Online

Programming assignments traditionally involve some problem analysis, algorithm design, and typing/testing code. While designing a new Level II course, I wanted to provide for a different way of thinking about problems and to integrate real-world context. I developed a two-part assignment on secure coding for database applications, specifically teaching students about SQL-injection attacks and how to defend against them. Instead of giving students a paragraph-long program description, I provided a couple of articles and links. 

In the Spring 2013 semester, five adjunct faculty mentees, four adjunct faculty mentors, and one residential faculty mentor completed the pilot of the innovative Adjunct Faculty Mentoring Program (AFMP). The AFMP is the research based Applied Integration component of the Adjunct Faculty Professional Development model that also includes Objective and Subjective Skills Development Workshops.

After reading chapter 4, Introduction to Active Directory and Account Management, students will install Active Directory and Delegate controls through web-based labs.  The labs will walk them through multiple steps including installation, configuration and the administration of elements within Active Directory. 

I ran MAT142 Online in F13, which is the first time our division has run an online course  Of the 31 who started the class, 20 will pass (with 1 depending on the final project score).  We had 5 written projects, and at the end of each project, I asked students to do a grade check which required them to give feedback on their progress and the course as a whole.  There were 3 common themes that I saw from the responses:

1)  Students felt projects did not reflect the learning they'd done in notes and homework.

Sociology 130, Human Sexuality, focuses on the social, cultural, and institutional contributions to human sexuality. Throughout the semester, students address how society constructs expectations and limitations on sexuality. The last assignment is to create a sexual rights document and to discuss the document with your classmates. The sexual rights document will be assessed through a rubric which focuses on research, sociological imagination, and critical thinking. The SOC 130 online course will be piloted in Spring 2014.

One learning objective for Com 100 is to have students explain the essential elements of communication using representative communication models. In a F2F setting this can be demonstrated easily by putting the essential elements of a model on the whiteboard and  having students stand by the elements such as the “sender” and “receiver” element. They next model the  elements in an interactive process.  This semester, I assigned students the same assignment,  to diagram a recent conversation they had using a model of communication.

A survey was completed (N=147) for the One Billion Rising Event. This is a sample of the percentages for responses of Agree and Strongly Agree.  Please see attachment. (1). One purpose of this event was to raise awareness of the global issue of violence against women. My understanding of the global issue of violence against women is greater after attending this event. 88% (2). Another purpose of this event was to encourage a better understanding of how individual action can bring about change in the larger culture and in personal lives.

In another assessment, the gender issues survey incorporated in SOC 212 as a pre and post survey is discussed. The focus is on similarities and differences between the pre and post results. This assessment focuses on the post survey as a comparison between hybrid and online. A spreadsheet is attached with the results for Spring 2013. The similarities between the hybrid and online courses include 1. majority of students indicate that most of the listed gender issues are important and very important (higher end of scale) 2.

Students continuously give us positive feedback on campus events. Love Your Body Week is assessed with a survey for the week long series of events. Self reflection questions focus on learning from the event, interest in going to other eventes, interest in learning about other social issues, interest in being active in the community, feeling open minded, and having resources on the social issues. If you examine the attachments, you will see results for the presentations, activitie,s and the outdoor event.

Faculty librarians from all of the Maricopa Community Colleges cooperatively staff a real-time instant messaging service called Ask-a-Librarian (Ask). Through the Ask service, these librarians assist students from all colleges with research during the day and contract with a cooperative of librarians for additional support 24/7/365. A district-wide committee of librarians oversees the service.

The students in my introductory Illustrator class often struggle with basic design elements when they work on their projects, such as the overall composition, negative space, color spaces and the placement of text. The 3-part poster project gave them the opportunity to not only explore their creative talents but also think of a meaningful design output that conveys a strong and clear message to the audience, using all the technical skills they learned in the course of the semester:

This is a final assessment of RDG 081, 091 and CRE 101.  The common elements included are a short essay (3-5 pages), long essay (5-7 pages), discussion board postings responding to the readings, letter to the reader, and self-assessment.  Other artifacts such as power points, prezis, games based on the books, are included with a rationale and rubric for inclusion.

In order to compare the performance of those students who had placed directly into ENG101 (placers) with students who had completed ENG091 in order to get into ENG101 (completers), we completed an ENG101 common assignment and assessed an equal number of each group.  We used most of the EMCC Writing Rubric (Focus, Support, Organization, Language Use, and Mechanics--scale of 1 - 4.)  All nine residential ENG faculty took part in the assessment on January 7, 2013 -- we particiapted in norming and then scored papers.

Since Spring 2010, a common assignment has been incorporated into Sociology 101 (Introduction to Sociology). A group of faculty worked on the assignment and rubric with the SAAC co-chairs during Fall 2009. The assignment has been implemented at the end of each semester in the SOC 101 courses (learning outcomes, assignment, and rubric attached below). I have attached some of the comments and results from the instructors from each of the semesters (when information was provided).

During Week 1, students complete a journal entry in which they discuss their thoughts on current gender inequalities and what they think the course will include. The majority of students do not have the details of contemporary gender issues. Most of them state that gender inequalities are part of the past and/or that there are a few gender inequalities due to progress. During Week 16, students complete a journal entry asking them what they will walk away, what surprised them in the course, and how will they promote social change.