Brief reflections of the sessions attended need to be submitted.
It was a pleasure meeting all of you tonight. As you engage in our online sessions, try to remain positive in your entries. The focus should be on the knowledge or insight you've gained from the sessions. If, for some reason, you did not gain much from the workshop, then try to focus on what you did appreciate. Certainly, I encourage you to share what you experienced, but don’t let your postings exclusively focus on negativity. Keep in mind that the online collaboration is meant to support a positive online forum. Naturally, negative postings will not allow us to share a positive learning experience.
Additionally, when you post your entries for the sessions, you can generalize it in our class blog. The individual detailed descriptions can be reserved for your write-up submission that must be submitted via e-mail.
Enjoy the rest of the conference, and I look forward to our future sessions, both online and face to face! Have a good night!
Best regards,
Dr. Rivera
I was able to get off early from work. Luckily there was no registration. I just signed in and got a packet. People were already there before 2. Underwood and Dr. Ferrer were among the notables. The keynote speaker was deep and very accurate. He should be for a princeton phd. Look over tomorrows schedule. It's going to be a long day.
ReplyDeleteToday we had some good presenters. I took Dr. K before so i enjoyed his session. He's always telling it straight. He may piss people off, but it's funny. The student presenters were good, too. The day went by quick. I wish it was payday- i'm broke.
ok, i'm not going to lie(because who lies in cyberspace, right?), but i only focused on 2 items of the keynote speech: accrediting organizations vs. federal standardization; and for-profit institutions vs. traditional universities. i had trouble following the other points in the speech.
ReplyDeletelearning institutions should be held accountable for the education they provide. accreditation is a good means to uphold that accountability. but i like what Dr. Giardina said about institutions critiquing themselves from within and building on a template that they've created. building creativity from within, while having a fresh, outside opinion every so often is a good thing.
i need help, though. alot of what Giardina said went over my head. can anyone enlighten?
oh, it just came to me. if society is tasking the school to educate their children and raise them to adulthood, it seems to me that parents are passing the buck. not sure i buy into what dr. k was selling us. geez, society. learn a little responsibility. :)
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ReplyDeleteI have to say that the first day of this conference gave me much food for thoughts. I found Dr. Giardina’s address on the latest trends and challenges of accreditation for higher institutions quite interesting. I appreciated his reiteration of the history of relations between the accrediting bodies and the federal funding agencies since it was new information for me. Having been an accreditation leader for quite a while now, I know how WASC operates when it comes to high schools. However, the challenges he highlighted pertaining to higher education took me aback for a moment, given the amount of funding involved ($110 billion last year!) and the various conundrums relating to the new trends (particularly long-distance education and for-profit institutions). Given the myriad contexts of higher institutions, a way to tackle these new challenges would be to focus on equitableness versus equality. The example Dr. Giardina brought up comparing the learning gains of students at our local institution vs. Harvard are a case in point. Each institution should receive, and be evaluated, equitably and not equally. As for the possibility that higher education institutions may be under continuous scrutiny is not unsettling to me. In fact, it is a way of ensuring that students get what they signed up and paid for. As a European student, I had to take high-stake exams in the 2nd, 5th, 8th grade and, at the end of high school, I took and passed my baccalaureate exam. My grades for those years were based on my performance on those state exams administered by an independent body and not the grades I had earned at my school. They were stressful moments for me and my family but necessary. Later in life, I totally understood and was well prepared when I took my SAT’s, Cambridge, TOEFL, GRE, and GTEP exams. High-stakes tests fulfill a very important function—that of establishing and keeping the bar where the national educational community decides it should be. However, they should not be treated as the be-all and end-all of measures.
ReplyDeleteAs for the presentations, the most intriguing to me was my first one by Dr. Lin on teaching statistics with Excel. I still remember when I had to run my data to write chapter 3 of my thesis. I was fortunate enough to have a statistician on my committee. If I had to do it all over again, it would be so much easier with this MS Office component. Granted, I would have to take advanced statistics all over again but, heck, it’s so much fun!
Lastly, the “Mentoring the Mentor Program” is a great idea. UOG SOE should consider it. Over the years, I have witnessed good young teachers burning out within their first 5 years. I had two student teachers in the past two years. I was hoping they would get hired at my school so that I would be able to provide them with some support, especially during their first year. It broke my heart when they had to teach somewhere else. I almost felt that my work had gone partly to waste. I would not have felt this way had I known they would find a motivated mentor at their new job site.
Alert--Blogspot warned me that the content of my comment was too large so I reposted it. However, I found out a minute later that it was posted anyway. So, I had to delete one. If you encounter the same problem, check if your comment got posted despite the warning. Best, Grace
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the keynote speaker. Dr.Giardina brought about a lot of interesting points that make a lot of sense. It was interesting to learn that online programs can establish themselves as an accredited institution just by acquiring a school that has already been accredited (his reference cas the Franciscan School of the Prairies which now does business as Ashford University.) going from a school of about 314 to over 54,000 students enrolled and about 10% applying for federal student assistance.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed Dr. Kallingal's session. He caused us to examine our education system (framework). He offered us eyeopeners to get us to question how students learn and offered those 5 major systems that will help to facilitate growth and prepare children for life.
Dr. Richard Giardina presentation was an eye opener. He presented that the "accreditation institution" was evaluated by the U.S. Department of Education as not keeping up with the time. The federal government place the organization on somewhat like "show cause." Needlesstosay, this is the same organization that evaluates all the schools on Guam. Thus, I don't feel bad on the process of going through a revisit by the same organization that need to "show cause."
ReplyDeleteThe interesting topics where presented by Dr. George Kallingal and Ms. Lou San Nicolas students. These presentation brings critical information that can relate to our educational delivery system. These presentation actually have merits. However, it would have been more effective if the presenters were allowed more time.
Overall, the conference went well with valuable information. I am looking forward to tomorrow session. I strongly believe that Guam DOE administrators should attend this conference.
I found the speach of Dr. Giardina to be very powerful and informative. I agree on what wa said about the online programs. All degrees should have equal value. I agree that there needs to be a re-alignment on how shools should be accredited, and that this process is equitable accross the board. As a chairman I agree on the accreditation process making the school accountable. There nneds to be a newer focus on how we prpare our students for real life skills. In our breakout session I found Dr. Kallingal presentation as hitting the nailk right on the head. If what we have been teaching is said to be adequate accourding to acredited schools why is our young people stile facing life crises? Is our acedemic alingment meeting the needs of life long skill?
ReplyDeleteDOE need to spend more assests on mentoring and make the process a standard function in every school. This would parallel our efforts towards PLC.
I beleive teachers should evauluate our administrators on thier effectiveness and the results taken to heart. A good and EXPERIENCE leader will only lead our school toward being the school of excelence.
I am looking forward to the remaing conference. I have learn so much in one evening at this conference. With this knowledge I will truely be imortalized.
I liked all the presentations on the accreditation of learning institutions, mentoring, the environment, and school leadership which focused on the central theme of assessment and accountability. This is gradually embedded all aspectis of education. In order to prepare learners for the world of work in a competitive and global society, we must reflect and revise our course of action in order to sustain our cultures, natural resources, and environment. The initial place to establish such a foundation of values and practice is through education.
ReplyDeleteDr. Underwood exemplifies this with his opening address "The assessment of education must be sophisticated, informatiove and comparative."
Grace, it is remarkable that Dr. Giardina presentation gave us a valuable information about the accrediting organization is under review by the U.S. Department of Education. The biggest surprise was when he said that they were place as not keeping up with the time. How can an evaluator of schools and colleges made it possible for "profitable" companies in acquiring higher education institutions and not keeping them aligned to higher standards. I guess he was right that the organization requires to reform itself. This is truly remarkable.
ReplyDeleteRaymond, I think the medicine done its work. If I was a police man now, I'll arrest you for "TUI" (typing under the influence). LOL... Hope you will be feeling a lot better tomorrow. Actually with all this information, we will be immortalize...
ReplyDeleteI am a middle school teacher and my school ends at 3:30, but in actuality, we are not allowed to leave the campus until 3:45 to alleviate the flow of traffic for the school buses. Thus, I was not able to make it to the actual conference on time, and unfortunately missed the keynote speech. Nonetheless, I was able to attend the open forum discussion, and some interesting items were brought to the table including the validity of the accreditation process, and how accrediting agencies are accredited themselves. In the midst of all the discussion, however, I was shocked to hear that one professor commented to do away with using standardized tests as an entrance exam, and in her own words, "such as the PRAXIS!" Moreover, she insisted that if students fail such a test, they should be given a "second chance" and she could not understand why there is such an "obstacle" in their way. In all honesty, I was embarrassed by that comment, and I even got my baccalaureate back in 2007! What does that say about the standards we place on these pre-service teachers? No wonder why the system is the way that it is--teachers enter the system with standards set at what is probably a bare minimum, and then they face the consequences of struggling in their first years of teaching--as I had personally experienced. Just food for thought--there should be more conferences about accountability, because from what it seems, many of the pre-service teachers are not held accountable for what is being done in these "exemplary courses" in SOE anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe keynote address of Dr. Giardina, was certainly loaded with information. Information that is very controversial and important at the same time. He did pointed out a lot of pros and cons about accreditation as well as the federal standardization of education. One of the important points he raised was the quality of team members of an accrediting team that is sent to evaluate a school or educational institution. He mentioned about inconsistency on the level of training, which I believed is a great factor in the process of accreditation. So, I guess the question is who set the standards or the quality of each team members that visits our schools to do the accreditation process? Are they reliable? and free of biases? Personally, I believed that the accreditation process is one way for us to improve ourselves as a community of learners. Whether federal funding is available or not we have to protect the sanctity of instruction and the quality of learning.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the presentation of Dr. Li in "Teaching Statistics with Excel" is very interesting. Honestly, I'm not an excel user but the presentation of Dr. Li did open my eyes on the availability of a simple tool that we can use in collecting and interpretating data. While the presentation on "Mentoring the Mentors Program", I believed that the training modules were designed for the total development, enhancement and support for the teacher as well as the administrators.
In short, today's session is very hectic, a lot of information were presented and there's a lot to processing to do but as educators we remain flexible and professional.
Session Reflection - Teaching Statistics with Excel:
ReplyDeleteThough the content of the presentation was very interesting and informative, it would probably not serve any use for me for my classroom, since I never use Excel to teach my students. Also, it is not necessary to use Excel for grades anymore since my school requires the use of Powerschool-an online gradebook to store grades and attendance. However, it did spark my interest since my degree is in mathematics, and it was a good refresher of my statistics classes from college.
Session Reflection - Mentoring the Mentors Program (MMP):
Again, the content was very interesting and it was nice to see evidence of how their program was actually progressing. However, I think Guam has too many obstacles in their system (e.g. financial debts) to start a program such as the MMP. I think Guam has had a great deal of success, though, with such programs of professional development, and the CAST Summer Session is one example. It's great that it works for their district and they should continue to do what works best for them, but Guam has a different set of demographics, and thus there is a need for a different type of change.
Session Reflection - Accountability to the Environment: Caring for Plants:
The presentation by the undergraduate pre-service teachers was organized, and it seemed that much work was put into it. But, I still do not understand how this session related to the actual Conference as a whole. Maybe I missed the memo somewhere, but I initially thought this was a conference about Assessment and Accountability in education--not the environment. To me, a conference is a big event that should serve a purpose in making a difference to the community, and should be well-organized. Did they run out of presenters? Was this just supposed to be time-fillers? Aren't speakers supposed to be experts in their field to present in such a conference? Just more food for thought.
Session Reflection - Standards and Accountability:
This was a presentation done by graduate students taking a leadership course under Professor San Nicolas. The content presented were the administrator standards set for Guam, and this was very insightful to me because it was the first I've heard of such standards. At least this session was more fitting for the conference--accountability. I also like how individuals in the group brought up the idea of evaluation of the administrators from other stakeholders. I think that would be worthwhile, and actually serve as a good tool for administrators to assess what necessary changes they need to make from year to year. On the downside, however, I was disappointed about how the presentation was delivered. Truth be told, it irks me when a PowerPoint presentation is created, and the presenters are just reading straight from pieces of paper. Maybe that is something Professor San Nicolas should look into.
October 22: Today’s session was very enlightening. What I like in particular are Dr. Underwood’s opening address; Dr. Giardina’s keynote speech; and Dr. Kallingal’s lecture on “Educating Today’s Children to Face Tomorrow’s Challenges”.
ReplyDeleteDr. Underwood in his opening remark posed this question: “How do we assess, do we assess quantitatively or qualitatively?”. My answer is to use both methods simply because there are just some SLOs that can only be assessed quantitatively and some that can only be assessed qualitatively.
I had a number of “a-ha” moments from Dr. Giardina’s speech, from the purpose of Accreditation, history, trends, and challenges it now faces. I didn’t know until now that the so-called “schools” that are run for profit, specifically the online schools, also compete for federal dollars. He brought up a case in point ie. how do you compare the learning outcomes of Harvard and the learning outcomes of a university like UOG? I like the idea of including various stakeholder like parents, students, employers, etc. as part of the Accrediting team because the stakeholders are the ultimate recipient of our “product”.
Dr. Kallingal lecture on educating our kids by developing the 5 human systems was right on target. Although the 3Rs are important it is equally important that we help students develop other aspects of their human development. According to Dr. Kallingal, the human development system is categorized into five. However, if you ask me, these 5 systems can be simplified into three – brain, hands, and heart. My own take from his lecture is, to help children face tomorrow’s challenge, we must ensure we develop the children’s --- attitude, knowledge, and skills. Knowledge is what one knows, it’s the content we are teaching, it’s what is in the brain; skills are what a person can do effectively and competently; and (positive) attitude is what’s in the heart. A person with relevant knowledge and skills but lacking the right attitude will not be able to contribute to the society. In fact as history has shown the higher the skills and knowledge of a person, the greater harm he can create to the society if the attitude is flawed.
The speech that was given by Dr. Giardina was very informative. The word of the day that I will sure remember is “Contextualize”. Apparently, the accrediting teams are very familiar with this word and I believe that the federal government should really focus on them. It was really helpful to know the purpose of accreditation from him. I have now a better understanding of what many of our schools on island are going through. The topic about the slow phase of traditional institution was really interesting. I wonder what the online institutions are doing that the traditional ones can not. I can’t help but wonder what prevents them from making changes to keep up with the present generation.
ReplyDeleteAnother topic that I find very interesting is the MTM program. I strongly believe that such program is very effective because the teachers are getting the support and training that they needed. In addition, the student teachers are also given the opportunity to be guided by those who have had experiences in the profession. I also believe that have mentors in the education field makes a big difference in encouraging new teachers to continue with the profession. It is very difficult for new teachers to be put in a classroom not knowing where to go and ask for assistance and with the fear of being scrutinized by their supervisors or colleagues in degrading ways. Our island can sure benefit from programs like this.
The topics covered in today's conference were very informative, and a little overwhelming. Like Jose, I wasn't following all the points in Dr. Giardina's keynote speech, although the ones I took note of made me aware of the changes that are occurring in the accreditation process. One very interesting point was the "for profit" online schools, being created from existing, established universities and renamed. As a result, there was an alarming increase in the enrollment rate, with many students utilizing financial assistance. It makes sense to me that the U.S. Department of Education would scrutinize the accrediting agencies, since they provide a significant amount of funding. They are now requiring the schools to provide some evidence of how student achievement is assessed.
ReplyDeleteThe breakout sessions I attended were also full of enlightening information. I learned that I can use "excel to excel" especially in statistics, which I'm really not fond of. The presentation on administrator standards and accountability emphasized that administrators need to and should be well- trained in their leadership abilities. This isn't always the case, but it's a step forward. It's great to see that there are some aspiring students who are working on completing their program, and hopefully will lead their schools successfully. I agree that more training needs to be provided for administrators. Their evaluations should include input from teachers under their supervision, and perhaps even students, parents, and stakeholders. I feel that they need to understand how their leadership affects all aspects of the school, especially since they are expected to uphold the administrator standards.
Keynote speaker Dr. Giardina pretty much talked about accreditation vs the federal government and monies being filtered through the system. Although it was pretty long, it was brought up in his speech about the credibility of the evaluators on whether they are well trained and have the credentials to actually determine the final evaluation of the school despite that they all come from different school districts with differing standards.
ReplyDeleteDr. Kallingal's presentation is of course always enlightening despite hearing the same songs since I had him as an undergrad student. Pretty much predictable for me however, I still enjoy the fact that he is such an inspirational speaker and he always encourages me reflect both professionally and personally. As he said it best, "an unexamined life is not worth living."
Since Dr. Kallingal's presentation went over his time, I only made it through halfway the next presentation on mentoring the mentors which reported their success results of the program from the University of Iloilo.
Then the reforestation lesson was cool but I did not seem to see the alignment between assessment and accountability topic.
Lastly, the 7 standards was interesting because although I know them already as a current school leader. It was good know that teachers are now aware of such standards actually existed. It was only adopted two years ago, that's why its new to other educators.
WOW! It's about 11:40 p.m. on my clock and I'm still up blogging. Had difficulties at first with the Gmail Account, but I'll be okay!
ReplyDeleteYes...I'm with Pat about administrators attending the conferences. In my opinion, they need to hear the information and provide input on Assessment and Accoutability. As for Paul's comment...Dr. Giardina presentation was loaded with information. I mean, that's a lot of information on higher learning institution and their accreditation. Ma's comment is right...it is really informative.
We need to know what is going on worldwide and not only on Guam. I mean Guam students go off-island to get their education too, so they need to be informed about the school they are transferring to. Whether credits can be tranferrable or whether they have to take more or less classes to meet specific credits for their program.
I really enjoyed Dr. Ferrer's class presention. I too, use to be in their shoes as an undergraduate student taking a Science Methods Course at U.O.G. The students were able to interact with participants and even teaching them a song about parts of a plant. Also, I found it rewarding to hear that they went to an afterschool program and taught students and of course, brought samples of students lessons and artwork.
Lastly, I enjoyed introducing myself to people who came from off-island to attend the the conferences. How did I get to know them? Well, this morning we went on a sightseeing tour on a tour bus and I had a chance to talk to them on the bus.
Today's conference was interesting.
ReplyDeleteDr. Giardian touched on a few issues that caught my attention. They are: Credit transferring, For-Profit Organizations, and Accreditation importance.
Credit transferring allows students to transfer completed credits from one accredited institution to the next. Doing this will enable students to complete their baccalaureate degree and save money and time.
The information on "For-Profit" organization was shocking. I've always wondered why there are so many online federal grants. Now I know. Dr. Giardian explained that the federal government appropriates large sums of money for online universities. Because of this, online education is in great demand and is a huge money making business. But are students really engaged in learning? Are students proficient in the skills taught? Are the institutions accredited?
Accreditation is a must for all educational institutions. It will continue to evolve.
Dr. Giardian expresses that accreditation will help schools and universities "know what they want to teach, know where they're going, and how to get there." Teachers, parents, students, staff, administrators and the public are now joining forces to help their schools/institution gain full accreditation.
Dr. Kalingual's presentation questioned the role of education in the lives of students. However, he did not question the role of parents. According to Dr. Kallingual a child's system must function properly in order for proper maturity to develop. He blames education for the failure of students. Is it really the fault of Education or is it Parents? Experience will tell all.
The undergraduate lesson presentations were really cool. It's great to see future teachers excited, creative and ready for our students.
I agree, with Raymond on mentoring and PLC's.
ReplyDeletePLC's allow new teachers to be acquainted with seasoned teachers. Help is very close for a new teacher if he or she feels overwhelmed, is clueless, needs advice or simply vent.
Yes, as Atoigue said, we need to know what occurs overseas because eventurally the same issues will affect us here.
I agree with Maribeth, administrators must be evaluated be their students, teachers, parents and staff. Because afterall the administrators work for them.
The first session took place in the lecture hall. Dr. Giardina was the keynote speaker on "Assessment and Acountabiiity. There were very interesting points from his presentation, especially in the area of WASC accrediation. Most of us who have been in the system have gone through several WASC visitations. The team presents their findings to the stakeholders and then leave after spending a few days at the school site. We need a WASC team of evaluators that are not afraid to shut down a school or place a school/institution on probation if certain standards are not met. It defeats the purpose of the self-study process if nothing is accomplished. Why do bother going through accreditation if issues are not met at the school level (accountabliity). Many educators are fraustrated because nothing really happens because there's not enough funding to purchase instructional materials or bssic supplies.
ReplyDeleteThe second session was held at the SBPA building. Dr. Kallingal's presentation was an eye-opener. As educators, we spend too much time teaching content standards and we forget to teach social skills. We need to teach other concepts such as inter-dependency, conflict resolution, assertive communication, empathy and senitivity, and tolerance for diversity. We highly recommend that we link academics and social skills in order to prepare our students as life learners.
The other breakout sessions dealt with Practical Work Activities in Ecology and Acountability to the Enviornment. It was interesting to observe the instructional strategies and the higher order of thinking process.
The last breakout session lasted 10 to 15 minutes (we were receiving instructions from Dr. Rivera). The presenters were talking about administrative evaluation. Who gets to be evaluated? A question was posed whether teachers should evaluate their administrators. In my opinion, teachers should evaluate their administrators. We all know that the primary leader in the school is the principal. As teachers we need to evaluate the effectiveness of our administrators so they could improve in their leadership roles and lead by example.
Our school is going through the mid-term visit in April 2011. Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.
ReplyDeleteOrganizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited certification bodies".[2] The accreditation process ensures that their certification practices are acceptable, typically meaning that they are competent to test and certify third parties, behave ethically and employ suitable quality assurance.
I was impressed with the federal governments history with the accreditation process. Overall, the presentation was informative and enlightening as it pertained to higher levels (universities).
Looking forward to Saturdays presentation on "Assessment in Teaching and Learning".
I was really impressed by the lecture on the subject of accreditation. I thought the history and original intent of the process raises implications of our future considerations of it. I am gaining a greater understanding of how the accreditation process is changing. I also was intrigued by the speaker’s labeling of profit schools vs. non-profit schools. I think that my school can consider the new trends of the accreditation process and broaden our focus to considering our mission and our goal to teach students, rather than fulfilling narrow categories. The lectured informed the audience very well on the status of the national accreditation and accountability process.
ReplyDeleteThe other presentations were extremely enjoyable and informing. They all seemed to stretch the gamut of assessment and accountability considerations. I particularly enjoyed Dr. Kallingal’s presentation on skills and dispositions. It really forces educators and the school system in general to ask the question “who do we teach?” instead of “what do we teach?” I also particularly enjoyed the presentation on the standards for administrators. I definitely feel that having a grasp of these standards will improve my performance as an administrator when I reach that path.
Wow! I'm finally able to get in! Dr. Giardina had very interesting points from his presentation, particularly in the area WASC Accreditation. One issue that really caught my attention was the Credit Transferring. This is really something that will truly benefit students in terms of time and financial wise. the other issue was his "For-Profit" part of the presentation. This is indeed very shocking. Could this be the reason why there are so many federal grants?
ReplyDeleteOverall, his presentation was very informative especially with the Federal Government's history of the accreditaion process.
I also felt that Dr. Giardina's keynote address was interesting in terms of the history that was offered of both the accredition process and the relationship of the federal government and its overseeing of the process and the accreditation organizations.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated by the research and the modules presented in the mentoring program in the Phillipines; I also wondered if some of these modules can be offered to practicing teachers as inservice or in other ways.
The information presented on the administrator standards were very interesting but I feel that the the piece of the school family asessmentd continues to be missing.
The Keynote Address from Dr. Richard Giardiana on Trends & Challenges in Higher Education Accreditation was enlightened. The one size fits all view on evaluating institutions will not work. Institutions for higher learning such as our university must continue to provide diverse courses and degrees. In our pacific region, distance learning programs and transferring of credits should be expanded. If our university will not increase accessibility and meet the demands of our island people, other off island private universities will continue to grow.
ReplyDeleteTruly, I did not know what to expect except that I was pleased to see the University of Guam produce an educational conference for only two days aware there would be some work required for credit as well. I was especially happy a friend filled me in on a great find of a class at such a low affordable cost. Also, I recognized the coordinator, Dr. Lou Ferrer of whose classes I enjoyed at an earlier time. I trusted this conference to be substantial allowing myself to be consumed having experienced it in Dr. Ferrer's class. Of worthy note, Dr. Rivera provided a second orientation to the class advising meticulously and efficiently on credit requirements who was sprayed with queries thoughout handled them with amazingly graciousness. I pray to win her second/third impressions which I may have lost in my frist hoping she doesn't remember. (yikes) ~,~
ReplyDeleteI was only able to catch the last fourth of Dr. Giardina's presentation and can only tell that is was current and imperitive to be aware in full for the course we are to anticipate. I do look foward to tomorrow's presentation.
I am concerned to be able to retrieve the presentations of 10-22-10's topics of which was made available to the University by the speakers, tho I would not know who to contact for them.
Attendance, prep and participation seems easy enough but am very aware of the hard work it demands with matched commitment. I will look foward to continued information on educational assessment and accountability trends . One of the results of this course will have developed my expertise in this particular discipline and hopefully narrow the myriad of specialty areas I can identify for myself. I already know I will not be in teaching forever but want to move into other modes.
Once again I am trying to give my reflection of todays presentation. Dr. Giardina gave a good lecture on Accreditation. It is a lot of hard work just to get started when you know you have to start from stratch. All the data collecting, the status reporting, the creation of a mission statement, ESLR's, and vision statement takes a lot of thinking and agreeing. I am glad to have been in my schools leadership team back then. Being in an accredited school in an ongoing process. It's not the end of just receiving the good news of being accepted into the group of accredited schools. It's the beginning of implementing, reporting, evaluating, and maintaining action plans and key issues. I gained a lot from this process.
ReplyDeleteDr. Kallingal needed more time. Both for presenting and for the students to have him complete his presentation. I wish we had more time.
Today was very good!
American higher education-assessment and accountability increasing delivery modes to continue higher education. Department of education did a general investigation to ensure that grants, programs are sufficiently provided to each specific program. Evidence found that accreditation are not effectively providing students the assistance they really need. Assessment student learning should be informative. Results are not even used in measuring students qualitative learning. Regional education program should be changed.
ReplyDelete1 percent of the US population is in jail requiring billions of dollars to house them about 50,000 get killed on the roads, mostly because of DUI. Addiction, suicide, homicide, teenage pregnancy, family violence, home disintegration and other social malaise continue to rise, shouldn't education have a role to play? How well does education prepare children with disabilities for life. Education continues to ignore these problems.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDay 1 of the conference was interesting.
ReplyDeleteGuest speaker Dr. Richard Giardina brought up many interesting points about Accreditation and the many challenges and changes that lie ahead for Accredited Higher Education Institutions.
I agree with Janice' comment: "The one size fits all view on evaluating institutions will not work. Institutions for higher learning such as our university must continue to provide diverse courses and degrees." As we evaluate our learning institutions on Guam, we need to consider our unique and diverse population of learners.
In the breakout sessions...
Dr. Kallingal sparked my interest about the many challenges that our children face with our current educational system. As educators, we should not be complacent with the old adage "this is how we've always done it."
We should all strive to be change agents in educating the "whole child."
Students in Lou San Nicolas' class shared the 7 Standards for evaluationg administrators and the many challenges that administrators face at the school and district level.
Day 1 - Good Presentations
Dr. Giardina's keynote address on "Trends and Challenges in Higher Education Accreditation" is something I can relate to. As stated on my 1st blog, both of my schools are going through Accreditation. In fact, one of our schools will be visited on April 2011! So his lecture definitely came at the right time! Although the topic of his address is something I can relate to, I was still overwhelmed by all the information he provided at one sitting. However, I can vouch for a lot of the things he spoke about. I do agree that accrediting agencies judge schools through students' successes, including test (SAT 10) scores. The Focus on Learning should always be our students...WASC doesn't stand for We Are Student Centered for nothing. Yes he did share with us the challenges of Accreditation in the 21st century, but as true effective leaders, educators, and stakeholders of our school system we should be able to face the challenges and overcome it through teamwork and partnership. Funding is probably the biggest challenge in our schools, but as long as we show progress we are able to achieve our goals at a different angle. I'm glad he spoke a lot about Accreditation process, it got me started on a checklist. It helps when you've done it, you've been there...it's even better having it as a "refresher". I am proud to be at Accredited Schools, especially when he mentioned how much credibility is needed to be part of an Accreditation Committee Team.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to attend Dr. Kallingal's session on "Educating Today's Children to Face Tomorrow's Challenges". I really enjoyed his lecture...he was so easy to follow, cause he was very practical on his examples of issues happening on today's society. We don't want to really believe it...but he made a lot sense and ofcourse he was able to justify his beliefs. His interaction with his audience helped clarify different perceptions on what exactly is education doing to children of today. I found the 5 major systems that plays a role in human adaptation very interesting...to be continued on my reflection paper...
I attended 3 other sessions...Mentoring the Mentors Program, its something we consistently need on Guam. Accountability to the Environment...I'm glad environment is a concern..."Going Green" is the "in-thing" now. Standards and Accountability, at least now more people are familiar with it, and it's something that Administrators use to guide them in their leadership role at their school/s.
The presentation by Dr. Giardina on the past and current relationship of accrediting entities and federal funding requirements and the competition of the for-profit educational entities and traditional educational institutions was very enlightening and informative. First, I am not supprised that the use of federal funding by the federal govenment is now being used to influence actions of universities in the way of acceditation and its requiremnts. And is it a bad thing? To the entrenched historical university elitist giving up control to a uniform system is another fatal blow to their empires. But for some students who may have been excluded in the past lets say for diversity reasons this is a very good thing. Forcing all universities to conform to federal standards for the benefit for all concerned can not be totally bad.
ReplyDeleteThen there is the for profit entities who are really dealing a deadly blow to traditional universities who have never fully opened their doors to the masses. The new university business model that allows students to vote for the best way to get an education with their federal dollars is the greatest thing that has happened to education. In the past you were basicly out of the upper education game if you did not conform to the establised university norms and had to settle for a life of lower paid jobs because of the lack of education. Now with the advent of technology on-line education entities are fufilling a need that has always been there and changing the playing field for the benefit of all who just want a better education and living.
I would predict that if the federal money were given directly to parents the same will happen to public schools. Parents should be able to decide which educaiton entitly better serves their needs and if they are not met then move to a school that is willing to provide a quality educaiton.
I really enjoyed the presentation but really have taken a differnt take on the expected outcomes of the presenter and isnt that a good thing in an educational environment?
Friday afternoon's session was eye-opening. I am a recent graduate from UOG with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics, and I stayed in Guam for the duration of my college education. This is why I reacted with surprise to Dr. Giardina's statement that there are highly controversial debates about: how much learning should be worth one credit, how much work or student outcome (and at what quality) qualifies for a bachelor's degree (as opposed to an associate, a master, or a doctor), and even what is the exact mechanism by which courses completed at one school become transferrable to another school. I must say that until now I was operating under the assumption that clear-cut policies were in place that determined all those things. In his keynote, Dr. Giardina made clear the challenges that schools and accrediting agencies face in this time of expanded possibilities of delivering learning to students.
ReplyDeleteThe common theme running under the presentations I attended seems to be accountability. Dr Li's presentation on Excel shows that when the teaching and learning tool is within reach of both the students and the teacher, students are more willing to become accountable for their homework. The "Practical Work Activities" presentation by Dr. Alava showed that it was possible to develop learning materials while still remaining accountable to the particular situation that the school finds itself in (e.g., lack of funding, unavailability of traditional lab equipment, etc.). Lastly, the student teachers' presentation a lesson plan for "Caring for Plants" had the aim of developing a student's accountability to Mother Nature. It was also here that I learned about a lesson plan model called "Introduce, Explore, Generalize, and Apply", which is readily adaptable to the mathematics classes I am teaching.
Accountability is so important because the decisions we make as teachers, administrators, school boards, and governments have far-reaching consequences for our children's march toward maturity. As Dr. Giardina put expressed succintly, "If we are not the masters of our fate, we will be its victims."
Dr. Underwood's official opening address encourages conversations about educational assessment. Perfect opening to aligned with the intent of the conference. His comment that as educators, we cannot assess passion but we can have passion about assessment was cheerful. His advise to embrace the culture of assessment because we are always evaluating and assessing hits the nail right on the head. What we need to be collaborating on is what do we assess and how do we share our assessment because no single statistic can give the whole picture.
ReplyDeleteExcellent speech by Dr. Underwood -- as usual.
The keynote address by Dr. Richard Giardina on the latest trends and challenges in higher education and accreditation was full of information. His brief overview of accreditation was definitely an eye opener.
As with the other posts, his comments about the "for-profit" degree institutions does cause for some alarm. When he asked if the courses and programs from these types of institutions offered rigorous standards of academy quality and if they meet higher levels of learning is one that each individual looking to register must assess. Personally, I would not enroll in that type of degreed institution only because there is no replacement of face-to-face interactions.
His "history" of institutions and questioning the funding, the academic rigor, the meaningful standards, and demand for meeting higher levels of learning that prepares a person for the work force brought to mind Asmuyao's accreditation. Personally, I do not see how this meets the same academic rigor and quality that students would get at regular educational institutions were adequate teacher contact time is actually provided.
As for the presentations: I will summarize them in my reflection papers but needless to say, I regret not attending Dr. Kallingal's presentation -- seems that most all attended that session and was able to gain valuable insight into assessment and accountability.
I attended Dr. Li's presentation on Excel and actually found myself reinvigorated to take statistics again just to learn how to work on it with Excel. I do hope to take one of his courses in the near future because understanding how to analyze data is very important -- again leading back to assessment!
The Mentoring the Mentors Program presentation was enlightening. I found that some of their conclusions and statements might have been far stretched from the actual data they collected, but again, their presentation was limited so maybe they just couldn't present it all.
Although the student presentations for both the Reforestation & Standards and Accountability were not really what I expected, they were interesting to watch. Unfortunately, I felt that the ending of the Standards and Accountability presentation ended up becoming very negative in feedback with the audience. Ms. L San Nicolas had to eventually ask that comments not become so negative in nature. Ultimately, all need to be assessed and offered the opportunity to grow professionally -- both teachers and administrators.
The last two presentations left me wondering what the next day of presentations would be like. I anxiously await.
I loked today! The presentations were very informative. In Dr. Kalligals session, I was re-evaluating my role. "A teachers role is to teach and assess." Not so. Real assessment is students "taking the information and doing something with it." Not to test them on what you gave them. I catch myself teaching and assessing for information they should already know. I need to do more with them. Take it to the next level. The students are diverse. They all learn differently and so they should be assessed in various forms. Give them the basic information and have them create new information. Expand on the story, change the setting, give "what if" questions, etc. No more "garbage in, garbage out."
ReplyDeleteI also liked the Service Learning Activities. I remember in my high school years going on field trips. I enjoyed it and understood the connection between class lectures and hands-on field exercises. It is at this time that I got to experience a place that I probably never would have visited. Teachers need to be more creative. Sometimes we need to change our learning environment. Not all students learn the same way. Time to work on going on a field trip soon.
Great Day!
Day 1 Dr. Gardenia's keynote address on the "Trends and Challenges" in Higher Education Accreditation relayed alot of information on the accreditation process in educational facilities.
ReplyDeleteOne bit of information that caught my attention was how the enrollment increased tremendously at an online accredited university from 300+ to 54,000 students. I often wonder about the credibility of online institutions due to they are unaccredited. I know a few people who received their Masters Degree and Ph.D. from online university and I feel same about them.
I do agree that the purpose of accreditation is to assure academic quality and that is one reason why assessments are critical in meeting this expectation. Will expand more in reaction papers.
Better late than never...I wasn't able to attend the break-out sessions due to the Superintendent's Annual Address, however I was fortunate enough to stay the entire time for Dr. Richard Giardina's keynote address. I'm glad he was the first keynote speaker...it was a good start to focus on "Trends and Challenges in Higher Education Accreditation". Accreditation is the "in" thing right now in our Education System. It's an honor to be part of an accredited school, it just goes to show that your focus is on student learning and that's the kind of business we are running. Accreditation validates that we as educators are teaching, and our students are learning. The bottom line is our schools should always be student-centered! Sometimes, I get frustrated because as a school leader majority of the time I focus on operations. The department expects a lot from us when it comes to operational...I just get disappointed at the department when they take away our time as "Instructional Leaders".
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