AGB Small Conference Room

Educational Development

Tuesday; November 17, 2009

2-4:00

AGB Small Conference Room

Attendance:

Jan Mastrangelo

Rajen Vurdien

Jerilyn Chuman

Steve Handa

David Francisco

Claudia Cline

Patti Weekes

Kevin O’Connor

Don Taylor

Cheryl Altman

Terry Wedel

Joyce Semanik

Jill Lagatta

Kate Realista

Claire Cesareo-Silva

April Cunningham

Kate began the meeting with corrections of the minutes of the last meeting. It was noted there were two misspelled last names. She also informed committee members of the information available on the web page.

Kate began by distributing the agenda and the SMART goal proposals that had been submitted to her by committee members. Each goal was organized under one of the strategic directions unless it was determined to be “unassigned.”

Improve Student Preparedness

The committee began by examining the proposals listed under the firstStrategic Direction: Improve Student Preparedness. Rajen mentioned that some of the proposals weren’t in the language of SMART Goals and could be eliminated; however, the committee did examine and discuss each of the proposals that were submitted even if they weren’t written in SMART language, keeping some of the suggestions/strategies aside for potential future use. In looking at the first proposal—“Hire full time matriculation coordinator” and “Establish an Inter-segmental group with local high schools”, many felt these suggestions were strategies rather than goals though there was much interest in the idea of an inter-segmental group. The next proposal was “the dedication of resources for the contextualized teaching and learning development at the college.” Kevin gave examples of how this could be modified into SMART Goal language. The third proposal concerned the restoration of 2008-09 funding to Matriculation, EOPS, DSPS, and CARE budgets. Kevin reviewed the definition of matriculation, saying it was more than just testing; Rajen agreed saying it was part of enrollment management. Don raised the issue of finances, saying without a budget it was difficult to create goals. It was suggested this proposal could be revised , perhaps with matriculation having a goal of a certain number of students tested and placed appropriately. The fifth proposal concerned the improvement of “ online and physical access to the Learning Assistance Programs” with suggestions of having a “dynamic and interactive website”, improving “marketing and awareness,” and providing for “an ‘upper campus’ LAP while the Library construction is underway.” Claire suggested viewing these as strategies which could fall under a larger goal. # 6 suggested the use of Blackboard in all classes to “enhance resources and student access to information.” It was noted that this could tie in with the second proposal. #7—“Do not drop lower-enrolled courses” generated the comment that one goal could be an enrollment management plan focusing on recruitment, retention, and persistence. The last proposal, to “Create a Saddleback College Wiki “ was discussed briefly.

Foster Innovation

Under the second Strategic Direction , Kate had received five suggestions. The first concerned establishing a faculty learning center on Certificate attainment and expanding MySite. Claire elaborated that faculty could take workshops and obtain certification. Don, Rajen, and Kevin raised the issue of the difficulty of measuring that goal. Several other proposals suggested expanding and creating new online courses and hiring a dean or director of Distance Education. Some wondered if Distance Education could still be considered “innovative.” There was some mention of the relevance of the courses and the need to look for quality of courses rather than quantity. Another proposal involved integrating more digital resources into teaching (i.e. course websites, blackboard, professor websites).

Excel in College Transfer

The third areahad generated a few proposals involving increasing student/counselor interaction, creating “a 24/7 dynamic and interactive online TransferCenter”, and creating a method of submitting “My Academic Plan (MAP) to a counselor for review and feedback.” These suggestions brought discussion back to the need for Inter-segmental groups, linking Saddleback with high schools to help students be prepared once they arrive here and with colleges and universities to help students plan ahead..

Steve brought a few other SMART goals for consideration and distributed a list for the committee to read: 1) “improve the grade point average of 20% of the 2,200 students who have been identified as being on academic probation”; 2) “provide full professional transition services for 60% of the 700 war veterans who have identified their goal as transferring to a four year college or university”; and 3) “provide professional academic, career and personal/group retention services for 60% of the students who are enrolled in basic math and English courses.” These goals led to some discussion about the reasons for academic probation and the reasons many fail to get off it. Jerilyn noted that fewer than 10% come in to be removed. Don noted that many have jobs and Jerilyn said many are ashamed. Kevin suggested we should try to keep them from getting on probation again, which would tie into the third goal on Steve’s list. Don suggested goal #2 focused on a special population and raised the question of where we should allocate our resources; rather than placing them for the top 5% or low 20% of students, he suggested we should focus on the mass in the middle. Kevin agreed but asked how we would define that particular group, by number of units enrolled in, by academic goals, or by other criteria. Cheryl noted that within that large group of students, most likely some will need to take one or more remedial courses. For the third goal, .Cheryl mentioned the FreshmanAcademy as a model of a program that does help, citing a success rate of twenty of the twenty-five.

Enhance Resources

Discussion shifted on the fourth direction. There was some discussion of grant writing. Kevin noted we should look at SMART analysis of our grants. There was some interest in the suggestion to charge fees to Emeritus and high school students, particularly high school students. Jerilyn cited the figure of 575 high school students currently enrolled. The suggestion of considering other fees received some interest.

Unassigned

The proposals that were submitted but were “unassigned” also stirred debate. The first two involved increasing retention of students testing below transfer level courses. One proposed better utilizing publisher websites and labs. Another mentioned campus support services; it was believed by many to be better suited for that group. Another proposal was to “disseminate information to faculty about research based best practices for the basic skills to increase student success and retention by facilitating active, campus-wide support of the BSI program with workshops, discussion groups and seminars.” It was felt this fell under Student Preparedness. The next proposal (#27-28) also dealt with Student Preparedness. #29 addressed EAP as a tool for assessment. Kevin said we should look at this tool, which indicates readiness for college. Jerilyn said it has been evaluated and it isn’t that useful for Saddleback’s population since only one-third of our students indicate readiness. This involves additional assessment so that these students can be appropriately placed into classes. The last proposal involved the planning, developing, supporting, and implementation of career and job services plan of the CCLD. Claire wondered if this would better fit under another direction; Steve felt it could be connected to student preparedness having students think of career goals early.

The meeting pulled to a close with Kevin mentioning that many of the proposals submitted seemed to focus on student preparedness but tying in with transfer as well. Others said that we should focus on innovation as well. Most agreed that we yielded little in addressing the fourth direction---to enhance resources—but it was recognized that we do not need a goal for each direction and that we could focus on particular directions.

The next meeting is on December 1 at 2:00.