Just back from Orlando, Florida where, unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Mickey Mouse and, in fact, didn't even make it across the street to visit his home, Disney World!! Instead, I was functionally confined to the hotel where the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) was convening its 92nd Annual Conference. (Yes, I know...... poor planning on my part!)
The Conference theme was "21st Century Vision: Igniting Innovation" and, to "ignite" that vision, AACC used the Conference as a platform from which to release it's landmark "21st Century Report" entitled "Reclaiming the American Dream." In it are an ambitious set of recommendations for how our community colleges can - and need to - play a leading role in this "reclamation" work, and I invite you to read it (or, at least read the Executive Summary - the first 13 pages). You can see a copy of the Report at
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/21stcenturyreport/index.html
Bottom line - - we certainly have our work cut out for us but, as you read the Report, you will see that we at LBCC are already well on our way!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Why We Work at LBCC
Every once in awhile, we receive emails and letters from past students, providing us with feedback on their experience with us. This week we received the following open letter to the college. As we face the challenges of our work, perhaps this kind of feedback helps keep us all in touch with the positive impact we have in our community -- and the importance of finding ways we can ensure that even more students have stories of support and success to share with us as they move forward. I hope you will be as inspired by this as I am.
Dear Linn-Benton Community College:
I would like to take a moment of your time to express my feelings regarding my experience at your school. When I tell people (often) that if LBCC offered a bachelors degree I would get mine there, I’m not just posturing a compliment. I make the statement in all directness and with no reservation. My experience at Linn-Benton was that of a truly high caliber education. When I interact with other university level institutions, I find myself thinking “I already learned that at LB” or “they do a better job of this at LB.” I earned my Associates of Applied Science in Instructional Assistant and in doing so knowingly chose a non-transfer oriented degree. I did this knowing that my education at Linn-Benton was going to be one that I would not want to take for granted. What I didn’t know was just how stellar that education would turn out to be.
Before I go into the classroom experience, I’d like to make sure to point out that it isn’t just the learning environment at Linn-Benton that has earned high praise. The administrative structure and student services on campus are also exceedingly well conducted. I’m the kind of student who takes it upon myself to directly interact with every aspect of the college environment. I spend time sitting down with the people who are going to have an impact on my life as a student. When I do this I make sure to get the message across that I care about my education and I make very explicit observations as to whether they care about it as well. Time and time again the members of; admissions, financial aid, academic advising, disability services, student government, counseling, and administration went above and beyond to meet my needs as a student and show me that they care about my outcome. I’ve had the opportunity to work with other colleges in my life before and after my time at Linn-Benton and continue to do so today. Let me tell you that no other institution I have attended or interacted with has even come close to understanding the purpose of serving their students like Linn-Benton.
So then, the teachers. While I can’t say that each and every instructor at Linn-Benton was the best thing since sliced bread, I can say that nearly all of them were and the few that might not be are still pretty good considering how hard it is to have me as a student. With my major being in education I was able to interact with most of the faculty in that department. I say this with the deepest conviction; the people working in the Luckiamute Center are saints each and every one! With every class I took that carried an ED prefix, I grew leaps and bounds in terms of my knowledge and understanding. I also grew greatly as a person. Because of them I finally was able to bring into focus what my place in the world would be (no small feat for an autistic high-school dropout). The instructors in my education classes taught me more than just the meaning of words, concepts, and theories; they taught me what those things truly mean to me and gave me the tools to apply them in my life. I can honestly say that without these people being some of the best educators in the state (or beyond); someone like me would never have found my path in life in such a clear and profound way.
The teachers in the education department aren’t the only ones who showed themselves to be exceptional educators. Today I can look someone in the eyes and honestly say that I got to spend a summer living inside of an active volcano with underwater robots (I do this often as well). I can say this because of a unique program offered at Linn-Benton through a certain exceptional science instructor. The instructors in the math department were able to work with me and my Asperger’s style of learning so that I could finally make sense of algebra. And the CWE and GED programs I worked with connected me to the students I would strive to serve and brought a level of value to my education that most don’t get until they look back on their working careers years later.
Speaking of the GED program, I cannot emphasize enough how amazing this program is on your campus. Having obtained a GED myself back in 2000 from LCC, I can tell you that the difference in quality cannot be accounted for simply via a decade or so of progress (and the LCC program was pretty decent, just saying). The staff and faculty of the GED program work more and harder than a mule team for the students they serve. Of course again that goes for pretty much everyone working in the Luckiamute Center.
I am a non-traditional student with Asperger’s Syndrome. I was the kind of student who in my K-12 education was the sole reason that more than one teacher quit their job. I have seen a lot of learning environments, both primary and college. At Linn-Benton I have seen a community of people who have what it takes to inspire and enrich the life of the students they serve. I make it a point in my life to not only study the subject in a given class, but also to study the learning environment in that class and at that school. So it is with a critical lens that I go into any academic program to see if it is one that will hold up to my high standards. In that sentiment, I say again, if I could come back to LBCC for my bachelor’s degree I would do so in a heartbeat.
I hope that my words resonate for you the quality that I have come to appreciate and miss at your school. If ever you need it, my story of success and growth at Linn-Benton is at your disposal.
Sincerely,
Nathan P. Wobbe
Monday, April 16, 2012
Students - Scholars
Last Thursday I had the privilege of attending this year's Oregon Community College Association's Student Scholar Recognition Event. 40 of Oregon's best students, gathered to meet with the Governor and to showcase the role that community college education is playing in changing the lives of our students. This year, LBCC's Student Scholar is Tony Hewson, a Computer Science major who, after losing his job at age 41, has found new success with us and is already moving toward the completion of a BS in Computer Science at OSU..... pretty inspiring!
Monday, April 9, 2012
A Student Connection
This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with a "young" friend, celebrating his 46th birthday, and our 28 years of friendship. Do the math.....
I met him when he was 18, when he was a Freshman student at the college where I worked and, through my being his teacher, his employer, and his mentor, we became friends. He tells me that his life has been changed forever (and for the good) as a result of our friendship, but I would be surprised if the change-for-the-good hasn't benefited me more than him.
What I've learned from him is that the change we hope for in our students doesn't come through their connection with a program, a course, or a subject matter. It comes through their connection with us.
Every one of us at LBCC has the potential of being this catalyst for change in a student... and of being changed ourselves in the process.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Planning for our Future
So, while my Blog begins with a re-posting of my March President’s Report (which is being re-posted in this form to invite some dialogue around the issues and ideas I raised there), this represents my first-ever “real” blog post….
Last Friday I had the opportunity to make one of my “Community Presentations” at the Lebanon Chamber Forum, and got quite a bit of coverage, and comment. Here’s the article from the Albany Democrat-Herald covering that Forum.
The reason I bring it to your attention is to invite you to think about – and converse with me about – what I say about LBCC in my Presentations, and especially about our plans for program expansion in some critical Career and Technical areas.
At the same time, I want to remind you that the next Wild Thinkers Forum is scheduled for Friday, April 13th (hopefully none of you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia!) at 3 PM, and I hope you will consider being a part of this work….. A “work” that is most definitely a “work in progress” and open to anyone, even if you were not able to join the group for their first meeting. For my information, check the WTF paperless file at http://po.linnbenton.edu/presidentsoffice/wildthinkersforum/
Monday, April 2, 2012
President's Report March 2012
“Purpose and Process; Mission and Means”
“If it ain’t broke, break it!” is the provocative title to Robert Kriegel’s 1991 book on change in the business world and, in the two decades since that work was published, we have seen some major businesses succeed – and fail – to a great extent on the basis of their ability to apply this principle. A few examples:
Recently I’ve begun reading Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Harvard Business School professor and world acclaimed change theorist Clayton Christensen (http://www.claytonchristensen.com//). This book and others like it, together with some of the lessons learned from the business world, can help us to see beyond “what is” to “what needs to be” and this needs to be part of the foundational thinking for how we move into our future. Paraphrasing Dr. Kamal Munir (the guy who did the post-mortem on Kodak), these “lessons learned” include:
To that end, I am going to be forming a very special group – a group that anyone at LBCC will be welcome to join but for which the formidable goals, hard work, and considerable risks of both failure and success may temper the inclination to volunteer. I’m calling this group the Wild Thinker’s Forum (yes, I know…..) and its purpose will be, in Linchpin author Seth Godin’s words, to “come up with dozens of bad ideas because among them will be the one transforming idea that we need.” A little more specifically, the group’s purpose will be to:
On the inside cover of Clayton Christensen’s book Disrupting Class we read “For America to stay competitive – academically, economically, and technologically – we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning.” In other words, our future is not about being smaller or bigger, nor is it even about being leaner or better funded. Instead, it’s about being fundamentally different – admittedly, in ways that maybe we do not yet fully understand, but nonetheless in ways about which we do have some significant clues. Fortunately, I believe that LBCC is especially well-suited to seeing those “clues” and I am excited to see how the efforts of the Wild Thinker’s Forum will help guide all of us in understanding how we can best respond. I look forward to sharing this work with you!
With Sincere Appreciation and Hope,
Greg
- Founded in 1918, Zenith soon became the TV brand that was synonymous with quality. “The quality goes in before the name goes on” was Zenith’s slogan and I know from personal experience that this was the best TV that my (or my parent’s) money could buy. It was easy to see why Zenith would be proud – and protective – of its standing in the world of CRT technology-based televisions, and so they were… standing. But the world was changing around the feet of this electronics giant, and some of those companies less invested in aging markets and technology moved in like a swarm of bees. By 1999, Zenith filed for bankruptcy and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of LG Electronics, a Korean-based company that is one of the world’s leading producers of flat-screen TVs, major household appliances, and cellphones…. but you already knew that.
- At this year’s Academy Awards, Billy Crystal’s opening monologue began with the words “We’re here at the beautiful Chapter 11 Theatre,” in reference to the recent filing for bankruptcy by Eastman Kodak Co., after which that theatre, until just recently, had been named. Before anyone could say “goodbye” – or was that what Billy Crystal was doing for us all? – the creators of the “Kodak Moment” were gone and we were left with nothing more than the question “why?” In the words of Dr. Kamal Munir, a professor of business strategy and policy at the University of Cambridge, the answer is that “Kodak’s top management never fully grasped how the world around them was changing. They hung on to now obsolete assumptions about who took pictures, why and when. Kodak always thought that people would never part with hard prints and that people valued film-based photos for their high quality.” In spite of the fact that the people at Kodak actually invented the digital camera in 1975, because they were so convinced of the superiority of their product legacy, they never saw digital as a direct substitute for film based photography… When’s the last time you bought a roll of film?
Our future must be defined by the needs and interests of those we serve,
and not by the models or systems or structures we currently use to serve them.
- Don’t burden new ways of thinking and doing with the weight of “legacy assets.” Clinging to past “products,” even – or especially – if they were great in their time, is a prelude to failure.
- Don’t try and prolong old ways of thinking and doing things by creating false synergies between the old and the new. As Kodak learned the hard way, developing digital photography that still needed to be printed to be viewed and shared was a fatal error.
- And, most important of all, design all of what you do around your users and not around any existing business models.
- staying focused on purpose – OUR PURPOSE – of providing “an education that enables all of us to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from the cultural richness and economic vitality of our communities,”
- …and letting go of the rest.
- Clarify our college’s “purpose” and commit it to the memory that consciously and unconsciously informs and directs all that we do (and choose not to do)…. Make our “purpose” our “religion.”
- Identify our college’s “legacy assets” and begin to identify those that are limiting our capacity to move forward. This will be a provocative process and may raise some eyebrows among our co-workers and friends. Questions like “does all learning require a classroom – or even a course?!” will need to be faced head-on.
- Identify the enduring resources that are now ours and on which our future must be built. Again, this will be provocative work. My guess is that we will come to discover (re-discover) that it is our PEOPLE that are our most valuable enduring resource… but not necessarily the roles we currently play or the positions we currently fill. Hmmmm….
- Create and sustain a group culture where “bad ideas” are welcomed and where we assume that almost every success will begin with failure. In other words, bring the creativity you once had (and still have, if you look hard and deep enough)… but leave your egos at the door.
- Develop “answers” to questions like the ones I first shared with you in January. Questions like:
- How can we assure our students that the classes they need will be available to them at the times and in the sequence that best supports their progress toward the completion of a degree?
- How can we ensure that our students have the capacity to succeed in every class they register for?
- How can we adapt our educational delivery systems (or adopt new ones!) to better serve a renewed focus on student success and completion?
- How can we ensure that our communities reap tangible cultural and economic benefits from the investment they make in us as THEIR community college?
- How can we develop and/or take advantage of centralized processes and curricular resources that hold promise for increasing our effectiveness, and efficiency?
- How can we assure our students that we will be aware of and care about their presence and that we will support their progress for every moment that they are with us?
- How can we ensure that every member of the LBCC community understands, accepts, and is appreciated for the role they can play in answering these questions?
- Do as much as we can by the end of the Spring 2012 Term.
- Think in advance about the purpose of this group and about the questions I am asking us to answer. Take time to really understand the questions – what they really mean – and whether or not they are the “right” questions for us. Are there other questions? More questions?
- Begin reading what you can on anything that pertains to this work. Some suggested books:
- “Disrupting Class” by Clayton Christensen (2008)
- “The Innovative University” by Clayton Christensen (2011)
- “The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business” by Clayton Christensen (1997)
- “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” by Seth Godin (2011)
- “Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril” by Margaret Heffernan (2011)
- “Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure” by Tim Harford (2011)
NOTE: If you are really interested in reading any of these books and can’t find one to borrow or don’t have the resources to buy one for yourself, our Library has ordered two copies of each and they will be placed of reserve there for you.
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