Value Added at Nazareth for Students in 2020

Faculty Assembly Day

January 8, 2010

Breakout Session Notes

Value added at Nazareth for students in 2020

· Small classes

· Mentoring faculty

· Peer contact

· Contact with faculty

· Connection, community identify need time structured in faculty help in advisement

o Menus of requirements and/or choice

· Continue to develop

o Pro/liberal arts relationship

· Look forward

· Interdisciplinary grants

o “Berlin Wall”

o Team teaching

o Case studies

o Interdisciplinary minors

o Structure to support

· Advisement – complexity of workload – students’ lives requires more faculty time and attention. Workload activities build community promise of community – how to maintain.

· Who is the best judge of what students need?

· What should students learn? (Core)

· “Walk in Wednesday” – scheduled time for activities, building community in departments and in programs such as athletics

· Curricular/co-curricular – “informal spaces need to be structured formally”

· Faculty speakers, mentors – team

· Building cohorts, creating community

· Bridging faculty and staff – need structured opportunities to talk

o “Working together is beneficial for everyone”

o Model for community “fulfilling measure of humanity”

· Do adults want community?

· Isolation of adult students

· Alums invited back to give workshops, social connection

· Problem of “adult” – traditional/non-traditional

· “Facebook community of learning” – how to take people out of their comfort zones – returning students should be challenged

· Students with families

o Day care expanded

o Low cost

o Comfort zone for adults

o Stand out or blend

· Tension – new energy of social net working

· How we teach

o Language lab

o Hands on/experimenting

· New World

· Different modalities of teaching

· Quality of life

o Teams

o Dorms

o Facilities

o How 18 year olds really choose a college

Campus Environment Academic Support Services

· Look differently at graduate population

· Hours, reformatting services

o Example – Writing Center

o Counseling/Dining and Saturday classes, coffee/tea

· Need different approaches

· Graduate students feel disconnected

· Calendar includes graduate and undergraduate

· Adjunct faculty – bringing them into the picture

· Nazareth still focuses primarily on undergraduate as “regular”

· Grads as part of community

· Grads DO feel Naz loyalty

o How can that be maintained

· Huge range in date of completion – how to support?

· Transfers –

o Disconnect between reading need for flexibility and speaker need for structure, standards

o Changing majors impacts the clock

· Library

o Reaching grads who commute, not here much

o Value of being centered on a place (community)

o Best strategies for searching evaluating

· Different literacy’s

o Basic literacy

o Info literacy

o Challenge of selection

o How do faculty use the library, point students toward good sources, journal articles, scholarships

· 2020 – Relaxation

o How do students manage everything they do?

o One shot workshops on organization skills

o Self help books

· Nazareth attracts students with challenges because of its intimacy

· Timing scheduling of services different hours, different days

· Work study = students need to work

· To few assistance ships – no grad work study

· On campus employment related to credits, getting credits as “pay”

· Teacher opportunity

· How to provide services to those in online/hybrid courses

· “Touchy feely” aspect – hybrid rather than all on-line because of the value of personal contact

· Housing – infrastructure is there (problem of leases for students coming from a distance)

· Summer housing for grads in education?

· Expand services for students with learning disabilities

· Services to be offered – which ones?

· Writing Center – study skills/organization

· Check in with someone once a month

· In-person vs. electronic

· Educate faculty about individual learning disabilities and what the implications are

· How to teach

· Child Care services – too limited

· More adult learners – more kids

· Drop-in child care – like Wegman’s – tied to learning opportunities for other students

· Emergencies - students bring kids to class

· Activity nights for students’ kids run by students

· Establish cult of creativity, inter disciplinary, curiosity that encourages and values this and innovative and collaborative (students and faculty)

· Focus on life long learning skills, participatory learning

· Maintain connection with students (intimacy) – academic and co-curricular (regardless of changing learning environment)

· Expand our notion of classroom – (students and faculty)

Threats to not doing well in 2020 needs to be focus of further discussion

How will faculty work be structured in the year 2020

· 3/3 load (4 crs)

o Impact possible student learning and faculty experience

· Recognize range of work load and reasonableness (all of these are inter connected to funding)

· Efficiency and support (eg staff support)

· Working with students with more challenging learning characteristics impacts faculty work

· Sometimes less is more (except money)

Themes

· We are a destination school that collaborates with schools and community agencies.

· Emphasis on providing greater access to learning (flexibility in scheduling, experiences, curriculum pathways)

· Personal attention – we are a community

· We don’t do everything, but what we do is “exquisite”

· Efficiency

2020 What is the value added for attending Nazareth

· Personal Attention

o Ability to be a “good fit” for variety of students due to personal attention

o Within disciplines and professional programs we have a cross disciplinary focus with faculty and students’ learning

o In 2010 we are examining issues of efficiency so that by 2020 we hope to function better (i.e.) meeting with large groups in new Arts Center rather than the forum because that’s where we’ve always met…

o We are working to differentiate instruction so that students can perceive and build on different knowledge

o All students will have had some form of international/intercultural experience

o Emphasis on collaborative work

o Service learning connected to Rochester area community

o The Arts

· Appropriate preparation for new delivery systems (i.e.) course for on-line faculty

· Building on historical strength of community - students, faculty, greater online community.

· We are a comprehensive institution with a balance of liberal arts and professional foci – “We do more.”

· In 2020 we would provide greater flexibility in and access to learning - different schedules, deliver systems, part time options, etc.

· Better partnerships with other institutions (transfer students, MCC articulation agreements, RIT and School of Ed partnership, etc.)

· We are the “Destination School”

· Collaboration with Schools and Agencies

Structure and Delivery

Course Structure

· Must maintain strengths of Nazareth Community and building infrastructure to support when using online/distance learning.

· Many students today build/find community through technology – facebook, twitter etc. We can reframe our understanding of what is community.

· Different disciplines may have different needs for different models.

· Different types of learners may benefit more from different models (ex) face to face vs. online discussions.

· Shared servers can provide useful tools.

· Distance learning experiences must be conducted with integrity and congruence with Nazareth Mission and Vision.

· We need to be very thoughtful about which courses/programs are offered in an online format and why – keeping fiscal responsibility in mind.

Annex

· Consider different ways to demonstrate competency outside current credit class systems.

· Consider how best to offer blended/hybrid courses.

· Infusion of technology + and –‘s.

· Interdisciplinary courses

· How best to use teaching tools like blackboard, power point, wikis, pod casts, etc. Some on campus currently reject these.

· Strive for a healthy mix of formats

· What can we use to give out students the best experience.

2020 Value

· Flexibility and responsiveness to students – engagement.

· Relative cost of four year degree

· Enhanced use of technology

· Identity as a school with combined liberal arts and professional program.

Academic Programs

· Programs that help students learn how to choose: (i.e.) courses, data access and usage, appropriate classroom behavior.

· Programs with interdisciplinary component.

· Programs in demand by students and employers

· Programs that focus on how students learn

· Programs with increased flexibility: (i.e.) schedule, donation, mode of delivery

· Programs attractive to 2 + 2 students with appropriate support mentors

· Increased graduate offerings

· Programs designed for undergraduate sequence

· Programs to support writing skills, oral skills and professional behavior

· Programs attractive to minority students.

Group I – Session II

What Will Be the Characteristics of a Successful and Viable Academic Program/Curricula in 2020

· Opportunities for internships, coop, etc. (study abroad)

· Methods of delivery that will fit students needs (i.e.) hybrid and online

· Thoughtful developmental structure for facilitating learning – master of knowledge base and intellect skills

· Evolving preparation that includes an interdisciplinary experience

· Flexible and creative scheduling options locally, nationally and globally attuned

· Meets needs of potential employees

· Be defining what a degree program can be (leading the pack)

· Strengthening networks and business and other organizations

· Creating and maintaining partnerships

· Expanding on connection with student backgrounds

· Heighten/strengthen connection within Nazareth between liberal arts and professional schools

· Facilitates key questions that are lifetime questions (i.e.) what is health, what does it man to be a healthy person, what does it mean to be innovative and creative? How do our personal and professional lives relate? Ignite student excitement about learning. Become more radical, flexible and creative in how we assign credits to courses. Re-exam academic structure credit (i.e.) 4 vs. 3 or allow for variations

· Set course knowledge objectives first then assign number of credits.

· Students have experience that is connected ( Because faculty is connected)

o To other courses/exper

o To what will do next

o To learning how to learn

· Learning outcomes that reflect are driven by our goals for students

· Will be part of a larger whole that reflects not just program but also college as a whole as well as previous life experiences

· Has faculty that think more broadly than simply within norm disciplinary lines

· Is responsive to changing student demographics

· Will need to work to change a sense of community

· Facilities will need to be modified

Forum Group Two

In the year 2020, with many options available for higher education, what will be the value added for the undergraduate and graduate students who choose to attend Nazareth College?

· Value now

· Size

o Flexible curricula, personal, responsive

o Engagement/retention

o Social context

o Traditional

o Non-traditional

o Cohorts

o Inflexible – core vs. major

· Location

o Good for some

o Not minorities

· Costs relative

· Technology undergrad vs. graduate

· Globalization – mix of liberal arts and professionals

o Arts

o Professional Sciences

Identify the characteristics of viable and successful academic programs/curricula in 2020.

· Help students learn how to choose curriculum, classroom behavior (advisors – key) data access and usage

· Increasingly interdisciplinary programs

· Programs in demand by students/employers

· How students learn

· Increased flexibility – schedule – duration – mode of delivery grad and undergrad

· Attract 2 + 2 students and support them (mentors)

· Increase graduate offerings

· Programs designed for undergraduates and graduates

· Issue of writing skills, oral, professionalism

· Accessible to minority students

Reading Lounge 1

Course Structure and Course Delivery

· What is behind this question?

· Delivery? Vs Internet?

· Is this based on a desired future or a feared future?

· How can we even answer this question when no one really knows what things will be like in ten years?

Vision: Maybe more online more distance learning

· Other options from what we’ve done

o Front loading classes for experiential learning

o Saturday classes

o Hybrid courses

· Collaborative teaching across disciplines/departments

· How do we teach online and maintain strengths? (Apparently this is possible) – it can work very well

· With online courses, it can cause everyone to participate

· Faculty here are open to changes in course structure, but we need resources and time

· We need to be cautious about making sweeping changes too quickly. Students who enter in 2020 graduated from college in 1997 or so still think of teaching as personal teaching – social experiences

· We still need a core of personal classes. People in their 20’s are getting tired of technology. But is this our population?

· For parents and students, clubs are important

· How do we have personal interactions in distance learning?

· Service learning/service collaboration and internship

· Will our classes have 18, 28, 38 year olds all in the same class?

· In 2020 most college age kids will not be white

· Diversity – how does that affect course structure and delivery?

· Smaller classes

· Personal contact

· Professionals, not just teachers

· Community environment

· Field sensitive vs. field independent

· Memory is emotional

· Acquisition vs. learning (performance vs. critical analysis)

· Not everything can be acquired in a single way

· What is education?

· Expanding/deepening – what you know, not just a single skill

· Advisement – a personal contact to help you through

· Experiences that build the knowledge

· Human connections and networks – ongoing

· For older students, more part-time evening

· Online doesn’t work for everyone – some need discipline of a class

· What do faculty need to know to be efficient?

· How are we unique? Identity

· Will the college grow – facilities and students

· Generalizing vs. specializing

· Students come here for the personal experience

· We do need to talk within and between departments about what and how we teach. It is easier here than elsewhere to reach out to colleagues

· How can we encourage this or just make it realistic?

· Students should also be able to reach out to other majors

· How can we provide connections for students? Retention?

· How do we make hooks for courses from here or elsewhere at the beginning and the end of the semester?

· How can staff and faculty make changes without collapsing from the workload? Finding and using resources

· Learning communities? Would this help with hooks?

· Students want choice, but not as much as they are given – advisors suggest pathways.

Reading Lounge 1

Summary from Session 1

· Ability for faculty and staff to make connections (much more than larger schools)

· Professional prep and employability for graduates and undergraduates

· Acquisition and learning

· More resources and a variety of contextual and field experiences including observations and internships

· Cohorts/balancing our identity (personal) with out expansion

· Quality added

· Social justice as our mission/philosophy

· Size – higher quality – retain identify

· We have structured choice…

Things to Improve

· Keep eye on facilities

· Faculty should cooperate more

· Higher quality – interaction between graduate and undergraduate faculty

Group 3 – Campus Environment

What to do Now

· Differentiated service delivery

· Refine core curriculum to better reflect anticipated student body

· Encourage flexibility – includes organizational adaptability