Individual Accomplishments

Andrea Goering

I have:

• Adopted OER for ASTR sequence for 2020 to improve affordability
• Broadened participation through new assignments (Astronomy of many Cultures, Scientist Spotlights, Career Explorations) - I have had great feedback from students on these.
• Developed a "backwards faded scaffolded" inquiry lab sequence for ASTR 123

Next Steps:

• Incorporate activities to mitigate stereotype threat (and host a "Faculty Chat" through our Center for Teaching and Learning
• Continue to develop inquiry labs for ASTR 121 and 122

Edgar Rosas Alquicira

I have: Supported the success of all students and broadened students' participation in science through applying active learning activities (gallery walk, think-pair-share), and course-based undergraduate research experiences based on data collected from Zooniverse projects.

Next steps:Implement by the first time a hands-on CURE in introductory marine biology courses.

Team Accomplishments

Strengthening our Department/Program

Accomplishments/Action Plan:

Our goals were:

1. Implement undergraduate research experiences in 10 new sections in biology (3), chemistry (3), earth and environmental sciences (3) and physics (1).
2. Assist 5 faculty (out of our 45 total faculty) to implement strategies for active learning

Our results (After our Fall workshops):

1. Three faculty from Biology, and three faculty from EES are working on self-evaluations and improvements on their CUREs. There were no faculty who implemented CUREs for the first time. Three faculty are partnering in developing and implementing a CURE based on tree field observations.
2. Five faculty are planning to implement new active learning techniques

Next Steps:

• Create a LCC faculty community that shares their experiences and challenges in implementing CUREs and active learning strategies.
• Assess impacts on course-level outcomes

Developing our Campus Community

Engaging our Colleagues:

• Teaching Outside the Box: All participants are developing plans to implement new active learning techniques in their classes. Participants may also work in teaching pairs, observing one another's classes.
• Toolkit for student success: All participants worked on presenting a self-evaluation of implemented CUREs.

Through co-advising the new STEM Transfer Pathways Club, we are learning about and meeting other partners, such as the LCC honors program and Co-Op internship program.

Our campus Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) recently had a grand opening - so while we did not partner with them this term, there is potential to share our findings with them.

Next Steps:

Organize shared materials and make them available for all faculty interested in implementing/improving CUREs.

Present the results of the Teaching Outside the Box and Toolkit for students success FIGs during CTL's Spring Symposium

Team Members

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Institution

Lane Community College serves over 15,000 students each year from its main campus and several other locations in and around Eugene, Oregon, about 100 miles south of Portland. Forty-one percent of the students are 25 or older. Nearly 80 percent of full-time first-time undergraduates were awarded financial aid; 49% of all first-time full-time students were awarded Pell grants. Lane has a longhouse and hosts one of the largest powwows in the Pacific Northwest.

Program/Department

Earth and Environmental Science
Earth and Environmental Science is a discipline that is part of the Science Division. Eight faculty members, including 2 full-time faculty, teach Earth System Science, Environmental Policy/Studies, Environmental Science, Geology, and Oceanography courses. They have help from the personnel who run and work in the Physical Science and Biology stockrooms. Physical Geography is taught in Geography.

The courses in the Earth and Environmental Sciences have an average of 24 students. There is a sequence of three environmental science courses that many students take because they are interested in the subject material and want to learn more about our planet and how to take care of it. In geology courses, students may be taking them for the purposes of transferring to a university for a geology degree. Both the 100- and 200-level introductory geology sequences count towards transfer to both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. However, the majority of students seem to choose Geology courses because they have a requirement of several science courses in the same discipline, and Geology is not perceived to be as difficult as chemistry or physics.

Physics
Physics is a discipline that is part of the Science Division. Two full-time faculty and three adjunct faculty teach courses in Astronomy, Environmental Policy/Studies, and Physics. One lab-tech supports the physics discipline for a few hours per week or less.

In 2017, there were 528 students enrolled in physics courses. From summer 2018 to spring 2019, student breakdown by race/ethnicity was: 65% White, 10% International, 9% Hispanic, 5% Multiracial (Non-Hispanic), 3% Asian, 2% Black, 2% Native American / Alaskan Native, 4% Unknown, and 0% Pacific Islander. Many of these students are earning credits for transfer degrees. One is the Oregon Transfer Module (OTM), which provides a one-year curriculum for students who plan to transfer to a state of Oregon two-year or four-year college/university of higher education. The second is the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree (AAOT), which meets the lower-division general education requirements for baccalaureate degree programs at Oregon public universities and generally results in a junior standing for registration purposes.

Biology
Biology is a discipline that is part of the Science Division. Biology includes courses in Biology and Environmental Policy/Studies. There are 16 faculty; 5 are full-time and 11 are part-time. In Biology, around 2,000 students are enrolled in one or more of the 26 courses offered. In the 2018-2019 academic year, the majority of biology students are white (63 %), while the other racial/ethnic groups have the following percentages: Asian-2%, Black-2%, Hispanic-15%, Native Americans-1%, International students-5%, multiracial-7%, and Pacific Islanders-1%.

Science Division
The Science Division includes Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science, Physics, Anatomy, Physiology & Microbiology, and Energy Management. The Science Division shares a large building with the Math Division. There is a possibility in the future of these two divisions being combined into one division under one Dean (they how have separate Deans). The Science Division is the largest in the college in FTEs and probably also in number of faculty.

Institutional demographic data is from IPEDS the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, U.S. Department of Education, typically for the 2018-19 year as available.