2021-2022 Transfer Program Audit Report FALL

PROGRAM QUALITY – TRANSFERABILITY:

1. Discuss how your department determines that the courses offered are still viable and relevant? 

The department watches enrollment patterns in our courses. In addition we work with other departments to ensure our prerequisite courses are covering the required material. This has even been part of departmental assessment reports. In addition, the department has been in communication with local universities to ensure transfer of our courses, especially new courses. The department also attends annual math conference to discuss course offerings and content with colleagues from around the state.

2. Does course curriculum satisfy DTA requirements? How do you know? What needs to change?

Yes. College level math courses satisfy the SQR and MS requirements of the degree.

3. Please construct a table to show all courses offered by your department and how they transfer to CWU, EWU, and WSU. Identify any courses that do not transfer or transfer as general electives.

4. If some of your courses are not transferring to universities as you expected, what information and/or assistance do you need to help you resolve these transfer issues?

The department does not expect our below college level courses (MATH 090-099) to transfer to universities, so these are not a concern.

Our MATH& 131 and MATH& 132 courses were developed in conjuncture with CWU staff and faculty with the sole purpose that the courses would transfer to their schools. This is why it is not a concern that EWU does not accept them. However, it was a surprise that the school does not have them on their transfer guides. We will follow-up with Central about next steps to update the guides.

It was a surprise that MATH& 141 did not transfer as it is a common course number. This will also be a point of communication when we reach out about the other two courses. MATH& 148 is also a common course number, so it was a surprise it did not transfer to Eastern. We do not have a contact at Eastern. Therefore, the assistance we would need is who to contact about seeing if we can get this course to transfer appropriately.

ADVISING RESOURCES:

5.Please review your department catalog and website information. Is the information current and accurate? What changes need to be made or would you like to make to better assist students?

See google doc: Link Here

6. Has your department developed advising resources/maps to assist students majoring in your discipline or in a related field? Please describe these advising resources/maps. Have you considered developing transfer resources (such as four-year advising maps) for students intending to transfer to 
CWU, EWU, or WSU and major in your discipline or in a related field? How could BBCC assist you in developing these resources?

A pathways flowchart has been developed. It does need to be updated for new course offerings (131/132 and JIT courses). In addition, we partner with different support services on campus, such as the TRiO STEM Grant to help with transfer planning. 

In the future, the TRiO STEM grant could develop a transfer guide for future mathematicians and math instructors to help with advising. 

SCHEDULING:

Please review your course offerings and enrollments over the last three years as well as the FTE information for your department. 

7. Discuss how the scheduling for your courses has been evaluated. Describe how scheduling has been altered or maintained to meet the needs of other programs or populations of students.

Class are scheduled around other STEM major course offerings to ensure students can transfer with STEM degrees. Courses required for the nursing program are offered around other nursing prerequisites. In addition, night classes are offered to allow working adults to earn their DTA and satisfy the SQR requirements. Also, online course offerings are offered as well. Prior quarter and year schedules are reviewed for under enrolled or overenrolled courses to adjust number of sections offered. The number of course offerings is data driven, based on prior quarters and years.

8. Has this program considered providing other options for offering the program content; such as, online, hybrid, nights, competency-based, weekends, etc? Discuss. 

a.  If yes, what is being considered and why?

Yes, many courses are offered online, hybrid, and nights. 

b.  If no, is this something that should be considered and why/why not? 

Weekend and competency based courses are not currently offered in the department.

9. Discuss future plans for annual scheduling based on this audit review. Please share how annual scheduling will need to change to meet future student needs as well as any department needs you have identified with respect to instruction. 

The department is satisfied with the current annual schedule process. It is reviewed quarterly and adjusted based on student need and changing program demands. Courses are offered in many modalities to meet the needs of our diverse student population. 

TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS: 

10. Provide information about how this department is involved in building and/or maintaining specific partnerships/relationships with one or more of our three transfer institutions (WSU, CWU, EWU). List and identify the partners/transfer institutions, describe the relationships that have been established, and what is planned for the future to establish better connections with our transfer institutions.

In the past, trips to STEM programs at WSU, CWU, and EWU have been scheduled with math faculty going as well as chaperones. In addition, we are in regular communication with CWU to ensure our math for elementary education courses are meeting the needs of their program cohort hosted on our campus. The department takes care to offer common course numbered courses that will transfer seamlessly to local universities. There are currently no future plans for any changes. 

CAREER GUIDANCE:

11.  How does your department provide career counseling with information on employment trends, wages, and opportunities to assist students plan their education? What resources do you need to assist you in providing career counseling information to your students and advisees?

The department does not currently offer any formal career counseling. However, we are open to the career center to provide us with documents that would be helpful as we assist students in planning their education. 

 

2021-2022 Transfer Program Audit Report SPRING

PROGRAM QUALITY – ASSESSMENT and OUTCOMES: 

1. Please review your assessment work over the last three years. Has the assessment work that you have reported resulted in improved student learning or student success? Please share an example of your efforts in this area. 

The math department did different assessments each year and with COVID this was unusual for the past few years. However, the department has a schedule of classes to review over a seven year period. We are making changes in the assessment cycle to allow for a better process of assess, adapt, assess to get more useful data in the future. 

2. As you have reviewed this work over time, are there elements of this assessment work that you would like to revisit or follow up on in order to learn more in these areas or to “close the loop”? What future steps can you make in your assessment work so that this work has greater meaning to you and your students?

Now that we are back to face-to-face classes and more consistent class offerings in a traditional setting we look forward to collecting more consistent and useful data to inform our teaching practices throughout the department. We also believe the cyclic design of the new assessment process will help greatly in this area over the next few years. 

3. Did your department invest in technology or equipment used to improve content delivery or student performance? If so, please describe the purchase and the impact it has had on content and/or student performance.

The department purchased whiteboard tables to allow for interactive active engagement in class activities. More of these classrooms need to be established to extend this practice.

Tablets have been very helpful for online classes to teach concepts and provide valuable feedback to students on online submissions. 

4. Please provide examples of any innovative projects, initiatives, or state-of-the-art equipment undertaken in the last year. Please describe and include links to any social media posts and/or press/media coverage, if applicable.

The JIT courses are a new project this year to help students accelerate through pre-college math courses. The department is waiting for data on the success of this program to accelerate students successfully through college level math courses.

The department has begun offering MATH 131/132 courses for students interested in K8 teaching. These courses have been well received by the students. The pandemic opened up the use of hybrid office hours and they have been very successful in encouraging more students to interact with their instructors in whatever way is most convenient for the student. 

Several instructors have started requiring students to attend a few office hours to increase student interaction. This has increased classroom community and closed equity gaps. 

5. What was the most successful or noteworthy development with respect to program quality and/or program improvement this year?

With 80% of the faculty now being tenured and 100% are tenure track we can have more stability in the department and start planning for long term improvements in the department and our course offerings.

6. What were the most significant challenges (e.g. funding, enrollment, performance, staff retention or turnover, equity, etc.) encountered in the last year? How could BBCC assist in addressing these challenges?

Enrollment was unexpectedly low this year. Several classes were canceled. Some students have expressed concern that face-to-face classes have fewer options to complete their degree as a result of these cancellations. Campus conversations around increasing enrollments have begun at all levels of the 
institution and we hope that they can result in success moving forward. 

FACULTY/STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
7. Please provide brief descriptions and dates of professional development in which you and members of your department have participated in the last year. 

PDU lists are available with HR that cover all trainings done by the department with dates including ESCALA, WAMATYC, CEID Reads, Faculty Colloquia, Book club, eLearning Certificates, and others. 

8. What was the most successful or noteworthy development with respect to faculty/staff retention and professional development this year?

Two members of the department earning tenure this year was a major step in this direction. In addition, a third member was approved for the second year of the tenure process. 

Professional development is always a priority of the department and we hope the admin continues to support us as we grow to improve our teaching and serve our students.

9. Select the methods employed to provide professional development opportunities for faculty/staff. 
Provide a brief description of each selection. 
☐New Instructor Conference/Boot Camp 
☐Deans Academy 
☐Return-to-Industry 
X Faculty Peer Mentoring 
X Professional Development Days 
X Distance Learning Training 
X Technology and E-Learning Tools 
X Data and Assessment Workshops 
X Subject Matter Conferences 
☐Other

Descriptions of professional development activities are included on PDU forms on file with HR.

CAREER GUIDANCE: 
10. What was the most successful or noteworthy development with respect to academic guidance and career counseling this year?

The department has advising specialties to help better serve students going into nursing, business, 
running start, engineering, general DTA, and math. 

K-12 /COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:
12. Does your department provide opportunity for College in the High School or CTE Dual Credit with area high schools? 

a. If yes, list the classes and the schools. 

MATH 107 – Ephrata (Warden wants to begin offering)
MATH 141 – Warden & Ephrata
MATH 142 – Warden (not offering this year) & Ephrata
MATH 146 – Ephrata 

b. If yes, could this be expanded? How? 

Expanding course offerings at Ephrata and Warden. Expanding partnerships to include other area high schools such as Moses Lake, Quincy, and Othello. 

c. If no, is this an area that can be developed? How? 

13. Provide information about how your department is involved in building and/or maintaining specific external partnerships/relationships with K-12 schools and the communities in our service district. What K-12 partners are you working with and what communities are you working in? What are you 
considering or planning to do in the future?

College in the high school and running start programs are strong in our department to allow students to earn credits while completing their high school diplomas.

Central University partnership has been established to offer MATH 131/132 for their education students.

Science Olympiad was a great opportunity to work with the local school districts in offering a very successful tournament. 

A new grant partnership with Eastern Washington University for engineering transfer degrees. 

14. Please describe any outreach events you have participated in as a department. What plans do you have in the future to participate in outreach events with our service district communities?

The department does not actively engage in outreach events at this time. We currently do not have plans to do so. However, we did have many connections formed through science Olympiad competitions. 

15. What was the most successful or noteworthy development with respect to high school partnerships?

College in the high school has grown significantly in recent years with the addition of MATH 146 at Ephrata and Warden beginning to offer courses. There are plans to expand Warden’s offerings in the near future as well.