Thank You, Veterans
A-B Tech commemorated Veterans Day Nov.11. Organized by Counselor and Veterans Advisor John Draughon, students, faculty, and staff remembered those who served, and are still serving, their country in the armed forces. "I hope the college community remembers the sacrifices the veterans have made, and are still making." said Draughon, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War.
Pictured are (l to r) John Draughon, Accounts Payable Clerk Tina Fountain, who served in the Army Reserves as a medic; Security Officer Carlton Holcombe who served in the Army, Chief Carpenter Henry Ledford, who served two tours in the Air Force in Vietnam; and Tom Clark of Plant Operations, who also served two tours in Vietnam.
There are currently 125 veterans and 15 dependents of veterans attending A-B Tech through the GI Bill. The GI Bill was developed by Congress to allow veterans to readjust to civilian life, get an education and become employed. The benefits of the GI Bill are also passed along to the dependants of veterans.
Teach Your Teachers Well
By April 2004, A-B Tech will establish an orientation program for new faculty. Because so many faculty members come to the college as working professionals in their fields with little or no classroom experience, Vice President of Instructional Services Sharon Morrissey realized there was a need for instructional training - teaching teachers how to teach.
"They go through the Super Tuesday program, which is wonderful," says Morrissey, "but it doesn't help them as far as what our expectations are in the classroom, what are some effective teaching skills, and how to design a syllabus and class outline." Other areas to be targeted are the mission and history of the college, adult learning styles, recognizing diversity in planning instruction, writing objectives and assessing learning outcomes, legal issues in the classroom, how to work with college policies, procedures and paperwork, and invitational learning skills.
The program will be broken into modules, so that instructors who have previous teaching experience either at A-B Tech or other institutions, can omit certain seminars deemed unnecessary by their deans.
The work team will be made up of "master faculty" chosen by the departmental deans and facilitated by Director of Employee and Organization Development Carol Rovello. They will develop and conduct the seminars, which will be held on Tuesdays of the second semester. The work team members are Becky Sroda, Lorraine Silverman, Karen Baker, Lee Swendson, Chris Tibbets, Bob Hixson, Kelly Randolph, Lewis Lightner, Mike O'Kane, David Smith, Jackie Jones-Nickens, Sherry Shields, Ken Czarnomski, Deborah Lonon, Rusty Holmes, and Tom Dechant.
Morrissey hopes that participants in the orientation program will be able to get graduate credit from Western Carolina University.
Those Wonderful Twos
Don't miss the opportunity to view the Infant, Toddlers, and Twos Timeline on display in the third floor hallway of the Hemlock Building. Early Childhood Instructor Maura Davis assigned the timeline to her Infants, Toddlers and Twos classes so they could get a visual feel for the development of a child from the womb to toddler age. Instructors Diane Hughes and Pam Kirby, along with Early Childhood Chairperson Cathy Pollock, judged the classes' timelines, with the winners staying up in the hallway until Dec. 15, when it will be donated to Asheville High School. "(All the classes' timelines) have received a great reception, and people can see how magical the development of a child is," says Davis.
Crazy About Conferences
On top of their already busy schedules, numerous A-B Tech instructors and administrators traveled hundreds of miles so they could represent the college at various conferences around the state and country.
Instructors in Developmental Studies Susan Paterson and Kathleen Ross presented a session on the teaching effective reading skills in develepmental courses at the annual North Carolina Association of Developmental Education conference in Burlington. Chairperson of Developmental Studies Gigi Derballa was part of a panel entitled "Transferring From Community Colleges to Universities" at the Association of General and Liberal Studies conference in Charlotte. She has the added distinction of being the only representative from a community college on the executive board of this national organization.
Director of Distance Learning Rusty Holmes and Coordinator of the Virtual Learning Community Grant David Smith presented three sessions including a three-hour workshop at the League for Innovation in Community Colleges' National Conference on Information Technology in Milwaukee. The topics included "Organizing for Outcomes in a Technology Mediated Learning Environment," "Linking Community Colleges with Community High Schools Through Interactive Television," and "Accommodating Diverse Discipline Needs Within a Single Course Through Technology." In late November, they attended the Western Region Distance Learning Administrators Round Table in Dobson. Dean of Arts and Sciences Tom Dechant dubbed the recent Instructional Administrators Conference "the A-B Tech Show." Held in Asheville and open to all 58 North Carolina Community Colleges. The conference featured a keynote speech by the President of the North Carolina Community College System, Martin Lancaster, who lauded A-B Tech and the other colleges earning a Superior rating on "their consistent excellence." President lancaster was introduced by President Bailey, who also opened the conference. Holmes and Smith presented a session on General Education Outcomes Assessment, and Derbella and Vice President of Instructional Services Sharon Morrissey presented a session on "Assessing the First-Year Seminar." Tom Dechant replaced Dean of Business and Hospitality Joe Franklin as this year's coordinator for on-sight activities, as well as participating on a panel discussion of performance measures with Dean of Allied Health and Public Service Ned Fowler. This year's theme was "Assessing Student Learning Outcomes" and many attendees came up to the A-B Tech representatives exclaiming about how well A-B Tech is doing on assessments. "We're definitely out there doing things that other colleges are just now starting to think about," says Morrissey.