Liberal Arts: Social & Behavioral Sciences
Program Review
1
Part 1: Relevance
1. Catalog Course Description:
The Cerro Coso Community College 2012-2013 Catalog offers the following definition of the Liberal Arts:
Social & Behavioral Sciences A.A. Degree Program:
The Liberal Arts degrees are designed for students who wish to have a broad knowledge of
liberal arts and sciences plus additional coursework in an “Area of Emphasis.” This emphasis
allows students to satisfy general education requirements as well as focus on transferable
course work. It is ideal for students who plan on transferring to California State University (CSU)
or University of California (UC) for a major in education or for a major that Cerro Coso does not
offer.
Courses in the Liberal Arts: Social & Behavioral Sciences AA degree emphasize the perspectives,
concepts, theories and methodologies of the disciplines that comprise study in the Social and
Behavioral Sciences. Students study about themselves and others as members of a larger
society. Topics and discussion to stimulate critical thinking about ways people have acted in
response to their societies allow students to evaluate how societies and social subgroups
operate. This area of emphasis is appropriate for students intending to transfer into such majors
as Anthropology, Economics, History, Political Science, and Sociology.
Analysis: Cerro Coso established the Liberal Arts degrees in 2008—Arts and Humanities, Mathematics
and Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences—superseding and specifying in three areas the General
Education major. As was done simultaneously with the emphases in Math and Science and Social and
Behavioral Sciences, in 2011 the Vice President of Academic Affairs and the faculty chairs in Arts and
Humanities reviewed the language in Title 5 addressing the overarching objectives of arts and
humanities, solicited input from area faculty, and then used that information as the basis for the
program description and PLO’s (Program Learning Outcomes).
The Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences degree has been relevant to the extent that it provides
educational programs and services tailored to the students in the communities and rural areas served by
the institution. Up to this point, it has provided a viable option for completing Associate-Degree
requirements that are transfer-oriented. However, a statewide undertaking that has had major
implications for the relevance of Liberal Arts is the SB 1440 Transfer degrees. With the increasing
codification of AA-T and AS-T degrees in areas such as English, Math, and Sociology, we anticipate a
gradual but significant reduction in the number of students seeking degrees in the three areas of
emphasis in the Liberal Arts. With more specific options available to them in the AA-T and AS-T degrees,
we expect that most future students will declare themselves as Liberal Arts majors only for the following
reasons: 1. as preparation for elementary school teaching; 2. as preparation for transfer to private
schools with requirements different from those of UC and Cal State universities; 3. as preparation for
students who plan on transferring to California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) for
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Program Review
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a major in education or for a major that Cerro Coso does not offer; and for terminal AA students who do
not intend to transfer.
Conclusion: The description is clear, closely mirrors the state’s Title 5 language, and conveys the
program’s objectives of providing a well-rounded social and behavioral sciences education for those
students seeking an Associate Degree. However, the creation of far more specific AA-T and AS-T degrees
will almost assuredly decrease the number of Liberal Arts majors, converting the degree from a catch-all
net of non-specific intentions to more focused preparation for elementary school teaching, transfer to
private schools, or transfer to CSU or UC for a major not offered by Cerro Coso.
2. Courses:
The courses that meet the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences degree are divided generally into
the areas of administrative justice, anthropology, child development, economics, history, math, political
science, psychology, and sociology. To attain the degree, students must take 60 units total, with 18 units
in the area of emphasis. For depth of study, 2 or more courses in one discipline are required. For
breadth of study, courses must be taken from 2 or more disciplines within the area of emphasis.
Students must select at least 18 units from the following courses:
Course Units
ADMJ C101 Introduction to Administration of Justice 3 Units
ANTH C111 Cultural Anthropology 3
ANTH C121 Physical Anthropology 3
ANTH C131 Archaeology 3
CHDV C104 Child, Family and Community 3
CHDV C105 Introduction to Infant Development 3
CHDV C106 Child Growth and Development 3
ECON C101 Introduction to Economics 3
ECON C102 Macro-Economics 3
ECON C103 Micro-Economics 3
HIST C103 Western Civilization I 3
or HIST C103H Western Civilization I – Honors 4
HIST C104 Western Civilization II 3
or HIST C104H Western Civilization II – Honors 4
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HIST C131 History of United States I 3
or HIST C131H History of United States I – Honors 4
HIST C132 History of United States II 3
or HIST 132H History of United States II – Honors 4
HIST C209 History of Mexico 3
HIST C218 California History 3
MATH C121 Elementary Probability and Statistics 4
POLS C101 American Government 3
or POLS C101H American Government – Honors 4
PSYC C101 General Psychology 3
or PSYC C101H General Psychology – Honors 4
PSYC C211 Lifespan Development 3
PSYC C241 Abnormal Psychology 3
PSYC C251 Human Sexuality 3
PSYC C271 Research Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences 3
SOCI C101 Introduction to Sociology 3
SOCI C131 Sociology of Women 3
SOCI C210 Diversity and Film 3
SOCI C220 Perspectives on Race, Class and Gender 3
Complete one of the following general education patterns:
OPTION A Cerro Coso Local General Education Pattern
OPTION B CSU General Education Breadth
OPTION C IGETC – Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
Total Units: 60
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Analysis: As of the 2012-2013 Catalog, the college offers approximately thirty-three courses to fulfill the
requirements of the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences degree. This number reflects a
significant number of recent deactivations and deletions. For many years, deactivated and deleted
courses were retained on the list because students matriculating in prior years had catalog rights, but it
was determined that keeping these outmoded courses in new catalogs was misleading, suggesting
erroneously that new students could still take them. New course lists will show only those courses that
are active for the upcoming catalog year.
The areas chosen are comparable to other social and behavioral sciences degrees and adhere to Board
policy language. Individual courses are mapped to the program by means of learning outcomes. It was
one of the purposes of the VP and the faculty chairs to develop a method for measuring student
achievement of the PLO’s (Program Learning Outcomes). The group agreed the most direct way to do
this was to create a map (or “crosswalk”) of course learning outcomes to the program outcomes: at
least one course-level SLO had to match up with at least one PLO. That would not only allow PLO’s to be
measured—course outcomes aggregated to provide an overall achievement rate—but also establish
why specific courses belong in the program in the first place; if a course has no SLO’s that match to the
area’s PLO’s, it should not apply. The Social Science Department faculty chair, working with department
faculty, completed the mapping project by the end of Spring Semester, 2012. The chart of this crosswalk
was created and posted to the college’s SLO website.
According to Board policy, courses counted to meet the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
degree must be completed with a grade point average of 2.0 or better.
Conclusion: A sufficient variety of options is available for students to complete the degree. As will be
explained more fully below in Section 4, one deficiency in this area is how courses are approved (or
disapproved) for the program list. Program applicability is an appropriate topic for discussion at CIC, but
nothing guides this conversation to make sure it happens; the college has no formal mechanism for
approving or disapproving courses newly proposed as additions to the program.
3. Program Learning Outcomes:
The following are the program learning outcomes for the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Degree:
Upon successful completion of the courses in the area students will be able to
• Describe the method of inquiry used by the social and behavioral sciences.
• Evaluate the operation of societies and social sub-groups
Analysis: As a part of the revision of the degree in 2011, the VP and the Social Science Department chair
identified two general program learning outcomes. Similar to how it proceeded with the description of
the degree, the VP and chair returned to the original founding language in Title 5 regulations section
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Program Review
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55063 to guide the development of learning outcomes. Since program design and the definition of
learning outcomes are “10 plus 1” matters, the group limited itself to writing a first draft of the PLO’s.
The Department Chair for Social and Behavioral Sciences solicited input from department faculty in their
areas and gained agreement on the language. The PLO’s were then presented to Academic Senate
where they were approved.
Conclusion: Cerro Coso now has a mechanism to correlate courses to PLO’s and reflect the goals
expressed in the description of the degree. Successful achievement of the outcomes is measured by SLO
assessment of individual courses. Since PLO’s correspond directly to SLO’s, they are not assessed
independently.
4. Conditions of Enrollment:
In each area of emphasis, classes have individual advisories. However, one course, Math C121 has an in-
discipline prerequisite. In the case of Honors courses (denoted with an H in the title), students must be
accepted to the Honors Program or have eligibility for the course as determined by the instructor in
addition to the conditions for the regular section.
Analysis: It has long been recognized that advisories are inconsistent across the GE pattern, which is also
the case in the course list for the Liberal Arts degrees. It has been a perennial topic at CIC that some
100-level GE courses have an advisory of writing level 2, for instance, while others have writing level 1. It
does not help that when the state mandated English C101 as the minimum proficiency for composition,
“writing level 1” went from meaning “satisfactory completion of English 70” to “satisfactory completion
of English C101.” And since not all courses have been brought through CIC for this change to be made,
the current catalog is a hodge-podge of cross intentions. In practice, these inconsistencies present few
obstacles to students since they are advisories and not hard-and-fast prerequisites. Nevertheless, it
looks confusing. To address the problem, in Spring Semester 2013 CIC explicitly agreed to convert all
requisites to course names and numbers where applicable (e.g., “English 70” instead of “writing level
2”).
A related but more complex development is the recent change in Title 5 language permitting out-of-
discipline prerequisites. The language requires colleges to have a plan for developing such requisites and
not just embarking on isolated and scattered changes. To date, such a plan has not been developed. But
its need is keenly felt, as demonstrated by PSYC C101, a course fulfilling the Social and Behavioral
Sciences emphasis, which tried to put a hard-and-fast prerequisite of English 70 into place starting
summer 2012. The result was a precipitous increase in success (from an average in the low 50% range to
69.7% in the fall semester) but also a precipitous drop in enrollments.
Conclusion: In the area of requisites, the college needs to finish converting writing, reading, and math
levels to actual courses; develop an out-of-discipline prerequisite plan to comply with state regulations
and give the college guidance in this crucial area; and establish a process for consistently completing
validation studies across the curriculum.
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5. Program Matrix:
In the following table, numbers refer to the individual SLO’s that align with the Program Learning
Objectives in each area.
Social and Behavioral Sciences
A. Describe the method of inquiry
used by the social and behavioral
sciences.
B. Evaluate the operation of societies and
social sub-groups
Course
Outcome(s)
Outcome(s)
Social
ADMJ C101
ANTH C111
1
2,3,4
ANTH C121
1
2,3,4
ANTH C131
1
2,3,4
CHDV C104
1,3
2,4,5,6
CHDV C105
1,2
3
CHDV C106
1,3,4,5
2,6
PSYC C101
1,3,4
2
PSYC C101H
1,3,4,5
2
PSYC C112
1,2,3,5
4
PSYC C211
1,3,4,5,6,7
1,2
PSYC C241
1,2,5,6,7
3,4,8
PSYC C251
1,5,6
2,3,4
SOCI C101
1,2
3,4,5,6
SOCI C131
1,3,4,5,6
2
SOCI C210
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
SOCI C220
1,2,3,4,5
Economic
ECON C101
1,2,3,4,5
ECON C102
1,2,3,4,5
ECON C103
1,2,3,4,5
Political
POLS C101
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
POLS C101H
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Historical
HIST C103
1,2,3
HIST C103H
1,2,3,4
HIST C104
1,2,3,4,5
HIST C104H
1,2,3,4,5,6
HIST C131
1
2,3,4,5
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Program Review
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HIST C131H
1
2,3,4,5
HIST C132
1,2
HIST C132H
1,2
HIST C209
1,2,3,4,5,6
HIST C218
1,2,3,4,5
MATH
MATH C121
5, 14, 16
2
Analysis: Classes in the social subgroup meet both PLO outcomes, however classes in the economic,
historical, economic and math subgroups meet only one outcome; therefore, a student could select a
class from two of these subgroups and satisfy only one of the outcomes. In addition, ADMJ C101 has no
indicated outcomes.
Conclusion: While the individual courses in each area and subgroup satisfy the PLO’s in the aggregate,
there are gaps in the mapping that make it possible for individual students to graduate without
achieving all the stated outcomes. The chairs should consider a second round of mapping takes place to
sharpen the relation between PLO’s and courses required—such as drawing distinctions between active
participation and lecture, or demonstration and application—and possibly grouping the lists by
outcomes rather than subject area.
Part 2 – Appropriateness
1. Connection to College Mission
Analysis: The Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences degree fulfills the college mission of providing
educational programs and services tailored to the students in the communities and rural areas served by
the institution. Up to this point, it has provided a viable option for completing Associate-Degree
requirements that are transfer-oriented. However, as mentioned in 1.1, the SB 1440 Transfer degrees
will have major implications for all three of the Liberal Arts emphases. With the increasing codification
of AA-T and AS-T degrees, we anticipate a significant reduction in the number of students seeking
degrees in the Liberal Arts. With more specific options available to them in the AA-T and AS-T degrees,
most future students will declare themselves as Liberal Arts majors only as preparation for elementary
school teaching, for transfer to private schools with requirements different from those of UC and Cal
State universities, as preparation for students who plan on transferring to California State University
(CSU) or University of California (UC) for a major in education or for a major that Cerro Coso does not
offer; and for terminal AA students who do not intend to transfer.
Conclusion: The degree is sufficiently and appropriately derived from the college mission, but the
creation of far more specific AA-T and AS-T degrees will almost assuredly decrease the number of Liberal
Arts majors, converting the degrees to more focused preparation for elementary school teaching,
transfer to private schools, or transfer to CSU or UC for a major not offered by Cerro Coso.
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2. Summary of Student Demand Data:
Student enrollment numbers indicate that demand for GE courses, including Social and Behavioral
Science courses, is high. In regard to GE courses, over 73,000 student enrollments took place in 3,324
separate CRN’s during the period Fall 2007-Spring 2012. The highest enrolled class during this time was
PSYC C101 with 3,289 students at census; the lowest enrollment was recorded in HIST C132H and PHED
C223 (third semester softball), each with one student. Overall, distance education sections outpaced
traditional offerings in census enrollment.
Analysis: During the last five years there has been a concentrated focus on the cleanup of outdated and
inactive courses, with subsequent removal from the catalog. This has been especially true of Liberal Arts
courses, particularly those that were more specialized, which consequently were lower enrolled and less
in demand.
At the IWV campus Liberal Arts offerings are robust and comprehensive, with classes fulfilling each area
offered each semester. Offerings are more limited at the Kern River Valley, East Kern, and Eastern Sierra
Campuses. The schedule at these sites, particularly at ESCC, has been tightened up so that a student can
complete Liberal Arts requirements. However, courses along this pathway are limited. The Eastern Sierra
campuses have spearheaded this approach to enrollment management, a strategic response to
continually low-enrolled classes. Kern River Valley has lagged behind in the reduction of GE sections, but
the 2012-2013 academic year reflects the implementation of the same kind of enrollment-management
strategy. Courses and sections have been reduced to meet student demand, but with minimal options,
thereby maximizing enrollments and productivity. East Kern has always been scheduled with a very lean
schedule of courses, so a reduction wasn’t necessary, though long term scheduling according to a
pathway to completion has been implemented through a combination of onsite and online GE classes.
These enrollment management strategies were in response to one of the goals of the 2012-2017
Educational Master Plan.
In the last five years there has been tremendous growth in online course offerings, which peaked in
2010. Large numbers of students outside the area enrolled in Cerro Coso online GE courses, leading to a
growth in online GE offerings. The proliferation of course offerings provided a boost to FTES, which led
to a period of unfettered, unevaluated growth. More recently, however, there has been a shift in focus
to achieving a balance between onsite and online to better serve our local student population. Demand
continues to be high for online GE offerings, particularly core GE survey classes.
Conclusion: In order to increase student success and retention, scheduling of GE courses has become
more strategic, focusing primarily on the demands of local students. Demand remains high for GE
courses and determining the right number of courses to offer while maintaining acceptable success
rates will take continued monitoring and adjustment.
3. Student Performance Data:
Student performance indicates that Liberal Arts courses overall average an 81.7% retention rate and a
65.3% success rate. In courses with more than 100 students over the last five years, retention varies
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from a low of 63.1% (English C101) to 87.9% (Art C101). Art C101 is one of top 22 courses in success in
GE overall.
Analysis: Student performance data for Liberal Arts courses are reviewed and evaluated through annual
unit plans and program review. As part of these planning processes, departments and programs identify
achievement gaps and develop strategies to improve success and retention, as indicated more fully
below in Section 4. These achievement gaps are specifically identified in an SLO statement appended to
the annual unit plans, together with a statement of expected changes to curriculum to address the gaps.
An evaluation of the effectiveness of these strategies is included in the next unit planning cycle.
As is the case in general, success and retention are significantly lower for distance-education classes
than traditional face-to-face classes.
To address this discrepancy, a Distance Education Task Force was assembled by the president in the fall
of 2010. This group established a series of recommendations for improving success and retention in
online and distance-education courses. Action has been taken on a number of these recommendations,
including
• Hiring a Director of Distance Education.
• Implementing a student pre-assessment for preparedness for taking online classes.
• Establishing expectations for regular and effective contact in online classes.
• Establishing student authentication practices.
• Reinstituting faculty training and ongoing professional development opportunities.
This discrepancy also has been addressed by professional development opportunities specifically
targeting adjunct instructors. For example, in Fall 2011, adjuncts were invited to the IWV campus to
participate in a workshop on SLO development and assessment. The adjuncts who attended were
provided with an overview of the purpose and value of SLO’s and training on SLO development and
assessment.
Conclusion: The largest concern in this area is the low success and retention rates in DE sections
compared to traditional offerings. Because, by a significant margin, most online courses are GE courses,
continuing to find ways to improve retention and success rates is of paramount importance to the GE
pattern.
4. Place of Program in Curriculum/Similar Programs:
The Liberal Arts: Social & Behavioral Sciences degree is designed for students who intend to transfer to a
four-year institution; therefore, as part of the required courses for the degree, it fulfills the CSU Cert and
the IGETC transfer patterns. The CSU Certification is the pattern of general education for the California
State University system. The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is the
pattern of GE specific to the University of California system, but it is also applicable for transfer to CSU.
Analysis: The courses on the list are designed and approved for transfer, and the degree is similar in
both requirements and course options to those required across the state.
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Conclusion: The areas chosen are comparable to other social and behavioral sciences degrees and
adhere to Board policy language.
5. Transfer Documentation
As indicated above, (1.1) the Liberal Arts: Arts and Humanities degree prepares students for transfer and
is sufficiently and appropriately derived from the college mission, but the creation of far more specific
AA-T and AS-T degrees will almost assuredly decrease the number of Liberal Arts majors.
6. Patterns of Course Scheduling
At the IWV campus, Liberal Arts course options are offered each semester, including summer. Courses
in primary semesters are scheduled to provide options in all time blocks: day, afternoon, evening slots,
Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Thursday. At the Kern River Valley and Eastern Sierra campuses, long-
term schedules for course offerings onsite have been developed to allow for the completion over four
semesters of all requirements. East Kern also has a long-term schedule of course offerings onsite;
however, students also need to take online classes to meet all of the requirements of the Liberal Arts
degrees. Online, two sections are generally scheduled to start with, and if the sections show high
demand, additional sections are opened pending instructor availability.
Analysis: Scheduling has become more regularized over the past several semesters leading up to this
program review. Courses across the Liberal Arts have been aligned with the block schedule, and a
special effort has been made to make sure courses with multiple sections, such as English C101 or Math
C055, are run once in each of the major time blocks—morning, afternoon, and evening—before a
second section is offered in any one of the blocks. In the case of a family of offerings, such as foreign
languages, courses are scheduled so they do not conflict.
At the non-IWV campus locations, offerings are limited to maximize enrollments but still meet student
needs. Offerings are also coordinated with major requirements, again for efficiency and to maximize
each course offering. Enrollment patterns indicate that the student population at the East Kern campus,
particularly those students associated with the military base, largely prefers online courses. This was
confirmed by feedback from the education liaison at Edwards Air Force Base.
Counseling scrutinizes each schedule to identify course conflicts across departments and provide input
on the blocks in which to schedule courses. Additionally, counseling evaluates the schedule to verify
that sufficient courses are offered in each area.
Conclusion: Course scheduling is done according to student need, takes into account the unique
circumstances at the campus locations, and is sufficient to meet demand.
7. Patterns of Course Staffing
Sufficient faculty resources exist across the Liberal Arts curriculum to offer needed courses.
Approximately 45% of the workload is accounted for by adjunct instruction, including summers. This
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number is not consistent across the pattern, however, for in some disciplines adjuncts teach fewer and
in others more than full timers.
Analysis: Through the annual unit planning process, the college continually monitors and adjusts its
adjunct vs. full-time workload. Departments review student-demand data and if the data provide
justification, propose full-time faculty positions through the faculty request process. This is true for new
as well as replacement positions and true for all campus locations.
Over the last five years, based on retirements, replacements, or identified demand, several faculty
members have been hired in Social and Behavioral Sciences areas:
• Two replacement history positions as a result of a retirement
• One replacement English position as a result of a faculty member moving to administration
• One new anthropology/sociology position, replacing adjunct load
Conclusion: The college is currently meeting student demand in Liberal Arts courses. The adjunct
workload, while higher than the 25% suggested by the 75/25 law, is in line with Cerro Coso as a whole
and permits the institution to offer more sections with no appreciable difference in student success. The
college hiring process works well and sees that needed full-time positions, such as the history position at
IWV in 2013, are identified and filled.
8. Methods of Delivery
Liberal Arts courses are taught in all delivery modes: onsite, online, and via ITV. Differences between
distance education and traditional courses in student demand and performance are discussed in those
sections and reflected on the spreadsheets, which are broken out by DE and Traditional delivery.
Analysis: Student needs in DE are determined by a combination of direct and indirect assessments. All
DE offerings are tracked for success and retention compared to traditional sections. This information is
made available and discussed in program reviews, faculty chair meetings, and between the chair and
educational administrator during scheduling.
The college employs several strategies to verify student identity and enforce academic honesty in the
online environment. Unique logins and passwords are required to access online courses. Many
instructors use textbook companion sites that require an additional unique username and password. A
plagiarism detection website, Turnitin.com, is used by instructors in several Liberal Arts departments.
Proctoring is required in many courses and has been an area of deliberate improvement for the college.
Since the beginning of the online program, the logistics of implementation had fallen on individual
faculty members who often did not have time and/or the expertise to create and run a secure
procedure. In Fall 2011, however, the college committed resources to the hiring of a Learning Center
Technician, part of whose responsibility was to develop and implement a proctoring system. A pilot
project was implemented with a handful of math and English sections in Spring 2012. A report was
produced that concluded wider implementation of the program was feasible. By Spring 2013, the
number of sections supported has grown to 16, all of them GE.
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The College adheres to Title 5 regulations by approving DE delivery separately for every course proposed
for online, hybrid, or iTV delivery.
Conclusion: Methods of delivery vary according to the character of each discipline, student need, and
faculty resources. Some departments now deliver most of their courses online; others deliver just a
strategic few. In all cases, the decision to seek distance education approval is made on a course-by-
course basis as required by Title 5.
9. Teaching Methodologies
The teaching methodologies for Liberal Arts classes are as varied as the disciplines included in the
degree. The teaching methodologies of Liberal Arts courses include lecture, lab, and activity.
Analysis and Conclusion: Teaching methodologies for each course are reflected on the Course Outline of
Record (COR). The department determines the appropriate teaching methodology for the content of the
course. This also is often determined by the articulation of the course, for the transferability of a course
will often depend on a prescribed teaching method. The Curriculum and Instruction Committee (CIC)
evaluates proposed methodologies for appropriateness to course content.
10. Materials Fees
There are no material fees assessed for courses within the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Degree.
Part 3: Currency
1. Curriculum Currency:
Faculty, administrators, department chairs, and the Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee
continually monitor the status of all courses in the active catalog. Course outlines of record that are
more than five years old are highlighted for update or review. In the last several years, this has involved
many more revisions than updates as courses throughout the curriculum, GE as well as non-GE, have
entered the SLO era. As of Fall 2013, SLO’s have been defined for 100% of Liberal Arts courses and
assessed in most of them.
During the last five years, all courses at Cerro Coso were brought up-to-date, merged with other courses
(lecture/lab courses, for example), deleted, or inactivated.
As was mentioned above in 1.1 and 2.1, the SB 1440 Transfer degrees have major implications for the
Liberal Arts emphases. While the AA-T and AS-T degrees themselves are outside the scope of this
review, the effort involves standardizing course outlines of record through the C-ID project. Even in
disciplines where the college does not expect to offer a transfer degree, the expectation is that courses
will still be submitted for C-ID approval, and this will become a regular part of course review at CIC.
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In the DE environment, a “regular effective contact” statement was adopted by the Academic Senate in
April 2013 in response to Title 5 and DOE requirements. The statement sets a minimum level of
expectations in the areas of contact hours, interaction format, responsiveness, and grading turn-around
time. Regular effective contact standards are now employed in the evaluation of all full- and part-time
faculty members with an online assignment; evidence that regular effective contact is happening is
expected as part of the sample assignments and assessments required by the evaluation process.
Conclusion: The college is well situated in curriculum currency. Largely on account of early faculty
champions in the key positions of CIC Chair and SLO Coordinator, Cerro Coso has developed a culture of
curriculum currency, from keeping COR’s continually up-to-date to defining SLO’s. However, one area
still needing improvement is completing SLO assessments of all courses in the Liberal Arts.
2. Physical Resources Currency:
Each department uses the process of the annual integrated planning cycle to evaluate its needs. The
departmental needs are fed into section- and then college-wide needs. Needs based on student safety
(e.g., emergency eyewashes) and state and federal law (ADA compliance) are given first priority. Other
high priority equipment items include program-critical materials necessary for student success in the
class (e.g., up-to-date maps; replacement of broken or obsolete equipment; etc.). Items in the next
priority level include equipment to increase section size or accommodate anticipated growth.
The department submits a prioritized list of equipment needed for the following academic year, as well
as any identified facility needs (e.g., new or updated smart classrooms). The Maintenance and
Operations and Information Technology divisions identify the items listed in the annual unit plans for
each department, evaluate such needs across the college, and summarize the trends and commonalities
in a resource request analysis, one of the documents of the integrated planning cycle.
Conclusion: The annual integrated planning cycle is an appropriate and adequate strategy for
identifying, justifying, and seeing through to implementation the physical resource needs of all
departments including the Social and Behavioral Sciences.
3. Technology Currency:
As with physical resources, technology is planned for, justified, and tied to resource allocation through
the annual integrated planning cycle. Departmental needs are identified in the annual unit plans and
work their way up through section and division reviews before being analyzed for budget approval. As
with facility needs, the college relies on accurate requests to plan for and acquire safe, sufficient, and
modern resources.
Currently, Liberal Arts courses are taught online and on-campus. Instructors who teach online or plan to
teach online are encouraged whenever possible to attend appropriate workshops. The current office of
Distance Education routinely offers Moodle and other distance education training on Flex days as well as
throughout each semester in the form of workshops, webinars, and “lunch and learns.”
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Interactive television (iTV) classrooms offer Liberal Arts courses to students at a distance. To prepare to
teach these classes, faculty can request training from the IT department. Smart classrooms at all campus
locations offer instructors the opportunity to engage students with advanced technology, providing the
opportunity to present material in different formats and benefit the different learning styles of each
student. To prepare to teach these classes, faculty can request training from the IT department.
In the last five years, the college has seen a major upgrade of the iTV classrooms and the installation of
several smart classrooms at IWV and ESCC, enough to fulfill current curriculum needs at these locations.
The art building at IWV recently put in a request to convert two of its rooms to Smart classrooms. At KRV
and East Kern, classroom technology needs are currently being assessed in light of the planned
renovations.
Conclusion: In terms of technology currency, the college is well situated. Individual instructor
workstations are kept current through a hardware replacement process that ensures all computers are
in warranty until planned replacement at end of life. Classroom IT is also on a closely scrutinized
upgrade and replacement schedule.
4. Current Cost of the Program to Students:
The following chart is based on 28 units for an academic year.
Estimated Cost of Living for 2012-2013
Living at Home
Living Away from Home
Fees
$1,288
Fees
$1,288
Books &
Supplies
$1,638
Books & Supplies
$1,638
Room and
Board
$4,338
Room and Board
$8,500
Personal
$2,150
Personal
$2,826
Transportation
$1,044
Transportation
$1,170
Total
$10,458
Total
$15,422
Part 4 – Achievement of Student Learning Outcomes
1. Progress in Assessments:
As indicated above, the PLO’s of the Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences degree are mapped to
SLO’s of individual courses.
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Most of the course-level SLO’s in Liberal Arts have been assessed and entered into CurricUNET. The
following list includes all the courses that have yet to be assessed:
Social and Behavioral Science: CHDV 105; SOC 210; HIST 131, 131H, 132, 132H, 209, 218;
PSYC C102 and PSYC C271
Conclusion: While the majority of courses have been assessed, most of these have been assessed only
once, were assessed in a limited number of sections, or need to be reassessed because the artifact,
application, or sampling was faulty. In some ways, that’s how it should be. As the college comes to
embrace the SLO culture, the first round will be characterized by these fits and starts.
However, by the next program review, Cerro Coso must be at the level of sustainable continuous quality
improvement, as defined by ACCJC. In terms of making progress, this means assessment results must
reflect all campus locations, include all delivery modes, and involve all faculty contract types, and that
the cycle of identifying gaps, designing improvements, and reassessing is clearly in place for all
disciplines. Given the large number of sections run in Liberal Arts areas, this will be a challenge.
2. Success in Achieving Learning Objectives and Identified Gaps:
The success rate in achieving the PLO’s is almost universally higher than 70%, a generally very positive
picture, with the vast majority of Student Learning Objectives (SLO’s) meeting the PLO's. Considering the
overwhelming number of satisfactorily achieved SLO's, students are virtually assured of achieving the
PLO’s in one class or another. There was one exception in CHDV C104.
The reasons that these GELO’s are not being achieved at a satisfactory rate are various. One point to
consider is that nearly all of these courses have been assessed only once. The faculty members in the
areas are currently making modifications to the instruction of the underperforming GELO’s, as well as
modifying assignments or revising curriculum to more successfully achieve the objectives.
For example in Child Development C 104, PLO’s A and B (corresponding to SLO 3) were achieved at a
rate under 70%. The faculty determined that the assessment directions do not ask students to include
current research in their socialization report, so this requirement was often missing. The assessment will
be reevaluated to clarify what is expected of students over the next few semesters as the course is
offered again.
The achievement in PLO’s was given an additional level of scrutiny in the College’s most recent
Comprehensive Assessment Report (2011-2012). All GELO’s from all general education areas were
assessed. While in most areas the target performance was met, the report did note specific gaps and
patterns detected in some General Education Learning Outcomes though no gaps were found
specifically for the Social and Behavioral Sciences emphasis. It was agreed that a second round of
mapping is needed to sharpen the relation between the GELO’s, PLO’s and SLO’s.
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Conclusion: Both the GE Program Review and the SLO committees agree that a second round of
mapping is needed to sharpen the relation between the GELO’s, PLO’s SLO’s, and course content—
perhaps some PLO’s can be reworded or even combined for better effect, perhaps SLO assessments can
be better chosen to measure the learning domains of the PLO’s with which they match, perhaps some
classes just need to be more effective in delivering course content. In any event, the belief of the
committee is that 80% of the task has been completed in establishing the PLO’s, mapping them to SLO’s,
and completing the first round of assessments. What needs to happen now is modifications and
tinkering within the framework to achieve better and more precise assessment, leading to better and
more precise improvement.
Part 5 – Future Needs and Plans
1. Current Program Strengths:
A. The program description is clear, is based directly on Title 5 language, and conveys the
program’s objectives of providing a well-rounded education for those students seeking a Liberal
Arts degree.
B. A sufficient variety of options is available for students to fulfill program requirements.
C. The college now has a mechanism to correlate courses to PLO’s. Successful achievement of the
outcomes is measured by SLO assessment of individual courses.
D. The program is sufficiently and appropriately derived from the college mission.
E. In order to increase student success and retention, scheduling of Liberal Arts courses has
become more strategic, focusing primarily on the demands of local students.
F. Course scheduling is done according to student need, takes into account the unique
circumstances at the campus locations, and is sufficient to meet demand.
G. The college is well situated in curriculum currency. Largely on account of early faculty
champions in the key positions of CIC Chair and SLO Coordinator, Cerro Coso has developed a
culture of curriculum currency, from keeping COR’s continually up-to-date to defining SLO’s.
H. In terms of technology currency, the college is well situated. Individual instructor workstations
are kept current through a hardware replacement process that ensures all computers are in
warranty until planned replacement at end of life. Classroom IT is also on a closely scrutinized
upgrade and replacement schedule.
I. The college is currently meeting student demand in Liberal Arts courses.
J. Modifications are being made to all of the courses in which the success rates of the PLO’s (and
corresponding SLO’s) are under 70%. We anticipate that these modifications will lead to
improved success in achieving the PLO’s.
K. Courses undergo a rigorous CIC review process.
2. Improvements Needed:
A. The college has no formal mechanism for approving or disapproving courses newly proposed as
additions to the Liberal Arts degrees.
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B. In the area of requisites, the college needs to convert writing, reading, and math levels to actual
courses; develop an out-of-discipline prerequisite plan to comply with state regulations and give
the college guidance in this crucial area; and establish a process for consistently completing
validation studies across the curriculum.
C. The committee recommends that a second round of mapping takes place to sharpen the
relation between PLO’s and courses required—such as drawing distinctions between active
participation and lecture, or demonstration and application—and possibly grouping the lists by
outcomes rather than subject area. This redrafting of the PLO’s needs to be completed by 2015.
D. A central concern is the lower success and retention rates in DE sections compared to traditional
offerings. Because many online courses are Liberal Arts courses, continuing to find ways to
improve retention and success rates is of paramount importance to the Liberal Arts degrees.
E. Physical resources are a challenge at all campus locations but particularly at the non-IWV sites.
As the college moves ahead with facility changes at KRV and East Kern, it is imperative that safe,
sufficient, and modern facilities are provided.
F. While the majority of courses have been assessed, a majority of these have been assessed only
once, were assessed in a limited number of sections, or need to be reassessed because the
artifact, application, or sampling was faulty. By the next program review, Cerro Coso must be at
the level of sustainable continuous quality improvement, as defined by ACCJC. In terms of
making progress, this means assessment results must reflect all campus locations, include all
delivery modes, and involve all faculty contract types, and that the cycle of identifying gaps,
designing improvements, and reassessing is clearly in place for all disciplines. Given the large
number of sections run in Liberal Arts areas, this will be a challenge.
3. Three-Year Program Goals:
Within the next three years, the Cerro Coso faculty needs to begin addressing each of the areas of
improvement above. Some of these concerns can be resolved at the department level while others will
require a collective response and action plan by the Academic Senate. Of these recommendations,
perhaps the most important are the following:
A. Adopt a formal mechanism for approving or disapproving courses newly proposed as additions
to the Liberal Arts degrees.
B. Begin a second round of mapping to sharpen the relation between PLO’s and courses required.
The PLO’s for the program will be redrafted by 2015.
C. Develop an action plan to improve the success and retention rates in DE sections compared to
traditional offerings.
D. Attain the level of sustainable continuous quality improvement as defined by ACCJC.
E. Anticipate the changes resulting from the creation of SB 1440 Transfer degrees, which will
increase alternatives to the three areas of emphasis in the Liberal Arts degrees and significantly
reduce the number of students seeking degrees in the Liberal Arts. Both counselors and faculty
need to consider how they will advise future students, perhaps concluding that the AA-T and AS-
T degrees provide better preparation for transfer and that Liberal Arts majors should be
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declared only as preparation for elementary school teaching or for transfer to private schools
with requirements different from those of UC and Cal State universities.
4. Six-Year Program Goals:
Within the next six years, all attempts should be made to resolve the areas of improvement above.