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