Title V - Narrative Report - October 2005 - December 2006

Title V Report

October 2005 - Webcast in a Box - see http://webcastinabox.com - We invited the tech person from web cast in a box to give a demonstration on how we can use "podcasts" in the classroom at Mission. We started an activity to promote podcasts - see http://missionpodcasts.pbwiki.com and Title V purchased 10 Digital Voice Recorders and 10 faculty are now currently working on developing podcasts for their classrooms. Once they have completed the podcasts, the students will be asked to fill in an online survey on how useful the podcasts were in the classroom.

January 2006 - Professional Development worked with IT to train faculty in the new email system adopted and implemented at Mission - __MS Outlook__. Workshops and training was provided to faculty and staff to assist them in the transition over to the new email system. Approximately 100 - 150 of the Faculty or 75% of full time received some training on the new MS Outlook email system, and 50 adjunct faculty or approximately 20 %. Both faculty and staff praised the new system with its "robust" features and ease of use. Also additional workshops were held in Etudes NG to train faculty in the next generation course management system used by Mission for both hybrid and online classes. see http://missionetudes.pbwiki.com

February 2006 - Student Success Workshop - Professional Development along with the President's office planned and held a successful college wide workshop on Student Success and Retention. - see http://abogado.pbwiki.com/SSI Approximately 60 full time faculty (50 percent) along with 75 staff, classified and administrators attended the workshop.

March 2006 - Student Success Workshop - Another District wide Student Success workshop was held at L.A. Trade Tech for all of the colleges in the District. Mission college sent a number of campus representaitves, which included approximately 25 full time faculty to the workshop, and ideas and projects were discussed and planned for Mission College as a result of this continuing efforts in Student Success. Also the Chair of Professional Development received training in "Moodle" - a course management system, and Professional Development and the IT Department established a website - see http://moodle.lamission.edu to host websites for faculty who are interested in using internet materials in their classrooms.

Technology Conferece in Pasadena - More than 50 full time and adjunct faculty attended the 11th annual Tech Ed in Pasadena - see http://www.techedevents.org/2006/ and the faculty brought back many new ideas and technology to implement in the classroom - see

http://techedlamc.blogspot.com/2006/03/what-i-learned-at-tech-ed.html

April 2006 - IT and Professional Development started to plan the construction of a __new faculty "Center for Excellence in Teaching" Center__. Two distinct centers. One was to be placed in the Learning Center - Room 234, and that room was to be converted into a teaching and training lab with 20-30 new computers, LRC 205 with 60 new computers for both teaching and training, and a new CET Faculty Alcove in the Faculty Offices with 4 workstations and 3 new high speed computers and monitors, and a MAC at one of the workstations. This project would be completed in August. see training at http://missioncet.pbwiki.com

College Retreat - Professional Development and the Technology Committee participated in a College Wide retreat whose task was to discuss re-organization and re-structure of the shared governance at Mission - see http://abogado.pbwiki.com/shared-governance

More than 100 faculty - 80 percent and staf and administrators attended the college wide retreat.

CETC __- The Chair of the Professional Development Committee is also the College wide ambassador for the __California Education Technology Collaborative - see http://cccetc.org and flyers, materials, and information about the technology services provided by the CETC have been disseminated to faculty and staff - more than 80 percent full time and 65 % adjunct faculty have received information on the services including "Meet and Confer", and Video Conferencing.

SLO’s Workshop – at WLAC – The Chair of Professional Development attended a workshop at WLAC on Student Learning Outcomes – see http://www.wlac.edu/wportal/LinkClick.aspx?link=http%3a%2f%2fwww.geocities.com%2fproflloydthomas%2fwestsslotory.doc&tabid=59&mid=419

This information was then incorporated into the SLO’s workshops during the Fall 2006 Flexday – see 8-31 – Flexday – http://flexday.pbwiki.com . Approximately 80 percent of full time faculty or 150 full time faculty and 75 part time faculty or 40 percent received training on flex day on Student Learning Outcomes( SLO’s)

May 2006 __- “Smartboards Demonstration” – The Math Dept. provided a demonstration of “Smart Boards” and how they could be implemented by faculty into Mission College Math instruction. Approximately __ Math Faculty attended the “Smartboards” Demonstration – see http://www.waukesha.k12.wi.us/WIT/SmartBoard/benefits.htm for information re use of electronic whiteboards in the classroom at http://www.waukesha.k12.wi.us/WIT/SmartBoard/benefits.htm

Train the Trainer – The Chair of Staff Development and two members of the IT staff received “Train the Trainer” training by the leader of the Etudes Ng Project – see http://etudesproject.org - Vivian Sinou. The three participants were trained to be trainers at Mission College for the new next generation software course management system. All participants completed the week long training at L.A. City College and then returned to Mission and held 3 workshops in Etudes NG from August 2006 to November 2006 in which approximately 50 faculty received training in this new course management system – see http://missionetudes.pbwiki.com

June 2006 __– Continued Planning for the __CET Center in LRC 234 and faculty Alcove - the Chair of Professional Development, IT and Title V members continued to meet and plan the CET and LRC 234 and 205 with replacement of computers. Also meet with the Work Environment Committee to review changes and modifications of the LRC 234 site, change of configuration of desks, and the Faculty CET Alcove. – (add information here ----------------------------

---------------- - about the computers replaced in 234/205 and the new computers for the Faculty Alcove along with the signs we ordered, and any other expenses, include the scanners, the phones we ordered and installed, supplies for the workstations, etc.)

July 2006 – Work with IT in developing the Standard 3-C – Technology Resources for the Accreditation Visit scheduled for Spring 2007. This sub-committee of the Technology Committee discussed the implementation of the 5 strategic goals of the Technology Master Plan -

see below

· Fostering continued quality improvement in teaching and learning

· Using technology to enhance student services

· Promoting effective and efficient college operations

· Upgrading and extending the college’s technology infrastructure, and

· Assuring comprehensive electronic communication capability for all college constituents

In December of 2005, Los Angeles Mission College was the first college in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) to provide Web-based course status reports. Department chairs, faculty, and administrators are able to use this information to track class enrollments and class size averages on a daily basis. (III.C-7) The IT Department has developed a Web-based student and faculty portal which allows access to several resources such as assessment information, e-mail, class availability, registration, lab usage time, and tutoring referrals.

(III.C-8)

Student use of the Computer Commons in the Learning Center increased significantly after the computers were upgraded in 2004 and 2006. However, the Center is closed after 8:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, all day Friday and Sunday, and is only open Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. These hours of operation limit student access to technology on campus. As a result of the findings of the 2004 state audit of the noncredit program, in April 2006 the college adopted a computer tracking system, NetTrack, to monitor student computer usage in the Learning Center and Math Center. This system requires new standardized student log-in procedures, digitizes the counting of non-credit FTES tutoring, and provides tutorial reports and other features.

The Audio/Visual Department is housed in a very small room and often overcrowded with equipment. Moreover, the one full-time staff person cannot adequately cover weekend and evening events which require audio/visual support. Adjunct faculty teaching during these times are particularly affected by the limited access to audio/visual equipment.

The Spring 2006 Student Survey (III.C-11) indicates that the following percentages of students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that:

· Computers are available on campus when I need them: 84 percent

· Computers and software on campus are up to date: 84 percent

· I use the library, tutoring centers, or computer labs: 51 percent

· The college has assisted me in acquiring the ability to use computers: 51 percent

Per the comprehensive Tech Resources Accreditation Report developed and written by the IT Department and Professional Development: see

http://lamission.edu/accreditation/FINAL%20STANDARDS/FINAL%20STANDARD%20III%20C-11-28-06.doc

“ Technology training for students, staff and faculty is provided on an on-going basis by a variety of areas. In the college computer labs, which are open for walk-in usage, staff members in the Learning Center provide orientations and train students to operate computers, printers and basic academic software. Additional computers are available in the library for use by students. Library personnel provide instructions to students on how to conduct research using database resources. The library offers six different information competency workshops, which help to fulfill the informational competency general education goals adopted by the college in 2003. The topics of the workshops are Research Strategies, Searching for Books, Locating Journal and Newspaper Articles, Internet I—The Basics, Internet II—Searching and Evaluation, and MLA Format. The library also offers assignment-specific orientations when requested by an instructor. The library always has a reference librarian on duty when the library is open so that students can get help finding books, using the Internet or databases, or using Microsoft Office.

One of the most notable technology accomplishments of the past four years has been a significant expansion of training workshops for faculty and staff. Most of the technology training takes place in the Math Center and in Room 234 of the Learning Center. The training has focused on topics such as the use of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to upload web pages, Outlook Web Access, web page design, and Word, Excel, Access, and other college Web applications. Approximately 85 full time – or 70 percent full time and 75 part time faculty or 50 percent part time faculty have received this training.

The college has conducted several workshops with the assistance of district specialists, to provide on-campus training for administrative assistants and department chairs in the use of district applications, such as Protocol, SAP, and Business Warehouse. In addition, the staff development coordinator frequently e-mails all users with information about other technology related subjects. (III.C-9)

The college Information Technology staff developed how-to guides, handouts for new e-mail users, and Secure File Transfer Protocol documentation. A series of Outlook and Outlook Web Access workshops from basic to advanced levels have been scheduled throughout the semester for faculty and staff. These workshops were taught by voluntary faculty, staff and the multimedia developer. The Staff Development coordinator provides online training to staff and faculty.

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) practice exams are also available to allow all classified staff to practice before the actual exam. Staff members who improve their skills and become MOS certified receive a monthly stipend.

The college also purchased a one-year contract with New-Horizons Training Center to enhance and reinforce technical skills of the IT staff and provide support for desktop users, hardware, software, and network applications. Training courses cover e-mail services, database services, student application services, Web services, and new hardware.

SELF-EVALUATION

While all full-time faculty and staff have computers, printers and access to the Internet in their offices, staff and faculty need a designated support center for training. Currently, faculty and staff training workshops are scheduled in the LRC 234, LRC 205 or the Math Lab. Scheduling workshops is difficult because of other demands on room usage. Encouraging faculty and staff to use technology is a major issue that is being addressed by the college. Two Centers for Excellence in Teaching (CET), funded by a Title V Grant, have been created to assist with technology training and are located in LRC 234 and in the adjunct faculty area in the Instructional building.

August 2006 - Flexday 2006 – Over 80 percent of full time faculty and 50 percent of faculty participated in our Fall 2006 Professional Development Instructional Improvement day on 8-30-06 – see http://flexday.pbwiki.com .

In the morning session faculty participants, including the Math Department Faculty, worked on developing individual Student Learning Outcomes for their respective classes. See http://missionoutcomes.pbwiki.com/

In the afternoon session faculty participants worked on Accreditation, Student Success and Retention by breaking out in work groups by disciplines and accreditation standards.

September 2006 - CET – LRC 234 and 205, and Faculty Alcove – was completed and faculty began to use the spaces for training workshops and preparation of class materials. Approximately 80 percent of part time faculty and 65 percent of full time faculty have used the CET labs for training, along with the CET Faculty Alcove computers for preparation of class materials, tests, projects, etc. for use in the classroom by their respective students.

October 2006 - Show me How Workshops – Professional Development provided a new series of workshops called the “Show me How Workshops” for training of faculty and staff. See http://showmehow.pbwiki.com - At least 20 percent of faculty have attended these workshops and adopted the use a a wiki in their classroom. – see http://abogado.pbwiki.com/title5-report-12-15-06 for faculty who have adopted wikis in their classrooms.

November 2006 - More Etudes NG training was held – see http://missionetudes.pbwiki.com -

http://missionetudes.pbwiki.com/workshop-2 and http://missionetudes.pbwiki.com/workshop3 - At least 20 faculty participated in these training sessions.

Also the Chair of Professional Development participated in a day long workshop for “Planning the Total Course Class” part of the Instructor Development series of Workshops at UCLA Extension Program – see http://abogado.pbwiki.com/idw - and the principles learned in that workshop will be disseminated to all of the faculty at Mission in 2007.

December 2006 – The Distance Education Committee in conjunction with Professional Development has developed a series of classes for students to orient them on “How to be a Successful Online Student” and the first successful workshop for students was held on 12-13 in LRC 234 – the CET Training Lab. – see http://lamission.edu/de/orientation.