tycato you - ncte€¦ · 230 tyca to you tetyc vol. 44, no. 2, december 2016 319 tyca to you news...

230 T E T Y C Vo l . 4 4 , N o . 2 , D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6 TYCA to You 319

to You TYCANews from the Regionals of the Two-Year College English Association

“2010 Regional Conference Reports” from David Lydic, Editor of “TYCA to You”

For each of the TYCA regions, our annual confer-ences are a highlight. We come together to com-miserate, to share, to laugh, to inspire. As one of the regional representatives put it, the conferences are akin to a family reunion as much as they are profes-sional development. As is the case with many of us, I attend many conferences each year, hundreds over my career. I never feel as at home as I do at TYCA regional.

In spite of economic hard times and a predict-able reduction in travel budgets, attendance at the TYCA regionals did not seem to suffer. I believe this is a testament to the richness of the programs, the knowledge that we will never learn as much from anyone as we will from our colleagues.

Following are the reports of each TYCA region’s annual conference. As you read them you will detect the love we have for our profession, our students, and each other. Enjoy.

David Lydic may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-West Report from Louise Bown

The 2010 TYCA-West Conference was held at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, NV, Oc-tober 8-9, 2010. The theme was “Entering the Con-versation: Creating Actionable Knowledge.” Ourguest speaker, Robert M. Sherfi eld, gave a presentation on how we can engage students in the conversations about writing.

March 2011 Prepared by David Lydic and the TYCA Regional Representatives

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December 2016

Learning Outcomes——Sybil Priebe, Editor of “TYCA to You”

Back in July, a TYCA rep responded to my request for TYCA-to-You topics with the following: “Another possible topic—on my mind this sum-mer—it seems we are constantly revising learning outcomes at the state level, to streamline, to make them more measurable, to realign them with this and that. I’d be interested—if we haven’t covered it yet—in knowing how often general education and/or course-level outcomes get revised, who revises them, and how, and for what reasons in other regions.”

So, here’s a little recap (thanks to my colleague, Ronda Marman) of what our little—but mighty—state of North Dakota does:

•Thecommitteethatreviewsthestandardsmeetsevery5–7yearsandismadeup of North Dakota math and English teachers and the Department of Pub-lic Instruction. The instructors involved submit applications and are reviewed and ranked according to their experience in standards and curriculum devel-opment.

•TherevisionsthatarecomingintotheNDUSsystem(see“FirstDraftofNew Math, English Standards,” https://www.nd.gov/dpi/SchoolStaff/ICR/press_releases/FirstDraftofNewMathEnglishStandards/),involvingmoreinput from educators, seem to have a more favorable reception—to date. The general education outcomes at the college level seem to be in line with the national expectations; however, there will always be room for improvement.

•TheVerticalAlignmentgroup(2013–2014)wasoneofthestate’sinitiativesthat had the right motivation; however, they let outside interests control it. The current model—taking applications from experienced persons within the field—seems much more promising. However, I think that future reviews will have to occur in a shorter time frame to accommodate the fluidity of our society and technological changes that modify the framework of the learning environment.

Prepared by Sybil Priebe and the TYCA Regional Representatives

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•Thesenewstandardshavenotyetbeenreleased;however,thenotesIre-viewed from those sessions shows that the recommendation that was most heatedlydiscussedwithintheVerticalAlignmentcommitteewasinregardto research and documentation and students’ ability to understand and use professional-level sources—and properly document them. This is an ongoing issue in a society where multiple forms of social networking not only use but also propagate using personal opinion and belief in lieu of factual or expert information.

TheNorthDakotaUniversitySystemhasalsoimplementedaLEAPInitiative(see“LEAP Initiative/General Education, https://www.ndus.edu/system/councils/academic-affairs/leap-initiative-general-education/), which other colleges may or may not have mentioned in their reporting:

•Anationalinitiative,LEAPchampionsthevalueofliberaleducationforindividual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essen-tial learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study.

•LEAPseekstoengagethepublicwithcorequestionsaboutwhatreallymatters in college; give students a compass to guide their learning; make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence and assessment of learning; and create new alignments between educational secondary and higher education.

If you have a topic you’d like us to report back on, please feel free to shoot it my way.Sybil Priebe may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southwest Report from Erin O’Neill Armendarez

Texas, by far the largest state in the TYCA-SW region, has common learning outcomes for some of the courses most often taught in the state’s colleges and universities, including some general education writing courses. The state’s higher education board has developed an Aca-demic Course Guide Manual (ACGM)thatlistsrequiredoutcomes for these courses and the common course descriptions. Campuses must cover all learning outcomes

listedintheACGMbutarefreetoaddadditionaloutcomesthatservespecificlocal needs. Instructors in English seem happy with this system for the most part; however, those set on teaching Composition II exclusively from literature “have issues” with the common outcomes. One TYCA-SW member from Texas would like to see the state align the first-year writing courses more carefully with WPA outcomes and believes the most important outcome in writing for students is to “be able to construct a good English sentence.”

New Mexico has a list of general education core competencies divided into five main areas including Communications and Humanities. Currently, upon request of the provosts of the state’s four-year colleges and universities, a statewide

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• Bradley Bleck of Spokane Falls presented on podcasting; he led the group in recording and creating podcasts using several Flip cameras and one Digital video camera, and uploaded them on YouTube.

• Thematic English 101 Courses were the focus of Andrea Reid, Betsy Lawrence, and Jeannie Isern of Spokane CC. In these 101 sections, the faculty create a theme, choose relevant texts and fi lms, and share assign-ments. Themes so far have included The American Dream, Coming of Age, Surviving Disasters, and Imagining the Future. The collaborative curriculum does require extra time, but the benefi ts to students, who fi nd the course more interesting, and to faculty, who enjoy the professional development and camaraderie, have made it worthwhile.

The 117 conference participants appreciated a plateful of options, generous publishers, and the prospect of more collegiality at the conference in Yakima in Fall 2011.

Alexis Nelson may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southwest Report from David Lydic

October 21–23, 2010 was a good weekend for TYCA-SW. Laredo Community College sponsored the region’s 45th annual conference in Laredo, TX. Conference co-chairs Raj Chekuri and Nancy Herschap assembled a creative and effective collection of sessions in support of their conference theme “Connecting the Dots.” They were wonderful hosts.

The conference welcomed about 70 attendees. All six states in the southwest region were represented. The 24 sessions were presented by 30 teachers from 15 different colleges. Presenters were from all of the region’s six states.

The conference theme elicited a wide variety of sessions. Dori Wagner from Austin Community College talked of “Taking Symbols to the Movies,” Beth Humphreys of Seminole State College discussed “Metacognition: The Quintessen-tial Connection of the Dots,” Gordon K. Lee of Lee College addressed “Keeping Literature Relevant,” Diann V. Mason of Paris Junior College gave us quite an origi-nal presentation on “Connecting the Dots: The Poetry of Hip-Hop,” and Norma Cruz-Gonzales and Sophia Caldera Cataneda of San Antonio College discussed “Learning Communities: Tracking and Retaining Students.” Friday afternoon was a treat to a large audience listening to the creative offerings of Thom McFarland (Austin Community College) reading from his novel In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: A Comedy in Five Acts and Diana Smith (Southwest Texas Junior College) reading a selection of her poetry. Both were excellent.

As it always does, technology received attention. Jack Marshall of Houston Community College talked of “Writing DVD Scripts,” Erin Beaver of Colorado


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task force made up of administrators, faculty, and staff from various campuses is redrafting these competencies to streamline them and to bring them up to date. In addition, the state intends to set common numbers for general education courses acrossallcampuses.Forcourseswithcommonnumbers,80%ofthestudentlearn-ing outcomes will be the same. Currently, subcommittees in English and math are reviewing course syllabi from around the state. NMHED staff and graduate students are working on sorting and classifying learning outcomes; faculty may go online and review, discuss, and make changes to the outcomes as the work progresses.

A colleague from Oklahoma reports that Oklahoma has no common gen-eral education outcomes, but her campus is creating a subcouncil of faculty from across general education disciplines that will develop common learning outcomes forcorecourses.Forhercampus,thisisnew,sonooneknowsyetwhatthefinaloutcome will be.

Likewise,acolleaguefromLouisianareportsthatthestatehasnogeneraleducation outcomes; however, it does have common outcomes for developmental classes.Louisianahas commoncourse descriptions for core courses, and at thecollege level faculty are responsible for writing and revising learning outcomes as needed.OurreportingLouisiananbelievesstudentsshoulddefinitelybeabletosuccessfully “write about different perspectives of the same event.”

Members from Arkansas and Colorado did not respond to the query on general education learning outcomes before the publication deadline. However, higher education department websites for both states list general education courses guaranteed to transfer everywhere in their states. These courses often have different titles and numbers, and no explicit outcomes are mentioned. The Arkansas Course Transfer System (ACTS) website explains that faculty across the state determine which courses meet intended general education learning outcomes in a particular core area.

Erin O’Neill Armendarez may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-West Report from Stephanie Maenhardt

Many instructors have a love/hate relationship with the ideaofstudent learningoutcomes,orSLOs.We love the idea because we are devoted to our students and want to do whatever we can to help them succeed in our classes and outside of school, too. However, for the individuals who are directly charged with presenting and carrying out learningoutcomes inourclassrooms,SLOscanalsobe a frustrating concept, especially when said outcomes

are mandated from a higher power, and we have little say in what they are or how and why they are selected.

In speaking with instructors from around the TYCA-West region, I dis-covered that there is broad spectrum of understanding when it comes to statewide

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learningoutcomes.SomeinstructorsfeltverywelleducatedonSLOsandstatewideexpectations, while others were unsure of the process. In the second situation noted here, that of the dissatisfied instructor, there were always detailed outcomes in place at a school and departmental level; however, there was minimal transparency on information coming from outside of their actual college.

OneinstructorfromUtahnotedthatwhileSLOsarefrequentlydiscussedwithin her school and department, she has “no idea how often the state revises its general education outcomes for higher ed” or even “who does the revising.” Her comments suggest the need for greater transparency. If states could open the doors of communication here and keep teachers informed, making sure that they are aware of the process for selecting statewide learning outcomes and also when and how said outcomes are revised, it would be much easier to incorporate these ideas into their course curriculum.

It’s important to note that questions with transparency and awareness of an SLOdecision-makingprocessdifferfromstatetostate.AninstructorinArizonanoted that his state’s task force meets yearly, but that they don’t necessarily “rewrite outcomes.” This was, instead, the purview of each individual “community college district [and] university.” Between these institutions, instructors work together to makesurethattheproposedSLOsarticulate;however,noteveryinstructorhastheopportunity to serve on this statewide committee. It’s up to the task force to dis-seminateimportantSLOinformationtoindividualschoolsandinstructors.

AnotherinstructorfromArizonaaddedmoredetailtothediscussion,com-menting on the importance of ongoing conversations between different articulation task forces. These subject-area specific groups are composed of educators at both two-year and four-year schools throughout the state and meet annually to discuss “general education courses in that area.” Additionally, individual courses in each subject area undergo reviews throughout the year to make sure the content is in linewiththedesignatedSLOs.

Regardless of an instructor’s degree of involvement in determining statewide learning outcomes or even his or her knowledge that such outcomes exist, we can agree on the importance and benefit of having ambitious and achievable goals in place for our courses and students.

Referencing the WPA Outcomes Statement, one instructor noted that while all of the outcomes listed in the document are important in their own ways, “the one that seems so crucial as a life skill is learning to adapt messages to meet the needs of specific audiences for specific purposes and for specific occasions.” Indeed, critical thinking and adaptability are highly transferrable actions that students can carry not just from assignment to assignment, or from course to course, but from the classroom into work and life activities outside of school. When this occurs, an outcome has definitely been achieved.

Stephanie Maenhardt may be reached at [email protected].

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TYCA-Midwest Report from Suzanne Labadie

GreetingsfromtheMidwest!Thiseditionof“TYCAtoYou” caused a moment of pause for many of us in the region.MycolleagueGalenLeonhardyputitwell:“Thetopic is not exactly foreign to me, but it is not something I’ve spent much time contemplating.” I would say the same. The day to day of a two-year college instructor’s life is regularly occupied with students, pedagogy, reading, and grading, so that we rarely come up for air, some of us.

After completing research and polling TYCA-MW membership, it turns out that few of the states in the Midwest have statewide outcomes for general educa-tion at the postsecondary level that are actively enforced or familiar to faculty. Most schoolstakeintoaccountthechangestohighschool–levelcurriculumandtheability of students to transfer their credits from the two-year college to wherever they’d like to continue their work. Rarely, however, do these two priorities include prescripted general education outcomes.

Assessment is still a central endeavor for instructors and is commonly associ-atedwithHLCaccreditation.Inthiscontext,schoolsareconcernedwithcreatingor maintaining general education outcomes, and common course outcomes, and demonstrating evidence of assessment internally at institutional, departmental, and individual levels. That said, most faculty in the Midwest report the creation of out-comes in collaboration with other college faculty, particularly in their discipline.

Because most of these schools work at a local level, rather than statewide, changes to the existing outcomes would certainly be simpler to make without having to knock on the doors of legislators or external committee members. Even so,guidelinesprovidedbytheHLCstressthatgeneraleducationoutcomesandthe associated measurement tools are not meant to be fluid documents but should remain static and consistent so as to ensure that we are able to more effectively measure student learning. As such, the process for changing outcomes—beyond simple wordsmithing—can be long and drawn out. This is a sensible approach, but it does make responsive pedagogy somewhat more difficult than instructors might prefer.Indiana,astatethatdoesinfacthaveGEoutcomes,updatedtheiroutcomesin2013andgaveschoolstwoyearstoimplementthosechangesby2015.Aslowmoving machine indeed.

I am grateful that schools in Michigan and elsewhere in the region are able to create their general education outcomes based upon the expertise of faculty teaching in the disciplines. It is certainly not lost on me that many other institutions have outcomeshandeddowntothemfromotherorganizationsandlegislators.Ontheother hand, it does mean that colleges must independently pursue the sometimes hard-to-find research on what is happening at other colleges in the state. Whether instated by the government or not, alignment with other institutions in the state on the essential learning outcomes of a college education is an important aspect of a college’s integrity.

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at a time. Personalize the questions. Ask a specifi c student. During the discussion if questions arise, let students grapple with and fi gure out the answers. Hold back and observe. Strive to remain objective and non-judgmental during the discussion.

Sherfi eld concluded with the idea that the academic conversation promotes a culture of ideas, gives access to intellectual capital, and is an extension of something else. The academic conversation goes beyond the traditional classroom. Cyber conversations, blogs, emails, social media such as Facebook are ways to add to the conversation.

Breakout session presentations were given by faculty from Nevada, Arizona, and Utah on issues such as Best Practices for Teaching Basic Writing Students, Student Curate Library Exhibits, Evaluating Writing in the Age of Entitlement and Grade Infl ation, Developing a Framework for Success in First-Year Writing, and a Community-Based Mentoring Program.

Louise Bown may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Midwest Report from Karla Brown

The September 30-October 2, 2010 TYCA-Midwest Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, with the theme of “Harvesting Talent,” provided fertile ground for a rich crop of sessions and cross-fertilization of collegial sharing. A sampling of theme-related sessions included “Harvest-ing Teaching and Learning Success: Examining the Fruits of Our Labors” on program assessment of three general education student learning outcomes at Oakland Com-

munity College in Michigan; a session entitled “Dual Credit: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff,” which offered a national profi le of dual credit and an overview of issues involved, particularly regarding standards and assessment; a look at a service learning project at Zane State College in Ohio entitled “Growing Your Commu-nity: Technical Writing Classes Work with Farmers’ Markets”; and a presentation from Hawkeye Community College in Iowa called “Making the Most Out of Crop Rotation: Multiple Approaches to Improve and Assess the Peer Review Process.”

In addition to the break-out sessions, participants at the conference enjoyed the Friday luncheon, during which several awards were presented. The Adjunct Proposal Award went to Laura Gabrion and Rebecca Rivard from Macomb Com-munity College in Michigan for their session “Composting: Multiple Literacies in the Composition Classroom.” Mary Gruis, from Ridgewater College in Hutchison, Minnesota received the Outstanding New Faculty Award based on a recommen-dation from her peers and students. Carrie Barker, a nontraditional student from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, acknowledged the impact of her teacher, Heal McKnight, as she accepted a national award, the Norton’s Writer’s Prize, which came with a cash award of $1,500.

One of the highlights of the conference was the Friday luncheon keynote speaker Brent Spencer, author of Are We Not Men? and The Lost Son. Brent’s talk


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Itwouldbehelpful,Ithink,tohavemoredialogueabouttheGEoutcomesthat we are working with across the state. If it were possible for schools to maintain autonomy to create outcomes that suit their students and also achieve collabora-tion between colleges, that would be ideal. Of course, without the enforcement of legislators or some other governing body, projects like this are often a “nice idea” rather than something that truly creates change and improvement.

What remains clear is that faculty in the Midwest are committed to a few things above all else: effective communication in writing, critical thinking, readings skills, and a sense of one’s place in a rapidly changing global society.

Suzanne Labadie may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southeast Report from Susan Slavicz

Community colleges in the Southeastern region have varying processes to decide and revise general education outcomes.InFlorida,thereisnostandardtimeperiodforthoserevisions.InMississippi,GayeWinternotesthattheprocess of reviewing the standards is usually linked to visits by SACS, our accreditation agency.

Nancy Webster, associate vice president of arts and sciencesandarticulationatFloridaStateCollegeatJack-

sonville,notedthatseveralyearsagocommitteesofFloridafacultyfromtheFloridaCollegeSystemandStateUniversitySystemmettoconstructthegeneraleducationcore for each of the five general education areas for students entering the system. A driving factor for this revision was to reduce the number of required hours. CharlesSmiresnotedthatchangesinthenumberofhoursrequiredinFloridaandthe assigned categories have been guided by trying to speed up degree completion andtoemphasizedegreecoursefocusasopposedtogeneraleducation.Ultimately,financial concerns seem to lie behind all of the decisions.

KathleenCiez-Volz,executivedeanforacademicfoundationsatFSCJ,addedthat a statewide committee informs theworkof aGeneralEducationReview(GER)committeeat individual institutions likeFSCJ.TheGERcommittee, inturn, works closely with general education disciplinary councils/committees whose members review course outlines and course learning outcome assessment forms to ensure currency and relevancy of the curricula and to provide feedback about the adoption and implementation of global general education learning outcomes relative to the specific discipline/courses.

InFloridawealsohaveStatewideGeneralEducationoutcomeareasthatdiffer from the general education requirements: Communication, Critical Thinking, ScientificandQuantitativeReasoning,InformationLiteracy,andGlobalSociocul-tural Responsibility. In my discussions with faculty, critical thinking invariably gets mentioned most often as the emphasis of every discipline. I have increasingly em-phasizedtheimportanceofcriticalthinkinginmywritingcoursesandparticularlyfeel that with the influx of dual enrollment students this piece must be in place.

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wove together the stories of a student at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, where he teaches, with his own story of attending a community college as a key step in his life, and the story of his friendship with writer Tillie Olse n. His remarks were a touching reminder of the role we play in helping many students join “the world of words”—and had many in the audience in tears.

Beyond the program itself, the DMACC conference provided opportunities to mix and mingle at the Thursday evening reception, the Dine-Around-Town Friday night dinner outings which have become a TYCA-Midwest tradition, and dancing at Blues on Grand. Participants were also encouraged to go to the Saturday morn-ing downtown Farmers’ Market with $5 vouchers for breakfast.

We are already anticipating next year’s conference in Columbus, Ohio at the Hyatt Regency October 13-15, 2011. The theme, “Your Life Is a Book, and Every Day Is a Page,” are the words on a statue of renowned folk artist Elijah Pierce on the Columbus State Community College campus. Cynthia L. Selfe, Distinguished Professor of English at Ohio State University and co-editor of Computers and Composition: An International Journal, will discuss the Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives project that provides a historical record of literacy practices and values of U.S. citizens. To submit a proposal, visit the TYCA-Midwest website at tycamw.org or email Program Chair Ingrid Emch at [email protected] by May 1, 2011.

Karla Brown may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southeast Report from Beverly Derden Fatherree

The 46th annual TYCA-Southeast conference was held March 3-5, 2011, in lovely Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of At-lanta. Hosted by Georgia Perimeter College, the conference was held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, which of-fered close proximity to historic Decatur, with its bookstores, art galleries, and boutiques.

Themed “English at the Crossroads: Redefi ning Our Role in Higher Education,” the conference began with the

usual meet and greet Wednesday, March 2, following a long day of Regional Execu-tive Committee business. The reception in the hospitality suite is an opportunity for those who arrive early to visit, to catch up on the events of the previous year, to share pictures of family, and to unwind from their trip from one of the ten states which represent TYCA-SE.

Thursday morning kicked off with three concurrent pre-conference work-shops, each emphasizing teaching skills. Kari Miller, an experienced online instruc-tor, focused on online teaching skills; Dr. Nicolette Rose, an internationally focused instructor, presented “Global Approaches to Composition and Literature”; and Beth Wallace, Jeff Meadors, and Dr. Rosalyn Jacobs led a workshop which discussed “Civic Engagement and Service-Learning Integration”. The value added to the


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Facultywhorespondedtothequestionsforthisarticlehadnocomplaintsabout the process. Most of the time faculty are involved in setting the outcomes and standards.However,Florida’semphasisuponsavingmoneyandtimebyreducingthe number of general education requirements did sometimes impact the avail-abilityofcertaincourses.Forinstance,theintroductiontoliteraturecourseshavebeen designated as humanities courses, which, at least at my college, meant fewer students taking the classes.

Generaleducationoutcomesappeartobetiedtoaccreditationprocessesinmost instances. Individual schools are required, during accreditation, to examine their outcomes and to at least determine their adequacy. States’ concerns with general education requirements, however, seem to be much more tied to money issues than to the quality of students’ education.

Susan Slavicz may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Northeast Report from Leigh Jonaitis

As is likely the case at many institutions, the states of the Northeast have different approaches in terms of statewide general education outcomes. For ex-ample, general education outcomes in Connecticut are ostensibly determined by individual institutions. However,sincethe12communitycollegesandthe5stateuniversities(excludingtheUniversityofCon-necticut) combined several years ago under a single

system, they have undergone a rigorous Transfer and Articulation Policy process that aligns institutions in a competency-based gen ed core. There is still autonomy for individual institutions, but the outcomes of each competency area were developed byateammadeupofrepresentativesofall17institutionsandvettedandvotedon by each institution. As Jeff Partridge of Capital Community College explains, the process “has been messy in many respects, but that is understandable given the scopeoftheproject.Lookingback,I’mnotconvincedthatthecompetency-basedsystem for gen ed is viable. I feel like the result is essentially still a course-based system with a lot of competency jargon. That said, I do feel that taking a close look at the competencies we want students to learn and codifying those competency outcomes more specifically in course outlines has strengthened our course outlines. The next question, of course, is whether individual faculty are really teaching to these new outcomes or just doing what they have always done. That is the chal-lenge at the campus level.”

InSeptember2008,NewJerseysignedintolawaComprehensiveStatewideTransferAgreement.Thisagreement,whichisalsoknownastheLampittLaw,isdesigned to facilitate a smooth transfer from a New Jersey community college to the New Jersey public four-year colleges and universities. The agreement provides for full transfer of the associate in arts (AA) and associate in science (AS) degree credits for community college graduates. In supporting this legislation, Kelly Bender

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TYCA-Northeast Report from Judy Angona

Crisp autumn breezes welcomed enthusiastic members of TYCA-Northeast to Washington, DC, on Novem-ber 4-6, 2010, for the group’s forty-fi fth annual confer-ence. Program Co-Chairs Jennifer Garner and Stacy Korbelak of Howard Community College, Maryland, credit the conference theme, “Capitol Improvements: The Two-Year College as an Agency of Change,” to their inspiration at “the spirit of change […] sweeping

our country.” At the comfortable and attractive DuPont Hotel, conveniently poised on Washington’s DuPont Circle, Local Arrangements Co-Chairs Jill Kronstadt and Tammy Peery of Montgomery College, Maryland, worked tirelessly to insure at-tendees an enjoyable stay. Registration Chair Christian Mahoney of Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland, reported more than 150 conference registrants.

The conference opened at 8:15 a.m. on Friday morning with a provocative breakfast panel—a new feature for this regional—at which a college president, an academic vice president, the chair of the Maryland Higher Education Commis-sion, and a representative of the U.S. Department of Education were among six panelists offering “from-the-trenches” perspectives on the “State of the Community College.” As conference attendees arrived, they selected their breakfast items and found seats at the many available round tables in the spacious ballroom without disrupting the speakers’ focus or interfering with audience members’ concentration. This well attended, informative session fostered a spirit of community and sparked interest in attending the concurrent sessions; the model is worthy of replication.

The heart of the conference consisted of fi fty-six diverse presentations, of-fered by 101 presenters representing colleges in ten NE states and one hardy traveler from Cal State, Fullerton. The talks were arranged into eight concurrent sessions throughout the day on Friday and on Saturday morning. Session topics were wonderfully comprehensive, ranging from creative explorations of current hot-button issues (e.g., high school to college transition, globalization, popular culture, information literacy, community outreach, refugee populations, adult learners, and career initiatives) to new perspectives on the always-relevant topics of developmental instruction, fi rst-year composition, distance learning, assessment, and educational technology.

Friday’s luncheon session featured speaker Malachy McCourt—writer, story-teller, humorist, actor, and radio talk show host. McCourt became a bestselling author at age 66, with A Monk Swimming, a memoir recounting his experiences as a young American immigrant in the 1960’s. The silver-tongued raconteur enthralled listeners with his informal blend of personal anecdotes, salty jokes, and refl ective readings. His talk concluded with a beautiful “by heart” rendering of Yeats and an invitation for the audience to join him in singing a spirited Irish ballad. On Satur-day, luncheon attendees enjoyed the gentle perceptions of Phyllis Theroux—former


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of Passaic Community College explains that most in the state are certainly in favor of protecting students from losing credits, courses, and time as they transfer from community colleges to state colleges. However, she along with many others are skeptical of these mandates and outcomes being “created” somewhere at the state level and then delivered “down” to community colleges. At Bergen Community College, a committee that includes the deans of assessment, vice presidents of in-stitutional effectiveness, members of the faculty senate/union, and representatives from a variety of departments revises the gen ed outcomes. The committee evalu-ates the language and aligns outcomes with the vision, values, and mission of NJ colleges. The main reason is to sustain regional accreditation and to keep current with national requirements and trends.

In Pennsylvania, general education outcomes are developed by the individual colleges,notthestate.Dr.CharlieGrothofBucksCountyCommunityCollegeexplains:“We’refreetoreviseourGenEdprogramwhenandaswewish.Practicallyspeaking, however, we make decisions based on likelihood of transfer and recom-mendationsfromourregionalaccreditationbody(MiddleStates).‘Likelihoodoftransfer’ would include attention to the transfer frameworks at the state level. We are not required to follow this framework, but it is to our students’ advantage that we do. In addition to the state-level transfer framework, we are concerned with transfer to the places our students are most likely to transfer to, which may or may not match the state framework.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, all those surveyed seemed to feel that the most important gen ed outcomes revolve around writing and communication. As we know, successful students must be able to communicate effectively in reading, writ-ing, and speaking, as well as exhibit independent, informed, critical observation and problem solving. Identifying these goals in general education outcomes on a statewide level is a priority for TYCA-NE members.

Thank you to the following for their contributions to this report: Jeff Partridge of Capital Community College, Kelly Bender of Passaic County Community College, Iris Bucchino of Bergen Community College, Patrick Moore ofHudsonCountyCommunityCollege, andCharlieGrothofBucksCountyCommunity College.

Leigh Jonaitis may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Pacific Northwest Report from Teresa Thonney

I asked Pacific Northwest TYCA members to tell me about their statewide general education learning out-comes for higher education: who revises them; how happy faculty are with them; and which outcomes they considered most important for students to achieve. Here’s what I learned from faculty in my region.

In Oregon, general education outcomes are revised by the Higher Education Advisory Committee,

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faculty and the conference will refl ect concerns and successes based on these top-ics as well as issues not yet addressed in our regional representatives/membership correspondence. We all look forward to featured presentations of CA writers and scholars and are eager to assess how our innovations in more accurately targeting the challenges and successes of our constituency enliven our conference and pro-vide direction to TYCA-Pacifi c Coast.

Jody Millward may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Pacifi c Northwest Report from Alexis Nelson

The conference theme, “The Imagined _________,” af-forded presenters and participants many possibilities. The warmth of Whatcom Community College’s hospitality kept the Bellingham, WA, drizzle at bay. The October 8-9 conference got off to a quiet, then effervescent start with Nancy Sommers’ workshop. Participants were told to bring an evocative object—one packed with sensory memories. Then, to their surprise, they were given 50

minutes to write about the object. It takes a while to quiet 70 English teachers, but once that happened, so did the magic. People who thought 50 minutes sounded impossibly long were still writing at the end of the time. Sommers required that we share our work, moving away from the familiar faces we’d come with. As powerful as the silence and writing were, equally powerful was being compelled to share our work with strangers. And it’s only fair to require that teachers engage in the activities they routinely expect of students.

The following morning began with a plenary session by local improv artists DK and Morgan, who demonstrated the relationship between improvisation and classroom life. They showcased the ground rules: make your partner look good, and embrace failure—which have obvious application in the interactive classroom. Their exercises, designed to liberate us from our routines, paralleled the brainstorm-ing activities faculty ask of students at the start of their writing.

Of the more than 25 sessions throughout Saturday, these are some highlights:• Information Literacy was the focus of Ielleen Miller (EWU Librarian) and

Jeff Holmes (now of Columbia Basin CC), who worked as a team to improve advanced composition classes. Rather than rely on the canned presentation of library skills, they developed ways to help students achieve their own research goals through intense and continuous interaction with both the instructor and librarian.

• Tacoma Community College described its success in getting serious about describing “college readiness.” They worked with high school and uni-versity colleagues to discuss placement, assignments, grading, and reading expectations. Five years after initiating this effort, it has become a day-long workshop attended by 50 high school participants.


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althoughtheoutcomeshavebeenrevisedonlyonceinthepast20years.Thestatehasnoauthoritytoforcecomplianceamongthe17independentcommunitycol-leges in Oregon, so change happens slowly. The outcomes themselves are described by one faculty member as “confusing and vague,” closer to guidelines than they are outcomes and created with little input from educators.

The faculty I heard from in Idaho and Montana expressed greater satisfaction with their states’ general education outcomes and the process followed for revising them. In Idaho, state-level outcomes are revised by faculty representatives from each public higher education institution (community colleges, technical colleges, and universities). Discipline groups meet annually to review and revise the outcomes if necessary, and the state board must then approve any changes. Changes are perhaps easiertoimplementinIdahothaninOregonbecauseofthestate’ssize:thereareonly three state universities, one four-year college, three community colleges, and one technical college.

Montana has a general education transfer agreement among its community, tribal,andpubliclyfundedcollegesanduniversities,whichisoverseenbyaGeneralEducation Council composed of members from the various colleges and universities. It is the role of this council to manage and maintain the courses that make up the MontanaUniversitySystemCore.TheGeneralEducationCouncilisresponsiblefor overseeing and approving revisions to the outcomes. In general, faculty believe the outcomes meet the requirements of a strong general education curriculum.

In Alaska, there are no state-level student learning outcomes. There is, how-ever, ongoing discussion at the four-year higher education level about bringing into alignmentthegeneraleducationrequirementsatthevariousMAUs(mainacademicunits) in the statewide system. Washington State also has no statewide student learn-ing outcomes. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges requires that applied undergraduate degree and certificate programs include related instruction or general education with outcomes in communication, computation, and human relations; but this requirement is based on standards from the North-westCommissiononCollegesandUniversities,notstate-leveloutcomes.Astateboard has fiscal and policy authority but is not involved with curriculum setting, which is instead locally controlled by each college. That there is no “master plan” for higher education at the state level in Washington could be considered either a weakness or strength, depending on one’s point of view.

Not surprisingly, writing instructors from throughout the region identify learning how to write appropriately for the situation and critical thinking as the most important outcomes for students to achieve.

Teresa Thonney may be reached at [email protected].

TETYC March 2011328

Pacifi c CoastCA

NortheastCT, DC, DE, MA,MD, ME, NH, NJ,NY, PA, RI, VT; NB, NF, NS, ON, QC

SoutheastAL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC,SC, TN, VA,WV

MidwestIA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI; MB

SouthwestAR, CO, LA,NM, OK, TX

WestAZ, HI, southern ID,NV, UT, WY

Pacifi c NorthwestAK, northern ID, MT, OR, WA; AB, BC, SK, YT

Mountain College explained “Electronic Peer Review,” and Erin O’Neill of New Mexico State University at Alamo Gordo discussed “YouTube, Who Knew?: Start-ing Conversations on Literature.” But since the conference was in Texas and on the border with Mexico, Texas literature, second-language infl uence, and border writing received appropriate attention. Keith Bowden of Laredo Community Col-lege discussed “Two Epiphanies and How Mexicans Taught Me the Importance of Learning,” Lisa Flores of Texas A & M International University addressed “Tying Culture to Writing,” Deborah Scaggs of A & M International dealt with “Writing in La Frontera,” and Michael Gos of Lee College continued the Texas fl avor with “Hondo Crouch’s World of Cedar Creek: A Fictional Luckenbach.”

National-TYCA Sandie Barnhouse of Rowan Cabarrus Community College in North Carolina attended as the representative from the national executive com-mittee. Sandie wasn’t content with simply bringing greetings, however. She also presented a session on “TYCA National: The Voice of Two-Year College English Teachers” with David Lydic of Austin Community College, the TYCA-SW re-gional representative. Sandie also succeeded in helping the Southwest-EC create a gallery for the National Writing Gallery sponsored by NCTE. We are grateful for that.

A major highlight of the conference was the luncheon address of state sena-tor Judith Zaffi rini, Texas’ fi rst Hispanic woman voted to the senate and holder of a record 100% voting record spanning 23 years; she has cast 43,387 consecutive votes in the Texas Senate. The TYCA conference attendees were awed by Senator Zaffi rini’s ability to recite poetry and prose passages from memory as she spoke of the need for literacy and the beauty and usefulness of literature. The senator has been a lifelong lover of language and sang the praises of reading every chance she got. She concluded her talk by giving everyone present a small Spanish-English dictionary. We were inspired by her energy and her ideas. In Senator Zaffi rini we have a true advocate.



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U.S. POSTAL SERVICESTATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION

(Requiredby39U.S.C.3685)

1. PublicationTitle:TEACHINGENGLISHINTHETWO-YEARCOLLEGE2. PublicationNo.:731-9703. FilingDate:August15,20164. IssueFrequency:September,December,March,andMay5. NumberofIssuesPublishedAnnually:46. AnnualSubscriptionPrice:$25.007. CompleteMailingAddressofKnownOfficeofPublication:NCTE,1111W.KenyonRoad,Urbana,

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HAVE YOU READ THE LATEST BOOKS IN THE STUDIES IN WRITING AND RHETORIC SERIES?

The Desire for Literacy: Writing in the Lives of Adult Learners

By Lauren Rosenberg

From Boys to Men: Rhetorics of Emergent American Masculinity

By Leigh Ann Jones

Public Pedagogy in Composition Studies

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Freedom Writing: African American Civil Rights Literacy Activism, 1955–1967

By Rhea Lathan

All SWR books are $34.00 for NCTE/CCCC members and $36.00 for nonmembers. eBooks are $30.00 for members and $32.00 for nonmembers.

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tycato you - ncte€¦ · 230 tyca to you tetyc vol. 44, no. 2, december 2016 319 tyca to you news...

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