Please save this form to your own computer, type (or cut-and-paste) the required information
into the appropriate boxes, re-save the form and then email it as an attachment to the Office
of Instruction at this address: Jeannette.U@seattlecolleges.edu. Thank you!
Program Review Report: Section A
Program or area of study reviewed in this report: ENGR/CSC
Responsibility for program review preparation:
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Name: Dennis Schaffer, Coordinator
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with peer collaboration from Vince Offenback and Barbara Goldner
Division/Dean: Pete Lortz
Date of Submission: 7/3/12
Submit to the Office of Instruction
Section A:
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
1. Description of the program/certificate/area of study:
The Computer Science program prepares students for transfer to a baccalaureate program by
offering three primary courses of relevance: CSC 110, CSC 142, and CSC 143. The latter two
courses transfer directly to the University of Washington as CSE 142 and CSE 143; CSC 110
also transfers to the UW. All three of these classes may be applied to meet the “Natural
World” and “Quantitative/Symbolic Reasoning” general education requirements at the UW.
These courses are required for entrance or graduation from various technical degrees at the
4-year level. Most students include these courses as part of the AS degree. The CSC program
also provides coursework to satisfy requirements for AAS students in Network Technology
and Electronics Engineering Technology. This is satisfied by the CSC 110 course. One other
course, CSC 111, satisfies general education requirements for several professional/technical
program, such as nursing, pharmacy, and nanotechnology and also transfers to the UW as CSE
100 or INFO 100.
The Engineering Transfer program at NSCC offers a traditional 3-course sequence of
coursework in mechanical engineering (ENGR 214, ENGR 225, and ENGR 215), and one course
in electrical engineering (ENGR 204). All of these courses have calculus as a prerequisite and
transfer to 4-year institutions.
In addition, ENGR 240 transfers to the UW as AMATH 301 and satisfies the transfer
requirements of some engineering majors for a numerical methods or scientific computing
course. This is usually an alternative to a traditional programming course like CSC 142.
ENGR 110 is a 2-credit orientation course. It is intended to introduce first-year students to the
career choices available to them among the various branches of engineering. Such a course is
very commonly offered by 2-year and 4-year colleges that offer engineering degrees.
2. Overview: Describe how this program (or area of study) supports the mission of the
college, and its core themes:
Mission: North Seattle Community College is committed to changing lives through education.
We achieve our mission by:
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Offering comprehensive educational opportunities
Creating a highly supportive learning environment
Engaging in effective and enduring partnerships
The Computer Science/Engineering Transfer program:
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Offers courses needed for successful transfer to most engineering departments at
most 4-year colleges
Revises and maintains courses that transfer to UW and other 4-year colleges to
guarantee that students are well-prepared for their transfer institutions
Adjusts our course offerings in response to changing student needs
maintains contact with UW and other local colleges, as well as attending local
professional conferences
Maintains tutoring in the Math Learning Center and advises the Engineering Club
Develops and supports an ongoing partnership with the BSEE program from Eastern
Washington University that is housed at NSCC
Has full-time faculty who are all mentors in the Ready, Set, Transfer (RST) program
Core Themes:
 Advancing Student Success
 Excelling in Teaching and Learning
 Building Community
The Computer Science/Engineering Transfer program participates in or supports the following
endeavors, intended to create successful student transfers to 4-year institutions or to help
them complete professional/technical requirements:
 Faculty rotation among courses to create the strongest, most experienced group
 Ready, Set, Transfer (RST)
 Math Learning Center (MLC)
 Engineering Club
 Creation of a new course, ENGR 110, Engineering Orientation, a course focusing on the
soft skills required in engineering careers, as an example of maintaining relevancy
 the department works closely together, sharing best practices and materials, to
continually improve teaching and learning
 participation in campus-wide ELO assessments (Problem Solving and Information
Literacy)
3. Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs):
North Seattle Community College serves a diverse student population with a wide variety of
educational backgrounds and goals. As a learning community, we foster and promote the
following outcomes:
Knowledge
Facts, theories, perspectives and methodologies within and across disciplines
Intellectual & Practical Skills, including
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critical thinking and problem solving
communication and self-expression
quantitative reasoning
information literacy
technological proficiency
collaboration: group and team work
Personal & Social Responsibility, including
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civic engagement: local, global and environmental
intercultural knowledge and competence
ethical awareness and personal integrity
lifelong learning and personal well-being
Integrative & Applied Learning
Synthesis and application of knowledge, skills and responsibilities to new settings and problems
All of the engineering and computer science courses (except ENGR 110) fulfill the ELO
Quantitative Reasoning and Critical Thinking. Students must recognize a problem to be
solved, choose an appropriate tool from among the various tools taught in the class, solve the
problem, and test that solution.
Some engineering courses, such as ENGR 214 and ENGR 225, require students to submit a
complete design report. So they satisfy the ELO for Communication and Self-expression.
Computer Science courses expect students to construct and test functional computer
programs, spreadsheets, and websites. For this reason CSC 110, 142, and 111 all fulfill the
Technological Proficiency ELO.
Finally, ENGR 110 is an orientation to engineering careers. It has no math or other
prerequisites but serves for students to learn more about the skills required and careers
available to them if they study engineering. This course satisfies the ELO Facts, Theories,
Perspectives and Methodologies Within and Across Disciplines.
In the following table, indicate which courses that you regularly offer meet each ELO in the
left column on the table. You may list a course as many times as is relevant. In the last row,
please list any course currently offered that does not appear to meet any ELO.
Essential Learning Outcome
Courses Meeting This Outcome
Facts, theories, perspectives and
methodologies within and across disciplines
ENGR 110
Critical thinking and problem-solving
CSC 110, 142, 143, 111
ENGR 204, 214, 215, 225, 240
Communication and self-expression
ENGR 214, 225
Quantitative reasoning
CSC 110, 142, 143, 111
ENGR 204, 214, 215, 225, 240
Information literacy
Technological proficiency
CSC 110, 142, 111
Collaboration: group and team work
Civic engagement
Intercultural knowledge and competence
Ethical awareness and personal integrity
Lifelong learning and personal well-being
Other courses offered that do not address any
ELO
4. Program Level Outcomes:
The CSC 110 and CSC 111 courses support nursing, EET, pharmacy, and other
professional/technical programs on campus. All courses prepare students for transfer to
informatics, computer science, and a wide range of engineering degree programs at UW and
other 4-year colleges. The program goals are in alignment with the current AS degrees. Here
are the Program Outcomes for the CSC/ENGR program:
Program Outcome #1a
Computer Science students apply appropriate logic, tools, and processes to write software
programs that solve given problems. As appropriate, they can use diagram to represent
different points in the problem solving process
Program Outcome #1b
Engineering students apply appropriate analytical techniques and computational tools to
solve engineering problems or explain why they cannot be solved with the tools provided.
They make extensive use of properly labeled diagrams to represent the system being
analyzed.
Program Outcome #2
Students test their solutions to verify that they effectively solve the problem and identify any
situations in which the solution will not work.
Program Outcome #3
Students document their solutions and are able to explain their work from different
perspectives, as appropriate to the problem.
Program Level Outcome
Courses Meeting This Outcome
Program Outcome #1a
CSC 110, 142, 143, 111
Program Outcome #1b
ENGR 110, 214, 215, 225, 204, 240
Program Outcome #2
CSC 110, 142, 143, 111
ENGR 214, 215, 225, 204, 240
Program Outcome #3
CSC 110, 142, 143
ENGR 214, 225, 204, 240
Other courses offered that do not address
any program-level outcome
5. Planning for Assessment:
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One program-level outcome to analyze is solution testing - does a student’s proposed
solution to a problem really solve it? We can plan how that evolves through the
sequence (either CSC or ENGR) and discuss what activities/expectations are
appropriate at each course. This is Program Level outcome 2.
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An ELO that can be addressed is one feature of problem solving. In engineering classes
this would be the skill of diagram-drawing. For electrical circuits this would be
complete circuit schematics. For mechanical engineering classes this would be force
and kinetic diagrams. In computer science this could be a variety of diagrams:
flowcharts, static call graphs, or class diagrams.
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The final program-level outcome we chose to assess was #1a. The plan, tool, and data
are documented in Program Review Section B.
6a. Co-Curricular Activities:
The program supports the Engineering Club as an example.
6b. Service to the Wider Community:
Helping to satisfy the well-known market demands for engineers and computer scientists.
7a. Program Resource Availability:
Here are important resources that help the program succeed, in many cases to support active
learning:
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Dual scheduling of lecture rooms and lab rooms to allow maximum instructional
flexibility
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Up-to-date computer lab
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Maintenance of two servers: moodler, which supports all computer science classes
whether they are on campus or online; and compass, a place where CSC 111 students
build web sites
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Ability to use the electronics lab for ENGR 204 lab exercises
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A resource that has worked up to now has been regular attainment of sabbatical
leaves for faculty seeking retraining. This has worked very well on many occasions.
7b. Program Maintenance and Personnel:
In your program, what are your FT/PTF ratios?
Three full-time and one priority-hire part-time faculty regularly teach engineering and
computer science classes. Rarely (about one class per year) someone else is hired for a class.
The following table summarizes our FT/PTF ratios for the past 3 years:
Year
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
all 3 years
5-credit sections taught by FT faculty
23
23
22
68
5-credit sections taught by PT faculty
8
10
9
27
25.8%
30.3%
29.0%
28.4% PT
Percentage taught by PT faculty
In your program, what are the student/faculty ratios (include all faculty in this, both FT/PTF)?
The following table summarizes our S/F ratios for the past 3 years:
Year
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
all 3 years
Total number of 5-credit sections offered
31
33
31
95
Total student headcount
822
816
853
2494
S/F Ratio
26.5
24.8
27.5
26.3
Are there any profession or technical guidelines that your program must follow in terms of
accreditation or certification? If so, please explain.
NO
What duties do program faculty and staff perform outside of normal teaching duties and
responsibilities? This work is done is support of program maintenance, upkeep, marketing, or
other activities. How much time is required to perform these duties? How are these duties
assigned?
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Regular support of student accounts and some technical support for the moodle
server
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Lots of time dedicated to learn new computer languages as required by curriculum
changes
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Occasional marketing of new courses or those with weak enrollments
In what way are program faculty involved in processes related to the hiring of new program
faculty (FT/PT), and any support staff directly related to the program?
Hiring and tenure committees
8a.Communication within Program:
How are program issues communicated to program stakeholders (i.e., students, faculty,
administrators, advisory groups, etc.)? What are the modes of communication used (meetings,
documents, websites, flyers, etc.?
Flyers, email, campus screensavers, campus website, engineering club, RST program,
department meetings, WCERTE state-wide organization for engineering, UW Bothell meetings
for computer science
8b. Communication about Program with Students:
How do students find out about program requirements and program policies (admissions,
prerequisites, exceptions, placement, etc.); and issues involving scheduling for planning their
progress through the program? List publications, pamphlets, websites, etc., where program
information is available.
Classroom announcements, college class schedule, advising, flyers, program description on
the college web site