I've Got My Notebooks And I'm Going Back

by Molly Ivors

Thers and I recently returned from vacation and are rushing to finish summer projects before the new semester. This time of year always puts me in mind of our mission: it's good to start a school year as a true believer in the value of what you do and your ability to make differences in the lives of students.

But I was reading in one of our industry mags about the looming financial crisis in our business, one which, by and large, can't be avoided. And I admit, I quaked a bit in my boots.

This is taken from a column in Inside Higher Education called Confessions of a Community College Dean, and it poses a very real problem:

Community colleges generally are in an awkward position when it comes to energy use. Most cc’s don’t have dorms, which is both good and bad. It’s good in the sense that we have fewer buildings to heat, cool, and maintain, but it’s bad in the sense that a true measure of our carbon footprint includes students commuting to and from campus. (In four years in the dorms at Snooty Liberal Arts College, I never had a car, but I never missed a class.) We generally don’t have the massive athletics facilities or student life compounds, either. What we do have is essential, and therefore devilishly hard to cut. And since our per-student aid (and tuition) is much lower than our counterparts’, our extra efficiency carries no payoff. It’s simply assumed as a baseline. When you’re already running with minimal slack, external shocks are that much harder to absorb.

His answer is online classes, which Thers is a lot better at than I, as I was reminded again this summer. The problem is that it's harder to create community in the online classroom, at least in a traditional sense. But that doesn't really seem to matter anymore.

Community colleges are also seeing a jump in enrollments for online courses. At Ozarks Technical Community College (Missouri), summer enrollments for online courses have jumped 52 percent, to 1,332 students.   

In Tennessee, online registrations had been averaging about a 7 percent to 10 percent increase each year, said Associate Vice Chancellor Robbie Melton, who is in charge of online and distance learning for the system, which oversees six universities, 13 community colleges and 26 technology centers.

But he’s noticed it jump 29 percent this summer compared with last, and he’s anticipating a 20 percent increase this fall.

“When they call, they keep saying, ‘The gas prices, it’s just unbelievable,’” Melton said of students.

Things have eased a bit over this summer, no doubt due to the realization that you cannot actually squeeze people until their eyeballs bleed jelly forever. Plus, it's likely to be bad for John McCain if you do.

But the general fact remains that when non-optional expenses skyrocket, the money has to come from somewhere. And community colleges, generally speaking, don't have as much "somewhere" as other places.

Comments

[spinoza]

Some of the SUNY four-year schools are also pushing hard for professors to create on-line courses.

[Sparkle Plenty]

Do you think providing video-conferencing program/camera with courses could help with the community/mult-voice/exchange of ideas thing?

I realize one of the many advantages of online courses for students is being able to work around personal schedules. But may there could be scheduled video seminars, like lab sections. Students could attend one and view the others at their own convenience.

The group experience is important in so many ways. I hate the thought of students losing face-time contact completely.
.

[cosmic tumbler]

I use the same technology online courses use, but I use it for facilitating communication among students between classes. I really cannot see giving up the face-to-face contact. Besides, where else could I go to perform?

[actor212]

I think you can make the case pretty much for all public colleges, Molly, albeit CCs get hit the hardest for the reasons you mention.

When you are in thrall to the whims of a budget cutting legislature, you can guaran-damn-tee they'll take your throat before they give up their perks.

[xan]

Speaking as a "non-traditional" (aka "old") student whose only remaining goal is to get a BS before I die, I do not give a damn about classroom community. I have nothing in common with those kids, don't go to movies, don't listen to music and generally have nothing to commune with them about anyway.

Just give me the classes, the reading list, the test and the grade and then the piece of paper. You can send it in the mail, no gowns or rituals required. Nobody will still hire me for anything (see "old" part above) but I will be able to at least check one item off the "you are a miserable failure in life" list.

:)

[sbgypsy]

If we had a meritocracy, this would not be a problem, but in our society, your ability to get a job, as well as the quality of that job... is predicated on who you know, not what you know.

[actor212]

SB,

True, but often, who you know is predicated on where you go.

[Bitter Scribe]

This makes perfect sense, in a sad way.

The larger question is, why are we perpetually struggling to balance the budget on the backs of students, of all types and at all levels?

[Ripley]

Are the online courses less expensive than a warm-body class?

Just asking - I've always been curious about that.

[Rmj]

Taught 3 online classes this summer, which was convenient, as my commute is about 40 miles a day otherwise. So that was nice.

OTOH, unless you get it down on the website VERY CLEARLY, you end up convinced you left something out that SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAID and it's all your fault somebody screwed up a paper. That or they're just very dim and don't read and wouldn't have listened to you anyway and....

Well, it's all about tradeoff. Most of my students think its high school anyway, so their sense of community ends when they find out I don't take roll and don't worry about whether or not they are in class.

Anyway....

[rea]

I will be able to at least check one item off the "you are a miserable failure in life" list.

Just be careful not to get elected president as a Republican . . .

Oddly enough, if you Google the phrase, "miserable failure," the first result you get is,"Google Kills Bush's Miserable Failure Search & Other Google Bombs"

[DrDick]

Ripley - it depends on the college/university. Here at the University of Montana, online courses are 1.5x the in-state tuition, but less than half out-of-state tuition. I have taught several over the years and have found them a mixed bag. Still prefer face-to-face interaction. At least for me, it is really hard to generate any kind of interactivity online.

[masculine_monica_nyc]

Welcome back, Ms Molly.

And since our per-student aid (and tuition) is much lower than our counterparts’, our extra efficiency carries no payoff. It’s simply assumed as a baseline. When you’re already running with minimal slack, external shocks are that much harder to absorb.

How are the state budget cuts effecting the system upstate? Do you know yet?

[Molly Ivors]

monica,
Word is our FTE reimbursement remains the same, but they're cutting funding for other, often crucial, things--such as childcare.

[racymind]

When I was a publisher's rep working out of Memphis I thought it odd that many community colleges in Mississippi had football teams, dorm rooms and homecoming celebrations.