What's going on around the state

Robin - BCC - going through accreditation (outside of the cycle, which she is upset about). They are finding that the outcomes are infused through the curriculum. One area - responsibility - does not map into the transfer degree. They made a claim in the self study that by 2006, they could show that students would meet 1 aspect of responsibility and by 2007 meet the second one. That has not happened. Robin lead the drive to either do this or drop the criteria. The health/PE people have come up with a way to get the 1st aspect of responsibility and the president is pushing a global citizenship initiative to meet the second one.

Skagit - accreditation coming next year, people becoming a bit frantic. Trying to incorporate student learning outcomes into introductory classes. Have new general education requirements that need to

Jennifer Jones - Bellingham Tech - major initiatives to increase technology in learning, but still in its infancy. Still looking at a 5 year plan, possible moving programs online. Looking at related budgetary issues.

Barry - Centralia College - is relatively new, but has been on the assessment committee for 3 months. Accreditation coming in 2010. "arfing" - collecting data on instructional programs to document student learning. Also trying to create more knowledge about information literacy.

David - Cascadia - we're running out of room - moving towards hybrid and online. Trying to be more intentional than just scheduling. How do we re-tool assessment measures to capture that transision.

Green River - Teaching and Learning Center issues. Have had a good 18 months getting the physical space into shape, good faculty participation. Have an enrollment crunch. trying to create some professional development around recruitment and retention. participation in the workshops have gone down, as faculty are pressured by enrollment concerns.

Todd L. - Cascadia - concern about time and professional development. How can it be an essential thing rather than a luxury. How can it get to everyone - part time and full time. Struggling with institutional assessment and how it works with actual student learning. How can we focus on institutional assessment that actually influences student learning. Working to follow a couple of cycles of assignments that lots of students do - the cycle of giving the assignment, student feedback, faculty response to student feedback, new assignment, etc.
comment - faculty role is changing and the work load is increasing so much. Assessment falls into "other duties as assigned" and is being too much. Some instructors are experiencing failing health and burn out. Noreen notes that we might want to have a more detailed explanation of what faculty should be doing.
Jennifer Jones mentioned challenges of union contract expectations and how can does that work. Raymond, an airplane faculty member explains how there needs to be more support for new faculty, particularly for professional technical folks who might not have the "academic" background and information on pedagogy. He's been teaching for 1 1/2 years and is only just getting information about how to engage in classroom management. He (and other tradespeople) do not have the technology information either. Noreen mentioned that there is a BootCamp for new technical instructors. For non tech instructors, there is a new faculty training every September. Builds a support network for new faculty. Even bigger problem for adjuncts.

Noreen gets us back on track - college by college check in

BCC - grappling with same problems. Faculty Resource Center has evolved (or devolved) into an online teaching and learning center. They have now split into curriculum design and instructional technology. Technology is now "divorced" from the technology. reinvesting the wheel in a lot of ways.

RuthAnn Michaelson - TCC biology instructor - teaching and learning in the sciences - is doing some seminaring in her teaching. Has a supplemental text called "readings in nature" with essays about biology, presents a non-threatening way of exploring the topic. Gives the students permission to embrace their own voices. She sees a lot of value in it.
Other exciting stuff - members of the curriculum for the biospace learning; play space learning; she encourages visiting their website. Jean McGregor at Evergreen. TCC just joined the Green Tacoma partnership - preservation and restoration of remaining urban open spaces, including 18 acres on the TCC campus.