-- News and notes for the Virginia Association for Developmental Education --
Volume 2, Number 1 November 2000
VADE
Plans February Conference in VA Beach:
A Message from the In-coming President
By Sarah Martin, President
As we approach the holiday season and the end of yet another hectic semester, your VADE Board is busy planning for our upcoming conference at the Oceanfront Sheraton in Virginia Beach, February 15-16, 2001.
To me, the beach has always symbolized a place of peace and tranquility--a place to contemplate major life decisions, to find renewal, to reestablish priorities. In fact, it was while walking on the beach that I decided to volunteer to serve as an officer in VADE. Since that day, I have enjoyed getting to know many of you and am excited about our working together during the next year.
The theme of our Conference at Hotel Roanoke in September was "Building Partnerships," and we are continuing this theme of "Making Connections" in February. Here are some specific ways in which this theme is being "played out" in our life together.
1. NADE’s new motto is, "Helping under-prepared students prepare, prepared students advance, and advanced students excel." As an organization (whether NADE or VADE), we have typically seen our mission as serving under-prepared or "remedial" students and helping them to develop their full potential (hence, "developmental" education). There is now a movement to expand this mission to include helping all students – even the most gifted and advanced – to achieve their potential.
2. VADE has seen its focus as post-secondary education, particularly the Virginia Community College System. We are now considering strengthening our relationship with secondary schools by including a high school teacher on our Board. At the same time we are seeking new ways to reach out to four-year colleges which no longer view "remedial" education as their responsibility.
3. VADE has sometimes been viewed as an association for developmental English, reading, and mathematics faculty. We have expanded that vision to include counselors, student support staff, Learning Center staff, administrators, and others who share our mission.
We seem to be stretching our boundaries in many directions as we seek to redefine and clarify our role. Those of us in the Virginia Community College System are in a unique period of transition as many of our faculty and administrators retire or move on to new opportunities. We are also in the early stages of implementing new standards for placement and curriculum. Meanwhile, our students reflect our changing society, and we find ourselves confronted with new challenges as we see more students with behavior problems, academic deficiencies, and even hostile attitudes.
In this time of change, our "connections" with each other are increasingly valuable. How can we support each other through times of frustration and uncertainty? How can we share our joy when we see our students reach new levels of understanding and realize that we have made a real difference in their lives? We need to share our success stories and to remind ourselves of who we are and why we are here!
I look forward to seeing you at the beach in February.
Spann Keynote Speaker at Fall Conference
By Glenda Lowery
Approximately 46 developmental educators attended the VADE Conference held in Roanoke on Thursday and Friday, September 28-29.
The keynote speaker at the banquet on Thursday night was Dr. Milton G. (Bunk) Spann, a nationally recognized developmental educator. Spann is the founder of the National Center for Developmental Education at Appalachian State University, the Kellogg Institute for the Training and Certification of Developmental Educators, and the Journal of Developmental Education. He continues to serve as editor of the Journal as well as senior associate. He is also a professor of human development and psychological counseling at ASU.
The conference featured four workshops at Virginia Western Community College on Thursday afternoon and nine concurrent sessions on Friday. The sessions covered such topics as faculty/counselor collaboration, teaching styles, reading math, a computer component in a developmental writing course, collaboration with high schools, using newspapers and portfolios, teaching vocabulary, virtual math lab, an academic success program, and the VCCS standards for placement and course content. The conference evaluation comments were overwhelmingly positive.
Conference Attendees Win Door Prizes
By Glenda Lowery
To make the September conference livelier, Executive Board members brought door prizes from their respective colleges to give away. Over thirty prizes were awarded.
One of the grand prizes, a night's
stay at the Hotel Roanoke, was won by Teresa Woodard from SwVCC. The other
big prize, a NADE membership, was given to Rebecca Shaw from Germanna CC.
February 15-16, 2001
Courses and Resources: Connecting Students
Hosted by Tidewater Community College
and held at
Sheraton Oceanfront Hotel
36 and Atlantic Avenue
Virginia Beach, VA
757 425-9000
800 521-5635
VADE values collaboration among all instructional and co-curricular professionals as key to the success of students requiring developmental education or learning assistance. The Spring 2001 VADE Conference, at the beautiful Virginia oceanfront, promises to be a stimulating opportunity for learning and sharing.
VADE Executive Board Members
Send news items related to the Virginia Association for Developmental Education to: Glenda Lowery, Newsletter Editor, Rappahannock Community College, glowery@rcc.cc.va.us
Submit suggestions for the VADE Web Site to: Rick Dollieslager, Web Master, Thomas Nelson Community College, dollier@tncc.cc.va.us