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El Camino: Course SLOs (MATH) - Pre-Engineering

SPRING / SUMMER 2016Assessment: Course Four Column

ECC: ENGR 1:Intro to Engineering

Course SLOs Assessment MethodDescription Results Actions

SLO #1 Analyze EngineeringProfession - Analyze the preparation,training, practice, obligations, andethics required in the engineeringprofession.

Course SLO Assessment Cycle: 2013-14 (Spring 2014), 2015-16 (Spring2016)

Course SLO Status: Active

Input Date: 11/21/2013

Standard and Target for Success:The rubric was based on a 4 pointscale with the lowest being 0,corresponding to No Understanding,1 corresponding to SomeUnderstanding, 2 corresponding toMost Understanding, and 3corresponding to CompleteUnderstanding. Students whoearned a 2 or 3 were deemedSuccessful at mastering the SLO,while those scoring 0 or 1 wereUnsuccessful. If a student correctlyanalyzed just one of the conceptslisted in SLO #1, the student wouldearn 1 point, if the student analyzedthree of the ideas listed, the studentwould earn 2 points, and if theyanalyzed all five correctly, theywould earn 3 points, which is themaximum. Since the last time that

Essay/Written Assignment -Students were asked to write a onepage essay describing thepreparation, training, practice,obligations, and ethics required inthe engineering profession.

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students were assessed for SLO #1,which was during the Spring 2013semester, no students earned ascore of 0 or 1, 36% earned a scoreof 2, 64% earned a score of 3, thesuccess rate was 100%. For thisSpring 2014 semester, because the100% success rate cannot beimproved upon, the target was setfor 75% of the students to earn ascore of 3, corresponding tocomplete understanding.

Standard and Target for Success:Grading Rubric:1. What academic preparation is

Action: To improve studentengagement in engineering, invite ElCamino Chapter of Society of WomenEngineers (SWE), Society of HispanicProfessional Engineers (SHPE), ElCamino ACM (American ComputingMachinery) Chapter, and El CaminoRobotics Club to speak toEngineering 1 class and describeavenues for professional engagementat El Camino Campus. (10/04/2018)

Action Category: Program/CollegeSupportAction: Invite writing center staff togive a talk to engineering 1 student’sto describe writing lab facilitiesavailable at the El Camino CollegeCampus. (10/04/2017)Action Category: Program/CollegeSupport

Semester and Year Assessment Conducted: 2015-16(Spring 2016)Standard Met? : Standard MetTable below gives score distributions.Score percentage or range Number of students in thatrange Percentage of Students in each range (%)100% 13.690 % to <100% 517.980% to <90% 932.070% to <80% 725.060% to <70% 310.750% to < 60% 13.6<50% 27.2Total 28100.0

The table below shows the statistics of above data:Statistical Property Value of Statistical PropertyHighest 100%Average 77%Median 82%

Essay/Written Assignment - Basedon this semester long project, youwill write a report that will coverfollowing aspects of engineeringprofession for which you areplanning to study.1. What academicpreparation is required for anengineering professional planning tograduate in the area in which youare planning your engineeringstudy? (If you have not chosen anengineering or computer sciencemajor, then you can write aboutacademic preparation for a generalengineering degree). Discuss interms of areas of concentrationsduring the study program and keycourses related to those areas ofconcentrations. Discuss as to whatwould be the best quality academicpreparation. Read rest of the details in attacheddocument.



required for an engineeringprofessional planning to graduate inthe area in which you are planningyour engineering study? 2points2. What post academic trainingwould be needed for a successfulengineering career by anengineering professional planning topractice the branch of engineering ofyour interest? 2 points3. Analyze and describe the typicalpractice day, week, and month of apracticing engineer in the area ofyour interest. What kinds of practiceproblems would such an engineersolve on daily, weekly, and monthlybasis? 2 points4. What ethical responsibilitieswould an engineer in your area ofinterest would have and how wouldhe/she meet them? How would suchan engineer resolve ethicaldilemma? 2 points5. What kinds of professional, civic,and social obligations an engineer inyour area of interest would have?How would he/she meet thoseobligations? 2 points

It is expected that SLO would be metif 70 % or more students score 70%or more in this SLO assignment.

Standard Deviation 21%Lowest 0%Percentage of Students passing (70% or above) 79%

The low standard deviation in second table shows a highconfidence in the average and/or median value. In fact themedian being the central tendency of data is so impressivethat median value did not change even after outlier datumwas removed from the analysis. Using data without outliers,about 4/5th or 80% of the Engineering 1 students met thecriterion for successful completion. About 1/5th of the classor more precisely 20% of the class did not meet successfulcompletion standard. The percentage meeting successfulcriterion improves once outlier data are removed from thestatistical analysis.Interpretation of resultsThe graphical presentation of student SLO scores shows askewed bi-modal distribution. However, if two outliers areremoved, then data seems to have a good quality Gaussiandistribution, with central tendency around 85% score. Weare establishing a success criterion in engineering courses,that if 70% of students achieve 70% or higher in SLO tests,then goal of SLO has been met.

The following reasons can be cited for theunderperformance (be it not passing, or barely passing).1. Poor quality writing skills.2. Poor quality or inadequate research skills.3. Poor communication skills.

We will talk about the 3rd reason first. In the project,students were asked to interview an industry engineer andan engineering professor in the area of their interest. Thepoor performers were not able to, on account of poorcommunication skills, even able to come up with requiredinterviews. This despite the fact, that all students weregiven the contact information of two industry speakers whogave guest lectures in the class. [They could have contactedthem at least]. It is also possible that poor performerssimply realized that engineering is not their cup of tea.



Faculty Assessment Leader: Satish SinghalFaculty Contributing to Assessment: Satish SinghalRelated Documents:Spring2016PLO_And_SLO_ReportForEngr1.docx

Certainly in a community college environment, such self-discovery can be done, because fortunately theenvironment in community colleges is a low risk one.

For the students who met the SLO target, I think theycommunicated well with the instructor and theirinterviewers, understood class lectures, studied thesupporting materials and learned overall art of researching,analyzing, and writing. The student’s not meeting successstandards could have been due to combination of factors.Typical factors we have seen hindering student success incommunity colleges are:1. Lack of engagement.2. Demanding work and college schedule.3. Sudden change in student’s life condition that requiredattention and time resources to be redirected from studiestowards resolution of such condition. (10/04/2016)

SLO #2 Apply Academic SuccessStrategies - Assess the cognitive skillsand apply academic successstrategies related to the study ofengineering.




Essay/Written Assignment -Students are directed to write a onepage assessment of their cognitiveskills, which they will utilize in theirchosen Engineering discipline, whichmay include: remembering,understanding, applying, analyzing,evaluating, and creating. Also, theywill write about applying theiracademic success strategies relatedto the study of Engineering, whichinclude: structuring their life tominimize distractions, setting goals,working collaboratively with otherstudents, making effective use oftheir professors, making acommitment to their study, and


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Standard and Target for Success: Itis expected that 80% of the studentsare successful, that is score 2 or 3 forthe assignment.

communicating to family and friendsabout their academic priorities.If a student wrote what wasirrelevant to the question, thestudent earned a score of 0. If thestudent did not write about anyintellectual skills, but wrote about atleast one of the academic successskills, the student earned a score of1. If the student wrote about twolevels of intellectual skills and oneacademic success strategy, thestudent earned a score of 2. If astudent wrote about more than twolevels of intellectual skills and morethan one academic success strategy,the student earned the maximumscore of 3.


ECC: ENGR 9:Engr Mechanics - Statics


SLO #1 Solve Equilibrium Problems -Solve equilibrium problems in twoand three dimensions using algebraicor trigonometric methods.



Input Date: 11/21/2013Standard and Target for Success:Since this should not be a difficultproblem for students at theEngineering 9 level, a 100% successrate has been set as a target. Therubric was based on a 4 point scalewith the lowest being 0,corresponding to No Understanding,1 corresponding to SomeUnderstanding, 2 corresponding toMost Understanding, and 3corresponding to CompleteUnderstanding. Students earning a 2or 3 are deemed successful atmastering the SLO, while thosescoring 0 or 1 were Unsuccessful. If astudent sketched a completelyincorrect Free Body Diagram, theirscore was 0. If the FBD was mostlycorrect, the student earned 1 point.If the FBD was completely correct,but there was a major algebraicerror in the solution, the studentearned a score of 2, while if only aminor error occurred, the studentearned a score of 3, which is themaximum.

Exam/Test/Quiz - Students wereasked to solve the following problemon an exam: Determine thereactions at the beam supports forthe given loading if w0 = 300pounds. See attached diagram.

Action: Next time I am going to makethe in-class portions of the examclosed book, but perhaps let them

Semester and Year Assessment Conducted: 2015-16(Spring 2016)Standard Met? : Standard Not Met

Exam/Test/Quiz - Students wereasked to: solve the followingequilibrium problem:



Standard and Target for Success: Iam optimistic that at least 75% ofthe students will earn a score of 2 or3, based on the rubric below, for thisSLO:The points were awarded thusly:

0 Essentially left the problemblank.1 Drew the free body diagram,more or less correctly, and perhapstried to write the requisite equations2 Drew the free body diagramcorrectly and had the correct, ormostly correct, equations, but didnot solve them correctly orcompletely.3 Drew the free body diagramcorrectly, had the correct equations,and solved them correctly or made atrivial mistake.

have a page or two of notes, ratherthan making it open book. Thus, thatway they won’t be looking for similarproblems to copy from the text forthat portion. It won’t stop themfrom doing this on the take-homeportions, but at least they will nothave this as their only strategy.(05/25/2017)Action Category: TeachingStrategies

Scores of 2 and 3 correspond to students being successfuland scores of 0 and 1 correspond to students beingunsuccessful.

A total of 24 students participated in the SLO assessment (1section).

4% (1 out of 24) scored a 0, 33% (8 out of 24) scored a 1,21% (5 out of 24) scored a 2, and 42% (10 out of 24) scoreda 3.

The percentage of students who scored a 2 or 3 was 63%.Thus the targeted goal of a 75% success rate, was not met.The results were not too bad. Overall 62.5% of the studentshad “complete understanding” or “most understanding”. Iwould have preferred that to be at least 75%. Quite a fewstudents were in the “some understanding” category and Ibelieve that they could easily move up to the next level ofunderstanding. Mostly they missed the significance of the“square” rod, even though it was emphasized by being putin italics.

This was a somewhat complicated problem. However, itwas on the take home portion of an exam, so the studentshad all the time they needed and it was also open book.Many students don’t seem to be able to be bothered tolook things up or to check to see that what think is correctactually is. They seem to spend their time trying to find asimilar example problem in the book and then copying thatapproach.

Next time I am going to make the in-class portions of theexam closed book, but perhaps let them have a page or twoof notes, rather than making it open book. Thus, that waythey won’t be looking for similar problems to copy from thetext for that portion. It won’t stop them from doing this onthe take-home portions, but at least they will not have thisas their only strategy.

Although this SLO problem had less than optimal results,

Member AB is supported by a cableBC and at a by a square rod, whichfits loosely through the square holein the collar fixed to the member, asshown in the figure. Determine thecomponents of reaction at A andthe tension in the cable needed tohold the rod in equilibrium. Seerelated documents for diagram.



Faculty Assessment Leader: Milan GeorgevichFaculty Contributing to Assessment: Jill EvensizerRelated Documents:SLO E 9 S 16 Results (Jill).pdf

overall the students did well in the course. Every one of the24 students represented here passed the course with an A,B, or C. This is the first time that I did not have to give anystudent a D or F. I think that part of the reason for this wasthat I have started to collect a homework problem a fewtimes each semester and count it into their grade. Thefeedback is helpful to them. Unfortunately, this alsoappears to have had the unintended consequence that theyundervalue the rest of their homework assignments, whichare not graded, and do not devote as much time to workingon them as they should. (05/25/2016)

SLO #2 Use Diagrams to SolveProblems - Draw diagrams anddetermine distributed forces, shearforces, and moments in beams.




Exam/Test/Quiz - Students aredirected to draw the shear andbending moment diagrams for abeam shown in a figure provided.Then they are to determine theshear and moment at the middle ofthe beam. Students who drewincorrect shear and momentdiagrams, or wrote nothing, earneda score of 0, corresponding to "nounderstanding", while students whodrew the shear diagram correctly,but not the moment diagram,earned a score of 1, whichcorresponded to "someunderstanding". Scores of 0 or 1corresponded to students beingunsuccessful. Students in the "mostunderstanding" category completedthe problem correctly, but did notlabel axes and constructed incorrectscales, earned a score of 2. Thosestudents in the "complete


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Standard and Target for Success:The target for success was 90%,since Engineering 9 is an advancedcourse for a Community College,requiring both a Physics and CalculusII prerequisite.

understanding" category completedthe problem with no errors andearned the maximum score of 3.Scores of 2 and 3 correspond tostudents being successful at this SLO.
