Documenting Excellence
A consulting practice focusing on working with colleges', organizations', and individuals' utilization of quantitative and qualitative assessment tools to analyze and document their quality outcomes through providing staff development, research design and analysis, and psychometric evaluations.

I plan to utilize more written essay quizzes to strengthen students development of general education competency.

More strict adherence to critiques on writing mechanics (I.e., spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.)

None specifically

My impression is that I do a better job of developing the more advanced thinking & writing skills in my honors classes than in my regular classes. Interesting. Is it because I expect more, or students are more motivated, or both. Hard to determine cause and effect.

Move toward androgogy. I am treating way too many students as high scholars instead of bringing them along into adulthood.

I'd like to incorporate more scientific reasoning into my courses.

Know when students are "over their head" in taking my course because of weak skills in writing and reading - esp. critical reading.

More knowledge of vocabulary (English) more knowledge of facts (history) more knowledge in (math and sciences)

Students would learn a second language better if they have a good knowledge of their own first.

Choose texts and activities that reflect more development of cultural, ethical and environmental factors and

My expectations will stay the same - I always have expected students to build student competency in the general areas. I would like to do more group work. Now, this is quite difficult because students have such poor study skills.

Application & extension of basic ideas is hard to do when students won't/can't take the responsibility for their own

I'm doing the best I can! I am considering a more substance oriented 101. The risk is that when you choose a specific content, some students may loose interest.

Do more advising of students in terms of recommending to specific students, specific ways to improve, I.e. A more appropriate course, the Math Assistance Center, structuring enough study time.

Lower expectations. Dummy down my courses even more. More remedial, less college prep equivalent activities.

No changes envisioned would strengthen development concerning my area.

I will continue to support writing across the curriculum - to encourage critical thinking - to increase expectation of students re: interpretation of research & data.

Continue to increase more reading, writing, self reflection, and discussion in our classes.

We are doing fine - it would be presumptuous to think that we can re-invent the wheel.

More clearly communicated expectations & models for writing assignments.

Do more in area of environmental & culture.

In math we can ask them to explain why a method works, not just ask them to perform calculations.

I would like to spend more time developing students critical thinking skills as they work on organizing and constructing messages for oral delivery. This enhancement could occur when we discuss research and collecting evidence and support for ideas. 

More emphasis on writing skills. More emphasis on analyzing several points of view of a topic. More time showing how one topic related to others. Broader implications, etc.

Our discipline could utilize more written essay quizzes/tests to straighten students' development of general education competency.

I will uphold my standards instead of lowering the bar.

None specifically

Continue to work on discipline performance criteria & activities designed to achieve them in all sections.

A transition approach to instruction methods may be helpful to develop. Many of the basic skills taught in other classes could be reinforced & developed in my classes.

Polishing academic skills, integrating these skills at all levels (0, 100, 200…)

Make sure persuasive speeches are indeed persuasive & not informative "about" the topic. Require detailed outline for speeches. Have students critique one another.

I think we have to focus more on the students than on the teaching methods. Students need to be prepared for college work when they come to school.

1)Strengthen work in critical reading and thinking skills; look for activities and texts that emphasize these skills. 2) In our newly developed reading (Eng. 081,082, 083) courses, we recently did choose texts with a strategy emphasizing "active critical thinking." 3) Expect higher levels of thinking and in general provide more direct training in logical thinking, analyzing and integrating information.

I believe that when a student leaves a Bio. 100 or 101 class for example, that certain competencies will be attained no matter if the teacher is full-time, part-time, on campus, off campus, etc. I think competencies vary a great deal.

Perhaps a more focused discussion of exactly what we expect in our writing sequence - not just found on the active course file but more informal & explicit.

Also, I don't think expectations in courses should change.

More remedial courses required. More support for the faculty who teach them. Fewer college level courses. I can

either teach "content" or get out of the way. I guess I should get out of the way.

No changes would strengthen development concerning my area.

Because of our rigorous assessment activity at C/D I have continued to implement methods to reinforce gen.ed.

Competency (as well as speech competency) Use of analytical exercises (video tape analysis, peer critiques, outside speaker critiques, etc.) and use of increased expectations in writing assignments (analysis papers, analysis of source credibility( has been increased.

See above.

Need more full-time instructors! (Currently 60% of classes taught by part-time)

Early introduction to statistical concepts. Early introduction to APA Style.

Change curriculum to address weaknesses of students & curriculum in respect to Gen.Ed.

Same comment as #1 in ref. To math.

As a discipline, I think we need to insure that all instructors (full & part-time) are emphasizing the general education competencies in their teaching. Instructors could also share activities & discuss pedagogy so they are continually involved in the process of analyzing wheat they teach, how they teach and their effectiveness with students.

Regular discipline meetings would assist in this process. If this were conducted at a discipline level, changes at the individual level would undoubtedly occur.

More effort by an instructor to show how his current course related to other subjects taught within this discipline -

Help the student identify inter-relationships.

Writing and reading skills should be emphasized and strengthened across the curriculum.

More strict enforcement through the college's registration system of course prerequisites being met prior to enrollment for said course.

Don't know.

Higher expectations across the board??

Difficult since we spoon feed students in order to (1) be of service (2) maintain class loads (3) enhance our disciplines.

Incoming freshmen mandatory orientation does not seem possible - perhaps a mandatory video viewing (their medium anyway) within 20 days of 1st time registration or be dropped like non payment? A difficult subject, however if we begin a transition to responsible learning early on we may find a strong receptiveness.

A commitment to excellence..value of literacy, elevation of awareness.. Let's work together to strengthen our curriculum and respect high standards in all classes.

Speaking & writing across the curriculum: 1) when making presentation, don't let students "read" & fail to cite sources.  2) All teachers pay attention to/grade on grammar/mechanics.

Changes at the institutional level might be needed but not to the extent of watering down education in order to make life easier for the students who are not prepared for college.

1)  More dialogue on instructional matters. 2) Work on "study skills" across the curriculum as we did for "writing across the curriculum." for example, if students hear about the importance of "nightly review" of lecture notes from five different instructors instead of just from the study skills instructor, then the importance of review within 24 hours becomes more meaningful!

1) Require extensive testing like you did here. 2) Require the use of prerequisites & remedials if need be. 3) Require students to take a study skills course.

A more active encouragement & support for academic activities (Dare I say intellectual?) The corporate mentality "here and now" seems to overshadow the fact that we are a college, not IBM. Students are students, not "customers,"

Smaller class size for remedial courses. More requirements and fewer optional activities for incoming students.

No changes would strengthen development concerning my area.

Continue to use instruments such as this workbook to help create opened awareness and help us to monitor development of gen. Ed. Competencies.

Change in the compensation for both cross discipline and inter-disciplinary teaching. Bring faculty together for "think-tank". More activities like the Master-Teacher Retreat.

More full-time instructors in my discipline.

More flexibility in English courses. Not all require essay writing to the exclusion of technical/data report writing.

Place more emphasis on subareas of gen.ed.

We could have exit competency tests for reading, writing & quantitative skills.

The institution needs to support more work and connection at the discipline level. While "flattening" the organization of the college may have facilitated institutional streamlining it has unduly burdened faculty, administration and staff at the division and discipline level. Communication and connection at the discipline level is extremely difficult, so the ability to establish cohesion and consensus among faculty concerning gen. Ed. Competencies, curriculum, activities and pedagogy is hindered. Re-establishing some of the structure eliminated when flattening the organization would certainly facilitate each discipline's ability to work together on meeting students' needs in the general education competencies. It would also facilitate each discipline's ability to productively contribute to institutional discussion of these activities because they could bring their own well-developed perspectives to the table instead of asking "how does this apply to my discipline and my classroom in particular?"

Have workshops where faculty share pedagogy strategies that have worked well & may have application elsewhere in other disciplines.

Requiring the English courses their first term here, before others.