Fall 1996
Vol 5 Issue 1
IN THIS ISSUE...
Tweaking MCLI to Faculty Needs
The Search for Community: The View from the Front Porch
The Joys and Challenges of Team Teaching
Building and Maintaining a Sense of Community
Going "Solo" in a Coordinated Studies Program
Plus/Deltas for Integrated Learning Communities
Maricopa Skilled Creations: Vocational Interdisciplinary Project (VIP)
"What more could three teachers ask for?" -- Storytelling Integrated Studies
Connecting and Staying Connected: A Student's Perspective
Upcoming Events
SEE ALSO...
The Labyrinth
Maricopa Skilled Creations: Vocational Interdisciplinary Project (VIP)
Tom Lowe, Susan McRae, GWCC
The Help Wanted sign at the Maricopa Skill Center (MSC) called for energetic students from Auto Body, Facilities Maintenance, Machine Trades and Welding to participate in a special project which offered "team building, lots of recognition, but no pay." In spite of the last caveat, ten students applied.
The "job" was to implement a Maricopa Community College Vocational Interdisciplinary Project (VIP) grant. Participating MSC students from the four departments formed a company to produce and market a team-designed project. The true goal of the VIP was to provide a vehicle for a team-based project requiring the use of thinking and problem-solving techniques, as well as a number of other skills identified in 1992 by the U. S. Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. This report, known as SCANS, sent the message that "good jobs will increasingly depend on people who can put knowledge to work." Their report delineates "Workplace Know-how" as five competencies and a three-part foundation of skills and personal qualities which include:
- communication
- evaluating information
- thinking skills
- problem-solving
- understanding systems
- working with diversity and
- participating as a member of a team.
The thinking process model selected comes from a manufacturing environment and was developed by Eli Goldratt, author of The Goal, and It's Not Luck. The central aspect of his work is the "Theory of Constraints", or TOC Thinking Process.
The Interdisciplinary Team
The project, led by Machine Trades Instructor Tom Lowe started when an interdisciplinary student team formed a company they named Maricopa Skilled Creations. They designed, tested and developed a marketable product -- a self-contained tabletop fountain made from a copper bowl holding painted copper flowers and leaves which hid a pump that splashes water over the plant sculpture. A prototype is complete and marketing plans are underway. A requirement of the chosen product was that its construction would utilize the skills of each department. Machine Trades students cut and form the copper, Auto Body select and apply the finish, Welders do metal joining; Facilities Maintenance students add and test the electric pump and do the packing and shipping. The team further involves the Banking/Retail students for customer service/marketing.
Use of SCANS Skills
The planning and decision-making are done in a team meeting format. Students do individual self-assessments by analyzing each team meeting for the 16 relevant SCANS competencies or 10 foundation skills they might have used. They decide if they used leadership skills, participated as a team member, allocated resources, or corrected someone else's performance, either during the meetings or as part of their job responsibility. They note if they used math, reading, reasoning, creative thinking or social skills and record these notes on a log sheet.
The students' evaluation of their use of these skills and competencies each week has a consciousness-raising effect. It lets them see that as important as their technical skills are, there is more to a job than just the technical competencies.
Evaluating VIP
First consider the deltas. The Skill Center has always used advanced students to help newer students. This is an established teaching method which MSC's open-entry/open-exit format supports and it serves to reinforce the more advanced students' knowledge. But it adds a definite degree of difficulty to the interdisciplinary team. Already, three of the ten original team members have graduated. We have to deal with reassigning job tasks and orienting the new team members.
Scheduling was also difficult. Conflicts and time constraints of the four instructors, the Goldratt trainer and the SCANS instructor provided for less Goldratt training and support than we would have liked.
On the plus side, even though the concept of Skill Center training is built around students learning on real "hands-on" jobs, the opportunities to cross-train or to be part of a team are rare. The VIP provided an excellent interdisciplinary experience.
Feedback from the students is positive. They have let the project director know that they feel they are gaining self esteem as they take part in Maricopa Skilled Creations.
The product itself is something to be proud of. To allow more opportunity for the planning and problem-solving phases, a new item is now in the design and approval phase.
The pure joy of watching students from the different skill specialties and perspectives debating product size, shape, color and the logistics of manufacturing, with the instructor only offering initial suggestions and serving as a resource while the students do all the analysis and decision-making, is the best of all!
Maricopa Community Colleges
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