Comprehensive Program Review (cpr) Fall 2014 for Academic Years 2011-14 Program Description

Internet Authoring is the process of developing, debugging, and implementing Web and mobile applications utilizing the infrastructure of the Internet and its related technologies. MSJC’s Internet Authoring program is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills required to gain entry level employment as Web/mobile application developers. The Internet Authoring program offers students an opportunity to earn an A.S. degree in Computer Information Systems, a State Approved Certificate, or a locally approved Employment Concentration certificate. The Internet Authoring program offers students a well-equipped technical environment for instruction and lab. Internet Authoring courses are taught in computer equipped classrooms, allowing hands-on experience in the use of industry-standard hardware, application software, operating systems, networking, and programming tools.

The number off AS.CIS.INTERNET awards has averaged 2.6 awards being given each year since 09-10. However, there has been a decrease in awards to 1.5 awards being given each year over the years of 12-13 and 13-14.

CT.CIS.IA.98 has been remained steady at 2 awards given each year since 09-10, with the year 10-11 being the outlier with 4 certificates awarded.

The faculty of the CIS department recognize that the number of certificates awarded has been extremely low and believe this to be a systemic problem with the organizational structure of CIS program achievement awards and a student perceived difficulty in applying for the awards for which they have completed the coursework for. This is primarily due to the number of certificates that have been offered and a somewhat confusing pathway through each program. As a result, the CIS department has reorganized the number of certificates and the pathways through them, and has made a concerted effort to streamline the award application process. In addition, a new Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) is being developed to add value to the Internet Authoring program. The new MCSD program is scheduled to be enacted in the Fall of 16-17.

The statistics provided by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness do not reflect all of the Internet Authoring classes offered during the time frame we are evaluating for.

It is difficult to judge the actual success rates of the individual courses which make up the Internet Authoring program due to the lack of statistics provided by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness, and the fact that measuring success rates is plagued by numerous confounding variables which can affect obtaining an accurate measurement of student success due to omitted-variable bias.

The statistics provided by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness do not reflect all of the Internet Authoring classes offered during the time frame we are evaluating for.

The Internet Authoring courses in CIS are among the most challenging courses offered by the CIS department which tends to increase the withdrawal rates. Without having any accurate withdrawal rate statistics for the Internet Authoring program class an analysis cannot be conducted at this time.

The statistics provided by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness do not reflect all of the Internet Authoring classes offered during the time frame we are evaluating for.

Experiential evidence shows that as of spring 2015, the seating requirement for the first level Internet Authoring courses is approximately 90 seats for the CSIS 103 Introduction to the Internet course, 60 seats for the CSIS 115A Web Development Level 1 course, and 40 seats for the CSIS 125A Web Development Level 2 course; when these course are taught face-to-face. The seating requirements are about 50% higher when these course are offered online due to the inherently online nature of the technologies being taught.

The statistics provided by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness do not reflect all of the Internet Authoring classes offered during the time frame we are evaluating for.

The CIS department is ramping up to get all of the courses assessed. For the Internet Authoring program we are just now getting to where the course improvement plans which need to be completed. We anticipate this will be done by FA15. Many of the courses still need to be added to Elumen. It is hoped this will be completed FA15.

To inform the next round of institutional planning, please list and discuss your program goals and objectives, along with any additional facilities, staff, technology, equipment and professional development that would improve student learning or increase program quality and/or efficiency. Specifically, connect your goals and needs with the analysis of program, course and assessment data above.

One of the goals of the CIS department is to have an Internet Authoring (IA) program award which aligns to the objectives of the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) certification. Meeting this goal will, in part, benefit the IA program by having MSJC registered as an official Microsoft MCSD training site. Another goal for the Internet Authoring certificate program is to have all of the courses setup in Elumen and evaluated by FA15. This goal has been started and will continue to be worked on this semester.

One of the biggest challenges of the Internet Authoring program is keeping curriculum current with the fast-paced evolution of the Internet and its related technologies. The CIS department would like to request from the MSJC Curriculum Committee a fast track method for submitting and approving new curriculum. At the current rate of approval, two years out before being able to offer a course after it has been approved, IA’s new courses are outmoded before they become active in the MSJC catalog. In addition, Curriculum Committee met with the MVC CIS faculty several years ago stating that a new numbering system was being discussed for non-transfer courses. To date this new numbering system has yet to become reality and is causing significant delays for new course being approved.

B. Facilities

Identify facility needs (i.e. new facilities, improvements to existing facilities) based on the data and analysis above that would improve student success, access and ensure equity.

The demand for technology courses is increasing. The 2015 annual technology jobs report by U.S. News and World Report ranks the demand for software developers #1 and Web developers #4. If the Internet Authoring (IA) instructors were allowed to teach a higher percentage of their semester class load online then more students would have access to the program. Increasing the percentage of load that IA instructors can teach online per semester would also help instructors focus on improving the success rate of the IA online classes.

Currently all of the staffing needs are being met but with the MCSD alignment bringing more awareness to MSJC’s Internet Authoring program demand for enrollment could increase drastically over the course of the next several years. The CIS department believes that sometime in the near future another qualified full time Computer Science instructor will be needed.

The CIS staff would like to see the reclassification of the Instructional Aide II position to that of Department Specialist. There has been major changes in the duties of the Instructional Aid of the years and the new classification is both warranted and needed.

The CSI department believes that allowing tutors to be in the classroom when Internet Authoring classes are being face-to-face will help increase student success and the effectiveness of student support.

The Business and Technology building’s student WiFi needs to be upgraded to at least the 802.11n specification, preferably to 802.11ac (although I’m not sure if MVC’s backbone LAN can support the upgrade to either 802.11n or 802.11ac). The need arises from a desire to allow instructors to Chrome Cast from their laptops to the LCD projectors in the classroom. Currently, most of the technology needs for Internet Authoring instruction are being met. ITS has made Visual Studio available to students and instructors in both the classroom and on the Remote Desktop System (RDS) for all Internet Authoring classes. However, the icon for Visual Studio has been placed in the Programming folder on the RDS which causes some confusion for students who are new to the Internet Authoring program. This problem has been presented to ITS and their response is that the RDS will not allow for the Visual Studio icon to be duplicated into the Internet Authoring folder on the RDS. One possible solution to this problem would be to use two different versions of Visual Studio, one for Programming students and one for Internet Authoring students. The solution has not yet been recommend because it still requires discussion amongst all CIS faculty. In addition to Visual Studio being accessible to students in the classrooms, the CIS lab, and on the RDS, students have access to Visual Studio and other software via Microsoft IT Academy Dreamspark subscription. This subscription will need to be kept current to serve the needs of the students. Both the Internet Authoring content server and the IA student Web server have been virtualized by ITS and will require continual upgrades of operating systems and SQL database server licenses.

There are no equipment needs at this time.

Being part of CTE, it is important to keep current on technology trends. This is especially true for the CIS department. To keep the staff current, budget needs to be allocated to send staff to some of the larger conferences like the Microsoft WinDev, Google I/O and others.

The CIS department will submit a RAP requesting the funding for an Internet Authoring tutor to be continued thorough the upcoming school year.

The greatest need currently is to increase the number of online sections Internet Authoring instructors can teach as part of their workload each semester.

Several Internet Authoring students have reported earning income as independent developers and attribute their success to their training in the Internet Authoring program.

Bill Bennett

Dwight Duffie

Glenn Stevenson

I am actually happy with the changes made to the process. The form and the instructions make it easy to follow and complete.