Institutional Effectiveness Plan

Arts & Sciences Department

Developmental Studies Program

Mission:

The mission of the Developmental Studies program is to provide academic preparedness for students in our two-year programs as well as those planning to transfer to four-year schools through appropriate diagnostic assessment and innovative instruction using emerging teaching technologies and pedagogies in developmental courses.

2008-2009 Assessment Outcomes & Use of Results

Program Goal: Enhance instructional faculty performance through the appropriate professional development opportunities

Objectives: Provide opportunities for Developmental Studies instructors to gain new teaching methodologies and participate in workshops geared toward their instructional area.

Action Plan: Each instructor is to attend the NCCC Instructors Conference in October 2008. Each instructor is to attend a workshop/conference or take a course that is in his or her instructional area. Submit the appropriate travel forms Submit the appropriate Tier A applications. Coordinate with the Dean of Education Technology for technology training for faculty members of the AA/AS department.

Assessment Strategy: Professional development log for all faculty members. Departmental travel forms.

Assessment Outcomes: Only the Associate Dean attended the NCCC instructors Conference in October 2008. The two math instructors attended the NCCTM Conference in October 2008. All (4) of the Developmental Studies personnel attended the NCADE Conference in November 2008. No other conferences were attended due to the budget constraints.

Use of Results: Information from these conferences was evaluated for use in developmental courses. New ideas were incorporated into developmental studies courses.

Program Goal: Offer orientation sessions for Learning Lab students to inform students of course goals, objectives and requirements.

Objectives: Within the first two days of the semester achieve 80% attendance rate for orientation sessions for MAT 050, MAT 060, MAT 070 and MAT 080 Learning Lab sections.

Action Plan: Coordinate with Student Services, counselor’s office, faculty and staff to notify students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses that they are required to attend an orientation session prior to beginning coursework.

Assessment Strategy: Review course rosters to determine attendance rates.

Assessment Outcomes: 66% of students registered for MAT 050, MAT 060, MAT 070 and MAT 080 Learning Lab sections attended orientation sessions the first 2 days of the semester.

Use of Results: Developmental Math Instructors will continue to coordinate with Students services, counselor’s office, faculty and staff to notify students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses that they are required to attend an orientation session prior to beginning coursework.

Program Goal: Increase students’ understanding of how LL sections of Developmental Studies courses work to better increase their chances of successfully completing the enrolled course.

Objectives: 80% of students surveyed at the end of the first month of the fall semester will indicate that the pamphlet was helpful.

Action Plan: Developmental Studies faculty and Associate Dean meet to discuss the information students need to know to successfully complete LL sections. Create an informational pamphlet to be given to all students during orientations at the beginning of the 2008 Fall Semester.

Assessment Strategy: Survey students at the end of the first month of the spring semester to see if the information pamphlet was helpful.

Assessment Outcomes: The Developmental Studies faculty and the Associate Dean met and discussed what information students needed to be successful in a developmental course. A pamphlet was developed. Due to the budget constraints, the pamphlet was not printed.

Use of Results: The pamphlet can be used in future semesters and followed up by surveys to see if the pamphlets were helpful.

Institutional Effectiveness Plan 2009-2010

College Goal: Develop and implement instructional programs and services, both traditional and distance learning offerings, that are consistent with the assessed needs of the constituent groups in the College’s service area and with state and national standards, including training and retraining of the workforce.

Division Goal: Provide credit and non-credit programming to enhance economic development of the service area.

Program Goal: Provide students in MAT 060 seated sections with instruction in the use of spreadsheets to create charts and graphs.

Objectives: Students will demonstrate the ability to create various charts and graphs utilizing spreadsheets given a set of raw data.

Action Plan: Integrate the use of spreadsheets into the instruction of graphs and charts in the Statistics portion of MAT 060.

Person(s) Responsible: Associate Dean/Program Head of Developmental Studies Developmental Studies faculty

Anticipated Date for Achieving Objective: May 2010

Assessment Strategy: Students will complete a homework assignment demonstrating their ability to create various charts and graphs utilizing spreadsheet software.

Budget Needs to Accomplish Objective: Department

Assessment Outcomes: Will be completed in May 2010

Use of Results: Will be completed in May 2010

College Goal: Develop and implement instructional programs and services, both traditional and distance learning offerings, that are consistent with the assessed needs of the constituent groups in the College’s service area and with state and national standards, including training and retraining of the workforce.

Division Goal: Provide credit and non-credit programming to enhance economic development of the service area.

Program Goal: Improve students’ comprehension and critical thinking skills through reading contemporary novels.

Objectives: Provide students the opportunity to read a contemporary novel to prepare them for the literary components in ENG 111 and to prepare them to interpret articles used in other AA/AS courses.

Action Plan: Investigate novel offerings. Develop a pool of novels to choose from. Choose a novel and use it each semester. Test the students after completing the novel to determine their comprehension and critical thinking skills. Developmental reading instructors will compare findings.

Person(s) Responsible: Associate Dean and Developmental Reading instructors

Anticipated Date for Achieving Objective: March 2010

Assessment Strategy: Minutes of meetings Novel list Novel tests

Budget Needs to Accomplish Objective: Department

Assessment Outcomes: Will be completed in March 2010

Use of Results: Will be completed in March 2010

College Goal: Provide an environment that supports employing and retaining a quality faculty and staff and promotes enhanced student learning, achievement, and development.

Division Goal: Provide access to and guidance in professional development opportunities to strengthen instructional delivery and to prepare for accreditation initiatives.

Program Goal: Enhance instructional faculty performance through the appropriate professional development opportunities

Objectives: Provide opportunities for Developmental Studies instructors to gain new teaching methodologies and participate in workshops geared toward their instructional area.

Action Plan: The Associate Dean will request a budget for professional development for the academic year. Each instructor is to attend a workshop/conference or take a course that is in his or her instructional area. Submit the appropriate travel forms Coordinate with the Dean of Education Technology for technology training for faculty members of the Developmental Studies department

Person(s) Responsible: Associate Dean and faculty

Anticipated Date for Achieving Objective: March 2010

Assessment Strategy: Department budget Professional development log for all AA/AS faculty members Departmental travel forms

Budget Needs to Accomplish Objective: Department budget

Assessment Outcomes: Will be completed in March 2010

Use of Results: Will be completed in March 2010