Resource Exchange

Teaching That Works: Issues in
Vocational and Technical Education
Submitted by: Central Carolina Community College
Contact: Bianka Stumpf

From October 2005 to April 2006, Central Carolina Community College is hosted a series of workshops titled “Teaching That Works: Issues in Vocational and Technical Education.” Resources from each workshop and the culminating conference are posted below.

Workshop #1: Making the Grade: Improving Access to Learning
This event was held October 13 and featured presentations by Marsha Allen, CRTS/Web Developer, and Kevin Price, Education & IT Technology Specialist, Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (CATEA). Below is a description of this event and the related resources that are available.

Making the Grade: Improving Access to Learning
 The increased use of technology in higher education is rapidly blurring the distinction between the face-to-face classroom and distance learning. Instructors are able to utilize a variety of educational materials, such as PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and web pages, which can be used and reused in different courses. However, the use and design of these materials often causes barriers for students with disabilities. Designing materials to be accessible to students with disabilities results in information that is easier to use and better understood by everyone. Additionally, addressing accessibility concerns at the beginning of the process when creating materials is much easier than retrofitting after the fact. Learn time-saving, practical techniques, and low-cost (or free) tools for creating materials that ensure a positive learning environment and experience for all students.

Resources from the workshop developed by presenters Marsha Allen and Kevin Price are available for download as Adobe Acrobat files:

  1. Making the Grade: Improving Access to Learning (Handout)
  2. Accessibility Considerations Beyond the Web (PowerPoint presentation)
  3. Accessibility Considerations Beyond the Web (Handout)
  4. Resource List (Handout)

Workshop #2: Learning and the Brain
This event was held November 17 and featured presenter Elsie Ritzenhein, President/CEO of Creative Sources, Mt. Clemens, MI. A description of the workshop and the supporting PowerPoint file is provided below.

Learning and the Brain
The workshop is intended to enable faculty to teach more effectively by working with the brain’s natural learning processes; provide students with strategies that will make learning more meaningful; acquire principles based on brain research that they can apply when designing their curriculum and methods; learn new strategies that can be applied immediately; experience the energy, motivation, and pleasure of brain-compatible learning strategies as they participate in interactive experiences; positively affect the social and emotional climate; and energize their teaching practices.

Download the workshop PowerPoint file: Learning and the Brain

Workshop #3: Problem-Based Learning
This event was held January 26 and featured Dr. Ned Lovell, Former Professor and Head of the Department of Educational Leadership at Mississippi State University, as keynote speaker. A description of the workshop and the supporting PowerPoint file is provided below.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional strategy that is increasing in popularity. Medical schools were among the first PBL pioneers. Other professional colleges, including education and veterinary medicine, are also adopting the practice. PBL is based on Constructivism and is fast gaining acceptance as a practical teaching tool that allows students to integrate theory, abstract knowledge, practical experience, and professional knowledge as they work together to meet the challenge of real-world type problems.

Download the workshop PowerPoint file: Exploring Problem-Based Learning

Workshop #4: Demanding Technology: Understanding the New Student
This event was held February 16 and featured John O’Brien, Chief Academic Officer/Vice President of Academic Affairs, Century College, as presenter. His presentation and discussion provided faculty and administrative staff with an overview of how the new students enrolling in classes (a) uniquely experience and interact with the new web-based technologies and (b) how these interactions and the expectations they breed have changed students’ expectations for the college they attend. Also addressed were concerns specific to online and blended courses.

A web page containing reference links related to his presentation has been provided as a resource by John O'Brien: http://www.century.edu/johnobrien/presentation.aspx

Workshop #5: Here to Stay: Faculty-Student Relationships
This workshop was held March 16 and featured presenter Ginny Hronek, president of Dynamix Training and Consulting. A description of the workshop and the supporting PowerPoint file is provided below.

Student retention is a major concern throughout the country. Slightly more than half of all college students in the U.S. will drop out within six years, before finishing a degree. Why are these students leaving, and what will cause them to stay? Consider that in the world of work, it is said that employees leave bosses, not companies. Those bosses, according to departed employees, fail to meet expectations, create connectedness, and demonstrate respect. Accordingly, students are looking for similar relationships with faculty where their expectations are met and there is connectedness and respect. The needs and wants of consumers should be addressed to foster supportive faculty-student relationships and attrition. This lively presentation explores why students leave and why they stay; creating conditions that promote student retention; a myriad of activities to support satisfying faculty-student relationships; the practice of dialogue, rather than monologue, to achieve greater student-faculty fulfillment; and how to promote a student-centered learning environment.

Download Ms. Hronek's PowerPoint presentation: Here to Stay: Faculty-Student Relationships

Selected Presentations from the April 6, 2006 Conference
All resources listed below are PowerPoint files.