By Ryan Johnston
Administrators would like students to share the blame and take responsibility for their own success.
During the Academic Council meeting Tuesday, Dr. John Hammond, director of public relations for this college, spoke about a new service to promote student retention and success, titled the Shared Responsibility and Shared Success campaign.
“Students have a passive attitude,” he said. “They just show up to class with no sense of responsibility of success for their part.”
He spoke about a student portal, which would include information and links to resources, such as: lab hours, declaring a major, help with disabilities and study tips.
Although this campaign is strongly focused on helping students, it also aims to aid faculty and staff.
A faculty and staff portal would accompany the student portal, to include opportunities to share syllabuses and teaching advice. It would be a way for teachers to compare ways of teaching courses, how to save students on the verge of failing and how to handle students who are not prepared for their class work.
A family night open house also was discussed that would be conducted to help first-time students.
“With this it would not only be for students, but mothers and fathers, and spouses,” he said. “It would be a way to see what challenges you might face, how much homework is necessary for the course, what resources are available. Basically, we’re intervening before we need to intervene.”
Tim Rockey, dean of continuing education training network, spoke about the parking garage and its success for the beginning of the semester.
“You may have noticed we got a parking garage,” Rockey said. “This has been the smoothest start I’ve ever seen for the past 10 to 11 years.”
Helen Torres, director of distance education, said she heard from parents that they see the parking garage as a pleasant addition to the college.
“It is a signature piece to the college,” Torres said. “It is beautifully built and integrated with the urban surroundings. The chaos that everyone anticipated did not happen; there were no lines or cars honking.”
In other news, Dawn Elmore-McCrary, English professor and Student Government adviser, said that the association has had two meetings this semester and they have two positions they need to fill.
She added if students are interested in a position, they should go to the office of student life and fill out an application. Positions should be filled by the end of February.
Dr. Charlotte Wolf, professor and director of instructional technologies, also announced the sixth annual technology exposition and career fair that will take place from 9 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. March 27 on this campus.
All of the colleges within the Alamo Community College District will participate in the event, and 3,000 high school students are expected to attend the fair, she said.
“It’s best to not only rely on faculty and staff, but also get students involved as well,” Wolf said. “This was received well by the high schools students at the last conference.”
At the conference, each department will have a booth to showcase their best qualities and possibly recruit students to their departments in the future.
“Do not just show paper handouts,” she said. “It’s a lot more enticing to them when you show real technology.”
Booths are limited and are assigned on a first-come basis, therefore, departments should register for a booth as soon as possible and no later than March 10, she said.
For more information about the fair visit their Web site at http://www.accd.edu/sac/expo/08/college.htm or call the department of instructional technologies at 733-2188.