Sheets: 1996-97-Proceedings

Sheets, Rick A."Learning Assistance Center Director as Manager," in Mioduski, Sylvia and Gwyn Enright (editors), PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15th and 16th ANNUAL INSTITUTES FOR LEARNING ASSISTANCE PROFESSIONALS: 1996 AND 1997. Tucson, AZ: University Learning Center, University of Arizona, 1994. Pp. 82-84.

Learning Assistance Center Director as Manager

Rick A. Sheets, Ed.D., Paradise Valley Community College

C	ompassion ommitment onnections redibility atalyst

Show Compassion (Care & value of self, staff, students, and others)

Staff

Use a team-building approach to listen, encourage ideas and brainstorming

Care about each member on your team birthdays, lunches, etc.

Take time to be real and show friendship

Honor diversity in differing needs, skills, learning preferences, and attitudes

Value input and feedback from every team member

Clarify how decisions are made

Encourage honesty and frankness

Model problem-solving vs. Blaming

Encourage and support professional growth and development opportunities--i.e., journals, workshops, classes, degrees, new careers, conferences, visits to other centers, internships, retraining

Self:

Value yourself too (Analogy presented as a Keynote for NADE in San Antonio: In an emergency situation on an airplane the tendency is to help others find their oxygen mask first--BUT in order to help others, it is imperative to "Put your own oxygen mask on first!"

Have Commitment

To students, to life, to college, to goals, to others through striving for excellence, quality, and innovation

Keep your visions as a direction, but live in the here and now, not in a dreamland (when this...), nor in the past (what if... or if only...)

Provide for LAC staff (for personal, professional, and educational goals and opportunities):

support (modeling, encouragement, and listening)

training (in-house and external)

resources (appropriate, e.g., financial, time, physical)

Provide for students:

services (e.g., tutoring, materials, study skill workshops, testing, and special need services) and other resources

strategies for independence in learning

a safe zone in which to learn and grow

Provide support for faculty:

tours or orientations of LSC in LSC, if possible (brief or expanded)

in-class presentations tailored to specific request or needs (e.g. test-taking skills using the faculty member's input regarding student needs, type of test)

flyer showing ways faculty can help you help them

Tools:

Quality Management (TQM - Total Quality Management)

Employee Development (support employee professional, educational, and personal growth and development)

Commitment to Excellence (book by Peters and Waterman)

Management By Objective (MBO) (Frank Christ model presented later in the week at this institute)

(Use the best of the models above)

Build Credibility

Program

Supports students' needs

Should be certified through CRLA's (College Reading and Learning Association) International Tutor Certification Program (ITCP)

Has success documentation (e.g., use statistics, retention numbers, perception surveys)

Director - may come in the back door--no LAC, Adult Ed., Dev. Ed., etc.

Background: Training/Experience

Developmental Education (National Center for Developmental Education, Kellogg Institute, Appalachian State University (704) 262-3057

Teaching methodologies (i.e. Andragogy vs. Pedagogy) Contact: Andragogy Associates, Dr. Gene Kerstiens, (310) 541-7626

Learning Styles (4MAT, Canfield, Kolb)

Instructional Design (4MAT, Contact Excel, Inc.
(800) 822-4MAT

Counseling (Confronting techniques, Listening and Referral Techniques)

Basic Skills Methods Training/Certification (Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Computers)

Awareness of LAC history (tutoring support is not new to education)

Reference materials available for self, staff, faculty (e.g., New Directions for College Learning Assistance, books by Martha Maxwell)

Keeping up to date in field:

Learning Assistance Research, Journals, & Articles

Attending National and Regional Conferences (e.g., CRLA (College Reading and Learning Assistance), NADE (National Association for Developmental Education), WI (Winter Institute, SWADE (Southwest Association for Developmental Education), MCLCA (Midwest College Learning Center Association)
NOTE: WI Resources has more than 50 linked associations for you.

LRNASST - Winter Institute's own listserv, a discussion group free to anyone focusing on Learning Assistance Center issues (Contact Sylvia Mioduski at The University of Arizona (520 621-1206).

With Administration

Statistics, Usage reports

Tracking, testimonials

In-house research, surveys

Do projections, go for grants or collaborations

If not generating FTE's, show retention of existing FTE's

With faculty

Have faculty give content tips for tutors

Have faculty recruit tutors for future semesters with current students

Faculty liaisons or advisory group (e.g. in place of committee)

For Tutors

CRLA's - ITC (mentioned above)

Tutor's Guide (a videotape series of 14 brief sessions for tutoring students in a University setting - available through Great Plains National (GPN P.O. Box 80669 Lincoln, NE 68501-0669 Phone: (402) 472-2007 or Toll Free: 800-228-4630 Fax: 800-306-2330 Email: gpn@unl.edu, website: http://gpn.unl.edu/))

Encourage tutors to prepare for own enterprise--private tutoring

Develop Connections (collaboration and networking or breaking down barriers)

Build a support network (internally and externally)

Develop Faculty, Administrative, and User buy-in to the LAC Program and Services

For faculty:

Have faculty give content tips for tutors

Have faculty recruit tutors for future semesters with current students

Faculty liaisons or advisory group (e.g. in place of committee)

For Administration:

BE A SHOWCASE OF STUDENT SUCCESS for tours or dignitaries

Develop guest packets for visitors

Attitude--positive and directed with a focus on serving students

Approach--to problem solve not blame

Atmosphere--inviting, safe, and

Listen to all--LAC tutors and staff, students, faculty, others (including custodians, groundskeepers, visitors, etc.)

Providing all with a chance to buy-in

Be a Catalyst (Change agent)

Change as a constant:

Change is the only constant in our mortal universe (as mentioned in movie, Jurassic Park as Chaos Theory, also known as a Systems Approach

Change as a process:

Change has both negative and positive aspects and is a process

Change as innovation:

Leaders or followers

Innovators--gives buy-in to all

Change as an opportunity for leadership, such as in technology or trends:

When dealing with change--WATCH OUT!

Technology i.e., CAI (Computer-Assisted Instruction), VC (Video Conferencing) Nets (Networks), Listservs, WWW (World Wide Web), small computer labs support for Instructional design, CBI (Computer-based Instruction), Hypercard, and Presentations (such as others you will see later this week by Brad Hughes and Lucy MacDonald)

Expansion at my college, PVCC--analogous to Eastern Indian Folktale of Six Blind Men and an Elephant (each department was designing the expansion of our college from the point of view of their area and needs and was blind to the reality of the big picture.)

This Winter Institute will provide a special opportunity for everyone to gain in any of the above areas in a safe environment of new friends and colleagues who will understand, encourage, mentor, and support your efforts for SUCCESS!

1992-93 Proceedings | 1994-95 Proceedings | 1996-97 Proceedings | Proceedings Home |

"1996-97 Proceedings - Sheets "
� 1998 - This page last modified: 2008-05-29
Questions and comments to: Dr. Rick A. Sheets at rick.sheets@pvmail.maricopa.edu
http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche/