Month: March 2015

All Roads Lead To…

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My husband and I decided to spend our 25th wedding anniversary in England.  We rented a car and spent time driving around to all the sites we thought were “must see.”  It really was a wonderful trip, but there was a time, every single day, when we were completely lost.  I don’t mean we took a wrong turn occasionally; I mean we got-lost-and-ended-up-on-the-wrong-coastline lost. If you are coming out to the conference on April 10th, I want to spare you some of the joys of the unintended—and time-consuming—sightseeing that my husband and I experienced in England. First, the college is located just south of I-435 at the intersection of Quivira Road and College Boulevard. The easiest way to come on to campus and get to the Regnier Center is to enter at the Quivira Boulevard entrance, which is due south of the College-Quivira intersection. The Nerman Museum (a bright white building) and the Regnier Center (an adjoining red brick building) Continue reading All Roads Lead To…→

Of Apples, Oranges, and Elephants

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    Over the last 2 years, JCCC undertook the monumental task of developing a comprehensive General Education Assessment Plan.  Given the diversity of general education classes, student learning outcomes, and opinions on what the new plan should contain as well as the sheer volume of general education courses offered by the college, the task seemed somewhat daunting at the outset. A task force of faculty and administrators were charged with developing, sharing, modifying, and launching the General Education Assessment plan.  The task force quickly identified key elements that would become signature features of the plan: Direct Assessment of Student Learning Indirect Assessment of Student Learning Strong engagement by Faculty Opportunities for improved learning Transparency of results And, most importantly, the plan needed to respect the differences of the departments and programs in which the General Education curriculum was offered.  If you would like to learn more about JCCC’s efforts, plan on attending the final breakout session, Apples to Oranges Continue reading Of Apples, Oranges, and Elephants→

True GRIT

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Although I’ve lived in the Midwest for over 20 years now, my roots are still firmly placed in the Deep South, and I identify myself, when asked, as a Southerner. I was thrilled to think one of my favorite Southern foods might be featured somehow in a breakout session on assessment – grits with cheese, after all, is a southern delicacy.  But, alas, “GRIT, Hope and the First Year Student” involves something far flung from my favorite dish. The presenters of this session, Kimberly Glackin, Melissa Geise, and Kristy Bishop, hail from Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri. They are going to focus on a question that every faculty member has likely pondered: why do students seem to lack the stick-to-it-ness (or GRIT) needed to be successful?  Join your colleagues on April 10 in this afternoon breakout session at the conference to learn more.  Look for me: I’ll be the one in the corner munching on grits–with cheese, of Continue reading True GRIT→

The Missing Link

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I really do love a quality animated film.  I am the one who usually rents a niece or nephew to take with me so that I don’t look too foolish heading into a children’s movie by myself.  One of my favorite of these films in the last couple of years was Monsters vs. Aliens.  And my favorite character from the film was a monster named Link—as in the “missing link”.  Link was a 20,000-year-old monster that looked like a spinoff of the main character in Creature From the Black Lagoon.  In the movie, Link did the heavy-lifting for the team of monsters so they could save the day. At this year’s assessment conference, Dr. Christopher Meseke from Park University will be presenting a breakout session with his own version of the missing link, only his link is in academia, of course.  Dr. Meseke will share his story of heavy lifting on the assessment front at Park with “The Missing Link: Continue reading The Missing Link→