Peralta Community College District
Annual Program Update Template 2010-2011
Each discipline will complete this form to update program reviews developed in 2009-2010. These will
be reviewed at the college level and then forwarded to the district-wide planning and budgeting
process. The information on this form is required for all resource requests – including faculty staffing
requests – for the 2011-12 budget year.
I.
Overview
Date Submitted:
10/11/10
Dean:
Gary Perkins
BI Download:
10/07/2010
Dept. Chair:
Rochelle Olive
Discipline:
ECON
Campus:
Alameda
Mission
Economics Program at College of Alameda serves students by imparting
knowledge of introductory economics principles and practices; by developing
analytic skills; by making learning experiences beyond the classroom available;
and by nurturing the attitudes, competence, and confidence to make a successful
transition from community college to four year universities, or from school to a
professional competitive environment.
The primary mission is to achieve excellence in economics education by providing
high quality teaching. This program strives to include the intellectual contributions
to the field of economics into its classes. This is done through the dissemination of
the results of economics and pedagogical research; the development and use of
relevant economics textbooks and resources, case studies, and other instructional
materials.
The program is devoted to providing service experiences through participation in
university committees, and seminars and professional development activities. In
addition to assisting others, professional development activities undertaken by this
program develop the knowledge and skills of those who serve, and provide
relevant, practical examples for use in the classroom.
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II.
Student Data
A. Enrollment
Fall 2008
Fall 2009
Fall 2010
Census Enrollment (duplicated)
417.0
547.0
319.0
Sections (master sections)
13.0
14.0
9.0
Total FTES
40.55
53.44
31.9
Total FTEF
2.58
2.8
1.8
FTES/FTEF
15.7
19.09
17.72
Enrolled
419.0
520.0
N/A
Retained
332.0
397.0
% Retained
79.0
76.0
N/A
N/A
419.0
295.0
70.0
87.0
20.0
520.0
293.0
56.0
123.0
23.0
B. Retention
C. Success
Total Graded
Success
% Success
Withdraw
% Withdraw
III.
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Faculty Data (ZZ assignments excluded)
Fall 2010
Contract FTEF
Hourly FTEF
Extra Service FTEF
Total FTEF
% Contract/Total
0.8
1.0
0.0
1.8
44.44
IV. Faculty Data Comparables F2010 (ZZ assignments excluded) (Z assignments excluded)
Contract FTEF
Hourly FTEF
Extra Service FTEF
Total FTEF
% Contract/Total
Alameda
Berkeley
Laney
Merritt
0.8
1.0
0.0
1.8
44.44
0.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
0.0
1.2
0.2
0.0
1.4
85.71
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.0
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V.
Qualitative Assessments
CTE and Vocational: Community and labor market
relevance. Present evidence of community need
based on Advisory Committee input, industry need
data, McIntyre Environmental Scan, McKinsey
Economic Report, licensure and job placement rates,
etc.
Transfer and Basic Skills: Describe how your
course offerings address transfer, basic skills, and
program completion.
N/A
Basic skills are significantly addressed as the
instructor and the class go step by step to
analyze problem and to generate better
problem solving skills.
While modeling on how to solve the problem
the instruction guides student to pay attention
to the organization of materials and to the
relevant data provided. A step by step analysis
make them focus more on the basic skills.
While students gain the needed foundation
knowledge of introductory economics they are
also encouraged to apply that knowledge to the
higher level of thinking and integration by being
asked to research on pertaining and relevant
economic topics.
Students are empowered to enjoy learning
Economics and the indirect outcome of this is
that a lot of students decide to major in
Economics and change their entire attitude
towards the importance and the relevance of
this subject.
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VI. Strategic Planning Goals
Check all that apply.
Describe how goal applies to your program.
Advance Student Access, Success & Equity
Engage our Communities & Partners
Build Programs of Distinction
Create a Culture of Innovation & Collaboration
Develop Resources to Advance & Sustain Mission
We will continue to increase student
persistence, retention and completion rate. We
are already above the college rates but will
serve as a stimulus for this discipline to do
more and more. We are working especially
hard to increase retention of online courses.
This discipline has been in the forefront of
curriculum development and use of innovative
techniques. We have developed new courses
and also introduced the best technology. We
are continuing to work and discuss curriculum
development even amidst budget cuts. We are
discussing the possibility of introducing fee
based courses that will focus on personal
finance and management.
This discipline works in close collaboration with
other Economics teams in the district and also
in other community colleges and universities in
the area
We do meet every year by developing an
Economics Specific Professional Development
Activity. Some examples in the past have been:
use of technology within the economics
discipline, selecting textbooks, utilizing human
resources within the district
VII. College Strategic Plan Relevance
Check all that apply
New program under development
Program that is integral to your college’s overall strategy
Program that is essential for transfer
Program that serves a community niche
Programs where student enrollment or success has been demonstrably affected by extraordinary
external factors, such as barriers due to housing, employment, childcare etc.
Other
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VIII. Action Plan




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Please describe your plan for responding to the above data. Consider curriculum,
pedagogy/instructional, scheduling, and marketing strategies. Also, please reference any cross district
collaboration with the same discipline at other Peralta colleges.
Include overall plans/goals and specific action steps.
The above data are very satisfactory. However, a suggestion for improving the quality of teaching and
learning Economics at College of Alameda is to place a class limit at 45 students per class and only 40
students for weekend and intersession classes. Economics is a very challenging course and the
participation is crucial at increasing students’ success and interest for this social science. A 55 class
size is counterproductive to excellent teaching and learning. Economics instructors within the District
started to discuss also the possibility of changing Economics from a 3 unit to a 4 unit course givent eh
importance of problem solving to student rentention and success. Another discussion that took place is
the drop in the overall student enrollment in Economics as part of inroducing a new prerequisite. We
worked in collaboration with the Cunseling department to facilitate this process and to increase the
accessibility of economics course to all students. This is especailly challenging for students who have
met the pre-requisite requirement in different schools and need to submitt their trascript to be able to
enroll in economics classes.
This Program works in close collaboration with Laney College and Merrit College. This collaboration has
resulted in more effective use of part time faculty and on the exchange of professional resource, such as
common professional workshops and activities.
The future goal will be to continue to reach larger number of students and to always adjust the
availability of classes to reflect the ever changing needs of students.
We are working on exploring alternatives that will significantly improve the retention of online courses.
Generating and posting lecture videos online will add to students success and retention of online
classes.
Currently, we are exploring different ideas and looking into developing a fee based course on Personal
Finance or Money Management. Econ Program at College of Alameda will strive to be at the forefront of
new knowledge and technology. We have a very competitive, dynamic and resourceful team who is very
dedicated to achieve excellence in economics education.
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IX. Needs
Please describe and prioritize any faculty, classified, and student assistant needs.
It is very imperative that this program receives at least 20 hours/week of students’ aid. Student’s
assistants have been working very well in the past and have achieved significant results when it comes
to students learning and interest for this subject. In addition, this has been an excellent experience for
our students and has helped them grow professionally, and compete successfully for their admission in
the most prestigious schools.
Please describe and prioritize any equipment, material, and supply needs.
Portable Drives
$200
Docking station for laptop
$150
Contemporary Videos on Economics
$200
LCD Monitor
$300
A LCD Projector is urgently needed, especially considering that this Division is offering several
sections through distance education and also 100 % of all sections offered are web enhanced course. Once
again, a LCD projector is a must for the delivery of hybrid and online courses. This is the fifth time that such
request is being placed with no positive response to date.
Please describe and prioritize any facilities needs.
It would be useful if a room would be available for economics tutors assisting students. Often times my
small office is overcrowded with students. It would be useful if we establish an Economics Tutoring
Program. This definitely will produce better retention and success rate data.
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X.
Course SLOs and Assessment
Fall 2010
Number of active courses in your discipline
3
Number with SLOs
3
% SLOs/Active Courses
100 %
Number of courses with SLOs that have been assessed
3
% Assessed/SLOs
100 %
Describe types of assessment methods you are using
Direct exam, direct portfolio, indirect observation, direct other
Describe results of your SLO assessment progress
We had a district wide Professional Development activity to focus on establishing robust Student
Learning Ourcomes for the economics courses offered at Perlata Community Colleges. We had an
overwhelming participation of both full time and part time faculty and came up with robust and revised
SLOs.
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XI. Program Learning Outcomes and Assessment
Fall 2010
Number of degrees and certificates in your discipline
0
Number with Program Learning Outcomes
1
Number assessed
1
% Assessed
100 % of them will be
assessed during Fall
2010.
Describe assessment methods you are using
Direct exam, direct portfolio, indirect observation
Describe results of assessment
We just started to do an assessment of the Program by conducting an overall Program Review and
inserting key Assessment Tasks. The SLOs of courses are aligned with the Program SLOs and the
assessment of the enitre program will be taking place by establishing Key Assessment Tasks within
each course of this Program.
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