty to develop short term programs of particular application to
specific CTE programs so those students have the ability to also participate in study
abroad.
Seek partnership arrangements with organizations that might contribute financially
to study abroad scholarships.
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Spring 2009
Work with interested faculty and third party vendor to develop non-traditional study
sites.
III.
In the previous section, you identified planning agenda items you hope to implement in to improve your
program. In this section, you will list the curriculum changes and resource requirements needed to
implement those planning agenda items. This information will be used in college planning.
A)
Summarize the changes in curriculum needed to implement your planning agenda items. The curriculum
table will be used to update the college’s educational master plan. Not applicable to Study Abroad.
B)
Please complete a resource requirements table for each planning agenda item listed in section I above
and indicate the approximate cost. The resource requirements tables from the programs in your unit will
be used to produce the unit plan. Copy and paste as needed to complete a chart for each Planning
Agenda Item!
Resource Requirements
Planning Agenda
Item #1
Supplies
Computers/computer
related equipment
Non-Computer
related Equipment
New classified staff
New student help
Facilities
Other (research,
release time,
professional
development, grants)
Item or Description
Advertising and
Marketing campaign
Posters, brochures,
postcards
Study Abroad dedicated
laptop to take to
presentations,
orientations and
recruitment meetings
Display boards, travel
cases for pre-departure
and meetings
Access to the Graphic
Designer for assistance
in professional layout
and design
One student help at each
college
~$3000
A
~$1500
C
~$500
B
~??
B
~6 hours a
week x 4
colleges x
student wage
B
Ability to use district
facilities for more central
meeting places
Advertising in each of the ~$1000
college papers
13
Priority (A – urgent, B –
high, C – important)
Approximate
Cost
C
A
Spring 2009
Planning Agenda
Item #2
Supplies
Facilities
Other (research,
release time,
professional
development, grants)
Planning Agenda
Item #3
Other (research,
release time,
professional
development, grants)
Item or Description
Gilman Program
Priority (A – urgent, B –
high, C – important)
Approximate
Cost
Duplicating forms,
scholarship materials,
printed copies of
exemplary submissions
~$800
A
Attend Gilman selection
meetings in May and
November
~$500
B
Item or Description
Organizational
membership and
participation
Attendance at NAFSA,
CCIE, CCID, IIE and
other study abroad
conferences and
potential partner
agencies (time and
support are also critical
here)
Priority (A – urgent, B –
high, C – important)
Approximate
Cost
~$3000
14
A