REVISED Departmental Dashboards (Annual): Fall 2014Suggested Questions

REVISED Departmental Dashboards (Annual): Fall 2014Suggested Questions

Data to review can be found on the Shoreline report server in the appropriate division folder under "Instruction." For information about accessing the report server, please see:

Table 1. Enrollment & Fill RateCore Theme 5: College Stewardship
(DETAIL TABLE 1a.)
What enrollment trends, if any, do you see, and what might explain them?
While enrollments are still quite high for Music and Music Technology, we have seen a 16% drop in total enrollment over the past four years. Slashed funding for the arts in general and music in particular in the K-12 arena have somewhat depleted our pool of potential students. We have lost four full-time music positions since the state began cutting higher education budgets during the recession. We have been succeeding at “doing more with less,” but it has been challenging to keep excellent faculty. The fact that we have an amazing group of “part-time” faculty doing much of the heavy lifting in our programs is a testament to their dedication to our students as well as being a partial explanation for why Shoreline’s music department continues to enjoy a reputation for excellence statewide.
How well have sections offerings been balanced with fill rate?
Music and music technology are extremely popular programs with Fall new-student enrollment typically reaching 200 or more. We offer an appropriate number of sections to accommodate this demand. Many students who enroll at the beginning of the quarter are insufficiently prepared for the rigor of our programs and drop during the first few weeks of the quarter, leaving previously filled and/or overloaded sections closer to 80% filled.
What are the implications of these data for your area?
The seemingly obvious solution to this phenomenon would be better advising of students before they enroll in their first quarter courses. Having music faculty available in the summer would be helpful, as well as some mechanism requiring students to seek the advice of music faculty before enrolling. At present, there is no such requirement and most of our students “self advise” so that many of them end up in inappropriate levels of music theory and piano.
Table 2. Enrollment by Sex, Ethnicity, and International StatusCore Theme 3: Access & Diversity
To what extent are students of color and women over- or under-represented in your courses?
(compared to Shoreline as a whole )
Enrollment of non-Caucasian students has increased over the last three years approximately by 30%. Based on the data provided it appears that female students have declined over the last five years by 23%. Further, the total Ethnicity chart shows 663 more students than the Sex chart which shows a discrepancy in total numbers.
If applicable, what changeshave you seen over time?
Past participation in Performance ensembles tends to be dominated by male students. However with the addition of MUSC 147, female participation in Performance ensembles is on the increase. / Shoreline CC Enrollment 2013 - 2014
American Indian/Alaska Native / 138 / 1.3%
Asian/Pacific Islander / 1373 / 13.1%
Black/African American / 850 / 8.1%
Caucasian / 4696 / 44.7%
Hispanic/Latino/a / 733 / 7.0%
International / 1225 / 11.7%
Other/Unknown/No data / 1480 / 14.1%
Female / 5405 / 54.3%
Male / 4563 / 45.7%
What are the implications, if any, of these data for your area?
The Music Department student ratio is similar to that of the College. There appears to be no implications at the moment.
Table 3. Enrollment by ModalityCore Theme 5: College Stewardship
If applicable, What are the implications of changes in proportions of online/hybrid/face-to-face classes?
The Music Department has experienced an overall enrollment decrease of approximately 16% over the past 5 years, which is consistent with total enrollment trends at the college. During this same 5 year period, online courses in the Music Department has seen online enrollment increase of 73% from the 2009-2010 academic year to the 2013-2014 academic year. Hybrid enrollments have increased by 95% during this same period.
Information gathered from this exercise indicates enrollments are trending up in online/hybrid/face-to face classes in the Music Department
Table 4a – 4b. Course success ratesCore Theme 1: Student Success and Educational Attainment
Is the overall course completion/success rate appropriate for your area?
According to the data over the five-year period from 2009-2014, student success (defined as percentage of students earning 2.0 or better in music courses) seems to show a slight increase from 79% to nearly 83%. Whether this is a significant rise is hard to judge. The students who stick with the rigorous academic program in music theory tend to do well if for no other reason than their tenacity and desire to be in music. Many students drop out over the course of any given school year when they realize that music is actually a discipline that takes effort to master and is not just a fun thing to dabble in. Given the relatively high incidence of student misconception of what it takes to be a music major, it seems that the success rates we do see are appropriate, even admirable.
What might explain any changes you see in course completion and success rates across years?
As stated above, in terms of statistical significance, it is difficult to judge whether a 4% change means anything at all. All things being equal, what changes over the years are the students. Some incoming classes are better prepared than others and would tend to do well no matter what. Again, in the absence of any large difference in success rates, it seems as if they are more or less flat over the five years in question.
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Table 5. Course success by race, ethnicity, international status, and modality
Core Theme 1: Student Success and Educational Attainment
Core Theme 3: Access and Diversity
If applicable, what are some of the most striking or surprising differences in course completion/success rates?
At first glance, the data seem to indicate that the hybrid course format is the most effective modality with success rates consistently above 90%. However, when we add in the fact that we only offer two hybrid courses: Class Guitar, which students take “for fun,” and Music in American Culture, of which only one section per year is offered, the difference in success rates between modalities seems much less significant.
According to the data, there are approximately twice as many male students as female students. Anecdotally, our experience in the classroom seems more like at least 4 to 1 male to female ratio. The women seem to consistently earn higher grades than their male counterparts. This may be, in part due to the fact that the fields they are studying (music production/engineering) tend to be male-dominated professions and, perhaps, the women are more highly motivated to achieve success.
International students also seem to be achieving greater success than both domestic students of color and the majority Caucasian students. One is tempted to guess that this is partially due to the fact that their parents are investing a significantly higher amount of money toward their education than those of their domestic counterparts and thus the “pressure is on.” Obviously, this is completely speculative without actual evidence to back it up.
What are the implications of these differences?
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Additional Data

Core Theme 2: Program Excellence
What curriculum changes have you made over the past academic year?
Over the past year no significant changes have occurred to the curriculum however, changes have been made in course delivery/modality.
MUSC 108 (Music in World Cultures) has changed from fully online to hybrid.
MUSC 114 (Guitar I) has changed from face-to-face to hybrid.
Over the past academic year, what other actions has your program or department/discipline taken to maintain program excellence?
Music Department faculty have participated in professional organization conferences, prepared and performed recitals and concerts, judged at clinics and all continue to be active professional musicians.
Please describe activities over the past year related to assessing course-level and/or program level student learning outcomes.
Quarterly juries, individual, small and large ensembles recitals aid in our assessment of student progress. We continue to dialog with articulation institutions to which our students transfer in order to maintain smooth pathways.
Please describe any significant recognition received by the program, department/discipline, and/or faculty over the past year.
Three of our music students were selected to perform with the 2014 Intercollegiate Honor Band of the CBDNA (College Band Directors National Association) in Reno, Nv. The department eceived grant funding for a soloist appearance from President’s Own US Marine Band. SCC Jazz Ensemble students received individual awards and overall third place trophy at the Reno International Jazz Festival. Music Instructor Ken Noreen received the Heart Award in recognition of contribution and dedication to the arts in our community from the Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Arts Council. Music instructor Steve Kim appears on the new solo release ” In Deep Owl ” by Soundgarden bassist Ben Sheppard, and Music instructor Bruce Spitz received the annual statewide Leadership and Innovation in eLearning Award from the Washington State eLearning Council
Core Theme 3: Community Engagement
Within your program or department/discipline, what have been the most significant activities related to community engagement over the past academic year?
Music groups from Shoreline community collegeperform annually throughout the community.Community engagement is achieved through partnerships with the Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Arts Council, 4 Culture, Shoreline City Council, Shoreline Foundation, Shoreline Rotary, University Women’s Club, The Ould Triangle, Tula’s Jazz Club and Club Hollywood.
Recent Opera/Musical program activities include student performances at events sponsored by the City of Shoreline, as well as performance featuring Opera Workshop students at the annual Shoreline/Lake Forest Arts Council Meeting
Please describe any community partnerships that have developed or strengthened over the past academic year.
We recognize the accomplishments of local high school musicians that are selected toAll-State and All-Northwest by inviting them to perform with our Concert Band and be recognized by our college President. Partnerships at quarterly performances include the University of Washington, Shoreline School District and regional community ensembles. Additionally, the Opera/Musical program has collaborated with the Education Department of Seattle Opera to provide Shoreline students access to Seattle Opera productions and rehearsals where they may observe a professional repertory company at work.
[For professional/technical programs] Overall, how would you describe the current role of your advisory board? To what extent has your advisory board influenced program changes in the past year?
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Review Summary

Overall, what would you say are the strongest aspects of your program or department/discipline?
Overall department strengths include the number of highly qualified and talented faculty members who work directly with students, our strong ties with local high schools and 4 year colleges and collaborations with regional arts associations.
What areas need improvement?
The music department desperately needs support staff. The 800 building houses an extensive inventory of expensive musical instruments and equipment as well as numerous individual rooms and lockers that require supervision. The reinstatement of a support position would benefit all students, faculty and building activities.
Please describe 3 – 5 goals your program or department should be working towards in the coming year. Please also indicate how you will know you have been successful in moving towards these goals.
Goal: Heighten visibility of the music program both on-campus and throughout the community. / Achieved by: Complete overhaul/update of the Music Department website and increasedmusic department performances in the community.
Success assessed by: successful completion of the two tasks listed above. /
Goal: Increase number of students auditioning for performance ensembles. / Achieved by: Heightened visibility of music program both on-campus and throughout the community.
Success assessed by: an increase in the number of students auditioning, and enrolled in performance ensembles (enrollment data provided by Director of Institutional Assessment and Data Management). /
Goal: Increase number of international students enrolled in music courses / Achieved by: meeting with the Dean of International Students / produce promotional materials targeted for international students.
Success assessed by: increase in number of international students enrolled in music courses (enrollment data provided by Director of Institutional Assessment and Data Management). /
Goal / Goal /
What additional numerical data, if any, would be useful for you to review on a regular basis?
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