Teaching Strategies
When preparing college students for the current working world, faculty also need to prepare them for the workplace of the future. Rapid advancements in technology mean that students will encounter software, systems, and responsibilities at work that may differ substantially from what is studied in today’s classrooms.
In an effort to provide students with course activities that would help prepare them for the working world of today as well as tomorrow—such as adaptability and work ethic—I began looking at the skills demonstrated by positive role models. After observing, interviewing, analyzing...
Tags:
Two years ago, faculty in the Communication department at Allen Community College were considering ways to make the introductory communication course more practical and applicable for students. After all, most students don’t see themselves standing at the front of a room full of people giving speeches in their careers; however, they do acknowledge the need for effective communication skills. At the same time, employers are pleading for job applicants with soft skills—fundamental professional behaviors. In fact, one study found that 60 percent of employers cited communication and interpersonal...
Mesa Community College (MCC) was the first college, among six in the nation, selected by Apple to launch the iOS app development project and the first to offer associated courses for academic credit. The college views the Everyone Can Code project as more than a collection of courses. This is a foundation for a successful future for a diverse body of students.
MCC faculty embrace the concept that the key to innovation is to provide something that is unusual, to test the norms, to do it in a timely and meaningful manner, and to embrace teaching excellence through diversity and differentiated...
Tags:
Communicating to students in a way that leads to student satisfaction and success in online courses requires teaching presence. The main instrument of learning is communication and the success of students’ learning depends on the faculty member’s preparedness to engage them in the learning process (Serdyukov & Serdyukova, 2015). Online instructors must, therefore, work to find strategies to improve students’ satisfaction of teaching presence through approaches that address these concerns.
According to Florescu and Pop-Pacurar (2016), one of the most important factors influencing the...
Tags:
Marlie Burt was 75 miles away from fellow classmates when she worked on a group project last semester. Burt, who lives in La Harpe, Illinois, and attends classes at Carl Sandburg College’s branch campus in Carthage, collaborated with her classmates via a telepresence robot located on the Main Campus in Galesburg, where the other students in her police administration and management course met.
Burt attended the class by controlling the robot—affectionately named Sheldon, after The Big Bang Theory character—while sitting at a computer station at the branch campus. With Sheldon, distance was no...
It’s a pitch meeting on Music Row in Nashville, the center of the city’s music industry. Young people are presenting a complete package for a new rap artist, Malik Deshaun, known professionally as Vantage. They screen a video, show features of a website, discuss the social media pages they have created for the release, and run through a business plan. Then, it’s off to the listening room to play the tracks. The bass rumbles and the drum beats are sharp. Heads nod in the room in sync with the rhythm. But these aren’t Nashville music pros presenting—they’re students from Volunteer State...
San Jacinto College launched a collaborative course in the fall 2015 semester that incorporates algebra and English composition. The new course links college algebra and introductory composition, both gateway core courses for all students who plan to either earn associate degrees or transfer to universities.
“This is a novel concept at San Jacinto College,” commented Mark Johnson, North Campus language arts department chair.
The course explores the power of narrative in math and English. Give a person some facts and part of the brain lights up. Tell a person a story and the whole brain lights...
Gamers, animators, and filmmakers now have an unparalleled training ground with the August opening of the Miami Animation and Gaming International Complex (MAGIC) at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus.
It is the first facility of its kind at a public higher education institution in Florida and one of only a handful in the nation. MAGIC is a game-changer for animators, gamers, filmmakers, health care professionals, and many others, serving as a training center in the bourgeoning area of 3-D animation used in so many industries and fields.
“This new state-of-the-art facility will be the...
November
2015
Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) is having tremendous success in promoting completion and transfer among talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students through the DCCCD STEM Institute. The Institute focuses on a crucial leakage point in the STEM pipeline—the freshman and sophomore years of college. Much of the movement out of STEM majors occurs in these pivotal first two years. Since its initiation in 2009, the STEM Institute has evolved to include comprehensive extracurricular support for students preparing to complete a bachelor’s degree or...
Tags:
June
2015
Graduating high school students across the nation are faced with deciding whether to continue their education or enter the workforce. Many seek higher education in order to improve career opportunities and gain economic prosperity and social mobility (Blackwell & Pinder, 2014). The College Board claims that the average annual income for individuals who have a baccalaureate degree is $53, 976. The unemployment rate among these graduates is 4.7 percent, which is lower than the U.S. unemployment rate of 6.7 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). While these statistics look promising,...
February
2015
Having spent the last 16 years working in metropolitan community colleges, I have had the opportunity to see all types of students: new-to-college eighteen year olds, fifteen year old non-driving dual credit students, and returning students who would rather not divulge their ages. All bring with them the sum of their life experiences. But one group that brings a set of experiences and skills like no other is returning student veterans. Because of the nature of the service, these men and women are arriving on our college campuses with more technical knowledge than most generations of students...
January
2015
Not long ago, it was rare for an undergraduate student to become involved in scientific research. These days, however, most graduate school-bound undergraduates do laboratory or field work beyond what's required. Undergraduate research gives students a taste of what a career in science would be like and an edge in applying for graduate schools and jobs. But the edge isn't what it used to be, because many graduate schools and employers have come to expect it.
In a move to ensure that Bellevue College students are school- and work-ready, campus leaders are working to develop the Bellevue...
Tags:
November
2014
November
2014
Thanks to a $22,500 grant provided by ExxonMobil Foundation, Midland College (MC) will be able to establish the Midland College Water Monitoring Center, directed by Mr. Greg Larson, faculty member in Biology. Mr. Larson is an authority on water quality in the Pecos River, having worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) as a field biologist specializing in this area for 23 years.
ExxonMobil is providing the funding through its 2013 Educational Matching Gift Program. The donation represents a 3-to-1 match of donations made to the Midland College Foundation by ExxonMobil...
Tags:
September
2014
Emergency planning has become a part of institutional life in America. Schools and community centers regularly prepare and practice what to do in an emergency. Volunteer State Community College (Vol State) students and faculty have taken part in a two-year project to help particularly vulnerable organizations: child care centers. State law requires that child care centers have emergency plans. But it's tough for a small business or nonprofit to find the time or expertise needed to develop a plan. Vol State classes have prepared and distributed emergency planning kits for child care centers in...
Tags:
August
2014
The Federal Reserve System conducts monetary policy to help stabilize fluctuations in the economy. It is geared toward altering money supply and interest rates so it can influence decisions pertaining to lending, borrowing, spending, and investing. These decisions have a direct impact on output, income, employment, and inflation rates. Monetary policy uses the following tools:
Open market operations
Reserve ratio
Discount rate
Federal funds rate
Term Auction Facility
Students should understand how the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), financial institutions, and the public act and interact, and...
Tags:
2007
Community colleges are uniquely poised to prepare tomorrow’s teachers to use internet-based tools and curriculum resources to enhance learning. Through the U.S. Department of Education-funded Pathways project, almost 250 faculty from over 40 community colleges nationwide have incorporated new tools and resources into their courses while modeling best practices in technology-based instruction to their students; approximately 6,900 preservice teachers have been affected by this program.
