Program Review Update 2009-10

Program Review Update 2009-10

Social Sciences (Report Due: October 15, 2010)

Program Description (source: Faculty)
The Social Sciences Program consists of the disciplines of Anthropology, Geography, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. In addition, the Human Services/Alcohol & Drug Studies certificate program is under the direction of Psychology department faculty. The courses offered in the Social Sciences include both general survey courses and others that cover more specific disciplinary content.
The purposes of the Social Sciences Program are myriad and diverse. First, the Program prepares students academically by providing a core curriculum that instills the knowledge, skills, and practices of social sciences content, theory, and methodology. The courses are designed to help students meet general education requirements for transfer to four-year institutions and provide them with supporting courses for majors in other programs. Secondly, the Program prepares students as citizens through course offerings designed to improve citizenship and produce a better understanding of both our and other nations' political systems. Thirdly, the Program fosters critical and systemic thinking by introducing students to the rigorous and profound writings representative of each discipline. The Program also seeks to increase self-knowledge and awareness by providing courses that tell students who we are and are becoming as a people, teach what it means to be human, and promote understanding of our tremendous diversity. Finally, the Program seeks to inspire and nurture an intrinsic love of learning by making the study of each discipline come alive to the students.
Students Served (source: Faculty)
The various student populations that find the Social Sciences Program valuable and relevant to their needs include traditional transfer students in all programs (but, particularly in psychology, social work, political science, business, law, and education); students interested in the Social Sciences and in graduating from College of the Desert with an A.A. Degree; international students interested in American history, culture, and society; students seeking personal enrichment; and students majoring in concurrent programs such as Liberal Arts Studies, Nursing, Administration of Justice, Early Childhood Education, and Human Services/Alcohol & Drug Studies.
Discipline/Program Learning Outcomes (source: Curriculum Specialist)
Students who complete a degree in the Social Sciences will be able to:
1. Identify and analyze key concepts and theories about human and/or societal development.
2. Critique generalizations and popular opinion about human behavior and society, distinguishing opinion and values from scientific observations and study.
3. Understand and think critically about different cultures (including topics such as race, gender, and class) and their influence on human development or society.
4. Examine the biological, psychological, and sociological factors that influence the personalities and behaviors of females and males from a multicultural perspective.
5. Develop individual responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for diverse people and culture.
Program Accomplishments (source: Faculty)
There has been continued increase in FTES despite class reductions.
Social Sciences Program faculty continues informing the COD, regional, national, and international communities on numerous contemporary societal and historical issues.
Anthropology
-  Dr. Ellen Hardy continues as symposium coordinator for the Annual Symposium of the Coachella Valley Archaeological Society. Entering its 6th year at COD, the event takes place November 13, 2010. COD financial support continues for the symposium.
- Professor Hardy gave a presentation on the Anthropology Program and what she brings to
College of the Desert, to COD Foundation members on January 19, 2010.
-  Professor Hardy continues her professional archaeological research with an international rock art project in Costa Rica; Selected COD students and COD alumnae and faculty are participating in the project. COD funding remains elusive.
History/Political Science
-  Dr. Doug Kroll continues presenting scholarly lectures to the public.
-  Professor Bill Gudelunas continues his scholarly tradition of historical presentations throughout the Coachella Valley.
Philosophy
-  Michael Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy, spoke at Congregation Har-El in February 2010. The topic was Do Jews, Christians, and Muslims Worship the same God? Utilizing the results of recent research on the mechanism of reference for linguistic terms such as ‘God’, Smith’s conclusion is that while it is almost certainly correct to say that Jews and Christians do worship the same God, it is very likely that Muslims do not worship the same God as do Jews and Christians. This conclusion may be logically resisted only in the event that God does not exist.
Psychology faculty participated in
-  Depression Awareness Forum, Fall 2009.
- Benefits of Meditation, FALL FLEX 2010. The response to this FLEX presentation was so
positive that Professors Emerson, Cage-Jones, and others are planning additional Mindful
Meditation FLEX activities.
-  Psychology faculty served on an Interdisciplinary Behavioral Management and Crisis Team and Grievance Committee. They are working with Dr. Cheryl Imes and Dr. Nathan Church as advisor for a student club for mental health awareness.
- Psychology faculty are co-advisors for SOAR and BSU.
Sociology
-  Dr. Victor Rios had a chapter entitled Julian Samora’s Pedagogy of Empowerment, published in Moving Beyond Borders: Julian Samora and the Establishment of Latino Studies, Alberto Lopez Pulido, Barbara Driscoll de Alvarado, and Carmen Zamora (eds.), 2009, University of Illinois Press.
-  Dr. Rios was also chosen as a Fellow for a National Endowment for the Humanities Workshop, African American History & Culture in the Georgia Low country: Savannah & The Coastal Islands, 1750-1950. The Workshop was held at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, July 11-17 2009.
SLO’s/ Assessments/Curriculum
Course SLO’s have been completed for all Social Sciences Program courses.
Anthropology
Assessments and Recording were completed for ANTH 001 and ANTH 003. Anth 002 assessment scheduled for Fall 2011. Anthropology faculty thinking of deactivating ANTH 004: Ethnography and Prehistory of Southern California Indians. The specialized class has had sporadic attendance; a more general class on California’s Indigenous persons might be more conducive to student needs.
Anthropology adjunct faculty Dr. Mary Slade will teach Cultural Anthropology at EVC Spring
Semester 2011. Dr. Slade developed and is currently teaching the online Cultural Anthropology
course. Anthropology faculty wanted to continue teaching the online Cultural Anthropology
course Spring semester but is unable to due to budget restraints.
Philosophy:
Course SLO assessment completed for Philosophy 006: Introduction to Philosophy.
Psychology
SLOAC: Courses assessed for: Psy 001; Psy 003, Psy 101
Currently assessing: Psy 001, Psy 003. Psy 010
Sociology
Sociology faculty have begun the SLO Assessment, Analyzing, Reporting and Discussing Cycle for most courses including SOC 001, SOC 002, SOC 004, SOC 014. SOC 015 is scheduled for Spring 2011.
New Courses:
History:
-  California History Hist 21
Philosophy:
- Philosophy of Science Phil 18
Psychology:
The Psychology AA degree has been revised and additional courses were added.
- Abnormal Psychology PSY 029
- Research Methods PSY 025
- Biological Psychology PSY 027
- Positive Psychology PSY 007
Sociology:
-  No new courses are being developed in Sociology however Professor Nicole Tortoris is considering making SOC 003 a 4 unit course; Such 4 unit courses in Statistics for the Social Sciences are offered at numerous community colleges throughout the CCC.
Program Challenges
All Social Sciences faculty note an influx of students in nearly all courses. Many faculty are accommodating the extra students via overflow. Faculty seek new sections for various courses:
Psychology needs to add another section of PSY00 andadditional sociology sections are required to accommodate the Nursing Program.
Anthropology classes are full and overflowed. Additional sections should be offered at other COD sites. Additional courses should be developed to increase student interest and success. Adjunct instructor Dr. Mary Slade developed and is teaching online course in Cultural Anthropology. Anthropology faculty would like to schedule this online course next semester but cannot because of budget constraints. We should seriously consider offering this online course in Cultural Anthropology on a continuous basis.
Dr. Slade will teach ANTH -002 at EVC Spring semester 2011. Anthropology Faculty Hardy and Slade would like to develop several anthropology courses to teach at COD main campus and other sites.
Dr. Slade laments that the on-line course she teaches is taking a vast amount of time. These courses are supposed to be fully accessible, and that is just about impossible. The various groups involved in on-line teaching at COD are very willing and helpful, but also very scattered, overworked, and still learning the system. As an example, for her hearing impaired student, only some of the publisher's resources are accessible; she was able to get the CC videos onto disk, but was then told they are too big to put on Blackboard anyway; most of the things that she likes to use from the Internet (and there are tons of good things out there) are not CC. She does not hold copyright for anything that is on the Internet, so she cannot send it in to COD tech, or to the new captioning businesses, or even to the YouTube captioning system. DSPS says she should at least provide transcripts (re publisher's resources) - but who is to make them? The publisher has been working for a couple of weeks now to identify CC videos in their resources, but who knows when they will finally be done. COD Tech people would be happy to help transfer her personally-made videos to Blackboard - but making even small videos is hugely demanding, time consuming, and impossible for any adjunct. And that is just for hearing impairment, only one of many accommodations which should be made. There is no full-time staff that can chase these things down on Dr. Slade’s behalf. This is problem that many on-line instructors are facing (or will be facing when authorities get stricter about enforcing the rules). It is a shame to put so much time and effort into improving classes to enhance student learning and access and not offer the online course on a continuous basis. There is need for additional anthropology staff to work on these aspects of teaching and presentation that ultimately improve student learning.
Geography classes are full. There is need to add more geography sections to accommodate the overflow in Physical Geography 001, Physical Geography 001—Lab, Cultural Geography, World Regional Geography and California GEOGRAPHY. COD offers the AA in Geography yet all geography courses are taught by part-time faculty. No assessments have been undertaken in any of the geography courses to date. There is need for FT faculty in Geography. There is need to create more geography courses such as Environmental Geography, Agricultural Geography, Economic Geography as well as offering geography classes at other COD campuses. There is need for FT faculty in Geography to increase student success as we train skilled students and workers in urban planning.
The Philosophy discipline remains seriously understaffed in full-time faculty, with one full-time professor. Typically, fourteen very full sections of philosophy courses are taught each semester, with Smith teaching five courses, and the remaining nine courses parceled out among six adjunct instructors (Culbertson, Harrold, Hertsgaard, Holman, Waddell, and Zionts). As it is an official goal of the college to ensure an equitable delivery of quality programs and services at all campus/centers and that a sufficient number of full-time faculty is maintained (Goal IV, D), we are in serious need of a second full-time instructor in philosophy.
Philosophy faculty would like to develop curricula for two new philosophy courses, Asian Religions, and Western Religions. Although we offer three or four very well-subscribed sections of Philosophy 12: World Religions every semester, the amount of material needing coverage exceeds the time available to do so. This is especially so given the state of the world following September 11, 2001. In order to facilitate this coverage, the philosophy program faculty is unanimously agreed that the content of Philosophy 12 should be greatly expanded and split between two new courses, to be offered either concurrently or sequentially. Philosophy 12 would then become a likely target for deactivation.
Social Sciences, particularly Sociology, continues to have difficulty finding qualified adjunct faculty but will be doing some interviewing soon.
Sociology faculty have not yet met with Counseling faculty (Jose Simo) about making the degree program more accessible to students, but that remains on the agenda. Hardy notes the same for the anthropology degree.
Program Challenges (source: Faculty working with Dean)
·  Understaffed in full-time faculty.
·  Position of retired History faculty (from 2008) still not filled.
·  Additional History/Poly Sci faculty retiring in December 2011.
·  Difficulty finding qualified adjunct faculty in Sociology.
·  When budget constraints cause classes to be cut, adjuncts may go elsewhere thereby making substitutions due to faculty illness or personal need time difficult.
·  Adjuncts put tremendous amount of work into their classes only to see them later cut. Can we not support our adjunct faculty?
·  Program FTEs have increased in the majority classes as sections continue to be eliminated due to state-wide budgetary cuts. As these classes are cut, class enrollment has increased in the majority classes, with many overloaded - A concern expressed in last year’s PRU.
Course Level Assessment Completed (source: Faculty & OAC Coordinator)
(See Appendix G of Academic PR)
CYCLE 1
COURSES: / ASSESSMENT
(Steps 1 – 3) / ANALYZE, REPORT
& DISCUSS
(Steps 4 & 5) / COORDINATE and IMPLEMENT CHANGES
(Step 6) / COMMENTS
ANTH-001 / 08/FA / S09 / F09 / AR completed
ANTH-002 / 09/FA / 010/FA
ANTH-003 / 10/SP / 10/10 / AR completed
ANTH-004 / 10/FA
GEOG-001 / 09/FA / AR missing
GEOG-001L / 09/FA / AR missing
GEOG-002 / 10/SP
GEOG-007 / 11/SP
GEOG-010 / 10/FA
HIST-003 / 09/FA / AR missing
HIST-004 / 10/SP
HIST-017 / 10/FA
HIST-018 / 11/SP
HIST-021 / 11/FA
PHIL-006 / 08/FA / 09/SP / 09/FA / AR not completed yet
PHIL-007 / 11/FA
PHIL-010 / 11/SP
PHIL-012 / 09/FA / AR missing
PHIL-013 / 10/SP
PHIL-014 / 10/FA
PHIL-017 / 12/SP
PHIL-018 / 12/FA
PS-001 / 10/SP
PS-002 / 10/FA / AR missing
PS-004 / 11/SP
PSY-001 / 08/FA / 09/SP / 09/FA / AR completed
PSY-003 / 09/FA / AR missing
PSY-007 / 12/FA
PSY-010 / 10/SP
PSY-012 / 10/FA
PSY-020 / 11/FA
PSY-023 / 11/SP
PSY-025 / 12/FA
PSY-027 / 12/FA
PSY-029 / 12/FA
PSY-033 / 12/SP
SOC-001 / 08/FA / 09/SP / 09/FA / AR completed
SOC-002 / 11/FA
SOC-003 / 10/SP
SOC-004 / 09/FA / AR missing
SOC-014 / 10/FA
SOC-015 / 11/SP
Changes Implemented as a Result of the Assessments (source: Faculty utilizing OASR form)
No changes have been implemented at the Program level to date.
SOC 001 - Prof. Rios has changed instruction and exams in an effort to increase learning and minimize rote memorization.
Assessment of Anth-001 brought about changes in exams.
Phil 006 - Changes made in instruction and assessment to help student s more readily attains the course SLOs.
More thorough SLO/Assessment/Analysis/ Implementation will be detailed in our 5 year Program Review due next semester.
Program Requirements from outside agencies (source: Faculty working with Dean)
Student Success Data (source: Office of Institutional Research)
Social Sciences / 2006_07 / 2007_08 / 2008_09 / 2009_10
Student Success Rates: / 77.2% / 76.4% / 75.7% / 79.4%
Retention Rate: / 92.2% / 90.4% / 90.5% / 92.5%
Note: Retention is the percentage of students who remain in the course after the census date until the end of the term. Success rate is the percentage of students who earned a grade of A, B, C, or Cr /P in the class.