learning@maricopa.edu / events / OSF Meeting 03.26.99 / Issues

	Issue: How do we get FT/PT teaching staff include PT teaching staff and include them in [these] initiatives (focus on learning); also look at adjunct staffing (other than teaching) and issues that affect them and how they interact.
Title: How to Involve PT Faculty? Convener: Chris MacCrate Participants: Ernie Lara Pearl Williams Becky Richey Anna Solley Homero Lopez Joyce Story Manny Griego Discussion: Development is focused on FT; majority of our staff (PT) aren't part of the development Vast majority of students are not benefited by this (evening students) The people who experience the Maricopa collegiate experience in the fullest are benefiting from this (day time students; degree seekers; certificate seekers) PT fac don't have the same resources to give to their students that day time fac do (advising, etc.) Part-time people working full-time elsewhere; might night have them next year => have to keep this in mind; how do you deal with this? Transforming the system in support of the core value of learning; half of that core value of learning is teaching; how can this transformation occur when over half of the people involved will only get cursory look at it; on peripheral Tangent: paradigm; major structure around you; it's not something you can just shed We've been learning a lot more from current leaders re: distance learning; learning from them that they don't do business like we do; team of experts that bring all the parts of the learning experience to students => from designers, multimedia, technical, overview, assessment, etc. => when you have that type of thing, you may still need to balance work loads, but get totally away from the paradigm so it no longer becomes that big of an issue; the need to have one person model (teacher) In the open university, there is a non-spatial component to this idea; if we focus on learning and if we dealt more with how to virtually connect with our teachers as well as our learners, are you then not on the periphery anymore? If you are dealing in a virtual or remote environment...I can get in touch with you in a timely manner virtually, without having to see you in person => if there is no center, then the adjunct aren't on the edge anymore. The focus will change to be on the learning experience and the assessment of that learning experience with a loop back on improvement ... there are other ways to look at this issue aside from our one model => if we don't look at it differently, we won't come up with anything new From our paradigm if we look at it, we may not have a solution for it Back to the industry example: The identification of the needs for what a person needs to learn is out of our hands, industry drives that; all the information and design of the instruction is made by the company; with assessment on the spot (and controlled by the company) => The emphasis changes then for their faculty to focus on their students MATEC has criteria that must be met (as does Microsoft) determined by industry partners If we are offering an associate in an applied science degree they must satisfy both core gen ed and core classes defined by industry Teaching of languages can apply the same approach: we've had language institutes all over the world that put you in the beginning and when you come out at the end you are fluent in the language; approaches common to that used by many people We're not addressing the issue of what still remains important in community college work => transferring to university; can we really let industry dictate what we do and take care of this? Can they be reconciled? Do we want our community colleges to have (in this case) language training institutes vs. educating for transfer Transfer courses that are competency based--you have to be able to perform at a certain level of expertise before you can move on => any of our courses are competency based => competencies must be met by "doing" something (not necessarily a written assessment) We have some language classes that are not transferable, we have some that are, at this time can not see a way to reconcile the two How do night program students receive equal quality that daytime students? Tuition increase discussion: student asked "What am I getting for my money?" Fiscal agents gave reasons => need to hire more full-time faculty. Student asked "Why do that? Why not hire PT faculty, train them and if they're no good, move them out of the loop and get a better one?" How can we get equity for night students when we have a pool of faculty that keeps turning over... FT faculty have dictated their terms with faculty senate that their full-time hours are only in the daytime. Some of the obstacles we encounter as a teaching system have people imposed obstacles => obstacles we've imposed on ourselves Analogous situation: tenured faculty don't teach general ed classes; deal with developmental level courses vs. 100 level and above Is the student really at the center? Daytime/evening classes; summer sessions; etc. If the student were really at the center... How can we transform our systems so students succeed? (Inherent that learning is taking place) Need to focus on student success => link to student's abilities (critical thinking, etc.) If we make the student the center of why we're here, we can create systems that will address these concerns What are the chances of Maricopa changing to a trimester system? Distance learning system will follow this idea more; jump out of the SOP/traditional format; as you have more and more of these happening at the local level, give students option to accelerate via distance learning/internet We can handle this change over the next five years If a student is really at the center, faculty are revolving around the center and need to be supported by other 'revolving'; M&O and other also need some support so the student gets all that he/she needs Is the expectation that the student is being put at the center by these changes? The student is being placed more at the center and there is a consumer model that is driving this as well... Whatever the models that come up, quality will determine what is done Paradigm shifts => example of making watches, the Swiss watchmakers make a very high end product, but they follow the same method as they have always done; the Japanese changed the process and soon over took the market; if the Japanese product didn't work they wouldn't have been able to take the market If we don't watch what we do and how we do it, we'll be taken by our competitors; if the quality isn't good, our competition will drop, if it is good, we're in trouble Forces of competition in our society impact us here as well as what we usually think of in industry; charter schools (AZ has largest number in the country) will erode some of the public schools monopoly; but charter schools aren't subject to same rules and regs that public schools do... People will pay more for a perceived higher quality; ease; employability from an entity that is not blocked by self-imposed barriers If you don't, somebody else will! Quality is a really important issue ... Who is a true teacher? Lack of proper training is immediately noticeable Visitors from City Colleges of England; question on tutorial/instructional support Several instructional support providers work in a team to help student (City Colleges of England) OE/OE enrollments have dropped at GCC because nothing has been done to support it! Rio has embraced this idea ... No one idea will satisfy everyone! One transformation is a more flexible and modern way of looking at how education is delivered. Some of our systems aren't realistic for lifestyles of today. The faculty appear to have the strongest voice in our district; but the faculty got together and created an Association that is even stronger than the faculty, and this new group is working with/against what the rest want to do. Isolating mechanism involved in keeping things static ... one group believes things can't change because of the actions of another group; but no one really knows who's doing what Must go through so many hoops to make any changes because we are constrained by so many rules and regs The larger a system becomes, the more mired in rules it becomes What's going to come out of these OSFs? What happens next? When you have a product that goes out there which takes one path, and a second product with higher standards takes another path, how well the product does will determine which path will win out If you can be the best in the world for preparing a student to hit the right target, the target companies drive the preparation What can we do the make the students see why these things are important? (whatever 'these things' might be) Can we rely on business and corporations to drive us alone because some business don't care about the full spectrum of skills we strive to teach. Global competition highlights need for new skills, variety of skills, including ability to speak a different language, etc. Our competitors are working with their industry partners to determine what they teach; they can also move to make changes more quickly than we can because they aren't mired in process Soft skills are more important in working teams than technical skills alone; you can't get in the door without the technical skills, but the ones that succeed, also have the ability to communicate their knowledge to other parties Open Space Forum - 03.05.99 - Scottsdale Community College
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