VADE NEWS

-- News and notes for the Virginia Association for Developmental Education --

Volume 2, Number 2                                        April 2001

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VADE Plans 2002 Spring Conference

By Sarah Martin

As we enjoy these beautiful days of spring, preparations are underway for our next annual conference, which is planned for February 21 – 22, 2002, at the Omni Hotel in historic Charlottesville, Virginia. Our theme is "Access to Success: Strengthening the Ties," and our keynote speaker will be Hunter Boylan, professor and director of the National Center for Developmental Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Now is the time to begin thinking about submitting a proposal to be a presenter at a concurrent session. Please consider sharing your ideas and current projects with us! Also, we will be electing new officers for 2002 at the next conference. If you are interested in being a candidate for an office in VADE, please contact any of these members of the Nominating Committee: Chris Jennings (Chair), Sally Harrell, Donna Ladd, and Bill Parker.

Have a wonderful summer, and be sure to include VADE in your professional development plans for next year!

VADE has recently requested that the VCCS Professional Development Committee consider making VADE a peer group. The organization has long viewed itself as exhibiting characteristics that distinguish it from the English and math peer groups. One of the most important distinctions is that VADE fosters collaboration among all instructional and co-curricular professionals as key to the success of students requiring developmental education or learning assistance. All English, math, and science faculty; learning assistance and learning resources staff; student services professionals; researchers; and administrators interested in the success of students who require additional preparation or learning support for success in the college environment are included as potential participants.

At the annual statewide conferences, cross-divisional partnerships among diverse members of the education community occur, providing boosts to current programs and generating creative planning for future initiatives. The presentations emphasize meeting students’ needs for success through collaboration of instructors, counselors, and learning support faculty and administrators. Participants discuss common issues and collaboratively seek means for increasing students’ prospects for success in college.

Given the importance of a holistic approach to learning assistance as a critical element of developmental education and of the integration of curricula reported in recent educational literature, a forum for collaboration is essential. VADE offers a setting in which an ongoing exchange of ideas and plans concentrate on a balance of attention to course content and student affective and cognitive needs. VADE provides the means for the participants who fulfill multi-level roles with students – counseling, advising, teaching, providing support, and charting institutional plans – to connect in ways that complement the positive activities of other peer groups.

The Virginia Association for Developmental Education (VADE) held its Spring 2001 conference Thursday and Friday, February 15 and 16, at the Sheraton Hotel in Virginia Beach. Over 70 developmental educators from two- and four-year colleges and high schools attended. The conference theme was "Courses and Resources: Connecting Students."

The conference began on Thursday with the luncheon, followed by keynote speaker Dr. Barbara Bonham, professor and researcher in the Higher Education Department and the National Center for Developmental Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Bonham's topic was "Empowering Developmental Learners Through the Affective Domain." Bonham pointed out three affective barriers for students--self-efficacy, self-esteem, and anxiety--and then went on to suggest ways teachers can help students overcome those barriers. She concluded, "We have many challenges to face in developmental education, one of which is the effort to tap into the affective domain to give emotional support and encouragement to our students."

The concurrent sessions that afternoon featured six different workshops on curriculum integration, supplemental instruction, active learning in algebra, counteracting destructive behavior patterns, writing research grants, and COMPASS.

On Thursday, from 4-6 p.m., participants gathered for a reception that featured Dr. Bonham; publisher exhibits by AZTEC, Townsend Press, COMPASS, Allyn & Bacon, and Discover Series; poster sessions on "Improving Student Writing through Collaboration," "The Kellogg Institute," and "The Mystery of Developmental Advising"; a book signing by local author Chris Jennings; and back massages by Balancing Touch. "Dinner on your own" was followed by a hospitality session back at the hotel from 8-9:30 p.m.

Friday started with the breakfast and business meeting. The morning’s concurrent sessions included six more workshops on AZTEC software, tutoring certification, counselor, teacher, and student collaboration, service learning, adjunct mentoring/orientation, and faculty communication.

The conference closing session took place after a lunch buffet. Randy Beckham, from Germanna Community College, won the grand door prize of a night’s stay at the Sheraton.

• Sarah Martin, President, Virginia Western Community College, smartin@vw.cc.va.us
• Ann Bartholomay, Immediate Past President, Southwest Virginia Community College, ann_bartholomay@sw.cc.va.us
• Cynthia Horen, Vice-President, Tidewater Community College, tchorec@tc.cc.va.us
• Chris Jennings, Treasurer, Tidewater Community College, tcjennc@tc.cc.va.us
• Sally Harrell, Program Chair, Recorder, Tidewater Community College, tcharrs@tc.cc.va.us
• Becky Eller, Program Chair, Blue Ridge Community College, breller@br.cc.va.us
• Bert Morrison, Membership Chair, Photographer, Tidewater Community College, tcmorra@tc.cc.va.us
• Glenda Lowery, Newsletter Editor, Rappahannock Community College, glowery@rcc.cc.va.us
• Rick Dollieslager, Web Master, Thomas Nelson Community College, dollier@tncc.cc.va.us
• William Parker, Four-Year College Member-at-Large, Norfolk State University, whparker@nsu.edu

Donna Ladd, Blue Ridge Community College, brladdd@br.cc.va.us

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 2002 VADE Conference, in historic, picturesque Charlottesville, promises to be a stimulating opportunity for learning and sharing.

Contact any VADE board member for the concurrent session proposal or more information. More information will follow.

The pre-conference workshop at NADE entitled, "Interdisciplinary Learning Communities of Developmental and General Education Classes," was worth every minute of the three hours. The facilitators from De Anza College in Cupertino, California - Marcy Betlach, Sally Wood, Marcos Cicerone, and Judy Coleman – described learning communities which combine developmental and general education classes. They demonstrated the value of learning communities as supportive of increased retention, success, and enthusiasm for college.

The presentation began with a depiction of three models – Link, Cohort, and Cluster. Link is just as it sounds, the linking of two courses. The example used was Intermediate Algebra and Introduction to Visual Arts. The Cohort model was also used with two classes but in a slightly different manner. Three hundred students enrolled in an American History course. Thirty of those students also enrolled in an Advanced ESL Reading and Writing Course. The third model, the Cluster, included four courses – Introduction to Sociology (4 units), Developmental Reading (5 units), Development Writing (5 units), and World Wide Web Searching (1 unit).

After the introduction, the facilitators divided the group into triads and gave us a few basic rules to follow as we developed learning communities. Our rules included the following:

• Enroll the same students in all the classes together.
• Focus the learning community courses on a central theme or question.
• Provide the interdisciplinary aspect of the courses via students and faculty building connections between subject matters, disciplines, and ideas.
• Team design and teach courses.
• Use collaborative learning and experiential learning as keystones of the pedagogy.

One was called "Violence and Conflict: Surviving in a Crazy World." It included sociology, reading/writing, and library skills courses. The group suggested service-learning projects as an appealing methodology for this set of courses.

The second one was "The Interface of Technology and Language" (or the alternate title when the group could not decide – "How Technology Affects Language"). This set of courses included sociology, reading, writing, and computer literacy.

A switch from sociology to psychology followed with the learning community that explored the idea of motivation, "Why Do We Do What We Do?" This plan grouped psychology with development reading and developmental writing.

"Communication for Real Life Careers: The Road to Life’s Passion" featured courses in developmental reading and writing and orientation focused on career planning and study skills for success. The planning group for this learning community selected service learning as an important component of the community.

The star for the day was the learning community, "Put Me in, Coach; I’m Ready to Play." With a sports focus throughout all the courses, the group planned a speech course, an English course, and a course in leadership dynamics. Sports movies and books were among suggested resources for the students.

My group planned a learning community around Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Our community included reading/writing, study skills, American history, and sociology. Content and discussion possibilities included the labor movement and practices, big business, the depression, migrant workers’ issues, workers in other historical eras, the Industrial Revolution, and workers during World War II. The possibilities for meaningful content and projects to further enrich the theme for the learning community appeared to be vast.

At the end of the workshop, the group discussed potential administrative difficulties related to learning communities. The facilitators suggested early recruiting of students to these settings as entry assessment data on students becomes available. They also suggested that developing a plan for a learning community that appeared vital for students in one’s college must come first before administrative barriers prevented discussion. If the learning community appeared very important, perhaps both instructors and administrators would be more open to working through the administrative headaches. Instructors’ willingness to go the extra mile and administrators’ finding incentives for the extra work and time required for instructor teams to offer this type of learning environment would contribute to a successful plan. The route to success appeared to be a collaborative approach with the determination to discover the way to make this happen, rather than giving up at the first roadblock.

The National Association for Developmental Education has officially endorsed a national honor society, Chi Alpha Epsilon, to recognize the academic achievement of students who enter colleges and universities through non-traditional criteria and use developmental support services while there. Students who were admitted into developmental programs are eligible for membership if they hold a 3.0 cumulative G.P.A. for two consecutive full-time semesters.

Founded at West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1985, Chi Alpha Epsilon (XAE) chartered its first chapter, Alpha Chapter, in 1990 and became a national honor society in 1997. Currently, there are over sixty institutions with chapters of XAE, mostly centered in the northeastern states.

During NADE’s Leadership Workshop, Peter Kyper from West Chester University introduced the program as a recent development for NADE’s over 2000 members and 31 state and regional chapters. Information on how a chapter of XAE may be developed on your campus may be found on its website: www.xaehonor.org or by writing Chi Alpha Epsilon National Office, 129 Lawrence Center, West Chester University, West Chester. PA 19383.

The Journal's content focuses on basic skills education, developmental education activities, learning assistance, and counseling as they relate to at-risk students at the postsecondary level.  Editorial emphasis is placed on manuscripts that relate theory to practice (i.e., teaching, learning, and student development) and studies that include evaluative results of implementation.  The Journal also publishes manuscripts that expand current knowledge or have a clearly demonstrated impact on the field.

Author's Guidelines are available upon request from the Journal or may be found at the National Center's web site (www.ncde.appstate.edu). Typewritten, double spaced manuscripts, original and four copies, not exceeding 20 pages in length and following the APA Publication Manual (Fourth Edition) style should be submitted for consideration.  Publication decisions are made by the JDE's editorial board through a blind review process.

Send manuscripts and requests for additional information to: Managing Editor; Journal of Developmental Education; National Center for Developmental Education; Appalachian State University; PO Box 32098; Boone, NC 28608; 828-262-6101; Calderwoodbj@appstate.edu

The official call for proposals will go out in August, but if you have an idea now, contact our program chair. We would love to hear from you.