Page Description
The following page is a two column layout with a header that contains a quicklinks jump menu and the search CSUN function. Page sections are identified with headers. The footer contains update, contact and emergency information.
The following page is a two column layout with a header that contains a quicklinks jump menu and the search CSUN function. Page sections are identified with headers. The footer contains update, contact and emergency information.
On October 12th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Not once have I ever felt welcomed by the advisement staff. I have many times felt like a lone ship lost in a sea of non-help. I have felt rushed once I finally get an appointment, I feel confused that perhaps this is the wrong department and I should be speaking to someone else, I have felt nickle-and-dimed to death due to little fees every time I turn around, I have been uniformed as to how important some classes are over others, I have never had the desire to participate because this has never felt like my school. No one knows my name and no one cares to. I have felt a lot of things here, but never ever have I felt welcomed. This is not my alma mater; this is a place to hurry up and forget.
On October 12th, 2009 at 5:57 am
The first section of the report titled “Student Success through Engagement in Learning” is very comprehensive. It addresses previous goals and makes a clear statement regarding expectations for the future. It wisely considers all aspects of student life and shows insight into the mind of the ever evolving student.
Well done.
On October 12th, 2009 at 6:36 am
The learning as a university section seems light. It attempts something interesting but the results show more work needed. The methodology is cursory – a pre-test attempt at best and for this to be valid and reliable the whole process needs serious scholarship before any claims that we learn from our mistakes are warranted. That means resources need to be applied to the process – faculty with expertise added to the process and students included not as collectors of data but as holders of knowledge about the process.
On October 12th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Just wanted to note a needed correction. Page 9 refers to our 2nd doctoral cohort. There are 24, not 15 students in this new cohort.
On October 12th, 2009 at 7:46 am
The opening paragraph could be changed. I think there is too much emphasis on the 2000 Earthquake, with it’s separate quotation-paragraph. As a newer employee, it seems that too much emphasis is placed “after the earthquake.”
On October 12th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Sadly, I would have to concur with Terry. My advisor shows no interest in my progress, unless I press him for information. He has no structure in terms of scheduled one-on-one meetings with me, and as a result, I feel as though I am constantly bothering him. I have resorted to finding other professors (who are not specialized in my field of study) to assist me. Furthermore, the more accommodating professors pass me off to other professors because they are either too busy with students in their own field, or don’t have sufficient knowledge in my field of study. I feel as though I am left in the cold. No one seems to care, everyone is too busy, and to add insult to injury I have to pay $800 more per year to get less. I am extremely frustrated and feel as though I have to be my own advisor.
On October 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Hello, Well i think that the support so far that I’ve gotten from the faculty has been good. Not excellent, of course but it’s moderate. I don’t find myself complaining yet. I think my advisors give me great valuable information and so do my Professors. I think they have all given me great support.
On October 12th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I am extremely happy with the way our chicano studies department works. I always get the help that I need and all faculty members have been kind and helpful. I am a first time professor and I am pleased to say that in this department we wok together to help students achieve the best of their education while giving each other the support needed academically and socially.
On October 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
The big question is why does CSUN’s student retention continue to be abysmal … the third lowest of all CSU’s at about 37% Bachelor degrees in 6 years!! Of course the leadership has excuses - that CSUN is full of working students and students who are the first college students in their family. If that were true AND the leadership wanted to improve retention, they’d remove the distractions (which drive up the fees) … 20%+ of our fees go to stuff that working students don’t need… the Student Union, Associated students, Health Services & Campus Quality. Could there be anything more ridiculous than the Associated Students? Less than 5% of the campus votes for these guys. Scrap it all until students start graduating!
But what is the Admin’s response to every issue? Create new administrative programs of more titles that uses up more resources, and fail to be of any use (described in the report).
Just look at the CSUN student website “Portal” … it’s a mess of cryptic acronyms requiring massive searches for help to figure out how to untangle it. Instead of a useful description like “Register for Classes” or “Pay Fees” the most fundamental tools are hidden under a button called “SOLAR HR”, which is near the bottom of a site with a few dozen other less useful links. To deal with this stupidity then, there must be a tutorial explaining the complexities of registering for a class… Hello, guys, go look at Pierce College’s website or Moorpark College’s site… they are both vastly superior to CSUN’s.
Typically moronic is “CSUN A to Z”, which may be useful if you are confronted with an acronym that you are curious about. If you want to find a resource, however, it can prove extremely frustrating. Let’s say you want to know where to pay your fees… you could look on “CSUN A to Z” for “Cashier”, “Payments”, “Bills Receivable”, “Tuition”, “Finances” and you’d be wasting your time. In order for “CSUN A to Z” to be of any use, you’d have to already know that the cashier is listed under “University Cashier” (and only under “University Cashier”.. why not under “T” for “The University Cashier” ?). This is fairly typical of the stupidity inherent throughout the Administration.
And by the way… notice that transfer students succeed at a significantly better rate than those who had to endure lower division at CSUN.
CSUN needs to strip away all the non-Academic distractions… get rid of the concerts, movies, festivals, celebrations. Sell the Matador Involvement Center, the Student union facilities, movie theater, the pool, Klotz Health center (there’s 3 or 4 full service hospitals within 15 minutes).. simplify the website (primary student interface), and reduce the General Ed requirements (integrate the cultural requirement into history & poli sci classes).
- Chris Golden
On October 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The portal is easy to use because we have an IT hotline available to call and fairly easy to get through. The associated students provides for people who want to make CSUN their home and have a more memorable college experience than simply going to class, taking notes, taking a test, and going home without saying a word to another human being. Save the mundane life for the working world, we are in college! Networking and meeting people from all over California, the US, and even the world is an important part of growing and expanding ones horizons.
And if you feel that General Education at CSUN is a waste of time then go and take those classes at Pierce and save a buck. This will also save you money in the long run because you won’t have to pay for services at CSUN that you don’t use for the first couple years.
My suggestion to anyone with a grudge against CSUN’s spending is to take advantage of it because most of us will only be in college once. I understand if you work (I also work) but we can go to free concerts and lawn movies and Matador Nights events and Open Gym nights instead of paying for concerts, going to expensive theaters, spending money at Dave and Busters, and buying a 24 hour fitness gym pass that you only use for playing hoop. In the end your tuition extras will even out and you’ll meet people who you go to school with to have a bigger network base.
On October 12th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I read the entire document; I understand it is a draft, but overall, the defensiveness about resources seems mis-placed. The university is meeting its core mission, which is educating and graduating students at the bachelor’s and master’s level. I have earned two degrees at CSUN in the past few years, returning to college after the service and while working full-time; the faculty generally, and in my department especially, is very good.
There is, however, a real division at Northridge between very young students just out of high school - including many of those first-generation students who do not graduate in four years, if at all - and older students who know what they are trying to accomplish. This was very noticeable in my undergraduate courses, and to be truthful, I’m certain there are quite a few students at CSUN who probably would be better off taking 12-18 units of lower division GE at Pierce, Mission, Valley, Moorpark, etc., for a number of reasons, ranging from study habits to financial.
I understand the comments about limiting the number of new initiatives, but one that I would suggest would lead to increased student success would be for the university to work much more closely with the community colleges in the San Fernando Valley, northern Los Angeles County, and in Ventura County to provide for much closer integration of curricula, courses, admissions and records, and transfers.
To be honest, I see little point in a student taking a 100-level GE course at CSUN in a lecture hall with 100 other students while doing on-line homework through a canned service for $300 per course, or taking the same GE course in a classroom with 20 students and the same canned homework exercises for $30 at Glendale College.
Perhaps fewer freshmen- and sophomore-level courses, and more upper-division and graduate-level courses, is a more rational niche for the university than the current mix?
On October 12th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I hope CSUN will take a look at how it makes its classrooms and computers less accessible to left-handed students. It is amazing that in the 21st century, an important university still fills its classrooms with right-handed desks that force left-handed students into awkward positions, making note-taking exhausting, and putting them at a serious disadvantage during tests. The computers in the library do not accommodate left-handed students who need to reverse the mouse buttons, even though this is a simple function that is normal on computers elsewhere. This kind of discrimination and inaccessibility must be taken seriously.
On October 13th, 2009 at 7:41 am
As a part time instructor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program, I feel that CSUN has lived up to goal of providing “access to excellence” for the very broad and diverse population in greater Los Angeles. Having Cohorts in the local communities that make up Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, plus an “on line” opportunity, there are opportunities provided to graduate students who would have previously “stayed on the sidelines”.
Over the last four years, I have watched some of the brightest teachers complete their MEd and Administrative Credential through this program and are now assuming major leadership roles in their schools and local districts.
Neal Kleiner
On October 13th, 2009 at 9:09 am
I do not think that the following quote from Essay 1 is correct:
“A pilot of a “stretch math” combining remedial
mathematics with a college level mathematics course for non-math based majors is being taught in Fall
2009. [1.2, 2.2, 2.10, 2.11, 2.14] ”
We are not running a stretch math class this term or next. However, next term we are running 2 hybrid versions of math 093 and one of 092 to try to rethink the placement and content delivery of developmental mathematics. One part of this would be to offer students who finish 093 before then end of the term the option to take the online part of math 102L or 103L.
On October 13th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
10-13-09
Even if most think that the following has nothing to do with the report. I think it affects students’ ability to succeed. So, I
Just wanted to make a note: Furlough days affect students’ education, specially when the students’ sole income is from a CSUN employee and the size of the family is large.
On October 14th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
After reading the section focusing on “Student Success Through Engagement in Learning”, it is very clear that CSUN still has a lot of room for improvement, but they are willing to take the necessary steps to achieve their goals and ultimately create a much more efficient, challenging, and successful environment for their students. All of the extra amenities that they provide such as the USU and the Klotz Student Health Center are extremely helpful and should not be taken away from students, and the draft makes it very clear that programs such as the Learning Resource Center and the new Learning Habits Project (which I am currently a part of) are put into place to better understand students and help them with any difficulties they are having with their studies and/or advisers, professors, distractions etc. I do not have any complaints to make about my Freshman experience at CSUN because events like the Freshman Convocation and Freshman Orientation which made the experience exciting and created an atmosphere of support and comfort for new-coming students. Although the Portal is difficult to navigate through without help from an advisor or and IT, it does contain useful information that should be taken advantage of by every student. Unfortunately, we are not informed on how to use these systems and so we remain oblivious and don’t ask for help.
On October 15th, 2009 at 9:41 am
these people are very informational
On October 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I agree with others that it’s nice to have the extra programs, but I feel like there’s a lack of communication about all of the things a CSUN student can take advantage of on campus: We have a movie theater?
Although I haven’t felt as unwelcome as Terry (#1) has, I don’t feel an overwhelming need to stay and hang out on campus. I feel like every one just wants to leave after class. There is nothing keeping us there. While I don’t have a solution to this problem, hopefully this will get others thinking about ways to keep students on or around campus.
Lastly, I don’t know if this was addressed in the Report, but what’s being done about the Professors who can’t speak English? Twice I’ve had professors that could barely communicate and it’s caused problems when trying to ask questions or gain further understanding of a topic.
On October 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
My major concern as an instructor is the success AND the positive learning experience of the students that enroll in my classes. I have been here since 1992 and the changes I have seen since then are not all positive. I used to know ALL of my students in every class by name…now there are so many students in a class it is impossible. They feel like they are just a student #.
I was struck when I read the comments about outside learning being so “successful”. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it was for me as an undergraduate to attend class and participate in an exciting, intellectual discussion, this happens rarely in my GE classes and I believe it is because they are so overcrowded.
There is little opportunity for meaningful dialogue in this setting. No wonder more learning goes on outside the classrooms…one of the most meaningful experiences of higher education is sharing the excitement of new ideas and concepts with others, hopefully in the classroom.
To be committed to student success on one hand and then to herd them like cattle into a classroom and expect them to thrive intellectually is at cross purposes. Also, requiring each student to write 2,500 words is an admirable goal but no one wants to write assignment after assignment and not receive appropriate feedback. You do the math….210 students x 2,500 words. One instructor, no graduate student readers.
On the positive side, I have twice taught a GE class for new transfer students. I think that this has really helped with their transition into the larger university situation.
This class for transfers only is a great idea. As their instructor I not only teach the subject but I help them with questions about CSUN , provide them with information about services available to them on campus and often just offer them encouragement. They seem to feel more comfortable asking questions in a group of students that are all new transfers. Great idea!
On October 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
As a member of a graduate cohort for working professionals, I am grateful for the scheduling of evening classes off campus. These cohorts enable working professionals to continue their education without the inconvenience of parking on campus and fighting crowds. These graduate programs provide a valuable service to post graduates and keep us in touch with the university.
As someone else mentioned above, I find the student portal and SOLAR to be confusing and cluttered.
I am not a fan of on-line bulletin boards, blogs and wikis. I benefit so much more from interaction with real colleagues and teachers. I don’t subscribe to the notion that on-line courses or discussion groups provide a better opportunity for students to communicate and learn. So I hope to see more interaction with teachers and colleagues in classrooms not less as colleges adapt to the computer-oriented world in which we live.
On October 15th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
The report gives the impression that there are no serious problems at CSUN. Accreditation can be an opportunity to identify problems and make the university accountable for resolving them. Continuous improvement cannot happen unless you start by admitting that we have some problems. A concern for avoiding problems, making the university look good, etc. does not serve the accreditation process well.
For example, the draft report refers to “written communication… competency” and the Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam (UPDWPE). But it does not mention that despite the UPDWPE, we are graduating hundreds of students each year who are incapable of writing an English sentence. I know, for years I’ve taught a course that comes at the end of one of the more popular majors on campus. Students cannot take it without having passed the UPDWPE. Every time I teach it, there are at least one or two (sometimes more) students who cannot write. And by cannot write, I do not mean they can’t write at the upper division level, the college level, or even the high school level. I mean below that.
I don’t know why this is happening, but I do know something is very very wrong, and I am unaware of anything being done about it.
Imagine the impression these graduates make when, at work, they are asked to write an email or a report, and their fellow workers read these. Think about the impression they get about the quality of a CSUN education.
Years ago, I was at one of those meetings for new faculty with Jolene and Harry, and one faculty member raised the issue of student writing. The room exploded. Many, if not most of the people at that meeting began talking about the poor quality of student writing at both lower and upper division levels. It drew such a passionate response that it dominated the rest of the meeting. So, I know it is not just a problem in my major.
Accreditation self-study committee, I ask you. Please mention this in the report. By doing so, the University makes a public commitment to dealing with this problem. Just add this one sentence at the end of the second paragraph on page 8. Something like, “Despite the UPDWPE and strong efforts by many dedicated members of the faculty and staff, many students are still able to graduate without learning to write at the college level, so the University has made a commitment to finding the cause of this in order to stop this from happening in the future.”
All of our graduates should have learned at least some basic things. The ability to write a sentence or a paragraph without gross errors should be one of those things. It isn’t asking too much. I can think of no single thing that would improve the overall quality of undergraduate education at CSUN than doing what it takes to make sure that all of our graduates have learned this.
On October 16th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
The report seems to represent the aspects of how CSUN is a great school.
But it does not seem to mention how many resources student have available to them. I mean I am taking a University 100 course as a GE and I have learned so much about all of the instituions we have on campus to serve us as students. I know if I was not in this course I would not even now, for example, where the Career Center is.
But one thing I love about CSUN is the support I get from professors, especially outside of class. It not only gets me the help I need for the course, but it also helped me build great student-professor reationships. I like how the professors here at CSUN actually care about seeing students succeed.
On October 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Regarding pg. 6- Ask Matty
We would recommend changing the line that reads, “Users type in questions in the system’s extensive database, provides answers to more than 600 of the most frequently asked questions.” To… Users type in questions in the system’s extensive database, which includes more than 600 answers.
Please change the response time from two business days to three business days. This changed due to our furlough impaction.
Since we do not add every question that comes through an email (some just aren’t appropriate) we would change the line that reads…
“The new question and answer are added to the data bank.” To… “New answers are constantly added to the data base.”
“an nationalconference” needs to be changed to “a national conference”.
We need to update the numbers of current student hits from 25,000 to over 50,000 hits and the number of hits from prospective students from 25,000 to over 30,000.
Thank you for all of the hard work that went into putting this document together.
On October 20th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Get rid of the upper division writing exam. The exam is in no way reliable or even a valid measure of a students writing skills! The PSYCH department is lacking. PSYCH students have to fight to get into research. There are not enough Professors to meet the demand. CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PSYCH STUDENTS TO GET INTO RESEARCH!
On October 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Getting rid of the upper division writing exam is a horrible idea. However, it could use a redesign. There is something wrong with the exam if people who can’t write are passing it and graduating. I agree with others’ comments that it is unfortunate how many people are able to skate through the university without decent writing skills. I recognize the efforts of CSUN to require written reports and essay exams in many of the upper division courses. Perhaps the problem is sympathetic grading.
As for advisement and other resources, through the eight years that I’ve attended CSUN, I have definitely noticed an improvement in these areas. However, it is still challenging to find current, valid information. Too often, outdated information can be found in some corner of the website and, from the students perspective, there’s no way to know what is accurate, and it takes excessive investigation to be confident in what is expected from students for taking the Writing Exam, receiving advisement, taking the Business Internship Class, and applying for Graduation, to name a few examples.
On October 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Nothing can replace the real-time interaction between students, teachers and advisors. While technology can allow for more convenient modes of communication and a faster way of sharing critical information, nothing can simulate the bond between students and advisors that forms through face to face meetings and interactions. Though the Student Portal, blogs, wikis, etc. can be useful to a degree, there is a greater need to make sure the sense of campus community is not lost to the conveniences provided by today’s technology. This sense of campus community grows from real-time interactions between students and knowledgeable professionals within the university. They provide the irreplaceable moments and memories that alumni take with them, as they look back on their experience and their gains from their time spent attending CSUN - whether actually on campus or within a CSUN cohort program.