Arkansas Northeastern College – General Blog

This breakout session talked about Pulaski Technical Colllege’s Bridge Program. They give tutoring a week before the COMPASS Test in each of the three areas.  The Bridge is one week, four hours a day in either math, writing skills, or reading.  People who attend these tutoring sections can test out of one or more Developmental Classes. I will try to implement this for our students before next semester.

Deanna Allison

This year was the first time I have gone to AATYC and I would have to say that it was a wonderful experience. One of the sessions I attended was from Pulaski Technical College about Developmental Mathematics to improve rates fo student success and retention by allowing students to accelerate through their developmental requirements and to help students meet Arkansas Lottery Scholarship requirements.

I  was very pleased with these ideas and will try to implement them to our class room.

During AATYC, I listend to a presentation by Nuventive.  This company has several products, but the product being discussed most thoroughly was TracDat.  The reason I found this interesting centers around our current HLC visit. 

From my understanding, TracDat helps from “cradle to grave” so to speak.  In other words, from the instructor’s learning objectives to the institutional mission, the system helps with a comprehensive solution for the process of institutional planning and assessment.  There were many interesting facets to this system and a great many features that would help in gathering data.   Once information is stored, the system can integrate and connect data in a great number of ways.  Additionally, by collecting information in this manner, it eliminates many meetings and avoids redundancy that often occurs when various departments or groups at the college need information.

The presentation was very interesting and well presented.  One of the biggest benefits to investigating systems of this nature would be to start using it early before our next HLC visit.  TracDat claims to be capable of “helping manage the entire assessment process across the institution or system as well as the program/department and course/activity level.”

This warm weather is wonderful, but I’m afraid there is a lot of winter yet to come. We should enjoy it while it lasts, just don’t get used to it. I am glad to have this new year 2010 and a clean slate from which to start. My first New Year’s resolution is to get more organized. I admire people who are organized, but I am just not one of them. I like to tell myself that my skills are more creative and spontaneous. That’s why I am not organized. But the truth is, organization is important to creativity, and does not necessarily keep you from being spontaneous. It makes it possible. The clutter on my desk makes it hard to get anything done. So today I will clean my desk, make a list of things that need my attention, and then begin checking them off one-by-one. Now that sounds like a plan! I will have a clean desk. But just between you and me… don’t get used to it.

Isn’t electricity a wonderful thing?  Now that the dark ages are behind us again, it is important that we remember the many things we take for granted…heat, light, water, television, clean laundry…So, what was it we did before cell phones?  Do you remember stopping at service stations and using payphones?  It seems that someone had always removed the pages from the phone book.  Do you remember checking to see if there was change in the coin return?  Right…no such luck.  I know that everyone has heard about the “good old days” from parents and grandparents.  After eight days without modern conveniences, I have come to believe that the best is yet to come.  It was nice, however, to be close with family.  There were ten of us in my mother’s den which had gas logs.  We played cards, read books, and talked to each other.  Maybe there is something to be learned from this that will improve our lives today.  I would love to hear about your ice storm experiences.  I would bet that there are some great stories out there.  So how did you survive?

Thanksgiving break provided us with a great opportunity to catch up on important things like spending time with our families, studying for finals, and eating too much.  Personally, I aced the “eating too much” part.  I hereby declare that I will better utilize the walking track in the Wellness Center.  Since my office is located in that building, there is no excuse for me not to take advantage of such a wonderful facility.  We have so much to be thankful for here at ANC. 

I am thankful for my friends.  I am thankful for the new roads and the completion of that little project…I always seemed to forget about the closed entries, and had to turn around to go the other way.  Yes, that was me.  I am thankful that gas prices are coming back down to earth.  Is there something about the gravity in Blytheville that keeps them from coming down faster?  Anyway, it is nice to fill up my tank for less than half the previous cost.  So, we should count our blessings, study hard, and give a big smile to everyone we meet.  Maybe I will see you on the walking track…because the next big “eating” break is just around the corner.

This weather is great!  Now that most students have settled into classes and know their way around the campus, I would like to encourage each of you to get involved in ANC clubs and activities.  The friends you make in college will be important to you for the rest of your lives. The Wellness Center offers some great opportunities for intramural sports.  This is your chance to have fun while getting to know teammates and participating in healthy exercise.  We are so glad you have chosen Arkansas Northeastern College.  We want your time here to be successful and memorable.

Hurry fall; hurry fast.  I really hate to rush the seasons, but this sweltering heat is a little too much for me.  So, if beginning the new school year brings the promise of cooler temperatures – I am ready!  The ANC campus has been pretty quiet during the summer months.  It is time for a change.  Returning students will see lots of changes on our campus.  It is exciting to see the remodeling progress, and if you haven’t figured it out already, change is inevitable.  Just when you get used to the way things are, someone changes it.  Maybe that is a good thing.  Without changes, we stop growing and become stagnant.  My advice is to embrace the changes.  ANC extends a hearty “welcome” to our new students.  We are glad you’re here.  We welcome back our returning ANC friends and family.  And, I don’t know about you, but I have missed breakfast at the Outback.