Fullerton College Program Review Academic Programs

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1 Fullerton College Program Review Academic Programs Program: Environmental Sciences Year: 2009 Department of Environmental Sciences, Division of Natural Sciences List of persons participating in the review: Bruce Cordell Royden Hobbs Tom Morris Statement of Preparation (and signatures of the Department Coordinator and Dean. This program review was prepared by those listed in an open and collaborative process. All full-time faculty in the program have had an opportunity to review the report, and the report was made available to the division as a whole prior to being submitted to PCC. Department Coordinator Tom Morris Division Dean Bruce Cordell Date November 16, 2009 Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 1

2 Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 2

3 Program Description A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY The Environmental Sciences department was established in the early 1970 s in order to respond to the country s emerging interest in environmental issues such as pollution, endangered species and urban sprawl. Initially, the program consisted mainly of policyoriented courses such as Environment and Man and Environment and Public Policy. In the early 1990 s, the department changed direction and began to emphasize biological and ecological skills as they related to the environment. The bread-and-butter course, Environment and Man was completely redesigned and renamed to Environmental Biology. The Environmental Sciences department is host to many field-oriented short courses such as Natural History of California Field Lecture and Geology and Marine Biology of the Channel Islands. The department s main service is to provide environmentally-oriented general education science options for transfer students, and to provide field study experiences to science majors and nature enthusiasts. Although the department offers an Associate of Arts degree, few students pursue this degree. B. PROGRAM GOALS Upon successful completion of courses in the Environmental Sciences department, students will be able to: 1. Apply accepted understandings and principles of modern science as the primary means of characterization and assessment of natural systems. 2. Clarify and simplify the basic foundations of modern evolution theory in terms of genetics theory and ecology theory. 3. Indicate on a world, regional or local map the distribution patterns of biodiversity, major ecosystems, make general statements about the ecological value of biodiversity, and enumerate current threats to biodiversity. 4. Identify in the field surrounding ecological communities and justify their placement with respect to the observed mix of physical and biological conditions. 5. Explain the science that characterizes pressing environmental issues such as biodiversity loss and global warming. As a result of participation in the program, students will have the following 5-7 skills and knowledge sets: 1. Students will be able to objectively evaluate claims about natural systems based on rhetoric with claims based on empirical evidence. 2. Students will be able to characterize specific living things in terms of their internal biological processes, the resources those processes demand, resource exploitation styles, and the resulting environmental consequences. 3. Students will be able to identify, characterize and compare major ecosystem types, locally and globally in terms of dominant wildlife, climate, and other limiting factors. 4. Students will be able to identify native species of plants and animals in a variety of regional ecosystems. 5. Students will be able to identify adaptive features on plants and animals, and will be able to predict the rewarding services such features provide. Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 3

4 6. Students will be able to use scientific instruments and other equipment in the field for the purpose of characterizing and analyzing natural environments. C. PROGRAM DEGREES AND CERTIFICATES OFFERED Associate of Arts in Environmental Sciences PROGRAM DEGREES AND CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS Admissions requirements (if appropriate) None List of required courses by degree/certificate The present Associate of Arts Degree in Environmental Sciences program requires a total of 18 units of which 8 units are in required courses. An additional 10 units may be chosen from the restricted electives listed below. Required Courses (8 units) Units BIOL 274 F General Ecology 4 ENVS 105 F Environmental Biology 3 ENVS 105LF Environmental Biology Lab 1 Restricted Electives (10) Units AJ 100 F Intro to Law Enforcement 3 CHEM 111AF General Chemistry 5 CHEM 111BF General Chemistry 5 ECON 101 F Principles of Economics Micro 3 ESC 190 F Environmental Geology 3 GEOG 102 F Physical Geography 3 GEOG 170 F Urban Geography: Intro to the City or 3 PSY 101 F General Psychology 3 SOC 101 F Intro to Sociology 3 SOC 102 F Social Problems 3 Total Units: 18 D. PROGRAM COURSES OFFERED ENVS 105 F Environmental Biology ENVS 105LF Environmental Biology Lab ENVS 126 F Natural History of California ENVS 126FF Natural History of California Field Lecture ENVS 196 F Regional Field Studies/Life Sciences ENVS 198AF Desert Field Natural History ENVS 198CF Geology and Marine Biology of the Channel Islands ENVS 198DF Baja California Field Studies ENVS 198EF Marine Biology of Baja California ENVS 198FF Marine Vertebrate Ecology of the Channel Islands Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 4

5 E. PROGRAM FACULTY List faculty Royden Hobbs Tom Morris Number of adjunct faculty: 2 F. PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE Royden Hobbs: co-chair Tom Morris: co-chair I. Program Key Performance Indicators Table 1. Key Performance Indicators ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Key Performance Indicator Su Fa Sp An Su Fa Sp An Su Fa Sp An Su Fa Sp An Su Fa Sp An Su Fa Sp An Course Information Sections Offered Day Evening/Weekend Online Short Term Courses Offered Day Evening/Weekend Online Short Term Student Information Majors New Majors Enrollments , , , , , ,393 FTES WSCH 314 1,571 1,574 3, ,289 1,520 3, ,440 1,415 3, ,393 1,392 3, ,457 1,362 3, ,567 1,659 3,594 Program Resources FTE Faculty Personnel Supplies Program Efficiency Ave Section Size Fill Rate (Census) #### 89% 88% 90% 83% 76% 84% 81% 93% 85% 81% 84% 96% 92% 83% 88% 97% 93% 90% 92% 105% 99% 97% 98% WSCH per FTEF Cost per WSCH Cost Per Major Program Outcomes Course Retention 95% 90% 86% 88% 100% 84% 86% 87% 99% 82% 84% 85% 96% 87% 83% 86% 95% 82% 83% 84% 95% 82% 86% 85% Course Success 93% 80% 74% 78% 95% 77% 77% 79% 91% 66% 70% 71% 89% 71% 69% 72% 87% 69% 65% 70% 89% 64% 68% 68% New Major Persistence Degrees Awarded Certificates Awarded Transfers Student Satisfaction Available Jobs Employment Rate Employer Satisfaction III. Program Outcomes Analysis A. REPORT ON STATUS OF PREVIOUS REVIEW OUTCOMES ANALYSIS The previous program review of 1999 proposed to make advances in the following areas: Implementation of new technology Change in mode of delivery Introduction of new courses, programs, etc Since the time of the previous program review, the department faculty have made significant progress to achieve these goals. In particular, projected computer images are a standard part Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 5

6 of lecture presentations for all full-time and part-time faculty. Instructors use computers in lecture to project PowerPoint presentations, web content, Google Earth tours, web-based video, computer animations and more. Delivery modes are rapidly evolving as students have greater access to course materials online. The department now offers a fully-online version of the department s main course, ENVS 105 F Environmental Biology. The online version provides web-based quizzes, chat sessions and a discussion forum. In addition, on-campus students for ENVS 105 F can test their progress by taking online quizzes. The department has just completed a thorough revision of all of its courses. Several new courses have been added. B. SUMMARY OF DATA Recommend Evaluation of Data Enrollments in Environmental Sciences ,450 1,400 1,350 Enrollments 1,300 1,250 1,200 Enrollments 1,150 1, Academic Year Figure 1. Enrollments in Environmental Sciences Table 1 and Figure 1 indicate that enrollments in Environmental Sciences courses between 2003 and 2009 have ranged from 1217 to 1393, with sudden growth in the academic year. Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 6

7 Enrollments, FTES, and WSCH in Environmental Sciences ,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 WSCH FTES Enrollments 1, Academic Year Figure 2. Enrollments, FTES, and WSCH in Environmental Sciences Table 1 and Figure 2 indicate that FTES has ranged from 104 to 120, including a sudden significant increase in the academic year. WSCH ranged from 3121 to 3594, also reflecting a sudden recent increase. Majors in Environmental Sciences Number of Majors Majors New Majors Academic Year Figure 3. Majors in Environmental Sciences Table 1 and Figure 3 indicate that there has been a noticeable increase in majors in Environmental Sciences. In , 28 students declared. In , 76 declared. This increase represents nearly a tripling in Environmental Sciences majors. Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 7

8 Course Retention, Course Success in Environmental Sciences % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Course Retention Course Success 10% 0% Academic Year Figure 4. Course Retention, Course Success in Environmental Sciences Table 1 and Figure 4 indicate very high course retention in Environmental Sciences courses, consistently above 80%. The data also indicate high student success, ranging between 68% and 79% over the time period, with recent modest declines in the last two most recent years. Program Efficiency for Environmental Sciences % % Fill Rate 80% 60% 40% WSCH per FTEF Fill Rate (Census) WSCH per FTEF 20% % Academic Year 440 Figure 5. Program Efficiency for Environmental Sciences Table 1 and Figure 5 indicate recent strong increases in fill rates and WSCH per FTEF. These two factors are strong indicators of program efficiency, which point to an increasingly productive and efficient program. C. IDENTIFICATION OF TRENDS Increased public interest in the environment appears to be translating into higher enrollments in Environmental Sciences courses. Greater interest also is likely behind the recent upsurge in Environmental Science majors. Other factors also may be in play. For example, community college enrollments have been increasing in the last two years because of poor economic Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 8

9 conditions, and reductions at CSU and UC campuses. These conditions could produce a natural flood of students to community colleges in general, causing all programs to swell. The Environmental Sciences department has gone through recent turbulent times as a result of recent retirements. For several recent years, about half of the program was being taught by adjunct faculty. The delay in finalizing retirement replacements caused a significant lapse in department planning. This situation has stabilized with the granting of tenure to new department member, Royden Hobbs (as a replacement for Mark Parratt). The department is now aggressively planning for the future. D. IMMEDIATE SHORT-TERM PLANS The Environmental Sciences department recently has revised all course offerings, and has added new courses. At the time of this program review report, all courses are in the final district level approval stage The revised and new courses are listed below: ENVS 105 F Environmental Biology ENVS 105LF Environmental Biology Lab ENVS 106 F Conservation Biology ENVS 126 F Natural History of California ENVS 126FF Natural History of California Field Lecture ENVS 140 F Birds of Southern California ENVS 141 F Desert Natural History ENVS 142 F Geology and Marine Biology of the Channel Islands ENVS 143 F Baja California Field Studies ENVS 144 F Marine Biology of Baja California ENVS 145 F Marine Vertebrate Ecology of the Channel Islands ENVS 170 F Astrobiology ENVS 196 F Regional Field Studies: Environmental Sciences E. LONG-TERM PLANS Drawing from data, external influences, trends in the discipline, and college goals/initiatives, identify concrete activities the program needs to engage in to modify the program. Can activities be accomplished in 3-5 years? The department currently is modifying the Environmental Sciences Associate of Arts degree program. The revision is 95% complete at this time and soon will be ready to submit for formal program revision. The purpose of the revision is to provide greater flexibility to support the many diverse workplace connections to the environment. The revised program provides a sensible list of required courses that give candidates a solid biological and geographical background. The program then offers several tracks of restricted electives that encourage candidates to specialize in one related area. Tracks include: Biological Sciences; Physical Sciences; Social Sciences, and Technical. For the first time, the Environmental Sciences department will have dedicated space in the new science building at Fullerton College. The building is scheduled for completion at the end of New space includes an equipment storage room and a Field Prep. Lab. Our long-term Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 9

10 plan is to uses these new resources to support and enhance on-campus and field courses. For example, the new equipment storage room can make access to field equipment much more convenient, which will result in greater use. Having a dedicated instructional space (Field prep. Lab), will allow the department to permanently display instructional resources like maps, charts, aerial photos and other educational props. REQUEST FOR RESOURCES Overall and not ironically, the Environmental Sciences program at Fullerton College continues to be very successful while demanding little in terms of resources. Historically, our program has consumed small amounts of financial resources from the Division of Natural Sciences, Fullerton College and the North Orange County Community College District. Occasional Field Equipment Except for teachers salaries, the program typically seeks few additional resources. Occasionally, the department seeks to replace essential field equipment such as a Zodiac inflatable boat, camping equipment, and sampling equipment. Many of our laboratory activities occur at field locations, reducing demand for the purchase of costly laboratory equipment and consumables. Our low impact laboratory program operates successfully while demanding little and often no support from paid laboratory technicians. Based on our historical frugality and considering our modest plans for the future, we have no extraordinary needs for resources. Still, the faculty of the department of Environmental Sciences has ongoing resource needs in the following areas: Desktop Computing Resources Current desktop computing resources at Fullerton College are several generations behind. For example, they struggle to run Windows XP, an operating system that is two generations behind the present Windows 7. Although Windows 7 recommends 2 GB of system RAM, most desktops have only 512 MB or less system RAM. The department would like to request desktop computing resources that can easily run present generation operating systems (i.e., Windows 7). Lecture Computing Resources Current lecture computers are similar to desktop computers and suffer accordingly. Presently, there are no computing resources in lab rooms used by Environmental Sciences faculty. The department would like to request lecture computing resources in classrooms and Field Prep. labs that can easily run present generation operating systems (i.e., Windows 7). LCD Projectors Presently, lecture rooms and laboratory rooms either have no installed LCD projectors, or have LCD projectors that are nearly 10 years old. The department would like to request that present-generation LCD projectors be permanently installed in all lecture rooms and the Field Prep lab in the new building. END Program Review: Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Division 10