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New era in higher education:
PVCC, a learning centered college By Elizabeth Lake Lynx Editor
Here is a novel idea: A learning experience in which classes are integrated, and students leaves college with more than just book-knowledge. The administrative staff at PVCC has a program underway to make this kind of learning a reality. That program is known on campus as the Learning Centered College Initiative, a program designed to further successful student learning. Bob Bendotti, PVCC's dean of instruction, is one of the administrative staff heading up the initiative. He says PVCC is one of the schools at the forefront among colleges in the District with this type of program. Paradise Valley Community College started to think about how to improve student learning about four years ago, and this is the initiative that arose from the brainstorming. "We started asking ourselves fundamental questions that included, 'What is it that we care deeply about as a college?" says Bendotti. "The response to that question was 'student learning.' The next question then was 'What can we do as a college and as employees of this college to enhance the amount of student learning that is going on?" The idea is not original with PVCC. Dr. Robert Barr, director of institutional research and planning at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, was one of the pioneers in writing a ground breaking article in Change magazine entitled "From Teaching to Learning" on this very subject. Nevertheless, the idea has been slow to catch on at other colleges. Bendotti says the schools around the country that are as far along as PVCC are relatively small in number. The topic does not usually arise at the university level. In Arizona, Mesa Community College and ASU West are two of the few, besides PVCC, discussing the leaning centered environment. The College Initiative has three dimensions to it:
One of the new initiatives that have come about as a result of this program is the idea of learning communities, which combine courses from different disciplines and services into one class offering. Bendotti explains the concept: "Students learn more and they experience more deep learning when they learn things in context, so we have an English course brought together with a sociology course." He says these courses are blended together because that is how things work in the real world. Paradise Valley Community College now has learning communities, service learning, counseling services, advising services, learning support center services, all of which has been brought together in the First Year Experience learning community. When this Initiative was birthed four years ago, the faculty and staff framed its discussions around what Bendotti refers to as three strands:
Out of these discussions came the following strategies:
Bendotti emphasizes staff as well as faculty learning, saying, "Learning is not just the responsibility of the faculty member; it's a shared responsibility between the faculty member, the members of the staff, the advising centers, the counseling center—it's the responsibility of the administrative team." As far as the time frame goes on this college Initiative, Bendotti says, "It will always be ongoing because good colleges, good organizations are constantly asking themselves the question, 'What can we do to improve? How can we get better?' We as the administrative team and as the faculty and some staff, we too have to be learners; we have to have our minds open to learning." This is a program that will affect everyone at PVCC, simply because it affects the campus environment. Bendotti points out that whereas the faculty contributes by altering the way they teach to help students, so do the cleaning and maintenance crews contribute by making the campus a clean environment in which to learn. In essence, everyone is involved. Although this is a fairly new project for the school, it is not a brand new concern. Says Bendotti, "When we talk about the Learning Centered College, we always refer to it as PVCC's initiative to be a more learning centered college because it has always been in the hearts of our faculty and our staff and our administrative team—a concern about learning and a dedication to student learning." |
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Last
updated: April 12, 2002 |
