The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 20, 2007 Page: 10 of 31
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12 • April 20, 2007
www.theranger.org • The Ranger
By JA Garcia
Bruce Leslie
See Friday, Page 13
Faculty Senate meeting warm-up to chancellor visit
By JA Garcia
com-
•4
Two required sections are taught
as flex classes in one semester.
Senators discussed ESL program move, district name
change and standardizing colleges' curricula.'
Chancellor Bruce Leslie will present
“Strategic Priorities” at 3 p.m. April 25
in McAllister Auditorium.
Government class
combines classroom,
area field trips
look at the program’s Web site and noticing the
low success and retention rates the program
actually results in.
Psychology Professor Don Lucas said the
Claunch, the chancellor was ready to begin his ' success rates he found at the NCAT
Web site were between 30 percent and
50 percent; he said that at Northwest
Vista, success rates are much higher
now, ranging from 70 percent to 85
percent.
For more information on a few case
studies done at different universities
and colleges regarding the first-round
of redesign programs, visit http://
www.center.rpi.edu/PCR/RILessons.
html.
Many teachers also have a problem
with how the program is designed.
According to the NCAT Web site they rede-
sign introductory courses by making sections
larger and moving more course material online.
Professors dislike the program because it
makes introductory courses larger, introduces
more technology into the course, and takes away
from traditional in-class instruction.
The model that NCAT is proposing would
mean introductory courses would more than
likely follow the hybrid format of classes, in
Lucas argued that according to uncontested
data, hybrid classes prove to be unsuccessful.
English Professor Ito Romo argued that using
more technology in the classroom by going to
hybrid classes would restrict access to about 60
percent of the college’s student population of
minority and under served students.
History Professor Maria Landa emphasized
that by using more technology, the program
widens the gap of equal opportunity education
rather than shrinks it.
Despite hearing the faculty’s concerns, Leslie
said he is determined to give the
program a fair shot to see if it will be
successful.
He also suggested possibly having
a representative from NCAT speak
with the faculty to inform them bet-
ter on the program and debate the
research the faculty had found con-
cerning student success and retention
rates.
“All I want from all of us is to be
open to strategies that will make a dif-
ference or if they won’t make a differ-
ence that we’ll know,” Leslie said.
In the end, many of the faculty members
wanted to know how much involvement teach-
ers would have in the process of implementing
new programs for the district’s initiative to stan-
dardize curriculum and if it were possible to opt
out of the NCAT program.
“We NVC faculty do not want to be involved
in NCAT,” math Instructor Anna Harwin said,
causing her colleagues to applaud loudly and
cheer in agreement.
Every Texas public university and college
requires a student to complete six credit hours
of government as part of the college core cur-
riculum.
For some students, the thought of having to
take two government classes makes them cringe.
At Northwest Vista College, however, stu-
dents have the opportunity to take advantage of
uniquely taught government classes in just one
semester.
Government Instructors Robert Marbut and
Bobby Martinez team-teach flex sessions of GOVT
2305, Federal Government, and GOVT 2306, State
Government, in the fall and spring semesters.
During Flex 1, students take federal govern-
ment, and in Flex 2, students take state govern-
ment.
Unlike most government classes, the classes
taught by Marbut and Martinez merge what the
students learn in the classroom with firsthand
observations by visiting governmental institutions
and courtrooms on a regular basis.
Students are required to participate in 10 to
12 field trips throughout both flex semesters as a
requirement of the classes.
Being responsible to attend that many field
trips is one of the most challenging aspects of the
course, Martinez said.
Students need to excel in time management to
juggle their school, personal and work schedules,
he said.
The professors do their part in trying to be as
sensitive as possible with students’ needs by pro-
- viding field trip schedules in advance, doing their
best to coincide field trip times with class times
and offering make-up field trips.
Students have visited meeting rooms of the
U.S. Federal District Court, the Bexar County
Commissioners Court, the Bexar County Courtr
at-Law, the Bexar County District Court, govern-
mental board rooms of the City of San Antonio,
and board meetings of VIA Metropolitan TYansit,
the Alamo Community College District, San
Antonio School District and Northside School
District.
Through the relationships with government
officials that Marbut and Martinez have nurtured
over the years, oftentimes court judges will stop
proceedings to address the class and have the
attorneys and defendants do so as well to help
them understand what’s going on,’Martinez said.
“I believe the students are profoundly impressed
with the sense of obligation that these elected offi-
cials feel with respect to the civic learning experi-
ences of our students,” Martinez said.
The class’s final field trip this semester was
Thursday to the Texas Capitol to meet with elected
representatives to observe the Texas Legislature in
action and to participate in a real life debate with
the help of the deputy parliamentarian.
Usually when the house is not in session, stu-
dents debate particular topics on the house floor
but because the Legislature is in session this year,
the debate will be moved to a committee room,
Martinez said.
At the end of the semester, the class does a final
group project in which students analyze and evalu-
ate what they learned in the classroom and what
they observed in the field, he said.
“What we try to impress upon them is not
only the material that will help them pass the
course or satisfy the government requirement, but
rather provide them a lifelong learning experience
that they can apply to their professional lives,”
Martinez said.
The underlying message was the same at Northwest Vista College in
a Faculty Senate meeting Feb. 23, as was delivered to Dr. Bruce Leslie,
chancellor of the Alamo Community College District, at a campus meet-
ing April 13: You cannot make changes without support.
In the Feb. 23 meeting, senate members discussed the possibility of
relocating English as a second language from the academic area to con-
tinuing education, referring to the colleges of the district as the Alamo
Community Colleges and.standardizing curricula for all the colleges.
The most controversial issue was moving the ESL program.
The Northwest Vista continuing education department declined to
ment.
At this campus there are no talks of moving the ESOL program out of
the academic area, said Robert Vidal, an assistant in the foreign languages
department.
Alicia Paez, English as a second language and reading instructor,
brought up concerns about the possible move that some of the members
agreed with.
Possibly for the first time ever, a staff member would supervise faculty
members, Paez said.
That move could cause resistance among teachers.
Paez said full-time tenure track faculty will lose teaching opportuni-
ties in the college and the curriculum could be watered down if moved to
continuing education.
Along with other members in the senate, Paez believes the reason con-
tinuing education is pushing for the move is because of the growth it would
cause for that division.
Brian Stout, academic leader for the natural and physical sciences,
disagreed with that argument and stated that continuing education would
gain no large profit and questioned what the benefit was of gaining credit
in an ESL class.
Biology Professor Nick Delillo proposed the college look at other col-
leges’ models of ESL programs.
The name change from Alamo Community College District to Alamo
Community Colleges and a plan to have a standardized curriculum for all
the colleges was criticized heavily by senate members.
As reported in The Ranger on Feb. 23, the name change of the district
was approved Feb. 20 at the board of trustees board meeting.
The name change is supposed to give an image to the public that each
college is unique and has,a lot to offer, yet the colleges as a whole are
bound together like a family.
Senate members agreed that the name change would cause confusion,
especially because the ACC acronym is already associated with Austin
Community Colleges.
The members failed to see how it would benefit students and as Delillo
blatantly put it> “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
As for the colleges having a standardized curriculum, the members
were against it, stating a standardized curriculum would cause each college
to lose its uniqueness.
As a final point, math Professor Dennis Gittinger summed up best how
the faculty members were feeling.
“Faculty are stubborn: Don’t tell me what to do; ask me what I think,”
Gittinger said.
Professor Sharia Jones of English as a second language expresses her opinion about
transferring her program to continuing education in the Northwest Vista College Faculty
Senate meeting Feb. 23. Alicia Paez, English as a second language and reading instructor,
sits to her right
mJ
k >
mJ
Friday the 13th proves unlucky for chancellor
Northwest Vista faculty grill
Dr. Bruce Leslie for 90 minutes
on transformation program.
By .LA. Garcia____________________________________
Alberto Delcampo
*
Mr ” J
*
On April 13 Chancellor Bruce Leslie spoke
to faculty and staff at Northwest Vista College
about the district’s strategic plan to standardize
curriculum across all the colleges and to open a
line of communication with faculty.
After a welcome by college President Jackie
r , .. . . ~ .
presentation but instead asked the faculty if they
wanted to begin with a question-and-answer
session first.
What was supposed to be a 30-minute session
ended up being a 90-minute intense discussion,
mainly about the district participating in the
National Center for Academic Transformation
program next fall.
According to a March 1 release sent out by
Kay Hendricks, coordinator of communication
for the district, the Alamo Community College
District and Houston Community College System
are the only two community college districts in
Texas that have been chosen to participate in
the first round of the Colleagues Committed to
Redesign program sponsored by NCAT.
The program is said to save students money
and achieve greater student success and reten-
tion rates for low-income and minority students,
but several faculty members dispute the relation
between the program and student success.
Many of the faculty members, annoyed with
the chancellor’s lack of knowledge of the pro-
gram, voiced their strong opinions against exper- ' which students receive 50 percent of instruction
imenting with the program after taking a closer in class and 50 percent of instruction online.
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San Antonio College. The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 20, 2007, newspaper, April 20, 2007; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1354398/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting San Antonio College.