Glendale Community College

Learning Center

 

Annual Report 2005-2006

Dennis Doyle , Andy Stires, Maria Shufeldt, Agnes Rudnick and Gretchen Davidson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Student Development 150 - Tutor Training in the Learning Center

         The revised Tutor Training course was offered for the first time Fall 2005, starting with a day-long tutor training day.  77 students have taken the class so far, making them qualified to work as College peer tutors. Tutor training became a high priority when we received notice that the College could collect apportionment for serving students who study in the various academic labs on campus only if they are working with trained peer tutors.    More information is available at http://english.glendale.edu/sd150.html

 

The Learning Center - Student Use

         The Learning Center still enjoys a high rate of student use, though less than last year, probably due to cuts in classes and staff and increases in tuition.  Last year 12,368 individual students were helped a total of 74,917 hours in the Center¹s combined services,  down about 20% from last year.  There was a slight increase in number of students using computer assisted instruction.  About 60% of the students seek peer tutoring;  40% of the students use the other services, mostly the CAI Lab working on our PassKey curricular materials.

 

Research in the Learning Center

         Over the last six months we have been conducting research studying student and faculty use of the Center. The faculty survey is still being collected.  A review of our demographics show that students who use our peer tutoring are more likely to be female, Armenian and older than most GCC students.  There is a high correlation between student use of the Learning Center and student retention, success and GPA.

 

 

Improved Scheduling of Tutors with Clients

         With the help of Dr. Jewel Price, we were able to obtain, install and receive training in the use of the SARS.GRID appointment system.  The Counseling Department had already settled on the use of this system and had obtained a license.  For the cost of a small additional training fee, we were able to obtain this low-cost alternative to other systems we were studying.  Installed in 2/2005, appointments were made for 3,504 tutoring sessions, counting the Spring semester alone.  The use of this software has improved our service to students, allowing for better tracking of appointments, tutors  and clients.  We plan to install and try a new touch-screen feature, making student appointments easier to make.

 

In an effort to keep our stock of computers up-to-date and operating, we obtained ten new computer stations and recycled obsolete machines.

 

CAI Software and computers

         -We did our usual annual maintenance upgrade of the PassKey software.  More students are using the PassKey materials, at over 3,000 student hours each year.

 

Conference Participation

         Mr.Doyle attended the annual Winter Institute for Learning Assistance Professionals in Austin, Texas.  The theme of this year¹s 4-day conference was ³Learning Center Management and Leadership².

         Ms. Shufeldt attended a day-long session at CSULA on the ³Status of Armenia Communities in the United States².  She also attended a workshop on ³Student Learning Outcomes² on campus.

 

Goals for the coming Year

         We will be working to provide the same or better level of service despite funding cuts.

         We will work to improve and expand the tutor training course.  We currently have a basic lecture/textbook version of the course, but we wish to develop an online alternative, and other support materials.

         We are continuing to improve Writing Center service through greater cooperation with faculty in their efforts to foster Writing Across the Curriculum.

         We are working to revise and adapt English 200, Speed Reading, as a minicourse available in the Center.

         We are working to rebuild our staff with a restoration of the one entire position previously lost.

         We will continue to foster usage of the Center as a friendly, helpful place for learning and study.

         We plan to continue research on how we can serve students better and to find ways to implement student learning outcomes in the Center. 

We also would like to work on rewriting the Learning mission statement and to form a Center advisory committee. 

 

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATISTICS

 

Student Contact Hours in the Learning Center

              Tutoring CAI Lab  Totals

96-97            16,335                       1,795             18,130

97-98            20,351                       1,382             21,733

98-99            27,652           17,935           45,587

99-00           47,969           18,928           66,897

00-01            48,552           20,082           68,634

01-02            55,864                       18,424           74,288

02-03            72,538                       19,992           92,530

03-04           68,708           26,688           95,396

04-05            67,712           24,481           92,193

05-06                 48,252       26,665       74,917

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total  Individual Students Helped in the Center

                  Tutoring CAI Lab Totals

98-99            4,505             3,634             8,139

99-00            6,167             3,570             9,737

00-01            8,140             4,002             12,142

01-02            9,505             4,200             13,705

02-03            11,196           4,661             15,857

03-04                        10,195           5,447             15,642

04-05            11,525           5,061             16,586

05-06                 6,911                  5,457                  12,368

 

 

Courses Offered in the Learning Center

English 182, English 183, revised and first offered Fall 2000

Student Development 150, revised and first offered Fall 2005

              Eng 182        Eng 183      SD 150          Totals

00-01            47                               55                                                       102

01-02            54                               56                                                       110

02-03            85                               80                                                       165

03-04            175                             152                                                     327

04-05            160                             144                                                     304

05-06                 192                     143                     77              412

 

 

 

 

 

Instructional Videotape/DVD Circulation

05-06                    1,342*

04-05                           1,940

03-04                           2,778

02-03                           2,902

01-02                           1,453

00-01                           1,063       

99-00                           1,466   

98-99                           1,753

97-98                           1,312

96-97                           1,075

 

*reflects growing use of DVD¹s for instructional use.  DVD¹s can run in our stand-alone players AND in the newer computers.

 

Non-Credit Students, using Learning Center Facilities

05-06                    184

04-05                           221

03-04                           393

02-03                           111

01-02                           132

00-01                           367   

99-00                           75

 

Total Student ³Visits² (from laser counter)

05-06                    122,739

04-05                           138,258

03-04                           138,556

02-03                           148,393

01-02                           128,828

00-01                           158,257

99-00                           184,459

98-99                           156,254

97-98                           140,694

96-97                           151,634

95-96                           128,224

 

 

Lab Reports Requested and Sent to Instructors by numbers of sections requested

05-06                    287

04-05                           284

03-04                           270

02-03                           239

01-02                           112

00-01                           111

 

Testing

English Placement Challenge Exams

05-06                    105

04-05                           134

03-04                           214

02-03                           284

01-02                           196

00-01                           194

99-00                           222

98-99                           256

97-98                           179

96-97                           88

 

 

Make-up Tests  a service for faculty, esp. adjunct

05-06                    1,068

04-05                           709

03-04                           683

02-03                           905

01-02                           644

00-01                           469

99-00                           408

98-99                           273

97-98                           108

 

 

 

Glendale Community College

Educational Master Plan

Student Support Services Questionnaire

Learning Center

 

Purpose

The purpose of this questionnaire is to request the data needed to produce a program-level Educational Master Plan as recommended in our 2004 Accreditation Evaluation.

 

Instructions

Please respond to each of the 11 questions in this document, using the example documents (Disabled Students Services and Service Learning) as a guide.

 

Please respond to each question by typing directly into this Microsoft Word document. The deadline for completed documents is February 28, 2005. Documents should be returned via email to ekarpp@glendale.edu.

 

Assumptions

There are several assumptions that should be considered as you respond to the questionnaire.

 

1. Growth

It is projected that GCC will grow by 25% over a ten-year period (2004-2014).  That is a growth rate of roughly 2.5% per year.  It is assumed that funding will support this growth rate (with some flexibility).  To better be able to plan for and manage this projected growth, the College needs to determine which programs and departments expect to grow, shrink, or remain the same.

 

2. Trends

_ the need for constant retraining of workers to maintain and/or advance in their employment

_ a continued decline in vocational and arts offerings in K-12

_ a possible increase in the number of non-graduates coming to GCC from local high schools.

 

3. Demographics

The level of preparation of incoming students is a concern.  The number of recent high school graduates from Glendale is expected to decline or remain flat while the number of high school graduates in the LA area is expected to triple.   Historically, high school graduates from the Glendale area have been better prepared than the corresponding students from LA high schools.

 

 

 Department/Program/Service Name:  Learning Center

Contact Person:    Dr. Linda Winters / Dennis Doyle

Phone Extension:    5343

Email Address:    ddoyle@glendale.edu

 

 

Program Description/Mission:

 

1.Please describe your program/service and its relationship to the mission of the college in one to two paragraphs (see example).

 

Response: The Learning Center supports the instructional mission of the college by helping to prepare students for successful transfer to four-year colleges and universities or for successful placement or advancement in rewarding careers. Specifically it provides tutoring and instructional resources to help students succeed in their course work.

 

2A. Please state the number of full-time faculty and the number of part-time faculty in your program/service.

 

Response: There is one 60% release time faculty position, that of the Learning Center Director.

 

 

2B.  Please state the number of full-time and part-time classified employees including lab techs in your program/service.

 

Response: There is one full time classified manager and three full-time classified employees, one of whom works 25% of her assignment in another department. There is one part-time classified employee. There is one full-time vacancy.

 

 

Growth:

 

3. Over the next ten years, do you estimate that enrollment in your program/service will:

   (Place an X next to your response.)

___ decline

___ remain static

___ grow from one to two percent

___ grow at the college average (2.5%)

__X_ grow at higher than the college average

 

Please explain your answer in a few sentences.

Our statistics show a continuous  increase in student use of the Center over the years.  In 1997 the Center recorded about 18,000 student hours; our last full year¹s statistics show that students put in over 95,000 student hours in 2004.  Student use seems to have risen even with fewer classes available, although it is topping off recently.  Also, more poorly-prepared students from outside the District are anticipated in the next few years. They would need support services from the Center.

 

4. Do you anticipate adding any new program/service?  If so, what would be the anticipated program/service size?  Would these new programs/services require additional space?  Please describe.   Yes and they would require more staff and space.

Response:

1.    We are working on reviving and revising the Tutor Training class (SD150) in order to meet state requirements to provide trained tutors in order to collect apportionment from our clients.

2.    We want to increase our Writing Center service.  Working in the Writing Center requires much individual one-on-one work, so we can only help small numbers at a time.  We are in no way meeting the needs of the College in this area.  More staff and more space is needed.

3.    We are serving more non-credit student each year from the District and would like to extend that service to sites off the main campus.

 

 

5. Do you have any programs/services that will be discontinued or phased out?  If so, please explain.

No.

Response: However, there are likely to be changes in instructional media away from analog video toward digital resources: DVD¹s, material over the Internet, and other digital systems in an intranet.

 

 

Three to Five-Year Program/Service Goals:

 

6. List the most important goals that your program/service intends to achieve in the next three to five years.  Consider the areas of both internal and external factors.

Response:

1.    Revision and execution of a college-wide tutor training program.

2.    Maintenance of funding and quality levels of the current Center programs.

3.    Revise and expand the Writing Center service.

4.    Increase facility size to match growth in student and program use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personnel Needs:

 

7. If you anticipate the need for additional contract contract faculty and/or contract classified staff in your program/service within the next five years, describe this need and your justification in one to two paragraphs.

 

 

Response:

1.    We need to restore the full-time vacant position lost in the recent cut-backs, as well as to restore the director¹s release-time.

2.    In comparison with  facilities on other campuses with comparable student use and student enrollment, our Center is understaffed, run historically on a shoe-string budget.

3.    More staff would be needed in these areas:

       -more Writing Center experts,

       -a comparable Math tutoring expert.  They do Math tutoring in the Math-Science Center, but we tend to get their low-end students who need longer sessions.

       -help for our Tutoring manager to coordinate tutor training, organize workshops and schedule and make arrangements for use of instructional materials.

4.    We need to pay our tutors more, or we will lose them to competing programs even here on campus.

 

 

8. Do you anticipate the retirement of any contract faculty within the next five years?  Should these positions be replaced and why?

 

Response:

No contract faculty is likely to retire, since the only facultyperson is the director.  One classified person may retire within the next five years.  We are already down one full position with greater numbers of students,so yes, we should replace any vacancies.

 

Facilities Needs:

 

9. If you project growth, which type or types of space will you need?  (Place an X next to your response.)

___ classrooms            _X__ reception areas

_X__ labs                _X__ other  coffee room, backroom for tutors to leave stuff

__X_ office space

 

Please explain your answer in a few sentences.

Learning Centers serve a complex variety of instructional support services.  We need more space: space to expand the Writing Center and space for our tutors.

 

10. If you anticipate the need for additional space, modified space,  or specific facilities, describe this need and your justification in one to two paragraphs.

 

Response:

Learning Centers serve a complex variety of instructional support services.  We need more space: space to expand the Writing Center and space for our tutors.  As there is talk in anticipation of a new student services building, we wonder if it might be better for the Center, if we simply stay in our excellent current space, with the option to expand into classrooms on the north and south side of the center.  When the last remodeling was planned, AD 242 and the room south of the Writing Center were built with adjoining doors anticipating such a move.

 

 

Competition:

 

11. What programs and strategies do you anticipate, both currently and in the future, that will enable your program/service to be competitive with both private and public institutions?

 

Response:

While more and more, there is a move to deliver instruction via the Internet or through other media, there still is no substitute for the presence of real person, face-to-face, who can read the body language and hear the vocal intonations which fill out human communication.  We have seen that, while some tutoring may be done on line or over the phone, the best experience is with a real person.  I believe that clients will seek out that human contact, especially our student who are weak in basic skills.

 

 

Other (optional):

 

12. If there is any other information about your program relevant to growth that you would like to include, please respond below.

 

Response: