SAGE 2YC

I love that you looked at filipino students and first gen students. So many IR departments dont recognize that Asian students are really collections of many different populations that are really different from each other.
I can help a bit with tracking majors, if you want. I have collected a variety of ways from different teams. Not all will work, of course and some are easier than others.
I wonder how promoting the geosciences to populations will address the equity gaps? That seems to be a good response if you saw student enrollment differences, but you dont.

Like how you are working to establish a geoscience identity.
Do you have any specific ways in which you plan to promote geoscience from the underrepresented groups?

I think it is awesome that you did a break down of Latinx, Filipino, African American, and Asian. It provides better insight of how best to serve your student demographics.

What factors did you use to determine the equity gap between ethnicity groups?

Thanks Eric...yes, it'd be very helpful to hear more about how to track majors, particularly those who don't earn Associate degrees.

Wow! That was a home run presentation. Love the charts.

One idea for getting students to become more interested besides career opps is to have student answer the following question after each topic:

Choose one concept you learned in this topic and describe how it would be useful to you after the course or how it might be important to society in general. Any professions you think would need to know this concept?

Yes, one thought is to schedule periodic social gatherings among both students and professors.

I think the breakdown of Asian population on campuses will depend on the survey questions like asking students if they are of Filipino, Korean, Japanese etc. heritage

Great idea, Scott! And easy to implement!

I appreciated the detailed analysis and including the various groups including first-gen. And think that working with a team building the geoscience community, working with other units on campus and with your students seems like it will be productive and nfar reaching.

I wondered about what other specific things you will decide to focus on to address the equity gap - scientist spotlights and building students science identify, incorporating metacognitive activities, and as Scott M talked about, providing context, might be strategies to consider. And like the career focus - I am a big fan of the lab activity that Elizabeeth Nagy Shadman uses (and wrote abouot) which seems to be interesting and effective and valuable for students (and they see how it can be transfered to their own career path, most of which is beyond the geosciences.

Thanks.

You mentioned reaching out to other groups and organizations on campus to attract more students from underrepresented groups. Have you started with that, and what kind of success have you had?

One way to do it is Scientist Spotlights with different scientists with diverse backgrounds to give talks or make Zoom meetings etc

I would be intersted in knowing what data you have to look at for in your program review, etc. and how it is the same or different from what we asked you to look at.

We take the overall average success rate and then compare that to a sub-population's success rate. In an equitable world, all sub-populations would succeed at the same rate as all students averaged together. I hope this answers the question!

This will probably be more than you're interested in (LOL)...

Here's a link to all of the data "dashboards" that we have access to: https://www.sdmesa.edu/about-mesa/institutional-effectiveness/institutional-r...

Mostly, we use the course outcomes dashboard: https://www.sdmesa.edu/about-mesa/institutional-effectiveness/institutional-r... This allows us to disaggregate the data based on a number of variables.



For the program review, I've just copied and pasted the questions and the responses from geography below:


Program Analysis for Equity and Excellence (REQUIRED)
Part A: In this section, please analyze your program in terms of course success metric. Start by disaggregating the available data by race, gender, and any other parameters of interest to your program and answer the following questions.

(REQUIRED) A1. What patterns do you notice with regard to equity in course success at the program level by race/ethnicity?
You may also conduct analysis by course and/or by modality.

Equity Gap: When a group of students who share a common characteristic (e.g. race/ethnicity) have lower access and/or outcome rates than their peers. The size of the equity gap along with the size of the group determine whether that gap is significant. Larger groups should, statistically, have smaller gaps and therefore when gaps are present (even small ones) they may be significant. Smaller groups will see wider variation in outcomes, therefore gaps should be seen consistently over time and/or reviewed by looking at multiple years in aggregate to determine if they are significant.
At the program level, the largest equity gaps in course success rate are for African American (18% gap) and Latinx (6% gap) students. There are similar equity gaps found by course and modality.

(REQUIRED) A2. Do these patterns persist over time (e.g., look at the last five years)? Describe if equity gaps are increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?

For both student sub-populations, the equity gaps have fluctuated over the past five academic years. There is not a clear, detectable trend in the equity gaps.

(REQUIRED) A3. What factors may have influenced these results? What are your most significant findings?

It is unclear what factors have influenced the results. Without a clear trend, it is difficult to ascertain what strategies caused the fluctuating equity gaps. Program goals, discussed in a subsequent response in this section, were devised with the intent to decrease equity gaps.

(REQUIRED) A4. How have you/might you alter practices to increase student success and reduce equity gaps?

Cultural proficiency workshops, a review of literature related to traditionally underserved students in geography in higher education, and other professional learning activities would increase student success and reduce equity gaps. Also, in Spring 2020, physical geography lecture and laboratory courses will be part of the UMOJA Program. This is an opportunity to better serve African American students.
Another strategy to increase student success and reduce equity gaps is to share campus resources with students such as the document available at http://www.sdmesa.edu/student-services/student-services/ss-home-page/Helpful%...
Identifying potential geography tutors, encouraging them to take the EDUC 100 tutor training, and then promoting the tutoring opportunities, would also increase student success in order to close equity gaps.

(REQUIRED) A5. How does your program contribute to the College's identity of being a Hispanic Serving Institution?

The geography program at Mesa College is dedicated to helping students understand and engage with their surroundings, and part of that is about understanding their own place in the world and seeing their own experiences reflected in their classrooms and curricula. Topics within geography courses along with course learning outcomes address students’ lived experiences. This contributes to the College’s identity of being a Hispanic Serving Institution. Additionally, the Social Sciences Department Chair serves on campus-wide committees focused on equity, including the Guided Pathways workgroups and the Mesa 2030 Task Force.

(REQUIRED) A6. Have you identified resource needs? If yes, please list.

Funding for adjuncts’ professional learning is a key resource need. In fall semesters, geography adjuncts teach about 70% of all classes and must balance responsibilities at other campuses. A financial incentive to participate in professional learning will benefit the effort to reduce equity gaps.

(REQUIRED) A7. Do any of your program goals address these implications or needs? If not, please develop a new goal that addresses your findings and subsequent reflection.

All four program goals address the implications of the persistent equity gaps for African American and Latinx students. The first goal, to create a customized physical geography laboratory manual, will decrease the cost of the lab manual. Anecdotal¬ evidence indicated that grades decreased for African American and Latinx students who were not able to purchase the lab manual during the first two weeks of the semester. The second goal, to enhance the professional development opportunities for geography faculty members, includes an equity component. The third goal, to increase experiential learning opportunities for geography students, will also serve traditionally underrepresented and underserved students in the geography program. Hands-on experiences both on- and off-campus advance students’ understanding of course concepts. The fourth goal, to formalize mentoring activities for majors in geography and similar disciplines, will provide African American and Latinx students with information on transfer and career pathways.

Part B: In this section, look at the area of focus you identified in last year's program review and answer the following questions.
(REQUIRED) B1. How have you developed this focus? Are you seeing any results? What are your next steps?

The area of focus was to enhance the professional development opportunities for geography faculty members in order to close equity gaps. I surveyed geography faculty to better understand their professional learning needs. In Fall 2019, I submitted a grant proposal with geology colleagues to the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. This grant would provide opportunities for equity-minded professional learning. In Fall 2019, I submitted a professional learning interest form to the LOFT. Development of an equity-minded community of practice with funding for adjunct participation is under development.