Download - National Conversation on What it Means to be Educated in the 21st Century - Report to NSF
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What does it mean to be
educated in the 21st century?
The Community
College Conversation
May 19-20, 2005
Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ
Principal Investigator:
Gail Mee, VP for Academic Affairs
Co-Principal Investigator:
Liz Dorland, Chemistry Faculty
MCC: Five intended outcomes
• Generate new thinking from diverseconstituencies about “what it means to beeducated in the 21st century”
• Formulate new ideas about implications forcommunity colleges and STEM education
• Generate recommendations to inform futurefunding priority discussions at NSF
• Prepare a document of findings fordissemination to NSF and the community
• Be the voice for community colleges in thisseries of national conversations.
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Program Structure
Thursday, May 18
– Morning session: Question Set 1
• Speaker: Clara Lovett
– Afternoon session: Question Set 2
• Speaker: Debra Humphrys
– Dinner session
Friday, May 19
– Morning session: Question Set 3
• Speaker: Mel George
MCC: Three themes
for Question Sets
Moving from general to specific:
• Global and social context and issues that
will influence and impact higher education
• Characteristics and expectations of
students in the 21st century, particularly
community college students
• Future of science, technology, engineering
and mathematics education in the
community college
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Round
Table
Discussions
Major Themes
That Emerged
1. Systemic Change
2. Organizational Structures
3. Integration of Content and Soft Skills
4. Assessment of Student Learning
5. Student Expectations
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Recommendations to NSF
• Funding: long-term infusion and commitment
• NSF Conversations at local/regional levels
• Increase funding for integration betweenresearch and practice
• Increase relationships between the researchand teaching communities
• Renew funding for Distinguished TeachingScholars (DTS) and other such programs
• Invest in proven practices
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NSF: Provide funding to/for...• Assessment tools/methods
• Integrate STEM with other disciplines and applied
STEM community
• Strengthen connections/communication between CC
faculty and NSF
• Improve STEM gateway courses
• Improve/develop teacher education and preparation
programs
• Multi/interdisciplinary curricula & approaches
• Address developmental needs and mentoring for
students and teachers
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Recommendations for Action
• Communicate ideas to policymakers/leaders
• Communicate/collaborate online
• Continue conversations at local, state,regional, and national levels
• Collaborate with K-12 and university partners
• Ask congress to support the NSF budget
• Local and individual action: support reformefforts at home
• Disseminate report: American Association ofCommunity Colleges (AACC)
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MCC Planning Team
• Peter Brown
Biology Faculty
• Niccole CervenyGeography Faculty
• Madeleine Chowdhury*Math Faculty andFaculty Developer
• Mangala JoshuaPhysics Faculty
• Shereen LernerAnthropology Faculty
• Jonelle Moore
English Faculty
• David Nachman*Chemistry Faculty
• Ly Tran-NguyenPsychology Faculty
• Naomi Story*, FacultyDirector, Center forTeaching and Learning
• Carol Achs, Dean ofMath, Science andPhysical Education
• Andrea Greene*, Deanof Institutional Researchand Planning