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I read with interest your recent cover story on “Drones” in CCW. We call them UAV’s or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA’s), and have been educating students in this new technology for about four years. With the assistance of two DOL grants, Northland Community and Technical College has created certificate and associates degree programs in unmanned aerial systems maintenance and imagery analysis/geospatial intelligence programs. By working closely with local, state, and national industry, governmental, and academic partners, we have created relevant training protocol as this technology become commercialized.
I do feel we could be better coordinated on a national scale within higher education to continue to develop curriculum based off of the research that will occur from the recently named, FAA Airspace Integration sites.
College’s considering getting involved with this new technology should be well aware of the risks, challenges, and resources required to launch such programs.
See our UAS programs at: http://www.northlandcollege.edu/aerospace/
James Retka
Dean, Career and Technical Education
Northland Community and Technical College
Why visitors still use to read news papers when in this technological world
everything is accessible on net?
There is certainly a great deal to find out about this subject.
I really like all of the points you’ve made.
Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your
blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any points for rookie blog writers? I’d certainly appreciate
it.
Community colleges is comparatively a new concept in India. Government of India through its Ministry of Human Resources Development is launching few community colleges as pilot project and we hope they will be successful. However that does not mean that India is anyway lagging in education. Rather Indians are more inclined towards education and they perceive education as strongest backbone for a high fly career
RE: IS COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION JUST ANOTHER FAD OR A REALISITC ALTERNATIVE TO TRADTIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION? CCW 5/27/13 PART 2
It promotes cheating schemes. Oh, one more thing! It does turn a profit at taxpayers’ expense. Take note, the first indicators of a changing tide are emerging. NYC parents of public school children are beginning to rebel. They want their children to receive instruction, not to assist corporations earn dollars. Now the story continue in higher ed and I, like NYC parents will be in the forefront of opposing high stakes testing. Let us all preserve the learning experience, and recognize it is not the same as the high-stakes testing industrial complex. The goal of the latter is to increase testing in order to turn a profit. The goal of the former is aid students to become brilliant, competent indendent lifelong learners. STOP THE TESTING TSUNAMI.
RE: IS COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION JUST ANOTHER FAD OR A REALISITC ALTERNATIVE TO TRADTIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION? CCW 5/27/13
Of course, it’s another fad. Another top down idiocy, but this top goes beyond campus administration; it comes from the “testing-industrial complex” a conspiracy of for-profit organizations who are exploiting the system. When various testing services realized they could no longer predict college success they worked harder to get schools hooked on testing. They did it through lobbying efforts and other political contacts. As a result America has been saddled with No Child Left Behind–and Americans have been forced to pick up the tab. This is no better than the drug pusher gives free samples-at the start. Bear in mind no child has been left behind. Every child has been pushed through no matter how little the accomplishment. It’s the skills that are left behind and now college must deal with the aftermath. What does this obsession with testing actually do? It provides a significant loss of learning/instructional time. It justfies an increase in administrative position; hey, somebody has to keep track. It wastes faculty time for instead of prepping for brilliant classes brimming with wise learning activities, faculty labor under the illusion of shared governance even though the top-down decision has already been made.
Dear Mr. Bradley,
You need to do a lot more research like Bloomberg and the NY Times did on SNHU before you enter the “PLUG” journalism so coveted by Paul Leblanc. His Online division is nothing but a factory that is ripping off the federal government. CFA will follow the same lines….. Associate degrees are worthless.
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an e-mail.
I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it develop over time.
I have been teaching for over 40 years in a wide range of public institutions from junior high through college. As a society, we seem to feel now that everyone should have a college degree. That is not true! Many students are not academically or intellectually able to understand “real” college-level concepts. I have students who enroll in a community college who do not even know second and third grade math concepts such as 2+3 or place value. I do think we need to have alternative education programs for these students and train them to their ultimate potential, but to water down curriculum and socially promote these students is a disservice to the students, to the institutions, and to the community! I see students getting a degree who cannot read on a sixth grade level or perform basic mathematics. Teachers are in part evaluated by the numbers of students who “pass,” as if they can control who decides to attend class or complete assignments. I resent that my tax money goes to students whose only interest in school is getting “free” money!
Community colleges are needed, private colleges use state funded money and use anyway they want, not to the students. Community college also keep a better record of loans by the state not being paid back, also there cheaper, and it also carries more employment because of there size. I do say, if your college bound, go to a community and if your not happy transfer your credits, not like a private college your credits at most are not transferable.
RE: DCCC’s “Tech Tools Can Contribute to Data-Informed Decisions, Impact Student Success” by Stacy Holliday. I couldn’t agree more! Question: what is DCCC’s LMS?
Thanks!
Sue Olesiuk, Dean, Academic Success
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
Asheville, NC
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I really hope to view the same high-grade content from you
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This article side-stepped the statistics on associate degree production by private schools. The decrease in the percentage of associate degrees produced by community colleges was mentioned, but the reason was not mentioned. And there was no mention that private colleges dominate the production of associate degrees that the Department of Labor identifies as fields most in demand by employers, and with the highest growth now and in the future.
You have provided very good information. Really this will very useful in future. I am very interested in higher education and news. Thanks for sharing.
California community colleges need to modernize and implement a new funding model based on student success, graduation, transfer and securing employment. The old model is failing minority students and does nothing to address academic inequality. Performance based funding could also attract businesses that are more likely to fund a model based on accountability then number of bodies.
New Formula Would Revise Graduation Rate Calculation:
I would like to comment about what Stan Jones said in the article.
It is great to be on the outside looking in making suggestions about improvements while not having to deal with the day to day negativity produced by bad statistics. Stan, we ARE attempting to increase our completion rates, but we want full disclosure of the data concerning our students and the current formula is negatively biased against us. Our completion rates are WAY better than the current data suggests. We can and will improve, but if we improved by sending 100% our students to 4 year institutions after 30 hours at the community college, the current arithmetic would STILL show that we have a poor completion rate! The formula must change!
UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and Provost Breslauer pick the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau’s tuition/fee increases rank Cal. # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale. Birgeneau’s decisions are an insult to taxpayers who help support the University of California system and to students confronting soaring costs.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Pays ex-politician $300,000 for several lectures; Doubles instate tuition/fees; Recruits (using California tax $) foreign & out of state affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace Cal. qualified instate applicants; Spends $7,000,000 + (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost) for OE consultants to remove inefficiencies created by his leadership then stonewalls consultants from examining Chancellor office: When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals: Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made: is this the sort of Provost and Chancellor we need?
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu . (The author has 35 years’ consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
I apologize if someone has already commented on this….the final report of suggestions from the California Student Success Task Force DOES NOT endorse outcomes-based funding as the article suggests. Though the final legislation has yet to be determined, the following is from the Task Force’s report that was unanimously supported by the Board of Governors (of particular note is the lack of national evidence of positive impacts):
“After considerable review, the Task Force was divided on the topic of outcome-based funding. A vocal minority supported implementing some version of outcome-based funding, while the majority of Task Force members did not support such a proposal at this time due to various concerns, some of which are noted above. For many Task Force members, the lack of national evidence demonstrating that outcome-based funding made a positive impact on student success was an important factor in their decision to reject implementing outcome-based funding at this time.” http://www.californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/Portals/0/StudentSuccessTaskForce/SSTF_FinalReport_Web_010312.pdf
UC Berkeley (UCB) pulls back access and affordability to instate Californians. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau displaces Californians qualified for public Cal. with a $50,600 payment from born abroad foreign and out of state affluent students. And, foreign and out of state tuition is subsidized in the guise of diversity while instate tuition/fees are doubled.
UCB is not increasing enrollment. Birgeneau accepts $50,600 foreign students and displaces qualified instate Californians (When depreciation of Calif. funded assets are included (as they should be), out of state and foreign tuition is more than $100,000 + and does NOT subsidize instate tuition). Like Coaches, Chancellors Who Do Not Measure-Up Must Go.
More recently, Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police deployed violent baton jabs on Cal. students protesting Birgeneau’s tuition increases. The sky will not fall when Birgeneau and his $450,000 salary are ousted. Opinions make a difference; email UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
No need to talk too much.
Solution is GOOD Online programs .
Ser Maryland University College with 100,000 nline st7udents.
They are not best in the country but just an example what can be done .
You make better than that .
Support Western Governers Unversity, Carnegie Mellon University, Maryland , Colorado CC Systems sharing online courses among 13 colleges.
Why in the world you do not share your courses with 5000 colleges in the USA .
Advice to Federal Government
Give grants to only colleges whose online courses are at least 10 % of the all courses offerred .
Q: What works on your campus in boosting success rates in developmental math courses?
I’m a Professor of Mathematics in New Jersey. This is my 44th year at the college and I previously taught for five years in a high school in New York City I can truly say that we’ve run the gamut of techniques to improve the results in our Developmental Mathematics courses. As a lot of other colleges are doing we too are now using technology in our courses. Specifically, we have added a web component to all courses where for homework assignments, students access textbook publisher software. After surveying faculty and students I learned that the software component was not working as well as we wanted. Last year I experimented with using a USB flash drive with Algebra tutorials. My students especially liked the idea that they did not need an internet connection to use the tutorials. The software also did not penalize them for incorrect answers which made sense to me since that was what should happen only on exams. One student who used the usb at home on his desktop then at school in the computer lab, pointed to the Flash Drive on his keyring saying this is “the Math professor that goes where I go..” This year I’m continuing to refine the concept of using a USB with developmental my Math students. I welcome hearing from other concerned educators who would also like to test the USB as a teaching aide in the classroom.
I attended community college and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Often students struggled trying to get into and pay for a certain school based on their perception of what’s “better.” A community college is often more affordable and gives you an opportunity to discover what you like and learn about various topics. I found the professors were all helpful and offered a great deal of direction. Very interesting blog!
Thanks, Paul Bradley, for “Tiny Particles and High Hopes.” Nanoscale may not be THE next big thing, but it is ONE big thing. Finger Lakes Community College in upstate New York is getting in on a smaller level, with a non-credit training program in how to work in a cleanroom setting. A local manufacturer, Moser Baer, is launching a pilot line of organic light-emitting diode panels and needs an entry-level workforce quickly. Where will this lead? It’s hard to say, but community colleges are paying attention and ready to jump in to fill needs. Read more about FLCC’s program here:
http://fingerlakescommunitycollege.blogspot.com/2011/10/flcc-launches-cleanroom-training.html
Need for transparency at University of California Berkeley has never been so clear. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau ($500,000 salary) displaces qualified for public university education at Cal. instate Californians for a $50,600 payment and a foreign passport.
UC Berkeley, ranked # 70 Forbes, is not increasing enrollment. Birgeneau accepts $50,600 FOREIGN students at the expense of qualified Californians.
UC Regent Chairwoman Lansing and President Yudof agree to discriminating against instate Californians for foreigners. Birgeneau, Yudof, Lansing need to answer to Californians.
Your opinion makes a difference; email UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
While the U.S. continues to cut investments in education the world moves on… Brazil’s annual budget for technical training has gone from $385 million in 2003 to $3.8 billion today. In the same period, 30 million Brazilians have entered the middle class.
http://us-brazil.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-brazil-technical-education-expands.html
‘No deal!’, says University of California Berkeley (Cal) to giving back to Californians, students. Democrats Republicans face mortgage defaults, stagnant wages, 12% unemployment, pay reductions, loss of unemployment benefits, No layoff or wage reductions for Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Faculty during longest deepest recession.
There is no good reason to raise tuition, fees when wage concessions are available. UC wages must reflect California’s ability to pay, not what others are paid. If wages better elsewhere, chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured, non tenured faculty, UCOP apply for the positions. If wages determine commitment to UC Berkeley, leave for better paying position. The sky above the 10 campuses will not fall.
Step up to give back Cal (with deeds not words) for all Democrats, Republicans!
No furloughs. UCOP 18% reduction salaries & $50 million cut.
Chancellors’ Vice-Chancellors’, 18% cut. Tenured faculty 15% trim.
Non-Tenured, 10% reduction. Academic Senate, Council remove 100% costs salaries.
It is especially galling to continue to generously compensate chancellors, vice-chancellors, faculty while Californians are making financial sacrifices and faculty, chancellor, vice-chancellor turnover is the lowest of USA public universities.
The message that President Yudof, UC Board of Regent Chair Lansing, UC Berkeley Birgeneau are sending is they have more concern for generously paid chancellors, faculty. The few at the top need to get a grip on economic reality and fairness.
The California Legislature needs a Bill to oversee higher education salaries, tuition.
Your opinion to UC Regents Dianne.Griffiths@ucop.com or 510.987.9220
Very well written I was refered over to this website by a friend of mine.nbsp; We just had a conversation regarding this topic and this blog was helpful.
I am at a c.c. graduate. What I would like to see is a class or better yet classes that involve deconstruction and reconstruction education techniques. For example with perspective we have a “Doll House” we are only taught of building the house from ground up. Now if we take another perspective to learn what happens when “segments” are remove and the adverse actions of these removed segments we now understand a completely different perspective but in the end we now have a much deeper learning of this “house” and why its components are so necessary.
Hopefully I was able to convey my message so that others will understand.
James M.
While money is a factor, I don’t believe any amount of money can adequately compensate a person to do something they really don’t like for the majority of there life.
It really bothers me to see students going to universities without having a clue about majors and employment outlook. Student debt can be crippling.
I don’t see many programs that work from the top down, administrators and managers make their mark by taking a piece of the pie, changing the name and keep on doing what they have been doing.
For this iniative to work they should start with high schools programs which already articulate with CC. Those skill based programs often already have communnity members on advisory groups and have relavent programs which will lead more kids into Vocational careers. Sucess will follow sucess and high school kids can break away for the all academic and find a career where they can be productive and actually make a living.
Better scheduling would certainly help the College budget and provide more places for students. Walk around any College and you will see up to 30% empty rooms at any time. Look in the rooms and you will see 20-30% empty seats in many rooms – even in high demand courses. Visual scheduling systems can improve room utilisation/availability by more than 20%. Class group scheduling can bring students in on fewer days/week easing pressure on car-parks and facilities and saving them money (they could work on their day(s) off too) Clever scheduling aligns same subjects on the same day and time allowing for early attrition and collapsing these classes mid-semester, allowing more students to start while protecting the budget. Pre-course workshops of 2-4 hours can provide a flavor of the new course helping students choose the right course. Colleges could charge a small fee for these and run at at end-semester when tutors and rooms are available due to attrition.
An analysis of the College schedule would provide insights into these opportunities and a way forward to solve many of these issues.
How can we get more efficiency from our College programs so we could spend more on these sporting activites that Colleges are cutting?
It is easy get employers to pay for training again and then they have a vested interest in what is taught. We have embraced a lack of commitment in this country in our pursuit of competing with the Asian economy. The global leadership has poisoned us against one another and we are lost for leadership.
We would like to know from CC administrators whether our courses for startup and established entrepreneurs could serve as a basis for Community College curricula. We think entrepreneuring is a growth area, based on our private enrollments and a recent study by Kauffman about the increased startup activity among baby boomers 55 and older.
John Heinrich
Chief Mentor,American School of Entrepreneurship
http://www.theasoe.com
asechmentor@gmail.com
Does anyone know when TCC may decide to disperse financial aid for the spring 2011 semester for students who really need it?
How much money could be saved if community colleges utilized their human resources more efficiently? Example: Let’s just say that all college hire adjunct instructors from a curriculum budget, but they have other full-time employees in another department who are qualified to teach the courses. Why would they not save the money, use the employee when needed and not add to their overall expenses by hiring the adjuncts? I would think that scheduling could be worked out so more of this could work and would benefit the college’s budget, as well as the state’s. I was in the business sector almost twenty years before working in education, and we crossed trained and utilized human resources when budgets were tight, and then we continued the cost savings strategies even when times were better. Through out my almost ten years in education now, I have wondered this and can’t believe that I am the only person who would like to better understand this spending concept.
This bill does nothing except cover the already incompetent nature of most of the community college counselors. It can’t guarantee a spot in any college, it only states that the student will be guaranteed a spot as a Junior if accepted anywhere, how is that any different from what happens now? All this bill insures is that kids won’t take a bunch of classes they won’t need. It does not guarantee a spot anywhere, it can’t. Every college has its own acceptance outlines and will continue to take students by GPA and SAT scores and available slots, just like it does now.
It was clearly only designed to push the EOPS students out that our just wasting our money anyway and taking space that students who really want to learn can’t get. Streamlining them thru and pushing them on the government grants is a smart move for California, I am sick of working two jobs to pay for free school for kids who could care less about an education. If you think I am kidding go to a CC at the beginning of the semester see how 25 kids try to crash a full class and get turned away, then go back to that class after those EOPS students are given their funding and see all those empty chairs! The kids have already figured out the systems and it’s to inconvenient for our law makers to make their way over to a CC to see what really happens.
I have several classmates that are more concerned with financial aid than recieving an education. Thier are people in my humanities class who could care less about humanity, and that is a sad fact that a human cant appreciate humanism. I am becomming more and more impatient with the financial aid dispersements, and the fact that I am recieving a free education and they are almost forcing me to quit by not dispersing my grant and loans. This is an enormous problem mainly affecting students that are struggling for the gas to make it to school. It does not affect the asshole’s that dont even come to school
untill the 3 week, then if they show up on a regular basis they draw, text, dont by textbooks, dont turn in assignments, and basicaly just show up.