September 23, 2014

Pardon me, while I re-use some material I posted today to SMC's academic blog, Dis-Counts: Discoveries, Discussions and Discourses.  Most of the points about the direction of higher education are modifiable for a general audience.

Some set-up.  At our 50th anniversary celebration, we had a Journey tribute band play. They were vehement in their claim that we should not call them a "cover band" and, frankly, based upon our little bit of exposure to him, were fronted by a jerk of a lead singer.  Without referencing this directly, it formed the genesis for the Dis-Count title of "A Tribute To A Whole Different Kind of Journey."   At this blog, I feel a little more comfortable "digging" at the Journey reference.

First off, it's a good thing SMC's mascot is the roadrunner.  This year's Student Success Summit, sponsored by the Michigan Community College Association's Student Success Center, continues to emphasize that speed (acceleration) is the goal to achieving student success.  For road-runners, speed is our forte.

As with past years. SMC took a small team: seven people, including myself.  Our travel experiences seemed to mirror the messages of the conference.

• One of us "on-boarded" fully, heading to Lansing the night before the conference, so that he could check in and check out the logistics well in advance.  His experience is a testament to the kinds of "on-boarding" Northwestern Michigan College described with its admission team that visits 46 area high schools at least three times a year, as well as establishing ten 2.5-hour orientations for new students through the summer.  While such "on-boarding" may feel more like "water-boarding" to faculty and staff who would have to commit to so much time for attracting and welcoming students, one wants to feel completely comfortable with "surroundings" even before the conference began.

• In addition, at the last minute (two days before the conference), this same person got a new completion requirement, being asked to stick around after the conference for another session on the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP, a new summit he had to scale).  As the keynote speaker from "Jobs For The Future" pointed out, many students don't complete because they "linger," earn "excess credit" or simply have been advised so by "well-meaning, overwhelmed" advisors.  Sometimes one can't "escape" their Journey, even when it is in tribute.

• A second SMC person also traveled alone to the conference, but not because she wanted to "on-board" earlier.  Her pathway was dictated by what a speaker for the Kresge Foundation said about not ignoring "non-academic factors in student support services."  Not wanting to get stuck with that "creepy" (a direct quote from her) off-campus housing (the perfectly delightful Gatehouse Suites, at least according to others), she chose to stay at the Kellogg Conference Center.  Her experience at the conference was indubitably better because she felt more comfortable with her "housing."  (She may have sacrificed some of her social life, as the rest of us could "stumble," if necessary, from our restaurant back to our housing.)  There's a strange tension in higher education these days that is all about limiting student choices for curriculum, but adopting a more "anyway you want it" attitude towards everything non-academic.

• Perhaps since this was her second year coming to the conference, this SMC member was the epitome of Georgia State University's significant retention of freshman to sophomore status by the second year (with clear goals and guidance, like our attendee, GSU's retention to sophomore status improved 28% over a brief three-year period, a much more meaningful statistic than their recurring 83% retention rate in general).  This insight from the "Jobs For The Future" speaker was one of the "lights" going on moments for all of us.

• I actually "on-boarded" with a non-academic, the one SMC participant from the student services side, but we parted with our "separate ways," as I carpooled back with the cohort group mentioned below.  Without intending to, I was embracing what the speaker from "Achieving the Dream" said about "creating strategic partnerships that improve student outcomes."

• However, like many students, I did become distracted and got off track during the conference, determined to convince others that a former faculty member's doppelganger was at the conference.  So much so, I got accused of following the poor man around.  As the "Jobs For The Future" presenter said, "many [students] don't follow the 'catalogue' curriculum," and for awhile I may not have.  Although in all honesty, I did a much better time this year than in past years when truly useless sessions caused me to literally "step out."  This conference several years ago was the first time I ever used the pull-the-cell-phone-out-and-exclaim, "oh, my president is trying to reach me," excuse to get out of a particulary painful session.  My goal that day was to "keep on runnin'."

• We did have a cohort group, the three other academics (two faculty and a dean) who came in together and exited together.  They often suffered together (it is amazing how one can see a presenter from another college and wonder how any student could sit through his or her lecture).  The partnership of cross-disciplinary academics in our SMC cohort group exemplifies what the Kresge speaker described as necessary "educational ecosystem."   One of the highlights for at least some of our cohorts was the session on "using nutrition to enhance student performance."  Given the tendency for some of our departments to rain pizza and cookies down upon every student event, all of us are very interested in eliminating those edibles from our educational ecosystem.  It is too easy for students to accept our unhealthy food options with "open arms."

So, there you have it.  And if you groaned through the way I covered Journey songs here, then you know how many of us felt Saturday night.