The Discussion Draft for the Ohlone College Educational Master Plan udpate can be found on the Academic Affairs website under Educaitonal Master Planning.
This purpose of this post is to solicit input from the Deans and Faculty Leaders Task Force working on the Ed. Master Plan udpate.
Specifically, please use respond to this post with comments or suggestions on the following componenets of the Foundations section of the plan:
Foundation Principals of Educational Master Planning
Mission Statement
Core College Values
We Are a Learning College
Our Students Related to Our Mission
Please post your input on or before Friday, September 18, 2009
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One question that has arisen recently within the math department is how to use the broad guidelines of the Ed. Master Plan or other documents to help steer decisions regarding competing demands for limited resources. For example, in item (5) of the Foundations section, both high school and traditional college students are listed in multiple areas. We can reach out to the high schools, by offering our courses such as Calculus III on their campuses. However, is that justified when we are reducing sections to our own students? The reduction of sections has left limited (if any) space for new students to sign up for courses.
ReplyDeleteIs there a place with the Ed Master Plan for a prioritization of our Mission Statement constituencies?
Along the same lines, we are supposed to provide a broad college education. How do we balance the demands for additional remedial courses (both Basic Skills and the next level up) with the courses that are actually transferable to UC/CSU?
Are high school students taking one of our Calculus III courses seperate from our "own"s students? Or are they part of our "own" students? The state mission for community colleges does not specifically mention high school students as part of our student body. However, Ed. Code does allow colleges to service high school students throught dual enrollment. If we offer 1100 sections in a semester, is offering one Calc III coure at a high school a problem? It comes down to priorities. But, college do have the latitude to include high schoolers in their student body (e.g. the College Connectiona program).
ReplyDeleteThe basic skills question is a good one, although basic skills is definately part of the community college mission as defined by the state. I tend to see the colleges as a gateway to opportunity and helping students get their academic skills up to speed is part of the empowerment proess.
Despite that most of my post was a specific example, I think the real question for me is
ReplyDeleteIs there a place in the Ed. Master Plan for prioritization of competing constituencies?
Or is that really an operations question that may change from year t year and that should not be specified in this document?
I think it is an appropriate issue for the Ed. Master Plan. The Ed. Code clearly states the primary student constituency consist of people 18 years of age or older or high school graduates. However, Ed. Code also allows for high school students in college classes if there is agreement between the college and high school principal. So it is a choice. Ohlone has been making that choice for a long time since it became a joint goal between our Board and both the Fremont and Newark School Boards over 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWith the current budget crisis it is understandable that the question of priorities would arise. We are currently cutting back on dual enrollment as a result.
My own opinion is we should continue the commitment to dual enrollment (which is also a national trend) but recognize that it is secondary in priority to the primary constituency.
That said, I do not believe it is a problem for us to offer Calculus III at Kennedy, since our partnerships with Kennedy have been a priority for us.
It would probably be good to be a bit more specific about this in the Ed. Master Plan and I will work on some language to propose.
Phew, I am glad we only had to do part A - I was all stressed out for a while :)
ReplyDelete