Week 2
For what organization will you be writing with your first grant for the course?
I want to write a grant for Texas State Technical College--Harlingen, the college for which I am currently working.
What are some of the problems, difficulties, and or obstacles that this organization has?
One of our problems is our graduation rate. Many students who begin the programs do not finish in the time required.
One of the difficulties which we face is adapting to our population of students. I think this is the case for many colleges. Our students are part-time students and usually they work full-time or worse, full-time students with a full-time job and a family. The responsibilities they have outside of school are numerous and much more important to them. They tend to overcommit out of neccessity and then find they don't have enough hours in the day for everything they are required to do. The first thing many (especially male students) tend to sacrifice is their classwork.
Also, many of our courses are not designed for students who have limited amounts of time to work on homework.
Another one of our problems has to do with funding. Our funding is based on our enrollment. An instructor may have an interest in research or rewriting curriculum, but she would have to do that on her own time. The college cannot afford to give release time to a faculty member because that would mean losing those students or paying someone else to teach them.
Another weakness is the lack of personnel to show faculty how they can implement technology into their curriculum. We do have staff who are experts in technology but not in how technology can be used to increase teaching effectiveness. Because the college has mandated that all departments create a web presence for all their courses, many writing instructors are focusing on using technology to replace paper in the classroom.
Also, faculty do not have much opportunity to see how others in the field are working through these same similar issues. Funding for travel to conferences is limited.
What are some plausible activities that would help overcome these weaknesses?
Create training-style curriculum for writing classes to meet objectives while meeting the needs of students with limited time.
Design a course for composition faculty on how to use technology in the classroom to increase their effectiveness.
Design a course for composition faculty on how to use technology in the classroom to increase their effectiveness.
posted by Prof Santoy | 8:07 AM
3 Comments:
Elisabeth,
I think many of us (at least here) are just starting to look at the needs of "non-traditional" students. One major project has been to design a night and weekend college, but the curriculum is still the same. The goal is to increase access.
I foresee that many instructors will be opposed to redesigning the curriculum because they like the way they do things. Also, they question if what administrators are asking them to do is to water-down their teaching.
Certainly conversations need to begin about how the students can learn the objectives in less time. That is the push behind accelerated learning. Do the same or more in less time. So like the minimalist in literature, how can we get the same or a stronger impact with less words.
Some have asked "is it possible" but that hasn't gotten us very far except to cause a greater divide between those who think it can be done and those who think it can't.
My experience has been that many students who drop classes or who fail ultimately do so because they don't have enough time to do everything required. Part of my interest has been in learning about planning and goal-setting activities to see if students just need better management and focusing skills. This, though, still assumes the student is doing something wrong.
I read an article over the summer that asked, "What are instructors in higher education doing which helps students fail?"
This question helped to shift my thinking and to begin looking at other alternatives.
Erin,
The fundamental question is do we want to do more of the same in a different way and on a different schedule or do we want to change the things which are done?
I guess I want to do a little of both.
I'd love to read that article. Please send it my way if you have it. Thanks, Janie. I wonder if "retention" is something to use. Also, look into initiatives in Texas regarding Hispanics in higher education. There are some staggering numbers. Perhaps there is State of Texas money available. I'm happy to see that you plan to attend the C&W Conferences. The online conference next week, in fact, may give you some ideas on implementing technology into curricula. Same with that TCQ article I sent your way.
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