Volume III Number 5
May 1997
On Friday, May 16, the Faculty Center will sponsor professional development workshops for those interested in getting started and those ready to develop further in using technology.
The WWW for Newbies provides hands-on activities to acquaint you with the internet. This session requires no prior experience and aims to get you moving through electronic worlds of information. Are you ready to create slide presentations through your computer? If so, sign up for the PowerPoint workshop, at which you will be introduced to TOBI (the Faculty Center's notebook computer and projector--both available for your use). Do you know what Pine is? It is the e-mail program that students will use as of next fall. The Using Pine workshop will demonstrate the features of this mailer which promises to offer students many more and easier-to-use options than our current mailer. To find web sites focused on your curriculum area, enroll in Curriculum Materials on the Web, in which you will find out how other colleges and professors are using the web and how to print and/or download materials.
Afternoon sessions include a Graphics Workshop and a workshop on using Alta Vista Forum. The former will show you how to use a digital camera and scanner, and how to use PhotoShop to edit and enhance graphics. The latter will familiarize you with web-based communication that allows you to interact with teams.
Because of space limitations, this series of workshops must be limited to faculty members only. Check your mailbox for the registration form.
Please register with Arta Szathmary.
The Advisory Board of the Faculty Center continues to grow. Six new members will join the board in the coming year, including Lois Gilmore, Lisa Martin, and Matt Rusnak (full-time faculty members) and David Weiss, Wendy Ullman, and Kathi Knight (adjunct faculty members).
Michael Schwartz has served ably as Chairperson of the Advisory Board this year. Aside from having accomplished much for the Faculty Center, Michael has expanded his family and will head the Federation's Salary Fairness Committee next year, so he has opted not to continue to chair the Board. At its April meeting, the Advisory Board elected Susan Darrah to serve as Chairperson in the coming year.
The Advisory Board has appointed Maureen McCreadie to continue as Facilitator of the Center and Barbara Korb to serve as Professional Development Consultant.
Proposals were submitted to the Advisory Board for a number of Resource Faculty projects. The Board voted to support three proposals which were submitted by Joanne Drechsel and Lois Gilmore, Jean Konkel, and Tom O'Keefe.
Pending full approval of the Planning Advisory Board's recommendations regarding proposals to the Strategic Initiative Process, the Advisory Board has tentatively selected four faculty members to develop the proposed research project: Bill Ford, John Hartwick, Tom O'Keefe, and Wendy Ullman. Congratulations!
Through support from the Strategic Initiative Process, the Faculty Center was able to support two professional development positions this year. One position, held by Arta Szathmary, was geared toward providing faculty members with support in applying technology to enhance the teaching/ learning process. The focus of the other position, held by Jean Konkel, was on developing longer-range thinking about professional development.
Arta Szathmary planned, scheduled, advertised, and implemented a year-long series of workshops for faculty members. Her comments follow.
This year I have worked on a project to help faculty members implement technology into their courses. I thank all those faculty members who have been involved in this project. They have made it a success. Your encouragement and support have made this endeavor very valuable to the faculty of the College.
More than forty one-hour Technology Workshops, two Technology Days, and one Text and Technology Showcase have been sponsored by the Faculty Center this year. Countless one-on-one sessions have occurred. Hopefully, this has been just the beginning. Although the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will not sponsor continuation of this project, perhaps many of the learning opportunities will be made available through other college areas.
Starting with a survey to identify faculty needs and preferences, Arta responded with a schedule of workshops on E-mail (introduction and intermediate), Surfing the Web, Searching the Web, Critical Thinking and the Net, and Easy Web Page Development.
During semester break, Arta offered the Faculty Center's first Technology Day. Faculty participation was extremely high for a wintry day between semesters. Workshops included Windows 95 Basics, Mac Basics, Managing E-mail, Discussion Lists, Digitizing Graphics, Web Workshops, and MS Publisher97. All workshops leaders were volunteers from among the faculty.
The Spring series of technology workshops included some of the favorites offered previously, as well as World Wide Web Basics and Upgrade &/or Purchase Considerations.
Next, Arta organized the Texts and Technology Showcase. This afternoon event featured publishers' representatives from a variety of publishing houses. Although the curricular range was broad, the focus was on those texts that are supplemented or enhanced in some way using technology. The turnout for this event would have been impressive even if this had been a long-standing annual event. That Arta generated such a high level of participation in a first-time effort is indicative of her exceptional organizational and communication skills. The Showcase is likely to become an annual event.
Finally, the second Technology Day will be offered on May 16. Presenters will once again be faculty volunteers.
Professional Development: Planning
Jean Konkel's report follows.
This year I have worked on professional development and grants. During the course of this year we applied for an NEH Teaching with Technology Initiative grant. While the grant was well received and scored fives and fours on the rating scale, it was not funded. The NEH has experienced massive cutbacks recently and has reduced the number of awards. We will continue to look for alternate sources of funding for this project.
We have also begun work on a concept modeled after a University of Houston project that targets full-time students, and attempts to improve retention, encourages timely progress toward a degree, and facilitates academic achievement. The student population considered in the UH project is similar to our ours; they live at home, work, and commute to campus. The project was initially discussed during the fall term; however, the resignation of the College's grants coordinator slowed progress.I hope to continue this work and include the Dean of Enrollment in the planning.
I am currently completing work on a Microsoft Instructional Lab Grant application that will provide the College with software upgrades to two hundred programs.
My second area of work this year was in professional development. This project took many forms including: establishing a discussion list for interaction on professional development opportunities and issues, working with individual faculty members to facilitate their use of information technology in the classroom, and developing a model for professional development in the future.
I thank the Faculty Center members for their continued support of innovation and creativity. I look forward to my next project.
Thank you, Jean and Arta!
What follows is a note from the incoming Chairperson of the Faculty Center Advisory Board, Susan Darrah.
I want to take this opportunity to say how delighted I am to be the incoming Chair of the Faculty Center Advisory Board. Over the course of the last year, participating in the activities of the Faculty Center has given me a great deal of pleasure, especially, the pleasure of getting to know my colleagues from different parts of the college, the pleasure of working collaboratively with those colleagues, and the pleasure of being involved in many of the projects that originate in the cooperate and supportive atmosphere there. The Faculty Center represents not only what is most worthwhile about Bucks in particular but about academic life in general.
Clearly, many people are responsible and deserve credit for the remarkably collaborative way in which the Faculty Center functions, but it is the Advisory Board, whose members come from almost every area of the campus, that determines the tone and provides the direction. As the outgoing Chair of the Advisory Board, Michael Schwartz should feel proud of all that the Faculty Center has accomplished this year under his leadership.
Thank you, Michael, for setting such high standards.
The Faculty Center supported three Resource Faculty projects this year. Tom O'Keefe focused on Study Skills Research, Joan Weiss surveyed the faculty to develop a Faculty Idea Exchange, and Kay Mengers offered a series of Stress Reduction Workshops.
Study Skills Research Project
The aim of Tom O'Keefe's project was to develop a tool that students and faculty members could use in identifying and fostering good study skills for particular disciplines or courses. To do this, Tom identified efficient learners in given disciplines and courses and worked with faculty volunteers in accounting, math, psychology, and science.
The outcome of the project is a booklet entitled A Theme Runs Through It: What BCCC Faculty Say About Being Successful in Accounting, Math, Psychology, and Science. For each discipline, Tom has developed an overview and study strategies tailored to the individual discipline.
Tom's report follows.
Regardless of the four somewhat different disciplines, faculty have common recommendations for student success:
From a personal perspective, I found it refreshing that so many of the faculty in each of the disciplines I questioned were so very interested in the success of the students. Also, the chance to "drop in" on people and talk is refreshing. We have far more in common than we give ourselves credit for.
This pamphlet is available in the Faculty Center. To arrange for multiple copies, contact Tom. He will provide you with a clean original for duplicating.
Faculty Idea Exchange
Joan Weiss's project facilitated an exchange of ideas among faculty members, and worked toward establishing an environment of sharing--both among the faculty and between students and the faculty. Joan surveyed the faculty and drew the following suggestions from the results.
In the Spring semester, Joan, along with Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), sponsored monthly Faculty-Student idea exchanges. The students established the topics for discussion. Examples include student impact on negotiations, student orientation and advising, and enrollment.
Stress Reduction Workshops
During the Spring semester, Kay Mengers led a series of stress reduction workshops in the Orangery.
Kay's report follows.
I met with participants three times a week excepting Good Friday. Attendees were about evenly distributed between staff and faculty. By far the majority of those attending returned for subsequent sessions.
I had the privilege of offering personalized work with four different participants. It is a pleasure to serve members of this community in this way, and I found the process very fulfilling.
Perhaps the most dramatic highlight was seeing a faculty member lose chronic pain of several years standing and regain a good bit of physical mobility. But equally valuable is some quiet reduction of stress for many members of our community.
At a special meeting in April, the Advisory Board of the Faculty Center considered several proposals for Resource Faculty projects. Through a process of blind review, the Board agreed to support three projects in the coming year. Tom O'Keefe will be back to develop a series of study skills videos
. Jean Konkel will carry out a feasibility study of the potential for multimedia streaming and an intranet on campus. In connection with establishing a women's studies program on campus, Lois Gilmore will develop a series of events that focus on issues pertaining to women's studies.
The target audience for this project is the growing number of students who return to school while they continue to meet demands of the workplace and family. While these students may not have the time to take a study skills course, they can benefit from study tips that help them maximize their learning time.
Feasibility Study: Intranet & Streaming
The aim of this project will be to evaluate the need for and the best avenue for developing access to multimedia streaming capabilities and a faculty intranet. This is the direction we need to head. The study will guide us.
Women's Studies Project
This project aims to put women at the center of their learning experiences. The series will provide opportunities for faculty members to critically review curricula and pedagogical methods that support ways of knowing more common for women.
This year has been a busy one for the Faculty Center. Use of the Center is increasing, the level of participation is growing, and programs continue to garner interest. Program planning took a new direction this year. In addition to individual offerings, several series met on a regular schedule, providing greater depth to the discussions.
Techno Teas
Among the series were the Techno Teas. Faculty members from diverse experiential and disciplinary backgrounds got together to talk over their fears and triumphs with regard to incorporating technology in teaching and learning. Susan Darrah led this series.
Learning Styles
The Discussion Series on Learning Styles investigated published research on learning styles. The group, led by John Hartwick and Maureen McCreadie, submitted a proposal to develop a research program to investigate who our learners are at Bucks County Community College. The project will be supported by the Strategic Initiative Process.
Student Success
Mary Ann Klicka led the Program Series on Student Success. The focus was on factors that contribute to student success.
SIFE Idea Exchange
Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), led by Joan Weiss, offered the SIFE Idea Exchange Series, which provided opportunities for students and faculty members to get together to discuss a number of shared interests.
Distance Learning Roundtables
Finally, the Distance Learning Roundtable Series, led by John Bradley, provided opportunities to learn about research on and techniques for enhancing distance learning. Topics included retention, agoraphobia, and the prison population.
The Faculty Center sponsored a number of additional programs this year, including:
The group who attended the series on Learning styles and Teaching Modalities submitted a project proposal to the Strategic Initiative Process. The aim of the project is to begin development of a research program to investigate who our learners are at Bucks County Community College. The project has been funded.
Given that we at Bucks profess to be learner-centered, the group felt it important that we take advantage of research on learning. In the last decade or so, significant advance have been made toward understanding how people learn. The project proposes an investigation of this research to serve as a basis for development of an empirical research program focused on our population of learners. What is universal about our learners? What is unique? How can we apply what we learn to improving retention and enrollment, to enhancing the teaching/learning process, to providing opportunities for professional development, to supporting transfer success?
All faculty members were invited to apply for the research project positions. Those selected by the Advisory Board to design the research program are Bill Ford, John Hartwick, Tom O'Keefe, and Wendy Ullman. The team members represent four different disciplines, as well as both full-time and adjunct faculty.
The expected outcome of the project in the coming year is the design of a research program, including review of the literature, establishing research questions, and research program design. Once the research project is carried out, the team will publish its findings. Implementation will begin in 1997-98, but will likely continue into the future.
Use of the Faculty Center has been increasing steadily. The list of programs on the preceding page gives only a hint at the level of use of the Center. In addition to program meetings, the Center is used for small group discussions, department meetings, committee meetings, celebratory gatherings (congratulations, Dr. Gilmore), retirement and other farewell parties, baby showers, external review committee and advisory board meetings, among other functions.
The Advisory Board views heavy use of the Center positively; however, it has raised one difficulty. The computer workstations in the Center are also used frequently. On occasion, the various activities conflict with each other. For example, a faculty member trying to focus on a project for which he or she is using the computer workstation, may be less than pleased to find him/herself surrounded in gaiety while facing a deadline. Consequently, the Advisory Board, with help from John Bradley, Marilyn Puchalski, Mary Ann Klicka, David Snellman, and Warren Horrocks, came up with a solution: a Faculty Center Annex. During the summer, the workstations will be moved to L115. That will put those using the computers in easy reach of help from Academic Computing and will provide a relatively quiet workspace.
Next time you're in the Faculty Center, take a moment to notice and appreciate the rug in the first-floor discussion area. It is a donation from Hazel Fisher, who thoughtfully offered, delivered, and placed it where it belongs.