Little Colleges that Could: History, Challenges, & Opportunities

It's been another incredibly busy week, and I went home friday just wiped! I haven't done well with my IDPD yet. I need to get that scheduled...

I've been working on a presentation about the History of Community Colleges to give next week. I think it is finally coming together. It's sort of interesting how I got roped into this one. Dr. Burke asked me weeks ago to fill in for him with this presentation. He told me that he already had the slides and would provide me a resource that would give me some background information. I thought it was to be a 10-15 minute presentation. When the agenda for the Leadership Academy presentation was sent out last week, I discovered that I was scheduled for an hour on the History of Blue River. There's a big difference between 15 minutes and an hour.


I talked with Dean C-D, and she emphasized keeping in mind what would have been helpful to me as a participant in the Leadership Academy. She also discouraged "death by powerpoint." As I'm reading Cohen & Brawer's The American Community College, here's what I think:

I think history is most interesting when it provides a context for looking at today. That is, history needs to be presented in a way that is relevant. That said, I want to discuss the history of the community college in relation to the challenges facing the nation and the values that we hold. I'd like to also discuss some of the challenges facing community colleges in general and lead a brainstorming session about the challenges facing MCC.

Next, I'd like to turn my attention to the history of Blue River. I'll discuss our growth and the changes we have faced (especially the last 10 years since I was here for them). I'll also list some of the values the Blue River holds. From those values, I'll address some of the challenges and opportunites before us. I'll then break into groups by campus. I'll ask them also to list out their values (what makes them unique in MCC...all the campuses have their own culture). What are the challenges and opportunites before them?

I'll end with this quote:

Perhaps community colleges should merely be characterized as untraditional. They do not follow the tradition of higher education as it developed from the colonial colleges through the universities. They do not typically provide students with new value structures, as residential liberal arts colleges aspire to do. Nor do they further the frontiers of knowledge through scholarship and research training, as in the finest traditions of the universities. Community colleges do not even follow their own traditions. They change frequently, seeking new programs and new clients. Community colleges are indeed untraditional, but they are truly American because at their best, they represent the United States at its best. Never satisfied with resting on what has been done before, they try new approaches to old problems. They maintain open channels for individuals, enhancing the social mobility that has characterized America, and they accept the idea that society can be better, just as individuals can better their lot within it.

Buckets & Return

I've been back for a week now; it's been quite a whirlwind. On the night I returned, I went straight to my son's campout. On Saturday, MK & X decided to reorganize his room, starting with the closet. We have got to work on de-cluttering the house. I don't remember much about Sunday. Monday was another karate, gymnastics, scouts night. Tuesday was all-day in-service for the college. Tuesday night was violin (rescheduled due to Thursday). Wednesday was a karate, gymnastics night. Thursday was karate testing, and MK sings in a group. Friday, I crashed. MK spent the night cleaning the house. Right now, she's shampooing the carpets. On top of all of our activities, the dog has been on medication that makes him drink lots of water. This, in turn, causes him to pee more. Since we don't currently have a secure outside place for him, that means he's been peeing in the house. We know because of the smell. Even I smelled it, so we know it must be really bad. Oh, and then one of the horses was limping. Another vet visit, and we have medication for him as well. On top of all this, I have tests to grade (that are well past-due), and I have several committees that I need to get moving on.

I talked to Paul about being a mentor, but I didn't do much else with my IDPD this last week. I'm feeling a little guilty about it. I need to be scheduling time to read and reflect each week. With weeks like this last one, I won't get the time if I don't purposefully schedule it. It feels as if I am trying to pick up mercury with my fingers...I'm just not getting a good grip on what needs to happen. Of course, I know from my Strengthquest, DISC, and other assessments that I will push myself to simply work harder. Yet, at the time, there doesn't seem to be much choice. One just needs to slog through over-commitment one step at a time...and just try not to become overcommitted in the future.

I did find time this last week to read How Full is Your Bucket. It's a really good book about the benefits of positivity. Filling others' buckets has never been a skill of mine...but I'm trying to develop it. I think it would be most beneficial in my relationship. MK could use a bit more bucket-filling. I'm also trying it with my grading, but that is much more difficult. I feel disingenous in providing anything less than a perfect score without describing in details all of the ways that the essay fell short of the top mark. Just the same, I'm trying to focus much more attention on what was good rather than the weaknesses.

I also had a really good Division Meeting on Monday. We did the check-in activity without a hitch. In fact, things went well until we started talking about the IDPD. The conversation started to drag as I addressed the concerns of an individual. I thought she raised some important concerns, and I wanted to address them. Unfortunately, the energy was drained by the time I discussed the DISC. I should have saved that discussion until next time. As it is, I decided to put off doing the DISC until next semester.

I also mentioned that I am considering applying for the associate dean position. There was quite a number of people who asked me not to. I'm still waffling quite a bit. Now, I'm concerned that if I don't end up applying, it will seem like a ploy (let me threaten to leave so you can all tell me know great I am). In my desire for input and to be upfront with my intentions, I fear that I may have backed myself into a corner. If I don't apply, I will have to explain to quite a few people why I didn't apply. Yet, I'm honestly not sure that now is the right time. I'm just getting settled as division chair...and there is so much to do.

Types of Learners

Continuing my posts about Ken Bain's book, What the Best College Teachers Do.

In Chapter 2, Bain also provides a couple of lists about motivations behind learners and types of learners.

Motivation:

1. Deep Learners: "Some people respond primarily to the challenge of mastering something"
2. Bulimic Learners: "Others react well to competition, to the quest for the gold and the chance to do better than anyone else....They learn for the test and then quickly expunge the material to make room for something else"
3. Performance Avoiders: "people who seek primarily to avoid failure...In the classroom, they often become surface learners...they fear failure...They often resort to memorization and trying simply to reproduce what they hear" (40).

Of course, it is from the first group that we our students. This is not practical. Students will be deep learners for subjects in which they have an innate interest. As instructors, we can (and should) try to spark that interest in our student. I think we have to understand, however, that not every student will be in this group. The flip side, unfortunately, I think is even more true. Instructors can (and do) sometimes kill the interest in students and thus create an environment that promotes (at best) #2, but more likely #3.

I frequently fear that X will fall into the third category. The boy wants so much to please his dad that I'm afraid I have not provided an environment where it is safe to fail. I must try harder to reassure my little man that failure is a natural part of learning.

The next list is the list of types of learners:

1. Received knowers: "Truth for the received knower...is external." This category focuses on knowing the facts but understanding very little.
2. Subjective knowers: "All knowledge is a matter of opinion." In literature classes, we frequently run into this. We also find it in comp, where a student excuses a grade by stating the teacher didn't agree with the opinion.
3. Procedural knowers: "play the game." These are Jon's learners. Play the game to get through the class to get the requirement towards the transcript. They can be very good students, but education is still extrernal.
4. Commitment: "Students become independent, critical, and creative thinkers, valuing the ideas and ways of thinking to which they are exposed and consciously and consistently trying to use them."

There are two type of Committed learners:

1. Separate knowers: "like to detach themselves from an idea, remaining objective, even skeptical, and always willing to argue about it."
2. Connected knowers: "look at the merits of other people's ideas instead of trying to shoot them down" (42-3).

I find myself most often in the separate knower category. I imagine that most college instructors find themselves in one of the forms of committed knowers. Bain points out that the best college teachers try to reach students at all levels. The teacher reaches to the students and tries to move them a bit further towards commitment.

Mental Models

Wow! I don't know where to start. I am simply a jumble of different thoughts and ideas. I've been reading a very good book entitled, What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain. I've read the second chapter of this book, and I wanted to record several thoughts. The first thing that struck me was the fact that many students complete a class and do not change their thought patterns at all...even A students!

The thing that Dr. Bain points out is that students mostly attach the new knowledge to their old ways of thinking. If the new knowledge challenges the old way of thinking (isn't this one of the points of getting an education?), then students are more likely to merely memorize what they need to know for the class without caring enough to change the old way of thinking. I almost changed "caring" in the above sentence because it could be misread to think that I'm putting down students. Far from it. The point is that changing mental models is hard, and it disrupts one's life. Most students (even most people) would rather stick with a mistaken mental model than change it...unless the mistaken model fails so much that the student is forced to reevaluate.

The point that Bain makes is that there is a difference of opinion in what needs to happen first. Some believe that students must first acquire a certain basis of knowledge before they can reason, evaluate...all of that stuff that involves a mental model. Bain sides with the other side. He states that new information is constantly being evaluated based on the old model and if the new information doesn't fit, it is quickly forgotten. If we really want students to learn, then we need to engage the mental models.

Students must learn the facts while learning to use them to make decisions about what they understand or what they should do. To them [the sample of the best college teachers], "learning" makes little sense unless it has some sustained influence on the way the learner subsequently thinks, acts, or feels. So they teach the "facts" in a rich context of problems, issues, and questions. (29)

I hope that those in the Humanities division find this book as inspiring as I do. I find myself eager to get back into the classroom to try some of this stuff out.