I: Identified Topic of Creative and Transformative Significance

Owensboro Community and Technical College, like many two-year public colleges, prepares students to transfer general education classes to four-year institutions of higher education, prepares the graduates of its technical programs for immediate employment, and serves the communities of its region through outreach efforts such as industry training and adult education. Whatever their goals may be, students discover that the collegiate environment is distinctly different from high school. Classes are structured differently, the expectations of student responsibility are greater, and there is a wide diversity of people, opinions, and choices to be made.

This transition is one of many issues related to student learning that the faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders at OCTC have discussed over the past twenty-four months. Through these conversations and research into best practices, the college community has arrived at a plan to improve student learning through the setting of clear expectations for all OCTC students—expectations founded in our general education competencies and focused on:

1) The expression of ideas.

2) The ethical and personal responsibility to be exhibited by every member of the OCTC community of learners.

3) The life-long need for social/civic interaction and learning.

It is hoped that a passion for these ideals—a passion clearly evident in the discussions leading to this plan—will be one that all OCTC students will carry into their futures.

The fundamental purpose of the following proposal is to organize this passion, build it into the culture of the college, and—to the extent possible—to ensure that it is transmitted to everyone attending OCTC.