Spring 2000
Vol 8 Issue 2

IN THIS ISSUE...

Database of Dreams?

Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX)

Who's Doing What

Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction

Who's Doing What at...

The following list provides just a sampling of different activities, methodologies, and events that support learning from your Maricopa colleagues. These were compiled from information submitted to the Labyrinth/Forum/Assidere web site, reports by college representatives to the learning@maricopa.edu leadership team, and information provided by the Faculty/Staff Developers and the Ocotillo faculty chairs.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College

Pam Petty reports that 45 classes on the CGCC campus are currently using Blackboard's CourseInfo to integrate the web into their curricula. Tom Foster has been working with participating faculty members to support their efforts. According to Pam, student response has been very positive. Participating faculty include Sally Jesse (Art), Vanessa Sandoval (Counseling), Cathy Urbanksi (Business/CIS), Bill Mullaney (English), Mary McGlasson (Economics), Olivia Lara (Counseling), Janet Spears (Business/CIS), Shirley Miller (Business/CIS), Robin Atchinson (Communications), Al Brown (Education), Pam Davenport (English), Darby Heath (Anthroplogy/Sociology), Leslie Durhman (English), Pam Petty (History), Anna Mart-Subirana (Biology), Marsh Segerberg (Biology), Rulon Parker (English), and Pushpa Ramakrishna (Biology).

Students in Sharon Fagan's "Children's Literature" (ENH291) course experience a number of "real world" elements. They write reviews of children's books which are published in a newsletter and distributed to local libraries. They hear guest speakers address literacy-related topics. Students create portfolios which have been used for entrance to the College of Education at ASU. Next fall, students will take part in a linked multiple-week service learning project between ENH291 and MAT156.

An important aspect of Sharon Fagan's approach to teaching writing for her First Year Composition students is giving them opportunities to write for "real" audiences outside the classroom. Letters to the editors of local newspapers get their voices heard in the community, FAQs on community service agencies and local social issues provide useful information for other students, and publication of a creative writing piece in a class book culminates a semester of collaboration as writers.

According to Mary Graci, the Maricopa Institute for Virtual Reality Technologies (MIVRT) at Chandler-Gilbert Community College is the primary virtual reality training institute for MCCCD, business/industry, military, and educational institutions. MIVRT provides a variety of credit and non-credit course offerings that range from basic to advanced virtual reality technology concepts. Non-credit courses accommodate a corporate schedule and provide specific training to meet business and industry needs. MIVRT, which provides MCCCD a "virtual community" serves our diverse populations through industry leading partnerships and alliances.

Bill Mullaney reports that his students are having a ghoulishly delightful experience in his seminar-style "Literature and Film" (ENH254) course. They are studying the horror genre with a focus on the Gothic novel and the modern horror film. Bill also has developed the Humanities Division's technology instruction and is one of the college's Blackboard champions. He teaches composition classes in both Windows and Macintosh labs where he incorporates e-mail, class listservs, virtual discussions, and Internet research as vital components of the course.

Using nanovisualization and a remote scanning probe microscope at ASU, Pushpa Ramakrishna and David Weaver have developed educational modules that reinforce key concepts and fundamental principles in biology and physics.

Pam Davenport and Darby Heath have created the "Indians of the Southwest" learning community which combines English 102 and the "Indians of the Southwest" anthropology course. In this learning community, students are engaged in primary research on topics such as diabetes among Pima people and the Navajo-Hopi land dispute.

Kim Chuppa-Cornell and Sandra Stuebner have revitalized the honors program to provide students greater flexibility in meeting honors course requirements. New Presidential students are enrolled in a three credit Honors Forum as a shared honors experience. Veteran Presidential and Fee Waiver scholars are enrolled in a variety of honors option courses.

As chair of the Faculty and Staff Development Team, Sharon Fagan has facilitated special events such as breakout sessions for the All-Faculty Meeting, publication of an extensive semester schedule, a series of Faculty Forums, and new faculty orientation. She is also working on an MCCCD monograph on critical thinking.

Students are active participants in Howard Speier's math classes in which he has integrated technology, science, and engineering through the use of graphing calculators, calculator-based labs, microcomputer-based labs, MathCad projects, and other technologies.

"Global Perspectives" is a learning community which combines ENG102 (Research and Writing) and ENH202 (Contemporary Global Literature). In this single course, Sharon Fagan has students read literature from cultures outside the United States and investigate social, political, and cultural events in other regions of the world.

Math faculty Scott Adamson taught a summer bridge program with INTEL for Native Americans.

Gordon Jesse, Sally Jesse, and Marc Denton have been collaborating with architects in the design of the new Performing Arts Center. Gordon, Sally, and Marc, along with Ted Wolter, coordinate the San Tan Arts Festival every year.

Pushpa Ramakrishna, biology instructor, reports that division meetings are held in a different instructor's classroom each meeting time. This instructor spends the first 20 minutes "showing off" equipment and sharing his/her approach to teaching and learning.

One Friday a month, a group of faculty meet to promote dialogue about teaching and learning. The group's first discussion topic was Parker Palmer's book, The Courage to Teach.

No classes are scheduled from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. and from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday so students can take advantage of a variety of resources which supplement their classroom learning and may include guest speakers, cooperative groups, the Math Intensive Care Unit, the Learning Center, the Writing Center, etc.

Because of their work in information technology training, CISCO has selected Jim Lorenz and Kathy Saucedo to receive large amounts of donated equipment and has asked them to mentor other colleges in program development.

Estrella Mountain Community College

You can find results of John Bradley's annual assessment of the Organizational Leadership program on the Estrella Mountain web site. Check "What happens to graduates?" for details.

Nineteen faculty are taking a CIS credit course on the use of Blackboard's CourseInfo which is taught by Roger Yohe. Because the class focuses on technical issues, Roger and his "students" also examine teaching and learning strategies in addition to instructional design techniques.

Students in Roger Yohe's CIS 105 Honors Class are collaborating with students at the Riverina Institute in Australia by using Blackboard's CourseInfo. They are working in small "virtual" groups (two EMCC students with two Riverina students) to create a PowerPoint presentation on the future of technology in their major areas.

GateWay Community College

The Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) course is a four-credit lecture class taught in six days. Rosemary Kesler indicates that a typical course session consists of 18 students from all over the world. Students complete a two-credit clinical component back in their home hospital and must contact the GateWay instructor at least once a month during that time. A surgeon preceptor at their home hospital grades their skills according to required competencies. The RNFA course boasts a 99% completion rate.

After she has edited and graded three or four student papers, Tracy Pringle has her students critique and grade a classmate's paper. Each student then revises his/her own paper based on the peer review, is graded on that paper, and also receives a grade for the paper which he/she critiqued. Students also work in groups to critique and grade an anonymous paper.

Peter Zwicki tells us that Physical Therapist Assisting (PTA) faculty have been converting lecture presentations into PowerPoint format and are finding that they are covering material at a faster rate. This leaves more time for review, critical thinking, and problem-solving questions in class. PTA faculty have also been videotaping practical exams for the past two years.

Jim Baugh's students create "flash cards" of key equations and/or facts that must be remembered. They can then use these cards as study aids.

Jacqueline Fergusson credits Shahin Berisha for the inspiration in placing her "Preparation for Fundamental Chemistry" (CHM090) course on the web and making it a totally paperless class. With this format, students can access the course material at any time.

Students in Donna Van Houten's Nursing classes begin each class with an open-book group quiz which reviews important topics from the previous day's class. Donna reports that not only does this approach get students talking about course content, it also has virtually eliminated late arrivals.

Dean Stover is using a problem-based learning approach in his English 101 class. He asks students what they know about the format or style being used to write a particular essay. Concepts that are not explained well become learning issues they must research on their own prior to the next class. Students then share what they learn in the next class session.

Because Dean does not meet with students in his honors HUM190 class, he uses Blackboard for class discussions. Students lead the discussions by posing questions that other students will answer. Discussion leaders also summarize the responses. Dean has also developed an electronic portfolio where students can store their class work.

Lisa Young's "Water Technology" students do many hands-on activities and field trips so they can see how the theories they are learning in class are applied.

Biology 201 and 202 students can access David Gerstman's detailed lecture notes and Jim Crimando's anatomy tutorials and quizzes on the web. The American Academy of Anatomists is using Jim's material, and Beagle has given the tutorials "Web Page of the Month" honors.

In a case-based learning approach, Margie Schultz presents a scenario of a patient with a specific disorder. Margie selects students (prior to the class period) to discuss how a particular medication or procedure would benefit/harm the patient; other students in the class do a critique. At the end of the semester, the students have developed a patient care map and do a case study debriefing of the entire course of care.

"Educational Happy Hour" is a time for faculty to give presentations and/or demonstrations about their approach to teaching and learning.

In Sonography, Kathy Murphy reports that faculty are incorporating PowerPoint, CD-ROM, and/or Internet images into a standardized format for Teaching File Cases. Kathy uses mostly CD-ROMS to show images in her own classes so students can also utilize them outside of class.

Glendale Community College

First-Year Composition students are placing their writing on web portfolios they create. It is Maria DeSoto's hope that students will continue with their portfolios after they leave her class.

"The Way We Really Are: The Police Function, Family and Society Issues for the 21st Century" combines "Marriage and Family Life" (CFS157) and "The Police Function" (AJS230) a linked learning community taught by Diana Abel and Tom Bloodworth. Students take an introspective look at their own personal, family, and marital relationships and explore different cultural family structures to improve effectiveness in law enforcement occupations.

Through "Campus Audit," Nancy Siefer is identifying some of the special areas of faculty interest. This is with an eye toward the sharing of expertise and making connections with colleagues who have similar interests.

Maricopa Skill Center SW Campus

Mesa Community College

The Student Technology Assistant (STA) Program, directed by Brooke Estabrook, has two main goals: 1) to assist faculty in incorporating technology into their collection of teaching tools, and 2) to provide students who are pursuing a technical degree the opportunity to learn up-to-date technologies and have a real-world work experience. Faculty and students work together to advance the use of technology on campus.

Brooke Estabrook also relates that a team of programmers, faculty, and she have completed the first phase of a distance learning umbrella. This is a collection of tools that allows the focus to be on the content of teaching with technology rather than the on-line course management. The umbrella includes "myMCC," a portal for students and faculty, through which they can access such things as an updated list of current students in each section and all web resources for each course

Phoenix College

The Department of Dental Programs has a highly interactive program of Internet-delivered courses which has been expanded in the last three years. Originally designed for use by dental hygiene students, Debby Kurtz-Weidinger relates that the courses are now being used by practicing professionals for their continuing education needs.

Paradise Valley Community College

Marilyn Cristiano reports that the Collegial Support Partnership Program (CSPP) and the Adjunct Faculty Collegial Support Partnership Program (AF-CSPP) bring faculty together to talk and share ideas. The programs, which pair newly hired faculty with veteran faculty, are designed to encourage open communication among college personnel in order to foster student success more effectively and efficiently through collegial support.

The PVCC Employee & Organizational Learning Team recently coordinated the Third Annual President's Advance, "Advancing Toward Becoming A More Learning-Centered College," where 70 employees and students met to discuss learning and ways to advance learning opportunities for students and employees on campus.

Hedy Fossenkemper tells us that "aside from sticking pins in Bill Gates voodoo dolls, PVCC is gearing up for the big transition to Windows 2000." The MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) program has been a runaway success with 15 sections running this semester. For Fall 2000 they will begin offering some of the new Windows 2000 courses and start to phase out the Windows NT 4.0 courses.

PVCC is also moving ahead with the MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer) program, which will produce highly skilled Windows programmers. The Web Developer Certificate program has been another big hit with the worst problem being students leaving the program early because they have already found good jobs!

Scottsdale Community College

Preliminary survey results indicate that Bernie Comb's students positively rate his use of Blackboard's CourseInfo template to deliver his "net enhanced" Introduction to Psychology course. While he still meets his classes on a regular basis, all course materials are online. Many student activities also take place online: "Labs" (multimedia tutorials and simulations); asynchronous communications for general questions and discussion; synchronous communication for review before a test; and the posting of announcements, learning objectives, and grades.

Bernie also meets regularly with an interdisciplinary group of faculty and three high school teachers to develop Internet supplemented courses.

John Nagy and student assistants are conducting a genetics/population study of pikas in the Sierra Nevada Mountain region of California. John and some of his students are also taking part in a lung cancer modeling project with faculty from ASU and Midwestern University.

Pat Ashby is working with biology students on a quantitative study of grasshoppers.

Suzanne Kelly is one of six national advisors in the development of a 12-part educational television course on microbiology.

Faculty who wish to develop PowerPoint applications with interactive web applications can turn to Charles Pflanz for help. He also has developed a Web-based tutorial to assist all Maricopa faculty.

The Metro Muse is a coffee house format for students to share their talents. These open meetings, held on alternate Thursdays throughout the year, are hosted by Sandy Desjardines and feature students who read original poetry, give musical performances, dance, or whatever else they so desire to perform.

The Maricopa Institute for Arts and Entertainment Technology (MIAET) provides Graphic Arts, Music, Performance Arts, and Television/Motion Picture Production, and Post-production students with collaborative opportunities and internships with faculty and industry professionals. Steve Meredith tells us that students are currently involved in the development of a county-wide television station on the Cox cable system; the staging of a new multimedia musical, The System, based on an original script by two MIAET students; the completion of a documentary on the life of Claudia Bernardi; training videos for Carsten Precision Engineering (Ping Golf Clubs), Motorola, and Strand Lighting; workshops and performances for audiences throughout Arizona; and sponsorship of the Southwest Film Festival and the Artists of Promise Competition.

Six of the twelve Fastrack Business Courses have been converted to Internet delivery mode.

South Mountain Community College

Full- and part-time English, Reading, and Communication faculty gather together for department meetings once each semester. These meetings, hosted by Jerome Garrison, chair of the Communication and Fine Arts Division, focus on teaching and learning strategies.

Wilma Patterson is the key faculty member in a Bridges program for Biology students. Students in the program take classes at ASU West as well as SMCC. Faculty from both campuses help students with internships and assist in the transition between the college and the university.

Mathematics faculty Terry Leyba, Ann Lindner, Ranjita Saha, and Helen Smith and have been involved in the curricular reform movement within the District and the state.

Ken Roberts, Lydia Perez, and Sandra Mares state that course schedule information is downloaded to a FileMaker Pro database each semester. The database gives a clear view of the number of courses offered, their times, as well as the headcount or FTSE the courses generate. The database provides easy access for comparative data review from semester to semester, date-to-date, year-to-year, etc.

Tom Seneseny and Jon Koehler have developed a focused, compressed format leading to CISCO certification.

The Department of Education has awarded South Mountain Community College a five-year Title V grant to make transformations that impact student outcomes and college infrastructure. This $2 million grant addresses "Student Success Systems," designed to increase student persistence from semester to semester and "Curriculum and Faculty Development" aims to develop and offer new occupational certificate programs that meet community and employer needs. It does so by expanding and enhancing a paraprofessional Transfer Degree Program in Education and by developing technologically competent learning communities.

The Dynamic Learning Teacher Education Program brings together a cohort of future teachers for four semesters in the first step of a two-step bachelor's degree program developed in partnership with ASU's College of Education. Lillian Barker, Pete Facciola, and Ernest Petrie, Communication, Jackie Jaap, English, and Yvonne Montiel, Reading and Education, are the key faculty members who team-teach blocks of classes that feature an integrated curriculum designed around problem-based learning and meaningful projects. These are four-semester internships in community schools.

The ESL program and instructional team have developed a highly effective integrated and well-sequenced program. Key members of the team are Jerry Cervantes, Belen Servin, and Lupe Villicana.

District-Wide

Creative Pathways
Julie Beaty reports that the Creative Pathways Program helps Maricopa employees grow and learn through temporary placements within the District and the community. Two employees recently teamed to learn new software development skills, and they developed interactive software that helps geology students identify rocks and minerals. Another employee worked in the Information Technologies Department at the District office where he received hands-on training with local- and wide-area computer networks. A nursing instructor plans to share with students, patients, and colleagues new alternative healing modalities she learned at a local naturopathic college.

Employee and Organizational Learning
According to Emily Weinacker, the Covey Facilitator Community has implemented a coaching system in which participants in Covey training classes are paired with a certified personal coach who assists their personal development plan to implement principles learned in class. Coaches provide additional content material, assistance with goal development, accountability mechanisms, and celebration activities.

International Education
The International Education Curriculum Project will fund ten faculty to "internationalize" a course they currently teach each semester. The purpose is to provide students, who enroll in such courses, with an awareness of other people and cultures. The participating faculty will also be meeting with the Diversity Curriculum faculty to share information and ideas.

Student Development Services
Mike Rooney reports that all ten Maricopa Community Colleges are currently in the process of implementing the Course Applicability System (CAS). CAS is a Worldwide Web-based application developed to help students make appropriate transfer decisions. It will give students direct online access to information which explain course acceptability and applicability among Arizona's State Universities. New hardware to support the CAS project has been ordered and is being delivered to colleges this month. Full implementation of CAS should take place in the next few months.

Student Success Model
Ernie Lara recently reported at the Learning Paradigm Conference about a new Student Success Model that Paul Dale, Donna Murchland, the other Deans of Students, and he have developed. This will provide a conceptual framework for student affairs professionals to respond to student needs and will identify student affairs contributions to student learning.

Think Tank
According to Janet Beauchamp, The Think Tank is deeply engaged in technology training of K-12 teachers in Arizona. Maricopa Community Colleges was selected by the League of Innovation to be one of three community college pilot sites for the AlliancePlus program, which takes teachers beyond normal search engine basics into "unique and compelling" uses of the Internet with students. To date, 232 Phoenix area teachers have received AlliancePlus training, and 67 mentors have been certified to train additional teachers. Think Tank is rolling out Phase II of the project, which includes a teacher pre-service component. Maricopa personnel are training university undergraduate faculty in the AlliancePlus "Saavy Cyber Teacher" curriculum in four Arizona universities.

Training Services
Currently, Training Services is working with a faculty team to develop a District-wide training strategy for Blackboard's CourseInfo. CourseInfo is used to transform the Internet and other online networks into powerful teaching and learning environments. It can be used to support classroom teaching, to develop a course website, or it can be used to deliver an entire online course.