Volume XXXVI, No. 17 | September 5, 2014 Using a Foreign Language to Teach Document Design Since I began teaching technical writing with computers 20 years ago, I have discovered that no matter how intelligent my students are, they still struggle to create a specified format. Part of the problem is created by [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 16 | August 29, 2014 Building More Comprehensive Community College Success Metrics: Why Completing a Degree Is Not the Only Way to Succeed Recent research on the California community college system has revealed that workforce-training programs yield some of the highest earnings for community college students, regardless of whether those students [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 15 | May 2, 2014 If You Feed Them, They Will Come: Ten Commandments of Successful Professional Enrichment Phase I: Professional Development Two years ago Nash Community College embarked on a campuswide, strategic professional development plan via AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination). This comprehensive professional development included instructional activities [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 14 | April 25, 2014 Institutional Wobble: An Avoidable Condition Many colleges use mascots to create a sense of community and identity. Typically they encapsulate real or desired attributes, such as intensity or tenacity, for their athletic teams. If you were to select a symbol that captures the essence of [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 13 | April 18, 2014 The Importance of Student Stories I will never forget the first time I shared my community college success story. The president of the college where I had graduated from and was currently working asked me to share my success story at the college’s annual fundraising [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 12 | April 11, 2014 Highlights of a Bestseller on Campus The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was so intriguing that Illinois Central College faculty from various disciplines collaborated to read, write, and start a conversation from the common book concept, an extension of the community’s “Peoria [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 11 | April 4, 2014 Composition Pedagogy and Theory: Writing as Process and Product Since the New England Association of Teachers of English convention in 1972, when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Donald M. Murray presented his landmark essay, "Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product" (Murray 3), the product-versus-process debate [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 10 | March 28, 2014 Mentoring Adjunct Faculty to Improve Student Success The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. - William Butler Yeats As we move towards a cultural norm in higher education of adjuncts carrying the brunt of teaching labor, there [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 9 | March 21, 2014 The Missing Ingredient in Student Orientation Every year, colleges and universities look for creative and more effective ways to run student orientation programs, which are fundamental to making strong connections with new students and facilitating their adjustment to college. Offices of Student Services are charged [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 8 | March 7, 2014 A Call for a Practical Curriculum in Higher Education The various hierarchal levels in a corporate business and business mergers, countless statistical formulas for probability, and, of course, accounting, are just a few of the topics covered while working on my bachelor’s degree in [...]