Program Review for Business Technology: Management
Program Review Framework & Criteria
I. Connection: From interest to application (Qualitative, program head and dean)
1) Please provide a description of any changes to the program since the last cycle and the appropriate updates to the catalog (general education changes, program requirement changes, ancillary program costs for students, hours/credits of credentials, etc.).
Business Technology Management Degree requirements were reviewed and work done to develop a metamajor (stackable credentials) with other degree programs (Culinary & Hospitality and Bookkeeping). The focus was on 1) reducing the number of credit requirements from 66-67 down to 62 credits so the two year degree could be earned in 4 semesters; 2) making the two (Supervision and Management) Continuing Studies Certificates (CSC) (21 cr each), and the General Business certificate (31 cr) stackable within the metamajor program requirement: Business Technology Credential Framework 3) reduce the number of adjuncts required to cover class sections, and 4) devise an advising sheet for students and advisors to coordinate class offers per semester (FA first year, SP first year, FA second year, SP second year). To cover summer sessions, any of the core general education class offerings can be taken (example, Natural Sci EEE, HUM EEE, MTH 130, ENG 111, ACC 211, ECO 201, etc.)
2) How do students find out about the program? Please provide examples of advising activities, marketing materials, or other outreach and engagement events designed to recruit students to the program.
The Program Lead person attends the High School visitation days and presents the program to high school students. In addition, the program lead has visited and presented to local High School Seniors with the SEED coordinator. The program lead worked at an Information Table at the SEED/Parent night to give awareness to the Business Technology program. Plans for the current academic term (2019-2020) include working with the media specialists and develop marketing materials, and continue working with the High School visitation coordinator to attend the visitation with high school seniors. In addition, the Program Lead participates in various community organizations, such as serving on the Blue Ridge Human Resource Association, the Valley Star Credit Union Board of Directors, The Piedmont Arts and Piedmont Arts Guild, and the Martinsville Rotary Club.
II. Entry: From application to pathway entry (Qualitative, program head and dean)
1) Please provide a description of your program credentials and how they stack into one another.
The Business Management degree contains a General Business Degree (which is the core of the program). The Management Assistant Career Study Certificate (CSC) along with the Supervision CSC are all fully ’stackable’ into the parent two-year degree program. This program change started this semester (Fall, 2019).
Questions for consideration:
1.a. What is the employability (or transferability) of each credential?
Business Management degree is a versatile degree in theory. Specifically, the coordinated internship has resulted in full-time employment and salary alignment to a higher wage for recent and current students. Examples of local company coordinated internship sponsors include Sunshine bakery, Arconic, Schewels, and Kings Grant. A recent graduate (May 2019) coordinated her internship with Sunshine bakery in the Spring of 2019 and she has now been hired full-time. Another graduate (May 2019) received an increase in hourly pay from Kings Grant after completing his degree. A student who is currently in his last semester, began his job interviews and has already accepted a full-time position with Schewels.
1.b. Do all credits from a sub-credential transfer into the parent credential?
Yes, as a result of Fall 2018 all program credentials were realigned with the Business Tech Accounting and Business Tech Culinary & Hospitality programs. The curriculum committee approved the changes late December 2018 to go into practice Fall 2019.
1.c. What is the timeframe of completion for all credentials within the program (i.e. is the program setup to award sub-credentials prior to the parent credential)?
Yes, the core requirements (if taken in order) will result in a General Business Certificate by the end of the second semester. The CSC’s can be obtained over the last two semesters of the two-year degree program. During the realignment process, the number of credits required were reduced to 62 credits to increase the opportunity for students to complete the degree within two-years.
2) Program enrollment, if applicable, disaggregated by specialization (Quantitative, IE)
The Management program is stable, since students are taking more credits (there is a decline in enrollment, but head count is stable).
With the program realignment, the General Business certificate was embedded within the associate degree.
a. Annual program FTE and HC over the last review cycle (To include SCHEV program ratios and SCHEV class ratios)
Office Assistant (CSC) is aligned with AST and not part of the Management Degree.
Supervision (CSC) is part of the Patrick County Hanes Brand across a couple of years and have not had any recent activity. This supervision was through the workforce area and not part of the Applied Business Technologies program.
III. Progress: Pathway advancement (Quantitative, IE)
1) Student learning outcomes data
In whole, the program seems to be making adequate progress toward meeting established benchmarks.
2) Program credit attainment (15/12 in one semester, 30/24 for those who enrolled in two consecutive semesters)
Trending in direction of students taking 15 credits for both management and small business, with over half of those enrolled completing the required credits.
3) Program retention and persistence relative to the start date of the program (subsequent term calculation)
Persistence and Retention Table
With our new stackable program persistence and retention are excellent.
IV. Completion: Credential attainment (Quantitative, IE)
1) Sub-credential attainment and timeframe (are students completing sub-credential prior to or at the same time as parent credential?)
Misalignment of previous program resulted in our realignment of the program to make it stackable with sub-credentials. Data will be reviewed as it becomes available.
2) Parent credential attainment and timeframe, if applicable, disaggregated by specialization
For the academic years, 17-18 and 18-19, data is incomplete. For 16-17, fifty percent of students graduated with half of these completing within 150% of the time frame.
a. Are students completing within 6 semesters (150% of graduation time)?
Yes. With the revised 'stackable' credentials, the expectation is for these rates to continue to improve.
V. Transition: Employment or transfer post-credential (Quantitative, IE)
1) Transfer outcomes (students who transfer with associate degree, students who transfer without)
This is a non-transfer degree, however, with three students transferring without earning an associate degree we continue to communicate to students the importance of earning an associate degree prior to transferring.
2) Student perspective/satisfaction
Survey means are strong and we will continue to monitor future results.
VI. Sustainability: Future Program Outlook (Mixed methods, IE, program head and dean)
1) Program forecast (major expenditures, changes, personnel needs, etc.); any future costs should be explained in this section)
No future anticipated costs. We have positive signs with the increasing class-fill rates for the current semester and we hope this trend continues moving forward.
a. Any other pertinent information relevant to the review process should be provided here (e.g. community need, state/federal requirements, external accreditation, SCHEV low enrollment warning, etc.)
None.
b. Employment forecast for program (Analyst data)
Upper Bound Forecast Snapshot Lower Bound Forecast Snapshot
Management is a broad range field. The median annual salary for management and small business graduates is approximately $35,890.