Discipline/Program

In conjunction with the 4DX campus initiative and the EMCC Super Goal #1, the math division developed the following WIG:  To contribute to closing the equity gap and improving a student’s sense of belonging, the Mathematics Division will increase the student’s response average on the twenty questions of the Classroom Community Survey (Rovai, 2002) from a 2.2 to 2.5 by December 2021.  Residential faculty reported what types of activities/practices were implemented in their classes to increase a student's sense of belonging.  Students reported an average score of 2.7898

Objective: To ensure students are on track for completion in their certificate or degree pathway program, students meet with their advisor, either virtually or in person, to do the following:

1. review progress of degree or certificate pathway
2. determine classes to register for for the next semester
3. ensure student is on track to complete in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
4. identify a program of study if you have not already done so

Assignment Requirements:

In AY19/20 Jeff Miller created a Life Sciences Assessment tool that uses 24 questions to measure understanding of general biology concepts along with critical thinking, reading comprehension and data analysis skills in a biological context.  The tool was used in multiple BIO course sections primarily taught by FT faculty and a CATS by Shannon Manuelito (Aug.

The ECN faculty were interested in assessing our students' writing skills as we assign reserach papers to them each semester using the standard writing rubric.  Students' essays were collected at the end of the fall 2020 semester for analysis in spring 2021. This began with an inter-rater reliability study to normalize our responses, followed by assessing for baseline data.

This syllabus research project is an example of assessing learning practices to enhance learning environments at the classroom, program, and college level. I learned from student success literature that often, underrepresented students will not ask for exceptions to syllabus policies while their counterparts will, thus creating unintentional equity gaps with class syllabus policies. I studied various course syllabi from EMCC classes to see how my policies compare. I then surveyed EMCC faculty and students about the course syllabus.

During the Spring 2021 Celebration of Learning event was hosted by SAC.  EMCC Faculty and staff had an opportunity to facilitate 30 assessment workshops within their areas to share best practices with colleagues and increase student learning.  There were three thirty minute sessions.  Some participants presented for multiple sessions.  We had:

This year, the Psychology Club and Psi Beta (PCPB) have had to meet all online. While this has presented us with challenges, it has also opened up our club to many possibilities. Our students wanted to have events, but indicated concern that they wouldn't actually be able to engage with the speakers, as in other online events they often aren't able to speak or raise their hand as frequently as they would like. We decided to create a Women In Psych Panel event.

In Fall 20, math courses transitioned to a Live Online format versus traditional online. Faculty spent the summer frantically learning technologies and strategies through workshops, brainstorming sessions, and social media. Math faculty also trained one another on Zoom/Webex, NearPod, and Whiteboard.fi with a common goal -  to learn and implement new tools in the virtual environment to keep students engaged; increasing student success and persistence.

The Life Sciences Division created a divsion level assessment. Though some biology courses were not able to complete the assessment due to the COVID19 response, results show an increase in score from lower level biology courses to higher level courses.