Instruction Notes 12-04-03

Subject: Instruction Notes 12/04/03
From: Claire Biancalana
Organization: Cabrillo College, Office of Instruction
To: All Faculty

Instruction Notes 12/04/03

Budget Plans
The college does not have reliable budget information for 2004-05. We don't expect to have any indication until January, then May, and finally over the summer. That being the case, CPC recommended we refrain from making base reductions until we have a final budget from Sacramento. Instead, the council recommended a one-time reduction in the amount of 1.4 million dollars to be used as a bridge, if necessary, to take the college through the 2004-05 academic year. Accordingly, budget managers are asked to review their budgets with faculty and staff to identify every cent that can be eliminated from the base budget for the remainder of this academic year - one time. If, in July, it is evident that we do not need the saved funds to bridge the 2004-05 academic year, they will be returnd to the original budget centers.

From Admissions and Records
Grade rosters for full-term courses will be distributed in your mailboxes on Friday, Dec. 12. The grades and positive hours are due back 48 hours after the final exam. Don't wait to submit all classes at the same time. It is very important to get the grades and hours in so that A and R can produce official transcripts in time for transfers, award degrees and Certificates, evaluate progress for financial aid and veteran or dependent students. There are also mandatory state reports due after grades and positive hours are processed.

Program Planning
As always your one-page program plan update, signed by your dean, is due by the last day of the semester. We all look forward to reading about your programs.

Spring 2004 Flex Calendar
The Spring 2004 Flex Calendar is online at http://www.cabrillo.edu/services/tlc/spring2004flex/. Please bookmark the page for future reference. A limited number of printed versions of the calendar will be available in the mailroom December 9.

Spring 2004 Schedule is Live
The Spring 2004 Schedule is now on line. It’s linked from the Jump menu in the lower left of the college home page.

Military Withdrawl
In case you are contacted by a student, or a representative of the student, who is called into active service, here is our policy for military withdrawal:

Students who are members of an active or reserve military service and who receive orders compelling a withdrawal from courses can be given MW (Military Withdrawal) notations on their academic records. Please tell them to give copies of their orders to Admissions and Records (Aptos or Watsonville Center), with a petition or written request (if faxed or emailed) to be withdrawn. Our fax number is 831-479-5782. Notification of this will be sent to the student's faculty by the Vice President, Student Services Office. The MW notation is not counted toward progress probation or dismissal, and the student will also receive a refund of fees. Please let Gloria Garing or Cheryl Zozaya know if you have any questions about this policy or the procedure.

Golf Anyone?
Quite a few staff members have requested that we offer a golf class on weekends to accommodate all the working folks. Kim Belliveau will be teaching two sections of golf this spring on Saturday. Section 35114 9:00-11:20 a.m. and section 35532 11:30 a.m. -1:50 p.m. Both classes meet at the Cabrillo range and start on Sat. Feb 21.

New York Times Historical Access
The library has converted from microfilm access to online access for the New York Times historical backfile. Digitizing The New York Times involved scanning, digitizing, zoning and editing over 3,400,000 pages from microfilm into digital files. The database covers The New York Times from its first issue in 1851 all the way to 2001 -- a span of issues currently not covered by any other electronic resource. Faculty are invited to preview this resource for the month of December. By January 2004 the New York Times historical backfile link will be available from the library homepage as a selection from the Fulltext Articles Web page. Just click on the link below (or copy and paste it into your browser) The password is: welcome
http://trials.proquest.com/proquest/servlet/TrialsController?userid=445806

Transferable Skills
Did you know? Transferable skills are your students' most marketable asset. Employers expect students to have the technical or "hard skills" they need for a job. Employers also want employees, or potential employees, with "soft skills", transferable skills, or portable skill sets, so that as jobs change and grow employees can too. Taking the time to discuss, explain, and list transferable skills will give your students a distinct advantage in identifying and developing these important skills.

Try this: While your students undoubtedly have many transferable skills, they are not always able to identify and articulate them. Begin by asking your students about different kinds of skills. Ask them to define technical job skills or hard skills, soft skills, and transferable skills. Then pose these questions:

What are you learning to do in this course that you will be able to use in the workplace? writing, research,...
What skills are you developing outside the classroom that will help you in the workplace? clubs, hobbies, volunteering...
What skills have you been building in other jobs that will help you in the workplace?
Ask students to list 5 skills they have that would be useful in almost any job. Then ask them to choose 2 or 3 of these skills and explain them to the person sitting behind them. Give students this scenario: Jane is a college student who has worked for 2 years as a part-time waitress. Now she is applying for an entry level marketing job. She wants to position her skills as a waitress to show how these skills would transfer or apply to the new marketing position she is seeking. Since most students are aware of the skills a waiter or waitress must have, ask students to write three or four statements Jane could use on her resume to show this transference. Then have students compare their descriptions to Jane's description outlined below.

Acted as a "sales representative" for the restaurant, selling add-ons and extras to
achieve one of the highest per-ticket and pre-night averages.
Prioritized and juggled dozens of simultaneous responsibilities.
Built loyal clientele of regulars in addition to tourist trade.
Used computer daily.
To give students more practice and ideas about transferable skills, assign them the on-line Transferable Skills: A Lesson from Elle Woods.

The above information was brought to you by a grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, VTEA 1-B Work-Based Learning Collaborative (#01-157-011). Please contact Susan Coleman (scoleman@mail.occ.cccd.edu) or Rita Jones (rjones1@mail.occ.cccd.edu) of Orange Coast College Career Education with any questions.

Degree Audit
Degree Audit is coming! Thanks to the combined efforts of representatives from Instruction, Student Services and Computing Resources, a new degree audit system will soon be available for counselors and students. Through WebAdvisor, counselors and students will be able to run a current completed courses report on a student’s progress toward a specific Cabrillo degree, certificate, skills certificate or specialization. Currently counselors and A&R evaluators are testing the system in Datatel, with the plan to have it available for counselor-use in Spring 2004, and student-use some time during Fall 2004.

Academic Calendar 2004-05
Attached is a copy of the Academic Calendar for 2004-05 that has been approved by the Board on December 1, 2003. It is available on the Instruction Office Documents website. http://www.cabrillo.edu/services/instruction/documents.html

Bond
At its December meeting the Governing Board passed a resolution placing a $118,000,000 bond on the March 2004 ballot in order to complete the facilities master plan, accommodate growing enrollments, and continue improving the education and job training services offered to students. The projects include Student Services Center, Arts Education Classrooms, Health Care job training building which would include the Stroke Center, repairs and upgrades (heating, plumbing, and energy efficiency) to old buildings. The polling done earlier this year (June and October) shows that voters have a high opinion of our college and recognize the need for increased classrooms, and other facilities improvements - particularly for health care job training. Voters are aware of the 1998 bond and are supportive of how the funds have been managed and spent. In tough economic times, people are willing to invest in Cabrillo as an affordable option for higher education and job training.