ocotillo central

Ocotillo Retreat 2002... is our annual gathering to share and discuss instructional technology at Maricopa.

Retreat 2002
about
location
agenda
café discussions
alan november
photos
§evaluation
summary

Ocotillo
ocotillo central
roundtables
retreats
technology visioning

Ocotillo Retreat 2002 Evalution

8. What do you think were the most important outcomes for your college team?

• Strategic thinking.
• Clarity on bond initiative and college input process.
• Visioning culmination to connect to master and bond planning.
• Rethinking the role of IT, Media Center, Library and Student Services.
• Starting to think as one.
• The conversations with our team.
• Meeting others; learning "what it's like" for other campuses.
• My personal understanding has increased.
• A distillation of priorities for planning and visualization of those priorities.
• Bonding and sharing of ideas.
• Developing a process for incorporating faculty input into reorganization at the college.
• Time together to think and talk; sharing ideas.
• Set up meeting in June to get (current group, facilities people, and architects) together.
• Good cross-college collaboration.
• Communicating. Sharing.
• The District Office is starting to realize it's a SIR. We are going to start our own strategic planning.
• Camaraderie. Common goals and needs.
• Planning for our college expansion.
• The ability to deal with the lack of community.
• Realization that the District Office is a separate entity just like a college - commitment to changes. Enthusiasm for change.
• The notion that it's in all our best interests to work together and think of ourselves as one unit.
• Good ideas to carry into next year's planning.
• Focus on rethinking one of prospect.
• Pulling together a variety of current planning processes.
• Crystallizing future plans.
• Bring forward action items to take back.
• Building community as well as the exchange of ideas.
• Thinking about hot issues in relation to our campus.
• Unintended outcomes like realization of planning processes, what was happening in them, and where we needed to get involved.
• Chance to continue talking about technology.
• Wide array of perspectives on master planning and strategic planning for technology and physical space planning.
• Technology discussions: student and staff portals.
• Finally working together at the college.
• Engaging in discussions.
• More questions.
• Beginning a dialogue.
• Identifying issues and goals.
• Conversations about connection of teaching, learning, technology and planning, budget; identifying values, issues, and assumptions; operational issues.
• Our discussions concerning learning and outcomes.
• The opportunity to have different areas exchange ideas.
• Recognize need for digital production support.
• Getting the different "players" together in a relaxed setting to hear each one's major concerns, ideas, and insights.
• Team brainstorming.
• Focusing our thoughts on these issues.
• Planning for SCC's informative literacy.
• Enjoyable, significant interaction.
• Ability to see where other colleges are in terms of planning and commitment. Time to discuss college issues "off-site."
• Establishment of shared goals and priorities.
• Realization that many times we assume the answer is no, so we don't ask for things. We can have them if we just ask!
• Exchange of ideas. "Visioning."
• Emphasis on culture and planning; that we need to take back to the whole college.
• To start conversations that need to be continued.
• Plan to work with architects.
• As District Office staff, it was useful to think about how to build community.
• Brought the college team together and focused a discussion of particularly blended vs. hybrid courses.
• Continue to open communication channels.
• To spend an isolated time together, away from other pressures, to discuss issues related to the District and SMCC.
• We learned a lot about what is happening among work groups on campus.
• Made some decisions about how to improve communication back on campus.
• Chance to meet with other people. Networking is an important and valuable outcome.
• Dialogue on issues important to them.
• New ideas.
• To talk as a group with the mix of people we had.
• To discuss pros & pitfalls of new facilities at MCC (i.e. Life Sciences building and Red Mountain).
• To think about the design of new space for the future.

9. What do you think were the most important outcomes for Maricopa as a whole?

• Collaboration.
• Getting in sync with planning.
• The discussions and time together.
• Seeing a need for Unified District (i.e. My College Portal).
• Increased awareness of challenges, but still very weak regarding costs and cost/benefit.
• Talking with other colleges.
• "More" of a common vision.
• The call for collaboration and better communication between colleges and the District Office.
• Planning and integration of concepts generated here.
• Getting together and learning from each other.
• Get people thinking about shared resources ("my college stuff").
• Planning initiatives.
• Listening.
• Working to do excellent planning as a system, not just as separate entities.
• Technology needs and cooperation/sharing.
• Message to District to work on the Maricopa Student Portal.
• We need each other and can no longer be completely separated. Share where things/ costs can be shared while still allowing diversity and individuality.
• The documentation of possibilities, visions, and ideas for the future.
• Communication between campuses.
• Talking about it (technology planning).
• Helping ideas and questions to surface.
• Camaraderie among colleagues.
• We are alike, but different.
• Building community and learning from all the participants.
• Hearing the values expressed by each campus.
• Sharing ideas with colleagues within and between colleges.
• Time to plan.
• Centralization of services (more efficient District services).
• Discussion of portals.
• Seeing where we overlap.
• Some answers.
• Capturing a snapshot of where we are and where we want to go.
• We are confused - what are the rules/responsibilities of the District Office - servicing and supporting colleges?
• Opportunity to exchange ideas.
• Discussion of bond issues.
• For each campus to hear others' concerns - we could identify similarities and differences.
• Driving toward the bond.
• Focus on technology needs and need to have campuses be more cohesive.
• Planning both strategic and facilities.
• Great discussion - some faculty were not aware of planning that took place throughout the year.
• Sharing of ideas.
• We were able to speak with Alan November on a very limited basis. It would have been nice to have had questions and answers - a dialogue.
• The information literacy and global citizenship notions should be further articulated by Ocotillo.
• Exchange of ideas.
• Discussion about collaboration between colleges needs to be continued.
• "Direction" and "mapping."
• Sharing occurred, but not sure of outcome at this point.
• Increase communication and collaboration.
• More collaboration between/among colleges and the District Office.
• Addressing strategic planning.
• Good discussion between campuses.
• Messages that November provided were extremely important in terms of the digital age learning - his definition of learning paralleled that of Oblinger.
• Visions of various colleges were provocative.
• A unified vision of what's available and when to go: Student Portal, Rio's.
• Discussion about collaboration, centralized vs. decentralized services.
• Q & A about master plan, bond, etc.
• Being able to bring focus to bond issues.
• Collaboration and participation for bond.
• Another step closer to collaboration.
• To share personal thoughts and opinions from people of diverse backgrounds.
• To hear Vice Chancellors share.

10. What topics were not addressed that you felt are important?

• Strategies to leverage operational.
• The business side of the dreams - how to afford them.
• There was not enough time with Alan November.
• Follow up for this retreat; "what happens next"?
• No mention of PeopleSoft and its influence.
• Over catering to technology without recognizing liabilities; psychologically and socially (even career wise).
• Multi-platform issues in teaching? Competent support for both.
• Future of course management.
• Time to collaborate, share innovations, implement. The people.
• District-wide initiatives. Status of current vs. past.
• Money.
• BudgetsÉ if Bond isn't approved, what now (i.e. grants, partnerships with community, etc.)?
• The idea that wants for each college need to be subsumed into constraints and needs of the institution as a whole.
• Technology infrastructure and support personnel to support new building.
• Failure of bond in early '90s and reasons for failure (do not want to repeat).
• Presenter's presentations - emphasized the rest of the day or the next. What is the vision? Does the vision go with the District strategy?
• I like seeing what people are doing at other campuses like last year.
• All.
• I would have liked to hear more from Mr. November.
• Tie into board goals: are these relevant to strategic planning?
• Actually implementing some of the ideas - let's get going.
• Adjunct faculty and their relationship to technology innovation.
• Big picture, connection of planning and budgeting with teachers, learning, and technology.
• Collaboration and the look at FTSE; perhaps investigating collaboration efforts amongst colleges.
• What are corporate and private sectors doing? What are other community colleges and universities doing? Share comparative models.
• Access to technology by students - really addressing the digital divide.
• Why the emphasis on creating a definition of hybrid courses (How do you describe the color blue)?
• It would have been nice to have an "open" topic during the café activity.
• Other models and methods (best practices) by community colleges.
• Why so much emphasis on district-wide, or the definition of hybrid when each campus has customized/specialized approaches to services, delivery, etc.?
• What next? Who? How? What?
• More focus on operational funding - how shall we fund this?
• Standardizing technology for colleges - CMS, tutoring system, portal, etc. We need to take advantage of the buying power of being a large district.
• Would be nice to have presidents attend and participate.
• How instruction/learning needs interrelate to facilities planning.
• Collaborative concepts and how to reward them.
• Concrete visioning of what we may need to plan for. It's tough to plan for the unknown, but we can speculate.

11. What specific directions should Ocotillo take for next year?

• Planning.
• Follow up of 2002 and finalize bond planning.
• Pedagogy issues and technology.
• S/S and S/I interactions.
• Attrition in web-based classes.
• Design of instruction.
• Assessment.
• The schedule was an inefficient use of time - 2 days = 1 day's work.
• Increase attendance.
• Continuation of this model would be great. Continuation of centralized support idea ("triage").
• Continue this process.
• Keep up the great work. Thanks for all the great details (check-in, folders, rooms, and snacks).
• Friendly group. Fun time.
• Incorporate Ron Bleed.
• Good job! Thanks for everything!
• Thanks MCLI for always doing such a great job!
• Add some additional faculty and perhaps PSA, students.
• Have planning and execution meetings on how all these good ideas might turn into reality.
• Evaluate the feasibility of the ideas generated here.
• Role technology in strategic planning.
• Future look of our schools and its students.
• Make sure we have bottled water first day - thanks. What is Corporate America (ASTD) doing compared to Education?
• Standards, centralization vs. decentralization.
• More discussion concerning collaboration among the colleges.
• Distribute the back up information for the activities ahead of time so we can read. There weren't enough copies at our tables for all of us to be able to read and not enough time to do anything.
• The meeting was spent mostly on master planning. This cannot be done in isolation. It would have been better to have this in Phoenix so we could get more people in here that focus more on technology.
• Continue visioning and technology planning.
• Same type of format. Enjoyed the discussions.
• Hybrids: sharing development efforts.
• Don't come to Tucson.
• Vision - plans of organizational change and restructuring antiquated policies, processes, and structures to meet the needs and future of colleges.
• Actual translation of ideas into plans.
• Unsure.
• It was one thing to hear about how things are used and what is needed, but how about seeing? Give several examples of hybrid courses, learning objects, etc.
• Bond planning.
• Each college Ocotillo group should focus on campus master planning.
• Little more structured - less "dead" space. More time devoted to the keynote speaker!
• This conference was far better organized than past Ocotillo sessions.
• Less "Dead space" in discussions. Better discussion prompts.
• Keep working on these type of issues.
• Bond.
• What the corporate and private sectors are doing for T/L/T.
• Do it?
• Continue to work with Ron Bleed's group to plan.
• Make it out of town. Consider moving the date to inside the semester, rather than at the end (perhaps have it on a Friday with the retreat beginning Thursday night or mid afternoon and end late Friday). Work out a deal with the hotel for people to get a discount if they stayed over the weekend. This might get more participation.
• Continuing a visioning process.
• If we could have facilitators who could listen to our dialogue long enough to give us some practical help/guidance/suggestions about HOW TO.
• Continue discussions regarding bond and technology impact needs. Continue with dialogue days, encouraging RFP to utilize technology.
• More Visioning Forums.
• Involve all work groups.
• Try to involve more people.
• More focus on bond planning and master planning issues.
• Continue to be visionary.
• Collaboration.
• To include college master planning information: are we arriving at similar or very different places?