The mission of the First Year Experience Department is to work cooperatively and creatively with academic and support services to offer students a comprehensive first-year experience that empowers them as engaged learners, integrates them into the college community as meaningful participants in campus life, and facilitates their successful transition into future transfer and career pathways.
The FYE Department provides centralized collaboration for first year courses and efforts at Butte. The many excellent student and transfer success programs across the campus have a contact point as they seek to coordinate efforts around the first year experience of our students. The FYE department houses the following courses and programs: • Life Management (LM40) • College and Life Success (CSL20) • On Course (EDUC100) • Career & Life Planning (CLP30) • Other Counseling classes as offered. The FYE "student success courses" (with common SLOs and ongoing faculty collaboration) include: • College and Life Success (CSL20) • Career & Life Planning (CLP30) • College Study Skills (READ126) • Health and Wellness (HLTH2) • Life Management (LM40). The FYE department collaborates with the following courses, programs, departments, and committees: • Health and Wellness (HLTH2) • College Study Skills (READ126) • Exploring Leadership (POS92) • English 118 & 119 • New Student Orientation • Reg2Go • Recruitment, Outreach & Student Life • Summer Bridge • Center for Academic Success • Information Literacy courses • Student Success Committee • Counseling (provides group academic advising to FYE classes each semester) • Assessment • Contract Education / Work Training Center • Numerous other departments across the campus. The FYE Department ensures consistency across the FYE student success courses as they address mutually agreed-upon common core curricula (see SLOs).
-More availability for students at all locations including online.
-Increase information on health and wellness for CSL 20 and LM 40 sections.
-Continue to support students with after class hours and office hours.
Current Success Rates for the three main courses of FYE;
CSL 20; 70%
CLP 30; 69%
LM 40; 63%
Current Retention Rates;
CSL 20; 89%
CLP 30; 85%
LM 40; 86%
Retention Rates for Hispanic students;
CSL 20; 92%
CLP 30; 92%
LM 40; 87%
Ethnicity Breakdown;
White; 52.15%
All other groups; 47.85%
-Working to assist students in basic skills classes to better access college resources.
-Using Canvas to assist all students inculding online students. Develop more online tools within Canvas to help students achieve at higher rates.
-Support all groups on campus including; internationals, athletes, and other groups. Support Diversity Days and other presentations that promote diversity on our campus.
Access to classes including; online, Glenn Center, night classes is a priority and we contiue to change and adapt to better serve students. An increase in summer classes and winter classes and online classes has already been put into place. The department is also in the process of adding more late starting classes to assist students who may have needed to drop a class but need units to stay on track for graduation.
The Validation Team recommended that the FYE department hire a full-time faculty member to teach and serve in a future leadership role. The department hired a full-time faculty member in Spring 2016. The program is still down one full-time faculty member that is needed to grow the program.
The Validation Team recommended that the FYE program target groups that they can effectively serve with existing program offerings. For example, to facilitate their success, readmitted, disqualified students might be allowed to register as continuiing students for FYE and Basic Skills courses for their first semester post-readmission. This recommendation is still being addressed during Guided Pathways discussions.
The Validation Team recommended that the FYE program ensure that they are offering the most appropriate and effective course offerings, based on students' needs. The team suggested possibly offering a three-week FYE class in August for students new to Butte College. The FYE department looks forward to working with Summer Bridge, Student Equity, and othe Student Success Initiatives to meet Butte College Students' needs. FYE has added a summer and winter class and more online classes to serve the college and a wider range of students.
More classes still need to be added and more instuctors hired to staff these sections including more late start and summer sections.
Continue to offer a strong and functional FYE program at Butte College. Improve the class times for FYE classes, including summer, winter and online. Work to keep book cost down for students while still offering all the assessments and materiels needed to grow and develop.
Strategy 1 - Hire Full-time Instructor
The FYE department will hire a full-time instructor to provide leadership in the department and to teach core classes.
The FYE department currently has one full-time faculty member teaching two of the the department's core courses: LM40 and CSL20. The department hired one full-time instructor in Spring 2016, but another is needed to provide adequate leadership as the college moves forward with Guided Pathways and a focus on student achievement. Full-time faculty members not only provide leadership but assist with training and mentoring associate faculty, curriculum and SLO work, unit planning, and program review.
Currently, most faculty teaching core classes in the department are associate faculty or full-time academic counselors teaching a one-course overload .In 2017, one of the most experienced associate faculty found a full-time job, and another reduced her workload.
Strategy 2 - Classify FYE Department Chair as Chair III
The FYE department chair will be reclassified as a Chair III to accurately reflect the amount of time and effort required to perform the duties of the position effectively, including actively participating in and contributing to Guided Pathways and Dual Enrollment efforts. To grow the program the chair position will need to also grow from a chair IV to a chair III.
Prior to the 2014-15 academic year, the FYE department chair received 30% assigned time reduction to manage the department and coordinate the program. In 2014-15 the assigned time was reduced to 20%, which is not adequate to perform the duties of the position effectively while simultaneously working to develop and expand the program to meet the needs of more students -- especially in light of current campus initiatives, including Guided Pathways and Dual Enrollment. In addition to the standard duties of a department chair (including hiring, scheduling, evaluating associate faculty, dealing with student complaints, and managing the department budget), ordering books, attending two-hour Thursday afternoon meetings three weeks per month (Department Chairs, Learning Council, Dean's Area Meeting) along with bi-weekly meetings with the dean, the FYE department chair must meet and work closely with Student Services (Counseling, Orientation, Reg2Go, and Summer Bridge) and other academic departments. Each semester, the department chair is responsible for creating and distributing SLO surveys to all faculty teaching LM40, CSL20, CLP30, HLTH2, and READ126, collecting and analyzing survey results, and distributing results to faculty prior to Institute Day. Last year, the FYE department conducted its first Program Review, which has required considerable time and effort on the part of the department chair.
In Fall 2015, the department chair attended numerous committee meetings and meetings with with college decision makers to request input regarding the future of the First Year Experience program. The chair has been appointed to the Educational Master Planning committee and is also actively engaged in conversations focused on the book Redesigning America's Community Colleges, which makes a strong case for mandatory student success courses. The FYE program is ready to expand to serve even more students. Possibilities for expansion, all of which would require leadership on the part of the department chair, include:
1) Collaborating with the PROD office to serve disproportionately impacted students from local area high schools
2) Collaborating with the Child Development department to offer LM 40 in Spanish to students in the ECE certificate program
3) Increasing the number CLP 30 course sections/locations to serve students hoping to define or refine academic majors and/or career options
4) Supporting and contributing to the Guided Pathways effort on campus
5) Supporting and contributing to the Dual Enrollment effort at area high schools
Strategy 3 - Collaborate Strategically with Departments, Groups, and Individuals
The FYE department will make strategic, broad-based collaboration with groups, departments and individuals across campus its ongoing focus. In particular, FYE will broaden its collaborative model to include working with more Student Services offices. The department will continue to engage in meaningful dialogue with Math, English, and LEAD faculty about empowering students' success during their first year at Butte College.
Recommendation 2.4 of the Advancing Student Success in California Community Colleges, The Recommendations of the California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force is to “Require students whose diagnostic assessments show a lack of readiness for college to participate in a support resource, such as a student success course, learning community, or other sustained intervention, provided by the college for new students.”
The narrative for this recommendation broadens the recommendation to include first-year experience programs. The report also cites that experience both in California and throughout the nation demonstrates that these interventions - when carefully and deliberately planned and implemented - do have a positive impact on student success, retention and persistence.
The FYE department has come up with the following ideas;
1. Possible Cohorts or Linked Classes: FYE class with a Math, English, or Reading class
MATH 217/READ 126
ENGL 219/READ 126
MATH 108/LM 40, CSL 20, CLP 30
ENGL 118 & 119/LM 40, CSL 20, CLP 30
The FYE department has made some progress by creating flyers and power points to inform student and staff of the beefits of FYE classes.
Strategy 4 - Support Use of Online Environment to Enhance Learning
The FYE department will continue to work with colleagues to explore ways to ensure that first year students receive appropriate training in digital literacy,as needed. The department encourages the use of Canvas in all courses.
Numerous conversations and meetings over the past several years have reinforced the need for students to be prepared to succeed in an increasingly digitized and technological world. As Canvas is used in virtually every class at Butte College, and as faculty broaden requirements for students' use of technology in instructional settings, new students need to be equipped with at least basic digital competency skills. FYE is currently working to use attendance on Canvas and have all instructors use the grading options in Canvas.
Strategy 5 - Collaborate with Campus Funding Sources to Support FYE Student Success
The FYE department will collaborate with campus funding sources to provide basic organizational supplies to students in FYE classes.
The FYE department will continue to supply department pens and keep book costs down. The department has also reduced the fees associated with FYE classes by only using the Strength Assessment at a cost to students and using free online assessments for Strong and MBTI.
Strategy 6 - Increase Student Access and Success
The FYE department will seek to ensure that all students, especially disproportionately impacted students, have access to FYE Student Success Classes, including CLP 30, CSL 20, HLTH 2, LM 40, and READ 126.
If, as is consistently seen in excellent FYE programs across the country, Butte College hopes to make FYE Student Success classes a pivotal “jumping off” place for our new students, we obviously must offer enough sections to accommodate student need. When First Year students are successful, the entire campus is more successful. According to Butte College data, students who complete a FYE class are approximately 20% more likely to achieve their academic goals.
The department is actively pursuing the development of online versions or a hybrid version of CLP30 in the future. Two faculty are currently looking into online course development. Three FYE Instructors currently teach core FYE courses online.
The FYE department plans to participate actively in campus-wide discussions about the possiblity of developing Guided Pathways at Butte College. Ideally, each Guided Pathway will include at least one FYE class option.
The FYE department would benefit from dedicated classroom space.
The FYE department has a Life Management Foundation Account (from LM40 workbook fees, for LM program development use only). As of 12/2017, the Foundation account balance is $6,749.83
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | First Year Experience | Operating Expenses | $0.00 | $3,500.00 | ||
| To expand the FYE department the chair would be reclassified as a Chair III to perform the duties of the position effectively, including supporting Guided Pathways and Dual Enrollment efforts. Augmentation amount represents stipend increase of $3,500 plus additional 10% reassigned time. | Prior to the 2014-15 academic year, the FYE department chair received 30% assigned time reduction to manage the department and coordinate the program. In 2014-15 the assigned time was reduced to 20%, which is not adequate to perform the duties of the position effectively while simultaneously working to develop and expand the program to meet the needs of more students -- especially in light of current campus initiatives, including Guided Pathways and Dual Enrollment. In addition to the standard duties of a department chair (including hiring, scheduling, evaluating associate faculty, dealing with student complaints, and managing the department budget), ordering books, attending meetings three weeks per month (Department Chairs, Learning Council, Dean's Area Meeting) along with bi-weekly meetings with the dean, the FYE department chair must meet and work closely with Student Services (Counseling, Orientation, Reg2Go, and Summer Bridge) and other academic departments. Each year, the department chair is responsible for creating and distributing SLO surveys to all faculty teaching LM40, CSL20, CLP30, HLTH2, and READ126, collecting and analyzing survey results, and distributing results to faculty prior to Institute Day. Last year, the FYE department conducted its first Program Review, which has required considerable time and effort on the part of the department chair. The FYE program is ready to expand to serve even more students. Possibilities for expansion, all of which would require leadership on the part of the department chair, include: 1) Collaborating with the PROD office to serve disproportionately impacted students from local area high schools 2) Collaborating with the Child Development department to offer LM 40 in Spanish to students in the ECE certificate program 3) Increasing the number CLP 30 course sections/locations to serve students hoping to define or refine academic majors and/or career options 4) Supporting and contributing to the Guided Pathways effort on campus 5) Supporting and contributing to the Dual Enrollment effort at area high schools |
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| 2 | First Year Experience | Personnel | $0.00 | $109,877.00 | ||
| Hire full-time instructor | The FYE department currently has one full-time faculty member teaching two of the the department's core courses: LM40 and CSL20. The department hired one full-time instructor in Spring 2016, but another is needed to provide adequate leadership as the college moves forward with Guided Pathways and a focus on student achievement. Full-time faculty members not only provide leadership but assist with training and mentoring associate faculty, curriculum and SLO work, unit planning, and program review. Currently, most faculty teaching core classes in the department are associate faculty or full-time academic counselors teaching a one-course overload . |
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