Monthly Archives: September 2016

The main event at the Faculty Senate this week was a visit from Dr. Blake, our new college president. Dr. Blake discussed a number of items of interest to faculty members, which I will loosely summarize.

There are a number of community college s which are operating a “middle college” program, in which district high schools operate a high school campus at the community college. Students at the high school take normal high school classes, but have easier access to concurrent enrollment, and often take some classes at the college. These students are also exposed to the atmosphere and ethos of the college campus. According to Dr. Blake, such systems tend to be helpful for the high school students attending, increasing their chances of success in and after high school.

There are several high schools in Palomar’s service area who have expressed interest in this idea. While some high school administrators have suggested that such high schools might be restricted to “honors” students, Dr. Blake feels that such a restriction would not be targeting the students who could most benefit, including students of color and other underserved populations (many of whom are less likely to be identified for honors programs even when qualified).

Palomar may be expanding its “Promise” program (which pays for a year of community college) to help students who do not meet the existing GPA requirements, or who do not test into college level classes.

Dr. Blake has suggested to the ASG that they might discuss the possibility of introducing elements of hip-hop pedagogy (which has been researched and explored by a number of education specialists) with Palomar faculty. According to Dr. Blake, there is evidence that hip-hop pedagogy programs can be very helpful in reaching students from underprivileged or impoverished environments. She emphasized that adoption of such pedagogical techniques would always be at the discretion of faculty members, who determine curriculum, and that she was not intending to impose such changes–only to bring the possibility to students’ attention and allow them to discuss it with faculty members.

The Senate will be seeking volunteers for the task force which will determine whether to adopt Canvas or continue using Blackboard; keep your eyes open for announcements to that effect.

Curriculum changes should be submitted right away to have the best chance of being processed by state bureaucracy in time to be implemented next fall.

The PD program will be undergoing a substantial reorganization to ensure that PD opportunities are available to all campus employees, rather than being focused on faculty. A new Professional Development Committee will be formed to direct the program, and will include representatives from all campus constituencies.

As always, please feel free to bring anything you want to see in the Senate to my attention, or to any other faculty representative.

-Richard Albistegui-DuBois

Hello, folks. Sorry for not reporting on last week. The main issues that were discussed last week were faculty involvement in enrollment management (specifically, SPC claiming that we are, and Teresa from PFF responding that we had not been meaningfully consulted), and issues regarding a new director of noncredit & occupational programs being brought onboard outside the hiring process.

Here’s what happened this week:

CA Indian Day Celebration will be held in The Brubeck on 9/22 from 4-5:30.

Wing Cheung is starting an AA/Certification program for unmanned aerial systems technicians. There is a substantial increase in demand for drone engineering and piloting across fields, so this program may well draw in quite a few students. Senators suggested that the program should also emphasize creative and artistic uses, and Wing agreed.

Margie Fritch and Jennifer Patel provided a substantial presentation on how dual enrollment programs will be implemented at Palomar, and how they will impact us. The first issue was clarifying the nature of dual enrollment and its differences from concurrent enrollment, which I will summarize below:

Concurrent enrollment is when high school students enroll in classes at Palomar as Palomar students. They fill out minor student paperwork and receive college credit. Whether they receive high school credit is less certain, and depends on the high school.

Dual enrollment involves classes taught at the high school, during the regular school day, by instructors who must meet Palomar minimum qualifications. These could be Palomar instructors. While the class is taught at the high school, to high school students, it is a college class. The high school at community college establish an agreement under Assembly Bill 288 which specifies that students receive both high school and college credit for the class, and how attendance will be credited (daily attendance for the high school vs. FTES for the college).

There are a number of specific criteria for dual enrollment classes, including:

-They cannot be in impacted areas at the college

-Textbooks are paid for by the high school

-Instructors do undergo peer evaluation, and have the same academic freedom as they would on the college campus

-High schools must contract for these classes within their own district boundaries

-The high school students must also be taking at least 240 minutes per day of normal high school classes

The program is intended to help guide high school students into college (especially students who might not otherwise feel that college was an option, of who are uncertain of their suitability), and to act as a recruitment tool for the college offering the classes. It also results in students who are better prepared when they enroll at the college as regular students after high school.

Issues remaining to be resolved include how instructors ill be paid (given that hours per week will be different, and the class will stretch over two semesters but count as a one-semester course). PFF is examining the proposal.

Details on the requirements for the college/school agreement can be found at http://careerladdersproject.org/ccccode

Finally, the Canvas pilot project is nearing completion, and Palomar will need to decide whether to adopt Canvas or continue using Blackboard. A task force to recommend a decision is being formed via Academic Technology. The intention is to take time to make a decision and to provide ample time for retraining and conversion of course materials.

As always, please feel free to bring up anything you’d like to have brought to the Senate.

-Richard Albistegui-DuBois