Brown Bag #7
April 14, 2004 @ 3:15 p.m.
Southeastern Campus – Industry Room

In attendance: Jackie Addington, Dorrita A Ashley, Paul Barrett, Kevin Beardmore, Barry K Bowlds, Nick Brake, Kathy L Buchanan, Penni K Conrad, Judy M Coomes, Nichole Daugherty, Daniel J Davenport, Joseph M Freer, Monty Head, David Hitt, Becky Hodskins, Peggy Howard, Penny K Howard, Greg Labyak, Julie Ledford, Frank Liu, Michael R Middlebrooks, Clyde Miller, Leon Mills, Daniel J Moseley, Kenneth A Moxley, Freida B Pagan, Pamela Y Pickle, Anne L Presser, Veena Sallan, Pamela H Smith, Melissa J Stringer, Lorene J Ward, Jim Wathen, Vickey A Wood, Joseph Yazvac

Kevin: Welcome and thank you – preview of what Nick will be asking for. Major thrust over the past five years: consolidation. Time to do some strategic thinking about where we are going as a new, comprehensive institution. I am the planning guy, Nick is the SACS liaison and the IE person. IE transferred to Academic Affairs. An IE and planning team – Accreditation looming in 2005. What is a little different this time? QEP—a new component. Required to submit a plan, engaging the academic as well as staff and students, create a plan to improve student learning. Find a topic broad enough but focused enough that will deal with all students in the institution. Starting with these articles, but this is an open discussion. Three articles that are broad based enough, but focused on learning, as our QEP must be.

Go round
Inventory article – providing more options for students, options for learning different ways
Inventory article – involving all stakeholders
Vision article – focusing more on helping students develop skills that helps them work as a team
Only connect – being able to make connections, being able to talk with anyone
Creating a climate for learning
Vision article - #4 hours of work are changing, colleges need to adjust their schedules, customer friendly delivery
Vision and learning centered – not one addressed character or ethics – priorities are misguided, but last article has some elements of ethics are included – college isn’t about learning anyway, it is about development, develop a sense of what you think, not just knowing the facts, what is the underlying motivator
Emphasizing connected and lifelong learning, vision article #5, students need to be taking what they learn and using it in the workforce
Serving students where they are #4
#5 Educating the whole student. So many years of recall and memory, but it is appreciating and a better life
Communication rich – if we don’t become more communication rich among ourselves we are going to die off
Identifying learning outcomes – have some real concern with those processes that we are using
Service delivery – identifying students where they are at, and options for students
Strategic challenge #5 – need for people who are adaptable and know how to problem solve
Inventory article – applying information, #12, and reallocating resources, #13
Strategic challenge #5 – trying to develop a one semester economics class, micro and macro, central exercise to see how compound interest can work for them rather than against them, turning this around provides the kind of component to lifelong learning
Generalize all of these together – a golden opportunity to change and revolutionize the program we have so we can teach students in very non-traditional ways – and the need to assess what we are doing to develop the kind of young people we envision
Can talk with anyone – Need to be able to talk with different types of people across the range
Lifelong learning – where people won’t be left behind. Play and work in a team environment.
Vision part of it – calls for change in institutions – one thing I read into this was technology. Technology changes by the day, ways of getting information, ways of sharing information, investing in technology is a delicate thing. #10, only connect, seeing connections and being able to interact with the world in creative ways. The fire, wisdom, and generosity to connect with others. Using technology to gain ground – give them the little extra something to help them.
Inventory, #2 involving all stakeholders. Using Total Quality Management principles, lean toward the total quality in one specific area. We lose sight of our total quality.
Vision article, #6 investing in technologically competent faculty, serious in meeting the challenge of technology, in some colleges students are leading the faculty, those colleges will become less and less attractive
Only connect – what does it mean to be liberally education, it is not about just thinking and doing but interacting with the world and being free
All those items that deal with communication
Vision #7 building a strategic alliance with others. Already shown that by merging three campuses, and with CCED, working with industry partners. Work toward partnerships that allow us to certify students for industry
Building strategic alliances – partnerships make what we have to offer more valuable. With other colleges and with businesses

Nick: What do we want to impart on everyone, everybody, that walks through our door

Professionalism. Everybody wants to teach them what they need to teach them. Attitude of professionalism. That attitude will carry you farther than technical knowledge
Learn what they wanted to learn, carry to the workplace, function in the world, make others want to come to the college
I think what employers want to see – most people have to work, most people want to work, to be able to communicate effectively, speak to the public so that they don’t alienate them, to be able to think, not just “doing you job” – analyze, think, communicating, well-roundedness. Being able to present themselves well out in public
A lot of potential students come to us afraid of success. Rarely they are alone when they come to us for placement testing, child, spouse with them. Or the spouse doesn’t want them to come to college, don’t have support from families and friends. Part of our challenge is a cultural challenge.
Work ethic is very important. Desire to do the best job you can do. Great sense of personal satisfaction
I have all HS students. A group of children. Goals? They don’t set goals. They are used to being entertained. Doing their best work? Why? We spend the better part of 8 to 10 weeks helping them set goals. Development. Character.
Responsibility.
Teamwork
Care for themselves. They need to learn how to care for themselves.
That is why I brought up development other than just learning. They need to develop a sense of self. These things are easy for me, these things are hard for me. These go along with my value system, these do not. That is why I emphasize development so much.

Nick: We have a strong interest in developing the person, the total package. More that just the three Rs

We need to do something to help students get to the point they will value the three Rs

Nick: How do we know that we have done this. We want to have some understanding to be sure that we have done some of this developing.

Some of it can come from TEDS. Feedback there, getting information from the employer.
We raise the bar with some of our own instruction. An attendance policy for adult students.

Nick: There are assessment measures within the classroom to know that we have added value

We need to decide on what these values that are very important to develop in students. And we need to look at attendance. If we value that and think it is important, then we say we are all behind it as a campus.
An industry person said about a year ago, I don’t have a problem with the knowledge a student has that they got from the college, I need someone that will be here and work. I would rather have someone who gets here than someone who knows more but doesn’t show up the work
#1 thing employers ask – how was their attendance?
Soft skills
Follow through and complete the task
Building a model A Ford, had a guy that had a photographic memory, could learn it all, but couldn’t use a wrench. Education without direction is a lot of times worthless
If attendance is a big thing, we can track it in PeopleSoft
You ask how do we know how they are doing. You get feedback from industry. When a school gets a reputation for a football team, it is easier to recruit players. Same with academics. Need to have an alumni organization to keep in touch with graduates. As these graduates are doing these things in industry, it helps bring more people in

Nick: Other specific measurement indicators? I report to SACS

Follow ups
Placement rates

Nick: Occupationally, we have measures, what about soft skills? Writing well? Good sense of who you are? What are ways we can demonstrate that we are educating the whole person.

When they come into assessment, they are scared, but then we can see those people progress. Feel good as they make better grades. We can see those differences in the students.
WorkKeys is supposed to measure a lot of things, but I am not real big on it. Poor start to WorkKeys, but it is out there.
We have a lot of contact, some of our students 3 hours every day of the week. We can tell from that nervousness at the beginning that they are growing by the time they leave.
One of the ways is to ask the students if they are satisfied. Don’t necessarily have to have the outcome measures. If you are talking about self development, it is too abstract, but we can ask them about it and survey them.
Ask our students when they come as freshmen to set goals, then assess them as sophomores.

Nick: A portfolio?

These are the goals I have as a freshmen, then they assess
How do you take that to SACS then?
You could measure satisfaction
We have exit surveys, right?
It would give them the opportunity to develop self-assessments. I think some of our students are there because of insurance and need to be full time. If they were made keenly aware from the beginning what they hope to accomplish.
Do this in GE 100
And have them evaluate it in the sophomore year

Nick: Private liberal arts colleges can create an experience for students. Given the diversity of students we serve, can we do it?

Discover College students – why did you go into welding? Write this paper at the beginning of the semester. Then they get that page back at the end of the semester and they have to write another paper answering the same questions.

Nick: I think what you described is development.

Personalizing student support services—student goal setting. Meeting specific needs they might have.
Their word of mouth spread in the community

Nick: We need to bring this to closure. I started out by asking what you thought, in your mind, now what do you see as what we thought as a group—what do you think are the key points that have been made, in summation, as a college

Satisfying student needs until they are successful. Leave happy and content. Wasn’t a waste of their time
Developing the whole student, inside and outside the classroom
Brag on what they learned – satisfied and successful where they are working.
The whole person
Bragging on your product sells your product
Being able to address individual student needs – the whole person
Part of what everyone is talking about – people who connect with the curriculum, with workplace needs, with themselves, with faculty/staff, everyone values that too.

Nick: Last word? Other key, thoughts, ideas, summaries.

A few housekeeping issues: Kevin is getting a good bit of this down. The interesting thing about sitting through six or seven things, there were many commonalities. This is just whetting the appetite of strategic direction. We are starting to look at some general themes that are beginning to emerge. This summer we will begin the strategic planning process, and this fall we will be working in depth on the SACS process. Lots of opportunities for feedback and for determining the institutional direction. It is important to stop and think where we are going as a comprehensive institution.

Dr. A: I hope that you find this meaningful and helpful. We don’t often get a chance to talk about what we believe philosophically. Four years ago we put together a strategic plan with opportunity for input, but we didn’t know each other very well then. We have accomplished so much, but think what we can accomplish as an institution over the next five year. A passion. Exciting for a student to go into a classroom with a faculty member that has a passion for what we do.

NOTE: 166 employees attended a Brown Bag session.