"Encourage don't Discourage"

The non-credit world is just that, a different world. It seems Continuing Education is the exception to every rule. Every time I ask why the division does something a particular way, the common response is "that is always the way we have done it." How am I supposed to respond to that? I am surrounded by a division that sidesteps emerging technology and does not embrace it. That leaves me asking one question, are we really providing the best educational opportunity for our students?

The reason I feel it is valid to ask this question is because I never see the words assessment used in any of our programs. Grant it, some of them are federally mandated, but isn't it our duty to assess the results locally? Every time I suggest new technological advancements that might be beneficial to some of our classes, I get the same responses; "Not sure we're ready for that" or "We don't have enough manpower to do these types of things." It appears to me that people are discouraging higher learning potentional rather than encouraging it.

Assessing the quality of education we offer our adult students is very difficult to put a finger on because of the lack of academic assessment we actually do. Sure, some classes change to meet the technical demands people in this community desire, but the only reason this change occurs is because of industry demands. Is that enough to qualify as assessment?

When I think about taking classes at a particular academic institution, I often think of eating at one of your favorite restaurants. The food is great until you get a job there. After a while, you see the food over and over and get to know some of the "little secrets" that go on behind the scenes. After I have sat in on hundreds of meetings regarding curriculum development, you come away a little less interested because you see how things progress and are conducted after time.

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I can sum up my initial thoughts on rubrics with one word, WOW! I believe I have shown my novice level with rubrics this week. Before we actually began to formally research this concept, I thought a rubric was something used in psychology. I thought it was a chart medical people used to determine certain levels of diagnosis.

I was even more to surprise to learn rubrics are used in elementary levels of education. Again, my initial thoughts focused strictly on higher education. If adult students have a difficult time comprehending the value of this tool, then how can pre-teen students begin to comprehend them? In case no one raised their hand on the adult rubric comprehension question, don’t worry my hand went straight into the air. I'm almost scared to attempt my first one. One thing Pat mentioned at the face-to-face really stuck out, especially if you have never created a rubric. I thought the example he used on creating a rubric on getting dressed was great. Keep it simple and try not to over think the process.

I wanted to conclude this blog with a great quote I heard from a speaker last week. “I am not here to answer your questions; I’m here to question your answers!”