TCCTA Blog

Guns and Unintended Consequences

As universities grapple with the new campus carry law, two schools are experiencing widely reported tangential issues. 

At the University of Houston, the faculty senate held a meeting recently, featuring a Powerpoint presentation aimed at assisting faculty adapt to the forthcoming presence of legal concealed weapons in their classes and offices. One slide, as published in a Slate piece by Elliot Hannon, advises teachers to avoid sensitive topics, meet "that student" only in controlled circumstances, and "don't go there" if you detect anger in a discussion. 

In cases involving freedom of expression, the U.S. Supreme Court used to refer to a proscribed "chilling effect," when a government policy tended to discourage free speech without actually banning it outright. It's possible that the gun law will chill certain activities or the discussion of controversial topics. If so, that would be very unfortunate. Some would argue that pointed discussions are important to the mission of higher education. 

Meanwhile, at UT-Austin, the luminary dean of architecture announced that he is leaving to accept a position at the University of Pennsylvania, saying the state's new campus carry law played a major role in pushing him out. "I would have never applied for another job if not for campus carry," he said in an interview. "I felt that I was going to be responsible for managing a law I didn't believe in."

The UT case is reported in the Texas Tribune by Matthew Watkins. The piece includes a statement from the Students for Concealed Carry, saying in part, "Just as witches were not to blame for the Salem witch trials, and just as vaccines are not to blame for the negative results of the anti-vaccine movement, campus carry is not to blame for the current atmosphere of fear on Texas college campuses."

Even if we acknowledge freely that licensed carriers constitute one of the most law-abiding statistical cohorts in Texas society, the presence of legal guns on campus may convince more prestigious scholars and researchers to look to other states for opportunities. If so, that, too, would be unfortunate. 

Convention Displays "Power in Partnerships"

Join us in Houston!

The TCCTA annual convention, Feb. 25-27, at the Westin Galleria offers an amazing and unprecedented variety it its programs. Here is the general link.

Most importantly, if you have not done so already, please make your hotel reservations. If the host hotel is full, you can access nearby overflow property from the link. 

Also please plan to arrive early, on Thursday, Feb. 25, as there are many activities prior to the banquet and General Session that evening.

Adjunct faculty members especially will want to note the post-convention conference of the American Association of Adjunct Educators. Many colleges pay convention registration for TCCTA members. The list is on the site. 

The general link now features the Great Ideas for Teaching Students (GIFTS) Sessions, Financial Planning Seminars, and other special meetings, listed on the right. 

And don't ignore the discipline-specific Section Programs, listed by subject, also on the right. 

Join us!

Afflicted with PIU?

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) is now officially a thing, at least according to Susan M. Snyder, an assistant professor of social work at Georgia State University, writing in Slate. 

The writer conducted surveys of college students to learn about the syndrome. In reading the responses, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. For example, from a student called Hannah:

But like using Skype helps keep you connected and also when we are at home we watch a movie together, it’s like family time, you know. And um, like you know, if we read the same, like article, then we can talk about it on Skype.

Sound familiar? Please read the entire article for context and details about the survey. There is probably no way to prove that young college students are afflicted with anything real, or, if so, if the Internet is the culprit. Inability to articulate one's thoughts predates modern technology. But when you walk into a large classroom full of students, what are they doing? Necks craned, digits flying, ear buds inserted: total engagement. You can witness the same phenomenon in a coffee shop, or even at a family dinner—perhaps driving Grandma crazy. 

When the Internet became portable—accessible with small tablets and other hand-held devices, it was a more significant development in some ways than the Web's advent itself. Much of the activity is not video games or other forms of entertainment. It's social media, which must be obeyed, or one risks being left out. The youthful faces staring at the tiny screens are not happy, as a general rule. Check it out. They are fearful of exclusion. 

We are all sinners, of course. Perhaps you—yes, you!—are using the Internet right now, ignoring human activity more important or truly interesting. And, while at the TCCTA convention this week, be sure to follow friends' activities on Twitter and Facebook. Don't be left out! Take plenty of selfies to share!

Hypocrisy. The gift that keeps on giving. 

 

 

Grades and Faculty Evaluation

Trident Technical College, in Charleston, S.C., has begun to evaluate its teachers partly on the percentage of students receiving a C or better. This is a trend worth watching. The red flags are obvious. 

The school (which offers transfer courses in a comprehensive curriculum) also initiated a compressed schedule, with seven-week terms replacing the traditional semester. Student success rates have improved significantly, but it's hard to determine the exact reason. Some suspect grade inflation.

It's covered in a piece by Colleen Flaherty, in Inside Higher Ed. Please read the entire article, which is comprehensive on a complicated subject, but here is a key passage:

Professors must earn an “exceptional” or “satisfactory” rating to earn their 10 percentage points tied to student success, and there are 16 different ways to earn each. Ways to earn a top rating include 82 percent of students passing with a C or better (not factoring in withdrawals), or meeting the department average. Routes to a satisfactory rating include 76 percent of students passing with a C or falling within five percentage points of the departmental average. That’s over anywhere from a semester to a three-year average, and instructors may consider other quantified departmental measures of student learning where available.

There are many strategies to improve student success. Some are controversial, but most are at least worthy of discussion. However, it is hard to imagine a plan more injurious to academic integrity than evaluating teachers on how many students get good grades. 

Importantly, faculty at the South Carolina school do not have tenure. The article mentions reports from adjunct instructors who say they have always felt pressured to pass more students. You can hear this sentiment at Texas community colleges if you listen for it. Actually, here lies one purported correlation that deserves study: Are grades higher with part-time teachers who have zero job security? Now that would be interesting. (Dissertation anyone?)

In Texas, we've been down this road before, with public education. When standards are in question, one perfunctory panacea is standardized examinations. So, um … how is that working out? 

Every now and then a truly bad idea comes along. Evaluating instructors on grade distribution fits this category. We should trust teachers, not because they are perfect, but because their judgment is far better than the alternatives. 

Primary Elections Matter

The presidential primaries tend to consume all the media attention, but it's worth reminding ourselves that Democratic and Republican candidates for the Texas House and Senate are very important to the fate of community and technical college education. 

As noted here before, due to precise districting (traditionally known as gerrymandering), as well as other factors, the party nominees picked in the primary will likely face little opposition in November. Hence the primary is the "real" election in many situations. Here's a link to show how lopsided partisan support can be in each district, as reported by the Texas Tribune. (Scroll down to the Texas Senate and House voting patterns.) 

Early voting has begun for the March 1 primary. Here is an official schedule of important dates. Here is general voting information. 

In urging students to vote, it's worth noting that Texas requires a photo ID, and the school's student identification won't do. 

Reportedly, in the 2014 general election, about 4.7 million Texans voted (about 25% of eligible voters). However, fewer than 2 million voters participated in either a Republican or Democrat primary (less than 10% of eligible voters). Therefore, in a sense, each primary vote carries a much higher probability of making a difference than in November contests. 

Private Colleges, Guns, and Burritos, Oh, My!

Baylor University has joined the long list of Texas private institutions to ban handguns on their campuses next fall, as reported in the Texas Tribune by Matthew Watkins. The Tribune reached out to all private colleges in the state and, as of Feb. 16, 24 said they have made up their minds. None of those contacted plan to allow guns.

As reported here often, public institutions don't have this choice. Universities must have a strategy by August, with community colleges allowed an extra year. 

It so happens that a local option precisely mirrors the position of TCCTA: let each school decide. But this deserves some context. 

Sponsors of the law, to allow licensed carriers of concealed firearms to bring their weapons into campus buildings, opted at the time to exempt private colleges, stating that they did not want to intrude upon property or religious rights. Most private colleges in Texas are religiously affiliated. Nevertheless, the verdict from private schools so far appears to be unanimous—from school officials in all parts of the state, representing a wide variety of cultural differences. (Baylor's values could certainly be labeled "conservative." The school's president, Ken Starr, prosecuted President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinski matter.) 

When tension surfaces between competing rights, lawyers rejoice. Burnt offerings and eviscerated goats are presented to the gods of litigation, followed by dancing in the streets. However, the frenzy may be premature.  

You may have noticed the UT-Austin professor, a Nobel laureate, who says he will state in his syllabus next fall that guns will not be allowed in his class. One claim his supporters make involves freedom of speech (listed alongside religion in the First Amendment). But courts have tended to rule that course syllabi are institutional documents, not the expression of a professor's opinion. Plus, now that we have common syllabi with mandated learning outcomes and objectives, it's probably harder to argue for individual freedom of speech. (Here is some recent news regarding UT, from Mike Ward and Matthew Adams, reported in the Houston Chronicle.) 

The idea of guns in classrooms is hard for many instructors to take. How can teachers insist that students can't bring food into class, but are not allowed to prohibit guns? "Focus, people! Feel free to bring in your concealed weapons, but if I smell a burrito—even a veggie burrito—there will be trouble!" 

The short answer is that guns invoke legal and constitutional protection. Burritos, not so much, absent political activity from the National Burrito Association.

But it's weird, no? 

 

Amazon to Enter OER Field

The progress of Open Educational Resources (OER) should probably be followed carefully by faculty members. If educational materials such as textbooks should become free to all students, it would be tantamount to a seismic boost in financial aid for many. Depending upon the disciplinary subjects taken, a student enrolled in a full load can spend over $1,000 per semester, just on books. 

Now Amazon is entering the field, as reported by Matt Reed, in Inside Higher Ed. Please have a look.

Dr. Reed wonders what the company has in mind in terms of its business model, but Amazon has been a game-changer in so many ways that we should probably take heed. Open source material is hardly new, but, as Dr. Reed points out, a stubborn problem has been a paucity of quality choices. One of the more interesting developments is OpenStax College, from Rice University. It's a non-profit, and obviously carries a lot of academic prestige. 

Amazon understandably has a different approach. But why would the company do this? One thought that comes to mind is the Kindle—an Amazon product— which many public schools are now providing to students. (Apple's Ipads are part of the same strategy.) It makes sense: more free material, more compatible devices sold to schools. 

So far Amazon is mainly involved in the K-12 sector but, as Dr. Reed speculates, higher education would be a logical expansion. 

If you visit with sales reps in the publishing field these days, fear is in the air. Consolidation and downsizing prevail, with fewer companies involved. This means less competition, which presumably serves to increase costs. However, books can now be rented or purchased in cheaper, digital formats. There is a lot going on, as the infrastructure adapts. But paper texts are clearly circling the drain. 

It would be great to report that it's all blue skies ahead, with free educational material of high quality swamping the market. But authors want to be compensated for their labor, and the costs of production for other companies besides behemoths Apple and Amazon must be absorbed somewhere. 

Model Emerging for Successful Transfers

A consensus is emerging on the most effective way to improve the rates of successful student transfer from community colleges to—and through—universities. 

In January, the Community College Research Center (CCRC), the Aspen Institute and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released Tracking Transfer: New measures of Institutional and State Effectiveness in Helping Community College Students Attain Bachelor’s Degrees. The report offers insight on states with a robust transfer pipeline from community colleges to four-year schools, according to an article by Ellen Ullman, in the AACC 21st Century Center. 

Two key figures are interviewed in the article: Davis Jenkins, a senior research associate at CCRC (and a previous TCCTA presenter), and Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. 

Importantly, current research does not indicate that schools with a high proportion of low-income students are destined to lag behind. In practical terms this means that, based on impressive comparisons of schools, institutional practices make a big difference. Also, the research focuses on transfer students who actually graduate with a baccalaureate degree. 

Here is a key segment of the interview:

What are some of the factors that help students attain a bachelor’s degree?

Jenkins: We recently visited six pairs of two- and four-year institutions with strong outcomes for transfer students, and we found clear things that are working at both levels, such as a strong collaboration between the two institutions, a focus on academic rigor at the community college level, customized intake and advising for transfer students at four-years, and high expectations for all students — including low-income students — at both institutions. We will summarize these findings in a practitioners’ guide that will be published this spring.

Wyner: What our site visits showed is that strong outcomes are built on two functions above all others: clear pathways and much stronger advising. Our visit to Washington state revealed excellent practices in devising clear pathways between institutions, statewide agreements on programs of study (especially in science), and strong advising aimed at helping community college students choose a major and transfer destination early on. These are things other states and institutional partnerships need to focus on.

Jenkins: Co-location of advisers and administrative presence on each other’s campuses is another effective practice we saw. It signals that transfer students are a priority.

Some may question the wisdom or practicality of the recommendations. "Clear pathways" could involve limiting student options in course selection, moving away from the buffet-style menu of choices. And "stronger advising" could be expensive, since it requires a physical presence at both the sending and receiving institutions. But some community colleges and universities in Texas are already employing this strategy as part of articulation agreements, especially at the regional level. As always, larger schools will likely have an advantage. 

However, for most faculty members, the recommended approach commendably emphasizes academic rigor and high expectations. Instructors should be able to endorse such a strategy comfortably. 

Plan for Pre- and Post-Convention Events

The TCCTA annual convention, Feb. 25-27, at the Westin Galleria in Houston, is bookended by an unprecedented amount of activity. Please plan to arrive early and stay longer.

Here is the general convention link.  And note the overflow housing near the convention headquarters. 

Join us Thursday for a myriad of opportunities for professional development and networking:

• 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. TOADN Pre-Conference Event
• 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Electronics Sessions
• 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Life BoundPre-Conference Workshopon "Promoting Motivation, Resilience and Accountability for Developmental Students"
• 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. On Course Pre-Conference Workshopwith Skip Downing
• 12:00 p.m. Registration begins
• 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. TexMATYC Pre-Conference Workshops
• 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. TCCTA Committee Meetings
• 4:30 p.m. TCCTA's Exhibit Hall opens
• 5:30 p.m. Exhibit Hall Reception
• 6:30 p.m. TCCTA Banquet & General Session: "College Teachers: Good, Better, Best," with Skip Downing (Banquet Ticket Form)

Stay Saturday:

Over 40 Discipline Specific Section Programs
Saturday, 9:00-11:45 a.m.

From a tour of "Agriculture Operations in the Port of Houston" to "Zen and the Art of Grading Papers"... You won't want to miss speakers like renowned history author, Christopher L. Miller and Austin Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera bassonist, Daris Word Hale!

American Association of Adjunct Educators Post-Conference
Saturday, 12:00-2:15 p.m.
Registration Required

The American Association of Adjunct Education (AAAE) is partnering with TCCTA to host its annual conference in conjunction with the TCCTA Annual Convention. The AAAE provides professional development to all educators with an emphasis towards adjunct faculty.

Colleges to Ask for Bachelor's Degrees

Soon committees of the Texas Legislature will begin considering the addition of community colleges permitted under the law to offer bachelor's degrees in certain workforce fields. 

The Coordinating Board has recommended that community colleges be allowed to offer such degrees in nursing and applied sciences, if the institutions can demonstrate an unmet workforce need in their areas. South Texas College, Midland College, and Brazosport College are the only such schools in Texas currently able to offer bachelor's degrees, under a 2003 statute.

The Alamo Colleges now plan to ask for such permission, as reported in the San Antonio Express-News, by Alia Malik. It's not clear what programs leaders have in mind. In the past, the district has proposed offering four-year degrees in fire science, nursing, and sign language, the article reports. Other schools may follow suit. 

Many business leaders in San Antonio are on the team, lining up support from local lawmakers. You can get details on the players from the article. 

It's important to emphasize that, assuming permission is granted, it will probably apply only in narrow fields of study. However, area state universities (in this case UT-San Antonio and Texas A&M University-San Antonio) may not be anxious for certain programs to launch—with courses that may duplicate their offerings at the baccalaureate level. One might also mention that, in San Antonio, there are several private schools with workforce programs. 

Several states now allow bachelor's degrees at certain community colleges. Recently, it was reported that California may soon be expanding significantly in this direction.