Program Name
Please select your program. For CTE programs, use the 2018-19 CTE Instructional Program Review form.
Division
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Submission Date
1a. Provide a brief description of the program and how it supports the college’s Mission and Values Statements, its Diversity Statement, CSM’s and SMCCCD’s Strategic Plans, and the college’s Educational Master Plan. You may also discuss any factors that have impacted the program and its enrollment. Include changes in student populations, statewide initiatives, transfer requirements, advisory committee recommendations, legal mandates, workforce development and employment opportunities, and community needs.
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| Due to the 2000 character limit - please see attached file. | |
Description of Program
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2a. Describe the results of your previous Program Review’s action plan.
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| One of the department’s goals from the AY1516 program review was to improve student success and retention. The department saw increases in both success and retention in the AY1718 academic year, with success going from 60.4% in AY1516 to 68.2% in AY1718 and retention improving from 77.7% to 82.3% over the same time period. Success and retention levels in the AY1617 year were similar to those from AY1516. However, given the relatively small numbers of sections offered by the department, and the lack of obvious major changes in instructional methods between the AY1617 and AY1718 years, we need more data to conclude that this improvement represents more than a fluke. The improvement could potentially be due to increased support for students through tutoring services provided by the ISC, Mesa, and Metas grants, or due to the cumulative effect of numerous small changes in instructional methods.
Another goal stated in the 2015-2016 program review was to provide more supplemental learning resources for students in Physics classes. Tutoring services have been expanded via the ISC and the Metas and Mesa grants. However, the proposed Physics Program Services Coordinator, and Supplemental Instruction referred to in the previous program review were never hired. | |
2b. Program coherence and effectiveness: Explain any curriculum changes since last program review, including SLO alignments.
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| The department added an experimental class, PHYS 680MB Introduction to Rocket and Drone Science and Engineering, which was offered in spring 2018. This class is designed to interest students in science and engineering and provide students hands-on experience in these fields. It does not directly affect any of our other courses or sequences. No other changes to SLOs or official syllabi were made. | |
2c. Student success and equity: Discuss what your program has done to address equity gaps between student populations and between modes of delivery (online, hybrid, and face-to-face), describing your successes, works in progress, and/or ongoing challenges.
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| Due to the 2000 character limit - please see attached file. | |
Student Success and Equity
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2d. Provide an update on any long-term plans that are still in progress (if applicable).
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| No long-term plans were discussed in the last program review. | |
3a. Course and program assessment. Discuss the results of your program assessment. Explain any strategies, research, initiatives, curriculum development or other activities intended to improve student learning and promote educational equity in your discipline, either at the course or program level.
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| Due to the 2000 character limit - please see attached file. | |
Course and Program Assessment
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3b. General Education / Institutional assessment. Discuss participation in any General Education, Core Competencies, institutional or interdisciplinary assessment activities.
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| The department was not involved in any of these activities during the past two years. One faculty member is involved with developing assessment rubrics for institutional learning outcomes. | |
4a. Provide a brief description, including actions, measurable outcomes, and timelines
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| Develop one-unit courses that concentrate on the analytical skills which are specific to Physics 210 and 250 for the students with weak analytical preparation to take simultaneously with each course. Ideally, these courses would be made available to the students free of charge. We plan to offer these first as experimental courses in Fall 2019. The effectiveness of these courses will be evaluated by tracking student retention and success in PHYS 210 and 250, as well as using the newly developed common assessments for those courses.
The department also plans to convert the experimental PHYS680MB (Rockets and Drones: Science and Engineering) to a permanent course that would satisfy the physical science GE requirement. The goal of this course is to attract new students to science and engineering, who may be interested in the hands-on nature of such a course. | |
4b. What will your program do to increase student success and promote student equity in the next two years? What kind of professional development and institutional support will be engaged and enacted to meet these goals?
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| Success and Retention Rates for STEM majors in Physics 210 and 250 are historically lower than Success and Retention Rates in Physics 220, 260, and 270. To address this, we plan to develop “Just-in-Time” companion courses, described in 4a above, for students who may be underprepared when they enroll in Physics 210 or 250. Physics 210 and 250 are the starting point in either sequence for STEM majors. This makes them the best courses in which to address equity.
These companion courses would be designed such that, in addition to practicing important analytical skills, they would foster a sense of community. Activities in these courses would be group-based exercises. Ideally, the courses would have in classroom tutors selected from underrepresented groups. To study the impact of the courses, we would need to receive data from PRIE showing disaggregated success and retention rates specifically for Physics 210 and Physics 250. These would likely need to be over a several year period to allow for a large enough sample size for statistical relevance. We would then need to see the data for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020, disaggregated for (1) all students, (2) students who completed the companion course, and (3) students who did not take the companion course. Again, more than 1 year worth of data may be necessary before any conclusions can be drawn. Release time may be needed for curriculum development of the new courses.
Starting in Spring 2019, the department plans to offer Academic Excellence Workshops (AEW) for students in Physics 210 and Physics 250. Many of the workshops would also be relevant to students in Physics 220 and Physics 260. The AEW’s would be led by a student facilitator funded through MESA. The AEW model offers a more effective model for Physics than does the Supplemental Instruction (SI) model. One faculty member has applied for release time to develop the content of the AEWs. | |
4c. Describe other professional development activities and institutional support and collaborations that would most effectively ensure that the program achieve its goals and plans.
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| As the department explores interdisciplinary and research-oriented classes like PHYS 680 MB Introduction to Rocket and Drone Science and Engineering, it has become apparent that there are some administrative hurdles do doing such work at CSM. In particular, restrictive policies on the use of district drones off campus and limited options for transporting students off campus make it difficult to do student projects and research using drones. Similar hurdles have been encountered with robotics-related projects. The department would like to be more actively included in the discussion and formulation of such policies. | |