Spring 2010 Flex Days

1. Academic Senate Spring 2010Flex Days

2. Academic Senate Thank You Senate Flex Day Scheduling Committee Laura Loop Heather Faust Debbie Anthony Chris Calima Laura Buchholtz

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6. Academic Senate Accreditation Self Study Finished Looks beautiful Jeanette Haxton/Rich Montori Hot links courtesy of Kim Panis Matches quality on the inside Too many people to thank

7. Academic Senate Accreditation Visiting Team March 8-11, 2010 Dr. Francisco Rodriguez Superintendent/President Mira Costa College Mr. Michael Guerra VP, Admin Services Fresno City College Mr. J. Brian Haley Dean, Learning Resources Sierra College Ms. Mary Halvorson VP, Academic Affairs Santiago Canyon College Dr. Richard Robertson (Assistant) VP, Student Services Mira Costa College Dr. Frederick Trapp Former Dean, Research/Academic Services Long Beach City College Dr. Deborah Travis President Consumnes River College Mr. Michael Spina Education Technology Specialist Lake Tahoe Community College Mr. Brian Thiebaux Professor, English, Business and Inst. Research Palo Verde College Mr. Mario Tejada, Jr. Dept Chair, Computer Information Systems Diablo Valley College Dr. Celina Sau Lin Ing Professor, Computer Information Science Sacramento City College Ms. Nancy Silva Professor, Theatre Arts American River College

8. Academic Senate My Personal Accreditation Journey -Wrote MPC standard “Improving Institutional Effectiveness” -Participated as a team member at Las Positas -Read and commented on all aspects of MPC self study -Trainings, meetings, reviews, ad nauseum

9. Academic Senate My Personal Accreditation Journey -I believe in the basic process: Peer Review • -Accreditation Team at Las Positas was • Fair • Open minded • Cognizant of each standard • Not mired in minutia • Listened to each other • Diversity of opinion and perspective (hopefully) leads to a fair and balanced report

10. Academic Senate My Personal Accreditation Journey -I believe in the fundamental themes of the standards: • Goal Setting, Planning Evaluation, Dialog, Improvement, Repeat • Student learning is at the heart of all planning and decisions • Clarity of purpose, process, and goals characterize successful organizations -At MPC, these fundamental themes translate into: • Institutional Goals • Component Goals • Plethora of plans • Program Review • The Planning and Resource Allocation Process • The SLO Framework

11. Academic Senate My Personal Accreditation Journey -I recognize the ACCJC has some problems • Standards are repetitive, confusing • Sometimes compliance rather than improvement approach • Resistant to honest, constructive, critique • Trainings are inadequate, sometimes even intimidating

12. Academic Senate My Personal Accreditation Journey -I believe MPC will do well overall • Based on the strength of our • MPC Planning and Resource Allocation Process • Program Review Processes • Clarity of governance processes • Board policies • Administrative policies • Governance committees • Expect some recommendations—perhaps on SLOs

13. Academic Senate SLOs Goals/Planning Program Review My Personal Accreditation Journey Review/ Evaluation Resource Allocation

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15. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -SLOs mean different things to different people Data Assessment Grades Public Dialog Evaluation Standardization Course, Program, Institution Quantitative

16. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -Presented Spring 2008 Flex days -Got many things right, and a few things wrong

17. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -Things we got right • There are problems with the SLO model (p. 5) • Fear of standardization • Possibility of lowering standards • Possible loss of subtlety and complexity of subject matter • Possibility of evaluations based on student performance • “SLOs can provide a formal framework for faculty to converse, as professionals, about teaching, learning, pedagogy, and curricula” (p. 10) • Definition: “what students are expected to be able to “do” as they successfully complete a course.” (p. 10) • “Most important thing to remember: If we don’t write SLOs for our courses and programs, somebody else…will. And that would be everybody’s worst nightmare.” (p. 17)

18. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -One thing we got wrong • That there is a big difference between SLOs and objectives • We now believe the only difference is one of number and scope • Objectives: many and narrow scope, culminate in SLOs • SLOs: few and broader scope, derived from objectives • Both should be written in terms what students should be able to “do” by the end of the course • For the purposes of the MPC SLO framework, engage in dialog about either objectives or SLOs, whatever you think would be a benefit to your students

19. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -General Education Outcomes Examples: Upon successful completion of this area, students will have demonstrated an ability to…. English Composition form a provable thesis, develop it through factual research, distinguish between fact and opinion, and make effective rhetorical choices in relation to audience and purpose. Communication and Analytical Thinking analyze and evaluate complex issues or problems, draw reasoned conclusions and/or generate solutions, and effectively communicate their results. Humanities: analyze and interpret human thought, achievement, and expression relevant to such branches of knowledge as philosophy, literature, and/or the fine and performing arts, and to communicate the results. Social Sciences: critically examine and comprehend human nature and behavior, social traditions, and institutions.

20. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -The SLO framework “lives” in the annual update portion of program review: Available on the Academic Senate website.

21. Academic Senate What I’ve Learned about SLOs -I believe the SLO framework/dialog is useful to: • Establish consistent expectations across multiple sections • Establish a progression of skills across a sequence of courses • Discover where improvements are needed • Plan improvements • Provide rationale for resource allocation requests • Establish a vision for your program • Evaluate the effectiveness of attaining the vision for your program • Four examples to follow I believe we already do most of these things.

22. SLO Dialog in Earth Sciences • Purpose: • Demonstrate how Earth Sciences engages in the SLO framework

23. SLO Dialog in Earth Sciences • Purpose: • Demonstrate how Earth Sciences engages in the SLO framework • Describe how dialog leads to improvement efforts

24. SLO Dialog in Earth Sciences • Purpose: • Demonstrate how Earth Sciences engages in the SLO framework • Describe how dialog leads to improvement efforts • Dialog is the essential component of the SLO Process

25. Geology SLOs 1. Explain Earth features in terms of surficial processes, tectonics, and human influence. 2. Use observations of outcrops and/or landscape morphology to interpret basic geologic history and processes 3. (GEO) Use the scientific method to investigate phenomena  in the natural world and use concepts, experiments, and/or theory to explain them. Today’s Focus

26. SLO: Use observations of outcrops and/or landscape morphology to interpret basic geologic history and processes How do we evaluate? Students must: -Observe a local geologic outcrop/landscape -Interpret the basic events that formed it -Present posters to class Why did we choose this project? -Incorporates course objectives -Incorporates GEO -MPC students have completed this assignment since the 90’s.

27. SLO: Use observations of outcrops and/or landscape morphology to interpret basic geologic history and processes Not Entirely Have we been satisfied with the students’ achievement of this outcome?

28. SLO: Use observations of outcrops and/or landscape morphology to interpret basic geologic history and processes Why not? -- Dialog Geologic content Critical Thinking – Process of Scientific Inquiry Basic skills Not Entirely Have we been satisfied with the students’ achievement of this outcome? Big Question: How do we improve student learning?

29. Big Question: How do we improve student learning? Give Students More Practice Developed a mid-semester project.

30. A mid-semester project. Students receive more time in the field….

31. A mid-semester project. Collaboration with English and Study Skills Center to improve quality of written communication. …and more writing practice

32. -Additional practice on more field trips. These sidewalks were poured straight! -Collaboration with the Math Learning Center to help with basic skills.

33. Student posters used to evaluate the SLO. It is the student attainment of this SLO that we wanted to improve. SLO: Use observations of outcrops and/or landscape morphology to interpret basic geologic history and process

34. Do we have quantitative results? No. • Do we have qualitative results? Yes. • We emphasize DIALOG, which leads to…… • Greater clarity of what we expect from students (SLOs) • Pedagogical adjustments • Improved evaluation techniques • Improvement of student attainment of SLOs (i.e., student learning) This approach is one way to engage in the SLO framework at MPC

35. SLO Process Discussion/Dialog/Reflection Action Ideas for Improvement Dialog leads to improved student learning