Commendations

Recommendations

Year 2013-2014  (Departmental)    Recommendation Update the departmental website by Spring 2015. Response Completed Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 0 Objectives for LAW.

Year 2013-2014  (Departmental)    Recommendation In consultation with Deans and the advisory committee, consolidate the business AA degrees to increase student completion by Fall 2015. Response We have developed three new AA degrees. Completed Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 0 Objectives for LAW.

Year 2013-2014  (Departmental)    Recommendation Consider defining Cooperative Education options for business students and for law students. Response We are not going to offer Cop-Ed option. Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 0 Objectives for LAW.

Year 2013-2014  (Departmental)    Recommendation Resubmit to the state the applications for the CAOT communication and administration certificates by Fall 2015. Response   Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 0 Objectives for LAW.

Year 2009-2010  (Departmental)    Recommendation Continue to pursue the development of new courses and certificate programs to meet student needs Response In the last couple of years, ten new courses have been added to the CAOT and Business Curriculum to modernize and update the programs. For 2016, this is still in progress. Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 2 Objectives for LAW.   Objective ID: 704 Period Priority Status Year   Increase the number of law students who transfer to UC/CSU 1/1/2015 - 12/1/2018 High InProgress 15-16 View/Edit Discontinue     3 Resources.       Resource Type Cost Priority Status Year   Other $5,000 Critical PendingFunding 16-17 View/Edit Delete       Resource Type Cost Priority Status Year   Other $5,000 Medium Funded 15-16 View/Edit       Resource Type Cost Priority Status Year   SuppliesPrinting $1,000 Medium PendingFunding 15-16 View/Edit Discontinue   Objective ID: 640 Period Priority Status Year   Develop new curriculum for 3 new certificates 11/1/2011 - 1/1/2013 Medium Discontinued 11-12 View/Edit     0 Resources.

Year 2009-2010  (Departmental)    Recommendation Continue efforts to attain full time faculty to replace retirees Response The Business and Law Department chair submitted Faculty Hiring Requests for three years in a row and this year (2013) we were approved to hire a full-time Business Administration Instructor who will begin in Spring 2014. This instructor will help to replace the two that we lost in the past. We have hired a new faculty. complete. Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 1 Objectives for LAW.   Objective ID: 705 Period Priority Status Year   Add two new adjunct law faculty to our law program 2/1/2014 - 2/1/2015 High Discontinued 15-16 View/Edit     1 Resources.       Resource Type Cost Priority Status Year   PersonnelHourly 6 StandardHours @ $10,531 Low Discontinued 15-16 View/Edit

Year 2008-2009  (Departmental)    Recommendation Closely monitor disciplines with low enrollment and pursue strategies for strengthening. Response Enrollment in all disciplines in the Business and Law Department has increased significantly over the past several years due to more efficient scheduling and the hiring of new adjunct faculty with "real world" experience who have replaced the two full-time faculty who retired in 2009; these "older" faculty typically had low enrollment and low student success in their classrooms. Spring 09 to spring 10 there was an increase from 264 to 357 students or 35% (23% in the day and 48% in the evening). We have monitored classes and enrollment in not an issue at this time. Response Update   Status InProgress  Objectives 1 Objectives for LAW.   Objective ID: 706 Period Priority Status Year   To increase the number of law classes each semester to 16 1/1/2015 - 12/1/2016 High Discontinued 15-16 View/Edit     0 Resources.

Respondent(s): Prof David Jordan, Director of Paralegal Studies Program 

1) Describe the status of the SLO Assessment in this discipline.
Response: Assessment #1 - End of Course Reflections
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Each semester we survey students on their satisfaction with the program, along with End of Course Reflections . We take those results and use them to improve our program. This semester our End of Course Reflections contained the following questions with some responses. We analyze the results and add some of the suggestions from students in our overall plan to improve the program. (see complete results in pdf below)

question # 1 - Do you feel that this class has helped you to improve as a paralegal or law student? What improvements have you seen, and how did you achieve them? 
responses: Yes, it absolutely has. It has assisted me in understanding the various entities you can open a business under, LLC, Corporation and the corporate structure, Directors, Officers, Principal, Shareholders Yes. Knowing the probate process and learning about wills and trust is definitely a helpful skill. Learning the rules of intestacy is a must. Yes, I feel this class helped me a lot , I am so happy about this course. As a law student I think that all the activities we did in this semester were great to improve our skills in this matter. Yes, my research skills have improved significantly. I learned to cite my sources using foot notes and I learned to use Lexis Nexis. Yes, The improvements that I have seen were the understanding more of what is expected from a paralegal, how I achieved it was researching it. These paralegal classes are the best . Los Angeles Mission College offers these courses with amazing professors, when other community colleges do not.

question #2 - What were some of the most helpful assignments, activities, or readings in the class ? 
responses: - I feel like every professor I have taken whether the class is online or in a classroom environment are very hands on. The most helpful activities I'd say we're the videos explaining the court cases. Paraphrasing is one of the most important tools that I think had made a big difference in understanding those cases.

question #3 - Were any assignments/activities not helpful to you? Why not?
responses - All of it was helpful to me. All the assignments were good. Nothing comes to mind. i am sure I will refer back to the concepts introduced to me in each assignment at some point in my legal career.

question #4 - Is there any subject or topic you wish we had covered or spent more time on?responses - Maybe Holder in Due Course for negotiable instruments. I don't know why that was difficult for me to wrap myself around. Not in particular. I think that we needed more time in the timing quiz. I wish we could have looked at real estate law documents more.
question #5 - If you could give students who were about to start this course some advice about how to be successful in this class, what would you tell them?
responses - Read your chapter each week. It helps you do your assignments better. Read and absorb everything in the chapter printouts and chapter outlines. I will tell them to be focused on the assignments, and be concentrated to understand every chapter of the course. Study Study Study this course requires lots of reading and a open mind.
question #6 - Is there anything you wish you had known at the beginning of the class?
responses - I wish I had known more about word spelling. I wish I would have known how to use Lexis Nexis. No - To prioritize my time better.- Since I have taken online courses before or taken repeated professors. I know what is expected of me as a student.
question #7 - Is there anything about the subject or content of the class you are still confused about or wish you had learned better or differently? If so what, and how?
responses - No, everything in the subject are fine. I wish I would have learned to understand and analyze case summaries. I must say, however, that I have improved in that area since the start of class. Bankruptcy class was a broader subject difficult.

Question #8 - Any other comments -
responses - This program is not just for the paralegal but touches on all aspects of life and learning these concepts prepares you and gives you a foundation that will always stay with you. No, no questions or concerns. Thank you so much for your instructions and support over the course of this class. I have learned a lot having taken this class. As a result, I feel more prepared to start graduate school in the fall for Criminology, Law, and Society at UC Irvine.
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Assessment #2 - Exit Survey - Students graduating Spring 2015
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At the end of the Spring 2015 semester, OIE and the Paralegal Program conducted an Academic Exit survey with the following questions and responses

1. Which credential are you receiving - 21% said an AA, and 84% said a Paralegal Certificate

2. How satisfied were you with the overall quality of your program - 89.5% said they were very satisfied

3. How satisfied were you with the overall quality of your program? 78.9% said they were very satisfied.

4. If you took an online course, how satisfied were you with the course 76.5% said they were very satisfied

5. How satisfied were you with your overall college experience? 76.5% said they were very satisfied

6. What best describes your employment status? 57.9% said they were employed, with 15.8% self employed, and 21.2% unemployed.

7. If you are working, how closely related to your field of study is your current job? 31.6% said very close, 15.8% said close, 31.6% said not close, and 21% said not working.

We just received these results (5/26/17) and we will review them and incorporate the results 
into our overall plans to improve the program. We plan on conducting an similar exit interview of our Spring 2016 graduates in the next two weeks, and we will compare those results with the Spring 2015 results and use those to improve our program. 

One result is that our students are very satisfied with the program, the quality of the courses, and online courses, but there is room for improvement.

See attached survey results in the below pdf. 
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Assessment #3 - Paralegal Focus Group conducted in Academic Senate Office on 5-26-16
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The Paralegal program conducted a Focus Group (see below pdf) with the following results which will be, in part or in whole incorporated into our plans to improve the paralegal program
Results:

1. Consider adding a project based/performance based PLO which includes projects, internships, capstone, etc. to show and demonstrate competence, and also commitment to working and assisting the community such as mentoring, tutoring, self-help legal access centers, etc. 
2. Update PLO #1 to add “legal reasoning & analysis”
3. Add and imbed in each of the 12 law classes at the start of the semester – resources, videos, and an assignment to help students learn legal analysis, legal reasoning, and how to brief law cases
4. Add at least one research assignment in each of the 12 law classes to help students learn how to conduct effective legal research (PLO #2)
5. Obtain access for all students in the paralegal program to a “free” legal research program, or low cost, such as Westlaw or Fastcase.
6. Add more activities to the paralegal program - require them as part of each class, and add them in the syllabus. Such activities as moot court, attending law seminars, having law speakers on campus, volunteer work, going to the law library, 
7. Get membership in the law library for all of our law students
8. Add more lectures and online videos to the online and on campus classes. 
9. Add a capstone final project to each law class 
10. Apply to a law or paralegal honor society so our students can join
11. Set up a law scholarship, and imbed a writing competition in each class, and then tie that to the scholarship award each spring awards ceremony similar to the AJ Program scholarship
12. Work on reframing the paralegal program curriculum – have 8 required courses with 4 elective courses including criminal law, immigration law, intellectual property law, constitutional like, and the like.
13. Set up a program, initiative, or internship where students can get a certificate in mediation. Currently there is a mediation certificate available to our paralegals at the LA City Attorney Office Dispute Resolution Program
14. Imbed activities in each class and require it. Students who cannot do the “outreach” or “community based” activities could choose to do a special final project which could be shown at “Paralegal Showcase” every year. 
15. Have a Legal Justice or Public Law Interest Day
16. Set up meetings for online students on campus – Regular “Meetups” so that they can get a sense of belonging to Mission
17. Have more focus groups
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Assessment #4 - SLO Report Spring 2015 - see attached below - with changes made in #2 below
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Assessment #5 - SLO Report Fall 2015 - see attached below with changes made in #2 below 
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2) Summarize the changes that have been implemented based on SLO and PLO assessments from the past year.
Response: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes made - following Spring 2015 SLO Assessment Report 
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SLOS indicated
1.We needed to add more videos to our online and on campus classes. All 12 classes added some videos to their classes - there are great youtube videos on the various law subjects and topics covered in our classes, and these were imbedded into assignments to assist our students. 

2. Reduce total number of discussion forums - too many - we did that and improved the focus and content of each discussion forum with more up to date topics

3. Better distribute work, and end of class projects - done
4. Place resources in one easy place to find - done
5. Provide more samples of completed forms - done
6. Less "dead" links - links reviewed and updated and replaced if missing
7. More real life type of cases provided in each class - done
8. Online and on campus tutors - new net tutor service provided, but few students accessed this resource. We have to update our syllabus for the Fall 2016 semester and add this resource
9. Update and clarify instructions on assignments - done
10. More time to complete tests - done 
11. We also adopted the use of the Zoom.Us(Confernow) videos for online "real time" conferencing, and also used it to save recorded lectures. 
12. Train faculty on zoom - in progress

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Changes Made following Fall 2015 Assessment Report
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1. To address the issue of confusion between issue and rationale, the entire paralegal program will adopt a new pedagogy of "paraphrasing" case statements. This was accomplished in 6 out of the 12 law classes and will be completely implemented in Fall 2016. The results so far are excellent. Students provide much more detailed legal analysis of the law cases, and better understand the often complex issues due to the practice of "putting the complex ideas" into "their own words" and thus making it their own "work product, instead of just "copying and pasting" the rather dense language without really understanding and breaking it down into understandable parts. 
2. Adopt the use of short videos - this is in progress. We still need to train our law faculty. One new advantage is that Canvas now includes the Confernow zoom video directly in its course management system, making it easier for our faculty to access and use the video service. We will conduct training of our faculty over the summer, and also winter intersession and then report back on the results in our next program review. 
3. More prompt feedback from our law faculty - this area has improved without many student emails this semester complaining that faculty have not provided feedback or graded assignments in a timely manner. 
4. Instructions for assignments continue to be improved as we focus on updating and clarifying assignments each semester.
5. Spending more time on the preparation of forms - our faculty are working on this in each of our on campus class. Plus we have been providing more samples of completed forms to aid our students to learn how to accurately and correctly prepare and fill in the various court and legal forms. 
6. Help our students select the next law class in the program - At the end of each semester, each instructor is working with their class to help each student select the next law class. 

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Changes which we need to work on in the Fall 2016 semester are the following:
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1. Create study groups - we should be able to use Canvas course system to more easily set up groups as this new system provides this capacity. We will do a pilot project of student study groups in the Fall and then report back in our next program review.

2. Rework some assignments - such as preparation of corporation documents. We are in the process of doing this as we transition from etudes to canvas. 

3. Provide videos and on campus orientation to our on campus and online students on how to use the new course management system - Canvas

4. We are working with the Pathway to Law Initiative folks to obtain free access in a pilot project for a legal research program called "Fast Case". This will assist our students to improve their legal research skills which is a PLO (#2). 

3) Have the outcomes been re-evaluated since the implemented changes, and if so, has there been an improvement in student learning? Are any further changes scheduled?
Response: We are completing our 2nd round of case brief assessments (1st assessment using the case brief rubric was Fall 2015). See the below pdf rubric for case briefs.

Objective

Objective