Monday, February 27, 2012

Luoma Leadership Annual Gathering - February 23-24, 2012

I attended this conference both as a graduate of the Luoma Leadership Academy (4th cohort; 2007-08) and as a mentor to a current Leadership Academy participant (Linda Pesch). It was fun to reconnect with colleagues from my cohort as well as other attendees.
Hearing directly from Chancellor Steven Rosenstone was a great way to kick-off this gathering. His talk was entitled "Collaborative Leadership" centered around the Strategic Framework for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. He referenced a book called "It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy" and also made another ship-related analogy when he referred to the system as a fleet indicating we need to be working as a team vs. protecting our own turf. He also talked about the importance of creating a culture where we all work together to be more successful. I was happy to hear he is focused on bridging with K12 to work towards college readiness for students.
After the Chancellor spoke, we broke into "Open Space Conversations on Building Partnerships." The conversation I attended focused on ABE and college-readiness in general.
BREAKOUT I: Expanding Opportunites for Students: Academic Program Partnerships Across the System -- one of the programs highlighted (Child Development) is one that our MnWest faculty takes part in! The other is a new venture between Mesabi Range Community & Technical College and Inver Hills Community College and Construction Management offerings. The focus was on how important it is to reach out to other colleges and see what partnerships can be made to help offer courses/programs to students.
BREAKOUT II: Leveraging Shared Services to Increase Efficiency and Effectiveness -- this was the first I'd heard of the "Campus Service Cooperative" and how some colleges are making arrangements with others to do select business office functions with the emphasis on best practices. I was reminded how our college is moving towards a One-Stop shop for student services; this is a similar model for business services across the system.

All-College Teaching & Learning Day - February 21, 2012

I always look forward to our all-college days as it is a great time to reconnect with faculty from across the college. This time we were on the Canby campus!
Ensuring Access to an Extraordinary Education for All Minnesotans -- led by President Shrubb and Provost Williamson, we had an open discussion about this first part of the system strategic framework. It was a good and worthwhile discussion.
I Know How You Loaded that Video Last Summer: The Not-So-Scary Use of Electronic Resources -- a presentation given by Judy Tebben and me about different technology (specifically Adobe Connect) and resources (streaming videos, eBooks, electronic articles) that can be used to supplement courses.
Developmental Educational Strategies -- I was part of the panel that presented on the Developmental Education & Student Success Conference we attended the prior week. See previous post for additional information.

Developmental Education & Student Success Conference - February 15-16, 2012

I enjoyed attending this Minnesota State Colleges & Universities conference with my colleagues. Sessions I attended were:
The Scaling of MCTC's First Year Experience Program -- they are using a variety of tools in their course including StrengthsFinder (I was first introduced to this tool in the LUOMA Leadership Academy; it is eye-opening and helpful to know one's strengths), GPS LifePlan, eFolio, along with the book called Step-by-Step by Gardner. It's a 2-credit course at MCTC and all instructors use the same syllabus and textbook for a level of commonality. Forty-five sections were offered this Fall.
Riverland Community College Readiness Program - Pulling the Puzzle Pieces Together introduced me to the Accuplacer Diagnostics and MyFoundation Lab tool...something our group discussed in our wrap-up meetings. There was also good discussion about using the term College Readiness instead of Development Education and the importance of Institutional Culture and it's impact on the success of the program.
Tutors Linked to Classes (TLC) at Century College -- an in-depth Supplemental Instruction program that has had high success. This is also being explored by our college as a support service for our students.
Expanding Academic Support Services - general discussion about tutoring options at North Hennepin Community College.
Center for College Readiness -- I've listened to part of this presentation before (the College ready writing portion) and am fascinated by this work. This is a really a bridge program with high schools (and part of it now goes down to the Junior High level) to help students see what it takes to be ready for college.
Wrap-up was a discussion among similar college types; not necessarily for action, but we learned we have similar issues.
Action items for our college included:
1) Summer Bridge Math
2) Summer Freshman Seminar (and subsequent elimination of current Summer Fast Track program)
3) Tutors in classes
4) GradesFirst - expanding into other tools within the software