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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2011)
newsed@clackamas.edu Wednesday, Nov. 1 6 ,2 0 1 1 The Clickers keep students engaged By Joshua Dillen Last T uesdays presentation o n “Clickers” by Kurt Lewandowski,. C C C m ath instructor and senior m em ber o f T h e power o f education is growing the departm ent for 21 years, had several and thriving at Clackamas C om m unity faculty m embers in attendance amazed and intrigued by the capabilities these College. T hanks to the C ontinuous Learning deviceshave. “I love, teaching. I’m a teacher first,” Collaborative (CLC), students and fac ulty can be assured that the quality o f said Lewandowski. “I enjoy helping peo education will always improve at-,CCC. ple overcome their obstacles to achieve T h e C L C was established in the fall o f their goals.” It was very obvious th at th e use o f 2010. T h e driving force behind this is the combined, efforts o f Steve Beining, dis clicker technology helps him accom tance learning departm ent chair and Kate plish this in his classroom. C L C and Gray, English instructor, co-coordinators Lewandowski w ant th e entire faculty at C C C to continuously develop and grow o f CLC. “O u r [CLC] mission is to optimize; their teaching m ethods by sharing this the art and science o f teaching to create and other new advances in educattonal the best possible learning experiences for technologies. Clickers w ork h e explained they are C C C stu d e n ts/ said Gray. “W h at w ere about is looking at best practices within an “audience response system” that allows the classroom an d online; to see how we users to participate in whatever is being can optimize w hat students are doing and discussed. T here are several brands; click ers are just a generic term . T his technology how we can better serve them .” Faculty m embers at C C C can access helps instructors to track individual as well a wealth o f new teaching techniques, as overall understanding o f the current the latest in educational technologies and lesson. optim ize their students learning experi ’ “I t keeps students engaged. I ts easy to ence, by attending th e m any sessions avail kind o f glaze over and start day dreaming able through CLC. Faculty familiar w ith o ut die window,” h e said. By design, this system doesn’t allow that M oodle and N O T É , C C C s N etw ork for O nline Teaching Excellence, can link to lack o f understanding th^t .instructors can miss. It causes m ore learning because the C L C s current schedule on the N O T E website: http ://n o te.o n line.clackam as. students are alm ost involuntarily com m it- i. .1 a n d i n v o l v e d ¡ ii t h e le s s o n . ■ f T h e simplicity and cóMeníéñde' was develop and enhance any teaching style w ith the tools they provide. N O T E focus obvious after a very informative and inter es on M oodle an d provides conveniendy active PowerPoint presentation. Interactive scheduled training sessions for teachers. is the Operative w ord. T h e clickers work T he Clackam as P rin t K u rt Lewandow ski give a presentation on the use o f clickers in the classroom a n d their effectiveness. Lewandowski, has plans to use this new technology in some classes f a l l term and. a ll classes w inter term. w ith PowerPoint and let an instructor see real tim e feedback from the participants. T his allows im m ediate adjustm ent o f â lesson. Students can be polled and quizzed w ith im m ediate access to understanding and compfehension. T h e faculty attendees .quickly expe rienced the advantage an instructor Kas w hen using clickers. T his technology enabled them to answer questions and directly ©n th e screen.; th é hands-on dem onstration was experdy guided by Lewandowski and included several lesson style examples o f their ver satility and convenience. A ttendants o f the presentation were engaged an d h ad a positive impression o f the clickers. “Fm sure its going to be very help ful,” said Rodica Gotur, part rime m ath instructor at C C C . “I always encourage them [students] to participate.” G otur plans to start using the clickers gradually through this term and will be im plem enting this tool in all o f her classes next term . OtherCLGS^3Sr<^s‘lastw eek Hfoltltlud1 team building exercises and group project developm ent for students. All m embers o f the G C G com m unity will benefit from the CLC. Adult High School Program gives new alternatives to G.E.D. By Isaac Soper T he C lackam as P rin t As the years go by, students change along with their needs. According to the Department o f Education, high school graduation rates are at 64.4 percent, which brings the question to mind, what ate the others doing? There are many non-traditional high schools, such as charter high schools like Clackamas Middle College and other means to receive a diploma or GED, for students who have been “lost in the void” at traditional high schools or have had to leave school for whatever reason. “O ur programs here fill a very important niche at a community college. It is a very important strand so that students can pursue other classes at the college level,” said Cathy Hanson, department chair o f Clackamas Community College skills development. C C C has offered many programs in the past for high school completion but as the years go by, those programs have decreased. T he college currently offers the Adult High School Diploma program, which offers the chance for students who ate over the age o f 21 to receive a diplo ma, the Young Parent Opportunity Program (YPOP), for students between the ages o f 15-21 who are either preg nant or parenting arid looking for a high school diploma and the G E D program. “Some students may need from one term to two years [to complete their diploma]. Based on evaluation, we fig ure out how many credits they need. We work really hard with our students. It is a very focused program. We help them get their G ED, but we help them set up a plan as well.” said Hanson. Another program that works directly with the college is Clackamas Middle College, which used to be located in a small building in the Haggen parking lot, but is now located on 82nd Ave., C M C is considered a “charter” high school, in which students from any district can apply and finish their high school diploma while taking federally- funded college classes at either the main C C C campus or the Harmony campus. “T he main purpose o f our school is to bridge the gap from high school to college and bring two educational systems together so that kids aren’t falling between the gaps,” said Brian Sien, principal o f CM C . X v C M C isn’t worried about getting a student in and out of high school in four years. T he main focus is to ready a student for the college experience and life afterwards, primarily focus ing on skills that a student needs to excel in the world after highschool. Their program is split into three tiers, the first being pri marily high school classes melded with learning objectives that are meant to help a student learn how to study, take notes and work on skills such as participation and critical thinking. T hé second tier allows a student to take a limited number o f college courses for both high school and college credit. If a student is successful in both levels, they are granted the opportunity to rake up to 12 credits o f college courses, with $700 per term allocated for classes, and $450 per year allocated for books. “We provide students with a family o f support that they can rely on throughout and after high school, sometimes even beyond college. There are other early college programs, but there are no other schools like CM C,” said Eric Stone, counselor at CM C. W ith the possibility o f entering the C M C program as a high school freshmân, a student has die opportunity o f taking up to four years of classes at C C C that are federally funded, to work toward and hopefully complete their Associate s Degree or certificate pregram. “O ur symbol is the bridge, students go from here to col lege, knowing they can come back for ongoing advice and help. And they do come back h o m e to C M C ’ to get that support to achieve their goals,” said Stone. W hether a student has been unable to complete their high school diploma or if the conventional high school setting isrit working there are other opportunities available. For students under 21, C M C is a unique pregram that has a partnership with the college and for those over 21, C C C s G E D program is a great opportunity as well. M iddle College studying in class.
