AUTOMOTIVE PROGRAM REVIEW
Rough Draft 10-6-05, updated 10-14-05, and 12-1-05 (BR notes), and12-11-05, and
Program Description
The automotive department has five different facets to it. Bringing them all together into one strong automotive program helps students by serving different educational goals. The Las Positas College automotive program offers two separate two year degrees and shorter term certificate programs and has currently enrolled 100 students in day and night classes. The Las Positas College Smog program, six short term classes endorsed by the state of California for the smog program has 40 students enrolled. The Smog Referee Program has four of the LPC automotive program’s students working on a part time basis. This program is put on by the State of California and allows students who are interested in the smog program to gain experience thru hands on training while working at a referee station. The General Motors Program; Las Positas College is the northern California training satellite center. Thru this program the college receives 12 cars per year and renewed every year for training in this program. The vehicles are also available for the LPC college automotive program for training purposes. The Isuzu Program, just like the General Motors Program, is the Western Unites States satellite training center and receives three cars per year from Isuzu. These vehicles are also available for college automotive program use. Currently in development are a Powertrain class, an Alternative Fuels class, an Auto Lab class. Because of the curriculum availability from GM and Isuzu the LPC auto program is planning on offering short subject classes in the summer of 2006
Mission Statement
It is the primary purpose of the Las Positas College Automotive Department to deliver high quality up to date automotive technology training for the tri-valley. We foster growth and success in both students and the community at large. The automotive department augments and strengthens its mission by partnering with local businesses and schools to promote and exchange ideas regarding automotive service, and the needs of the automotive industry.
By maintaining an open line of communication with the industry and community we are able to reinforce our commitment to excellence, and student job readiness. The automotive industry has a dynamic of ever changing technologies, and requires an up to date staff dedicated to the success of the aspiring student technician. Staff training is an integrated part of the mission at hand, to deliver the best available
Relationship to college mission
The Automotive department’s mission supports to the Las Positas College’s mission by fostering growth and success in students and our community by preparing our students for a career in the automotive field. We support the community by providing Continuing Automotive Service Education, “CASE” the college trains and provides “job ready” service technicians, and also supports continued development for technicians already on the job. Our mission is guided by a dynamic advisory board which meets bi-annually. The Board consists of industry representatives along with local vocational school representatives. Based on this input we can constantly change and adapt our program to best serve our community and students.
Connection
The Automotive Department’s connection with other college programs is three fold. First by having an AS degree in Automotive our students will, and are encouraged to,attend other academic classes such as english, math, sciences, and physical education. We encourage all automotive students to pursue the Associate’s degree, because we believe the degree will provide the best career opportunities in the short and long run. Secondly the Vacuum Technology program has as an option to fulfill their degree program by taking Auto 55. This can spur interest not only in our program but give students a well rounded education. The automotive program also works with the Cal-works and Federal Work Study program on campus to hire students in need of employment to work in the tool room as assistants.
Program Access
The automotive discipline has a hierarchy of classes with each of the classes a student takes building on previous knowledge gained. The entry into the program and pre-requisite class for all others is Auto 55, Introduction to Automotive. This class is run every semester, twice in a year,and is a one day a week class on Saturdays. In order to provide access to the cited entry point LPC automotive has an open enrollment policy for this course, which means if the class is full we take all adds. This does conflict with the college’s enrollment limit of 24 for a lab class but with the additional help of our instructional assistant Auto 55 can enroll up to 48 students safely. The class has been run the last two semesters, Spring 06 and Fall 06, and has consistently been over enrolled with over 30 students. Auto 55 is offered on Saturdays in order to support concurrent enrollment of high school students. By having Auto 55 on Saturday’s high school students interested in automotive can concurrently enroll and finish the needed pre-requisite before attending LPC as a full time student, and not interfere with high school studies. The Automotive Program also has Credit by Examination agreements with local high schools for the entry course, Auto 55.
Program Resources
There are two full time faculty in the LPC automotive program, one of which serves as coordinator for the automotive program. Three adjunct faculty support the program at night and during the day. The LPC automotive program has one 24 hour per week classified Instructional Assistant to help with lab demonstrations and assignments. The Automotive Program also has access to a Laboratory Technician IV who also supports Welding, Horticulture/Viticulture, Electronics, Vacuum Tech, and Engineering. Student assistant are hired every year to help with tool room duties, student assistants are usually numbered between one and three. Our physical resources include one 5000 square foot building for lab space, half which is used for GM/Isuzu training facilities. Classrooms, consists of one annex capable of holding 35 students, and two other annex’s being able to hold 12 students each. In regards to technology the automotive industry is constantly changing and so has our program. We now have 13 desktop computers with software installed on them for vehicle information, service writing, and electrical schematics. The program uses a Hunter 7000 alignment machine, the newest on the market, six vehicle scanners, two oscilloscopes, one four gas analyzer, one on car brake lathe, three inside and four outside vehicle lift racks. Just like every program on campus our financial resources are provided by the general fund and student contact hours, but in automotive we also have other resources. For example, the contract with Raytheon to provide GM and Isuzu training and the contract with the State of California to provide a Bureau of Automotive Repair Referee Program have both provided funding to allow for expansion. In addition the automotive program has been supported by Vocational Technical Education Act (VETA) funds.
Program Efficiency
Automotive is aware of the fact that 525 WSCH pre FTEF is the perfect number for the college as a whole. The number is based on a 35 student class count and in automotive for safety reasons our class size is limited to 24. We have tried to alleviate this problem with the addition of our classified instructional assistant. Looking back at the last three semester’s spring and fall 2004 and spring 2005 our WSCH per FTEF has been 413, 484 and 459 respectively. In conversations with our dean we also understand that a good number for automotive is 470 to 480. We have not yet achieved this number consistently and are trying different things to increase our efficiency. Classified help is a starting point, active recruiting, an active scheduling plan that keeps the same class run only once per semester, andwriting new classes that keep up with newest technology and also bridge gaps in curriculum are some of the ideas we are implementing to help raise WSCH per FTEF. Previous to those semesters, fall 2002 and spring 2003 were at 334 and 328 respectively. The high amount of variety in these numbers will be discussed later in the barriers section.
Program Success
The automotive programs success averages at 87% from fall 2002 to fall 2004 with a slight drop to 72%in spring 2005. This can be attributed to the programs student count jumping from 90 in fall 2004 to 167 in spring 2005 with the addition of smog classes. For students who started the program and then later withdrew the lowest number was one percent in spring 2003 with the highest percentage of 12 in fall 2004. With our highest student count which was in spring 2005 the withdrawal percentage was at 7%. Our course retention rate average is 94% for the six semesters previous to fall 2005. Degrees awarded in the automotive program are low with only one in fall 2003 and four in spring 2005. Certificates showed little improvement with two awarded in fall 2002 and fall 2003, five in spring 2003 and three in spring 2005. We know that many students come to us only to upgrade specific skills rather than pursue a degree or certificate. In addition, due to high local demand, many students are hired before they can complete their certificate or degree.
Dialogue with other programs
The automotive program has ongoing dialogue with welding concerning our students and their possibilities. Vocational students in general tend to have the same learning curve and aptitude with their hands. Welding and automotive share some of the same students and both vocations complement each other. Welding can be used in the automotive body field and in the construction of automobiles. The techniques for critical thinking involved in diagnosing today’s high tech vehicles can be used to design, repair and build items in the welding field.
Other Data
The Las Positas automotive program has an advisory committee with28 members from industry, such as shop owners and employees, also high school instructors and ROP program instructors. The meetings for the advisory committee are bi-annually and held on campus in the automotive classroom. The automotive program is career focused; this means our students are preparing themselves for a job in the automotive field upon graduation. Transfer to a four year institution is not necessary because after graduation and job acquirement the student will receive on going training at that job thru manufacturer, distributor, update classes or refresher courses offered on the job, at remote sites and here at LPC. When analyzing job market data from the state of California, students wishing to have a career in automotive will be happy to know that from 2005 to the year 2012 their is a need for 17,000 trained automotive technicians in the state. With an hourly mean wage of $19.37 and hour and a starting wage of $11.71 an hour automotive is a career that pays well and has room for monetary advancement.
Showcase
One of the best parts of the LPC automotive program is its class size. We are limited to 24 students because of safety. This promotes togetherness with students and also helps being a more personal learning experience for the students. When the class size does go over the 24 maximum which most often is only the case for Auto 55, we have the resources, thru classified help, to still provide a safe and learning centered experience. An important item all students think about is value. The cost of attending the Las Positas College’s automotive program is low, the cost per unit is $26.00 and the best value for your money. Although the cost is low education is not compromised, a student can start and complete the program job ready with an investment of $2700.00 including books. The LPC automotive program’s close relationship with manufacturers, General Motors and Isuzu helps in always updating our curriculum to the latest technology. The companionship that the automotive program has with the State of California Bureau of Automotive Repair Referee site helps keep instructors up on the latest rules and regulations in the automotive world. This helps the instructors pass on the newest laws and regulations to the students and better prepares them for a career in the automotive field. Not only do the instructors constantly update their training but the automotive curriculum is reviewed and updated every two years and submitted to the curriculum committee. Instructors we also have an open door policy that is very clear to our students, and are encouraged to come see us anytime and about anything. Our relationship with the advisory committee allows us to better streamline our curriculum to meet industry needs, and be a continuation from the high school automotive programs. In the automotive world job applicants need to have a basic understanding of all automotive systems, at the college we teach these different systems and then are able to measure learning outcomes of students thru hands-on validation. This hands-on validation challenges students to apply the theory they learned in class and apply it to real life situations on bugged vehicles in laboratory assignments and tests. Our current faculty at Las Positas College is constantly renewing their training thru product updates and testing. In doing this technology will never run away from us and cause the students a loss of information, or job opportunity. At the current time the two full time faculty have a very close relationship and both have the same goals for the program in mind, students first. With this in mind every decision no matter the outcome is always to help the student better themselves and be career ready by graduation time.
Barriers
The automotive program has its barriers, one of which is the competition we face from non-accredited private schools. These schools, UTI, ATI, Wyotech have active recruiters (high pressure salesmen) that visit high schools on a regular basis and pitch a dream world to prospective students. Students are promised journeyman positions upon graduation (reality is fifty percent apprentice). Time constraints on instructors, teaching classes, setting up lab assignments, other collegiate responsibilities, and available hours of operation at the high schoolhave grossly impacted LPC automotive instructor’shigh school visitation. Another barrier is as faculty grows the program we have hit critical mass, with the diversity of programs we offer, smog classes, referee center, GM training, Isuzu training, we have run out of space. The astronomy program is also affected by our building; our lights which need to be on at night for student safety and vehicle security are impacting their view of the stars. In the past the automotive program has offered the same classes during the day as at night which negatively affected productivity numbers; previous full time faculty did not have growth in mind when scheduling classes. Current faculty have taken the bull by the horns and changed class schedule to a more productive and better offering to students starting fall 2006, unfortunately this was the soonest this change could be implemented. Enrollment data from Fall 03 to Spring 05 shows some variations. We have chosen to disregard those numbers as not reflective of our true enrollments. In reality over the last four years our enrollments have stayed even and grown slightly. We are now faced with growing a weakened program from previous misdirection. The automotive program has a low completion rate; this is a poor measurement of program effectiveness. Most of our students that do not complete the program have been recruited by the industry and then leave the program once their career has started. Granted the outcome has been achieved, job readiness and acquirement, but the graduation numbers do not reflect this. Lastly, there is always a budget problem, in automotive our current budget is $2500.00 per year. This is not enough to even repair some of the tools that are compromised during the semesters work. Automotive is constantly changing, new tools and electronics are needed every year to keep up with the changes, and unfortunately the program does not have the resources to purchase these items. Meeting these funding challenges require entrepreneurial action on the part of faculty and administration and some “thinking outside the box” of most traditional educational systems.
SLO
Las Positas automotive program is not yet involved in the Student Learning Outcomes project. Full time faculty have read about the SLO process in the education master plan and have concluded from looking at the SLO matrix that automotive would be an easy fit for SLO’s. All core competencies for automotive learning are theories that we teach and can easily be measured by hands-on validation in laboratory activities. An example of this would be teaching in lecture how to test an Oxygen sensor, and then having a laboratory demonstration on the oscilloscope pattern and proper hookup. The final assessment is having the student bring in their own vehicle and diagnose the effectiveness of their own cars oxygen sensor with an explanation of why the sensor is good or has failed.