Staff Development Newsletter
Quinsigamond Community College
Editor: Erica Merrill
Layout & Design: Erica Merrill
This month's issue:
"International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics" by Virginia Asadoorian
"National Association for College Admission Counseling Annual Conference" by Daniel de la Torre
Worrying
is probably one of the things I do best; the past few sleepless nights are a
testament to this.
My latest worry: this deadline for publication.
But
that is only half of it.
My greatest fear (as I paced my bedroom until 3:00am night after night,
glancing ruefully at the red numbers on my digital alarm clock) was that I
wouldn’t be able to think of anything to write this time.
Lately, I’ve been feeling that the creative wellspring from which I
normally draw my ideas is all dried up.
The bucket is scraping the once fathomless bottom and finding nothing but
stone and silt.
I drop a pebble into my well and listen for the telltale splash, but all
I think I hear is a thud.
And
yet, a few members of this college community have praised me for my creative
spirit, saying they enjoy reading my “reflective thoughts” each month, and
always look forward to the next issue.
One person asked me where I get my ideas, and I was tempted to say that I
usually dream them up while I’m floating within the depths of my subconscious
– for “in dreams we enter a world that is entirely our own. . . .”*
But
then I wake up, determinedly scrape the well even deeper, and my hidden spring
gushes forth.
*Obscure Harry Potter reference
International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics
By: Virginia Asadoorian, Mathematics Professor
At
the end of October, I had the opportunity and pleasure to attend the 2004 ICTCM
conference in New Orleans, LA, along with two math colleagues, Steve Zona and
Andreana Grimaldo. ICTCM represents
the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, which is
sponsored by the Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which is adjacent to
the big superdome, and is quite impressive.
All three of us were quite impressed with the hotel and its location as
well.
My overall impression of
the conference itself was: “Just OK.” The
workshops had great titles but ended up being just mediocre as far as content
goes, and many presented material that we, here at QCC, are already familiar
with. The topics were varied and
included such ideas as: using updated technology in the classroom (the TI-84+
graphing calculator), and online supplemental materials (mostly all textbooks
have this now); classroom management using online materials; more mathematical
modeling, applications and simulations; and new software packages such as Jexam
(a java-based testing/homework delivery system).
Of course, the common and ongoing issues that we all face such as
advising, student retention, budget problems, and professional development, were
also addressed. Each of us decided
to attend different sessions and then compare what we had experienced.
Here are some summaries of our experiences.
First,
the “buzz” word at this conference was the word: “hybrid.”
There were many workshops that covered this topic.
It seems that many colleges now offer “hybrid” courses, which are a
combination of both online and in-class lessons.
The most common issue stated in these courses is that the in-class time
is not meant as the time to cover the material via lecture.
Instead it is intended as a Q&A class where students work on problems
that were reviewed and assigned online. Many students think that the in-class time is going to be
spent covering all the material, and this is just not possible.
All in all, these hybrid classes seem to be well received and generally
successful.
One
workshop that I really enjoyed was entitled: “Investigating Fibonacci and the
Golden Ratio,” presented by John Hornsby, who is one of the authors of our
developmental math textbooks and is quite personable.
He presented many interesting facts and manipulations about the Fibonacci
sequence and the Golden Ratio (also known as the “divine proportion” in The
DaVinci Code). Some of these
I’ve seen before but some of them were new to me.
An example is that if you add the squares of any two successive Fibonacci
numbers you always get another ‘Fib.’ At
the end of the presentation, which was all done on an overhead projector, he
showed a clip of an old Donald Duck math cartoon, which was quite funny, and
also talked about the Golden Ratio and its relationships to nature. I enjoyed this session very much!
Here
are some of the other titles of sessions that I attended: “QM2 –
Quantitative Methods in Mathematics”; “Liberal Arts Math for Survival –
Internet and Classroom Format”; “Transforming an Introductory Statistics
Course through Technology”; “Math is Music”; and
“Improving Retention in College Algebra.”
Most of these sessions presented ideas that I’ve heard before and some,
in fact, I’ve used more extensively in my own classes than was actually
presented.
All in all, I really enjoyed myself, especially with Andreana and Steve. We would meet at dinner and discuss what sessions each of us had attended that day and compare notes. I think that we all agree that this particular ICTCM conference was adequate but not outstanding. Nevertheless, I look forward to attending the next one, which will be held in Orlando, in March of 2006.
National Association for College Admission Counseling Annual Conference
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
September 30, 2004 - October 2, 2004
By: Daniel de la Torre, Admissions Office
The
“world” of college admission counseling may sound as dubious as the idea of
a reality show, but as I joined with over 4,300 other college admissions and
high school guidance counselors for the 60th Annual Conference of the
National Association for College Admission Counseling, I was convinced of this
existence. NACAC has provided
leadership and advocacy on the myriad of issues in the high school to college
transition since 1937, and this year’s conference continued the tradition as a
forum for issues from affirmative action to the increasing use and reliance on
technology, to the phenomenon of parental pressure and entitlement in the
college search process.
This
three-day professional development event included traditional workshop sessions,
keynote and featured speakers, along with multicultural forums and “reverse”
counselors’ college fairs, as well as membership and committee meetings –
the requisite business of the organization.
I mention the latter because, in addition to my role as a member and
standing committee chair in the New England regional chapter, I attended this
year’s conference as a newly appointed member to the national Membership
Committee, which is concerned with the association’s service to its
membership. What this really means
is that I worked more during the conference, and networking took on a
distinctive national tone.
Counseling
Students With Different Learning Needs
College
and high school representatives laid out a framework for organizing the
transition of high school students with special accommodations and Individual
Education Plans into post-secondary institutions. The
presenters discussed institutional, cultural and policy differences and offered
an explanation of the continuum of supports available at colleges and
universities. They highlighted the importance of the development of
self-advocacy skills as well as taking initiative for seeking out college
resources.
All
The Colleges Look The Same To Me
This
workshop provided basic guidance for beginning the college search experience
with the 11th grade high school student.
Drawing on the traditional array of written, visual and first-person
resources, the presenters discussed the constructive use of website portals,
college tours and fairs, written guides, and high school visits with college
representatives, as part of refining the college application submission process. Participants shared common challenges of working with
increasing numbers of high school advisees in the face of limited institutional
support for what is sometimes considered “less essential” or auxiliary work
within the secondary school setting.
Who’s
Who and What’s What in Admissions Technology
The
presenter took advantage of web-based technology to lead attendees through a
visual list of current and popular resources.
This “101”-type session defined and discussed such increasingly
common resources as the online application, online inquiry, electronic mail, and
website portal, as well as the various student record systems in use at colleges
and universities around the country. The
relative merits and challenges of incorporating these different resources in
recruitment efforts were also explored. In
a tribute of sorts to the topic, the presenter made his workshop available to
all at www.messiah.edu/admissions/web.
Multicultural
Speak: Deciphering the Hidden Multicultural Meanings Behind Concepts, Phrases
and Practices
Minority
student services professionals used this seemingly introductory session to offer
the rudiments of cultural competency within the context of higher education.
They pointed out the necessary “top-down” commitment to
multiculturalism, carried out in the forms of dedicated personnel and
departments, development of legitimate recruitment programs leading to
successful outcomes, and a campus-wide emphasis on diversity training.
They presented a sample of commonly used jargon in enrollment services,
and highlighted the possible cultural interpretations of these, which sometimes
lead to confusion and conflict for new students and their families.
Community
College Challenge: Get ‘Em, Keep ‘Em, Graduate ‘Em
This session introduced
recruitment and retention activities carried out by community colleges across
the US, with representatives from Nevada, Michigan, and metro-Philadelphia.
On-campus recruitment events included tailored school-group visits, Open
Houses, and Financial Aid Nights co-sponsored by local two-year and four-year
colleges. Off-campus recruitment
activities mentioned “non-traditional” Spring high school visits, Dual
Enrollment and High School Articulated Courses (similar to the QCC Twelfth Year
program and Tech Prep articulations), and high school-based Accuplacer testing.
While addressing the challenges of retention in community colleges,
examples of successful activities included telecounseling to unregistered
students and implementation of Academic Progress policies to implementation of
tracking students by feeder schools over time.
What I enjoyed most from this workshop was confirmation of the kind of
activities that the QCC Admissions, Academic Advising, and Tech Prep offices
have conducted during my time here.
We’ve
Got Lotsa Data: The Status of College Counseling
This
session was a refreshing send-up of the frenetic, “winner-take-all” tunnel
vision that has threatened to turn the real goal of higher education into a
ruthless, status-emphasis prize for parents, students, and schools.
High school and college representatives gave hilarious examples of the
ridiculous heights (or perhaps depths?) that the college search has taken,
ironically exhorting attendees to learn more about “the need to set deadlines
as early as possible; standardizing testing and how to make it even more
important and pervasive; and the college counseling profession and how to
develop language so that no one understand us.”
It was especially pleasing to see that the room where the session was
held, with a capacity of perhaps 100 seats, was standing-room-only!
On the final day of the conference, the association’s general membership meeting took place, which included a number of activities. Service awards were presented, scholarship fund recipients were recognized, and transition in association leadership took place. Incoming NACAC president, Frank Sachs, gave a persuasive overview of concerns relevant to the work of NACAC: equity and access in student admission to college, declining national support for guidance counselors, and ethical conduct in the college counseling profession. NACAC continues to take a long view of issues related to college counseling and admissions. The multitude of factors influencing this process, including technology, high-stakes testing, adequate financial resources, and ethical practices (among others), will require on-going analysis and advocacy to ensure that the democratic pursuit of higher education is truly open to all. Next year’s conference should be just as compelling!