Chemical Education Today
Promoting Excellence in Two-Year College Chemistry Education by John V. Clevenger Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, Nevada 89512 by Thomas B. Higgins City Colleges of Chicago Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois 60634 by Blake J. Aronson* American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 20036 *
[email protected] How do you identify an excellent two-year chemistry program? Most people know excellence when they see it. However, you can ask a hundred people to define excellence and easily get a hundred answers. This variance is due to the wide-ranging twoyear landscape: A transfer program may define excellence in terms of number of students going on to four-year institutions, while a chemistry-based technology program may define it by the number of students employed within three months of graduation. The ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs (1), updated in 2009 (2), were developed to provide a common framework for fostering excellence in two-year college chemistry education. The ACS Society Committee on Education (SOCED) Task Force on Two-Year College Activities has been charged with promoting excellence through dissemination of the Guidelines, developing a framework for recognizing high standards and effective practices, and engaging the two-year college community (3). At the 187th Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium Conference (March 19-20, 2010, San Francisco, CA), task force chair John Clevenger and member Thomas Higgins facilitated an interactive session titled, “How Can You Leverage and Implement the ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs?” Through written ideas, breakout activities, and group discussions, participants addressed the need to strive for excellence, how to identify excellence, and ways in which excellence can be demonstrated. Why Strive for Excellence? The question posed above addresses the motivations behind the pursuit of excellence. Session participants responded to this question, and their answers boiled down to two central concepts. First, excellent programs support students and benefit society. Typically, student goals all relate to becoming a productive member of the workforce. For example, students may be planning to obtain a higher degree, enhance work skills, or strengthen their chemistry knowledge in support of an allied field, such as medicine. By enabling students to achieve their goals, excellent programs produce graduates that are more likely to succeed in their subsequent studies and careers. Thus, excellent programs can bolster the local economy and benefit society. 896
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The second concept is that success begets success. In an excellent program, faculty take pride in their work and focus their efforts, contributing to the program's continuous improvement and growth. Programs with reputations for excellence are able to gather more resources, which also supports continuous improvement. They serve as models to other programs, facilitating their pursuit of excellence. Additionally, as noted above, excellent programs bolster the local economy. When the local economy is strong, there are more resources available to support partnerships with educational programs. Such partnerships strengthen the programs, continuing the cycle of success. What Are the Attributes of Excellence? While participants were able to express the reasons for pursuing excellence fairly easily, they discovered that the wideranging two-year landscape made it difficult to develop a standard list of attributes of excellence. However, after some discussion, they were able to draw out commonalities with regard to students, faculty, programs, and partners. Students attending two-year institutions can have a variety of goals, such as transferring to a four-year program in chemistry or a related field, starting a new career, or augmenting existing skills. Consequently, excellence means something different to each student. Participants concluded that excellence means that programs help students achieve their goals, whatever those goals are. Moreover, students learn the requisite skills for continuing success in their chosen path. Participants also noted that excellent programs have excellent faculty who keep current with advances in pedagogy, scientific research, and instrumentation. Likewise, the programs themselves are kept current, with the curricula, facilities, and resources matching the changing needs of the community the program serves. Lastly, excellent programs have strong administrative support that bolsters both faculty and student efforts. What Does Excellence Look Like? Having identified the common attributes of excellence, participants turned their attention to identification of excellent programs. If people know an excellent program when they see one, what are they seeing?
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Vol. 87 No. 9 September 2010 pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 10.1021/ed100615b Published on Web 07/16/2010
Chemical Education Today
Because excellent programs must keep current with the changing needs of the communities they serve, participants identified active partnerships as one indicator of excellence. Partnering with the appropriate campus units, two- and fouryear colleges, K-12 institutions, local employers, and community organizations gives programs access to the information and resources they need to keep current with the changing landscape. Just as excellent programs need continuous development, so do their faculty. Participants noted that excellent programs have engaged faculty who are supported and encouraged to keep current with the latest advances in pedagogy, chemistry, and industry. Faculty professional development enhances educators' abilities to help students achieve their goals. Additionally, professional networking enables educators to identify resources and opportunities to enrich their programs. Participants observed that excellent programs provide students with the resources they need to meet their goals. Again, the resources that students need vary, but they include up-todate facilities and equipment, academic and financial support, internships and research opportunities, and a welcoming environment. Depending on the program and the students, fulltime/part-time faculty and faculty/student ratios may also play a role. How Can Excellence Be Demonstrated? Participants also discussed ways to quantitatively assess excellence in two-year college chemistry education. They identified information that colleges could use to demonstrate excellence, trying to focus on data that educators can gather easily. Some criteria for reporting excellence include the following: • Student recruitment, retention, and success • Faculty qualifications, professional activities, and development opportunities • Curriculum components, such as course offerings, internships, and study and employment skills • Student support resources, such as mentoring, tutoring, and computer access • Partnership successes, such as course transferability, articulation agreements, and community activities
Whether the data reported indicate success will naturally depend on the institution. A small college may need fewer tutors than a large one, for example. Regardless, programs may find the process of self-evaluation as useful to the pursuit of excellence as the data generated.
r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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What Is the Next Step in the Discussion on Excellence? The identification of excellence in chemistry education often leads to the identification of effective practices and high standards that can benefit all programs. With this in mind, the SOCED Task Force on Two-Year College Activities plans to continue the discussion of what fosters and demonstrates excellence in two-year college chemistry education. Please join the discussion by • Participating in nationwide efforts where more of these interactive discussions will be held, such as 2YC3, http://www.2yc3. org/; BCCE, http://www.bcce2010.org/home/home.php; and ACS National Meetings, http://www.acs.org/meetings (all accessed July 2010). • Starting discussions on the ACS Network: http://www.acs.org/ ACSNetwork (accessed July 2010). • Contacting the ACS Office of Two-Year Colleges, which staffs the task force, by sending an e-mail message to 2YColleges@ acs.org or telephoning 800-227-5558, ext. 6108.
Learn more about ACS resources for two-year colleges at http://www.acs.org/2YColleges (accessed July 2010). Acknowledgment The authors thank task force members Dolores Aquino and Ieva Reich, along with ACS staff Margaret Richards and Jodi Wesemann, for their valuable input in the shaping of the presentation. The authors also thank task force members Armando Rivera-Figueroa and Ieva Reich and SOCED member Iona Black for their participation as recorders and moderators during the breakout sessions described. Literature Cited 1. American Chemical Society, Society Committee on Education. ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2009; available on the ACS Web site at http://www.acs.org/2YGuidelines (accessed July 2010). 2. Clevenger, J. V.; Richards, M. S.; Wesemann, J. L. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1602. 3. Clevenger, J. V.; Richards, M. S. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 898.
John V. Clevenger is chair, ACS's Society Committee on Education Task Force on Two-Year College Activities, and emeritus professor of chemistry at Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, NV;
[email protected]. Thomas B. Higgins is professor of chemistry at Harold Washington College, Chicago, IL;
[email protected]. Blake J. Aronson is senior education associate at the American Chemical Society;
[email protected].
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