In fiscal year 2002, all colleges were invited to submit a proposal for innovative and practical professional development projects that would result in the improvement of the vocational and technical education curriculum.  Below is a brief summary of each funded project by category. For more information or a copy of any product growing out of the project, please contact the person indicated.

   
  Teaching and Learning 
 

Practical Resources for Instructional Development and Excellence – Coastal Carolina Community College. Six objectives were sought by the project.  Providing instructional skill development training of foundation skills in teaching methodology for the adult learner, instituting a new mentoring and instructional support system for new faculty members, training in the foundation skills of teaching methodology for the adult learner, training in the integration of technology into vocational and technical classrooms, training in alternative delivery methods, including online instruction, and professional development for student services staff focusing on guidance, retention, and transition of students pursuing nontraditional vocational /technical training and employment.  A Professional Development Day was day was held during which prescriptive training workshops were held for all vocational, technical, and related instructional faculty.  State and local funds contributed approximately $30,000 for faculty salaries while this project provided the training modules.  Contact: Marianne Herring

Building Skills for Effective Teaching with Special Populations Students – Gaston College.   The college has rapidly growing populations of students facing language barriers and students who have disabilities.  Issues dealing with these types of students have not been systematically approached in the past, so this project was used as a start in that direction.   Faculty training was carried out that addressed cultural differences in and teaching strategies for working with these two populations.  ADA brochures for students and for faculty were developed and departmental information sheets from the Health Division were translated from English into Spanish.  This information is available on the college’s website and is linked to the System site. Contact: Kimberly Wyont

Competency Testing Development – Southeastern Community College.  A Perkins-funded professional development project in the 2000-2001 school year built an instructional model for teaching courses in a vocational field and designed technology relevant to each field.  As a follow-up, this project was conducted to develop a testing model to measure course competencies and competencies desired by employers.  Instructors from several other community colleges joined those from Southeastern to become better equipped to write student learning outcomes for their courses, use those outcomes to design effective tests and other types of assignments, and evaluate student performance to assess the effectiveness of instruction. Contact: Alvin B. Phillips

Professional Development for Cultural Awareness – Stanly Community College.  In the face of a rapidly growing immigrant population in the service area, the college is seeking to implement initiatives that integrate that population into mainstream culture, provide educational opportunities that will establish it as a contributor to the economy, reduce ethnic biases by the existing residents, and help the newcomers maintain their home cultural identity.  This project sought to assist those efforts by providing training for faculty, staff, and administrators to heighten their understanding of the immigrant experience and to explore various strategies for the recruitment and retention of minority populations.   Contact: Robin McCree

   
  Technology Online 
 

Internet Based Teaching in the Community College – Surry Community College.  Vocational and technical instructors lacked the skills to translate traditional courses to distance-learning versions. Workshops were held to train them in the pedagogy of online instruction, the different ways of interacting with students whom they do not see face-to-face, and adapting their classroom to an online environment.  Copyright and licensing issues were covered to ensure that resources used are legally available.  The basics of Blackboard were covered to the degree that instructors are able to create useable course components.  Contact: Candace Ring

   
  Technology in the Classroom 
 

Interactive Video Technology: Change Agent of Faculty Practice – Carteret Community College.  The goal of the project was to pilot a professional development program that will lead to an institutionalized practice of creating interactive video technology-mediated learning enhancement systems. Faculty members were introduced to the instructional potential and technical aspects of segmented (non-linear), learner-controlled interactive video technology (IVT) for delivery on CD-ROM or the World Wide Web.  Their collaboration, plus guidance from two technical experts, resulted in the production of  “Making Pottery.”  The college will continue this project over the next several months through a series of workshops.  Instructors will each develop their own interactive video modules and test it with their students.  An introduction to this project is on the college’s website and is linked to the System site.   Contact: Kay Dennis

Expanding Technology in Classroom Instruction – Forsyth Technical Community College. It was proposed that release time would be provided for twenty faculty members to participate in a forty-hour workshop on using state-of-the-art teaching techniques utilizing an array of technology.  An overwhelming response led to 70 participants.  The workshops concentrated on utilizing distance learning technology to enhance interaction of instructor-to-student and student-to-student, promoting assessment of student learning, and demonstrating the use of technology in specific modules of course work.  Faculty having gone through the workshops have taken to the new approaches and are providing others with mentoring.  A faculty training and development center is planned for a new building being built on campus partially in response to this effort.  Information on the project is on the college’s website and is linked to the System site. 
Contact: Susan Phelps

Utilizing Interactive Exercises and Gaming – Haywood Community College.  Workshops were held with the objective of helping faculty develop skills in implementing user-friendly freeware to create interactive exercises to supplement and reinforce courses and in creating and using instructional games to enhance and increase student interest and retention.  These strategies have been proven to be successful with students who learn best by doing.  Contact: Mike Germano

Course Design and Technical Mentoring to Implement Exemplary Campus Use of Technology as an Instructional Tool – Pitt Community College.  Faculty members and those from seventeen other community colleges were trained in technological means of designing presentations, materials, and entire lessons for community college courses.  The training was provided through the use of focused training sessions, mentoring, and the use of external consultants.  Online course design and use experiences were shared as to which methods were effective and which weren’t.  The use of hand helds, Office XP, PowerPoint, Blackboard, and streaming video were presented and followed through into application in the classroom.  Each participant prepared a CD-ROM for further instructional use.  Resources developed or identified are on the college’s website and are linked to the System site. Contact: Phyllis Broughton

Building Instructional Technology Skills – Wayne Community College. Vocational and technical instructors were given formal training in computer applications and instructional technology. Short courses, seminars, and workshops provided the training for faculty teaching in high technology/communications programs.  The modules were designed around current books and CDs and courses in the Common Course Library of the N.C. Community College System.  Contact: Dan Krautheim

   
  Discipline Specific Projects 
 

Interdisciplinary Problem–Based Learning Teams – Alamance Community College.  The project had the two-fold purpose of providing professional development for faculty in problem-based learning (PBL) and developing interdisciplinary faculty and student teams.  It involved a collaborative effort between medical laboratory technology faculty and nursing program faculty who conceptualized a learning experience anchored in PBL.  Students from both programs, facilitated by faculty from both, worked through problems drawing on each other's knowledge base to arrive at a resolution and patient plan.  Follow-up activities will include a professional development workshop for all faculty, publication of the project in a health professional publication, and implementation of PBL exercises in the classroom.   Contact: Peggy Simpson

Cooperative Instruction Project – Durham Technical Community College.  The college is aware of the need for better reading and writing skills among their vocational and technical students.  This project approached that problem by hosting five workshops focusing on strategies for using technology to teach reading and writing in the vocational and technical areas.  There was also a segment of the project in which vocational and technical instructors were paired with reading and English instructors for a one-semester collaborative partnership so that each pair could develop strategies to improve the use of technology in the classroom and incorporate reading and writing within vocational and technical classes and vice versa.  Since the project, significant changes have been made in lesson development.  A pamphlet for students concerning becoming “workplace ready” was published under the auspices of the project.  A comprehensive collection of materials and information from the project is on the college’s website and is linked to the System site. Contact: Mary Anne Grabarek

Professional Development Leading to Curriculum Improvement in Automotive Systems Technology – Guilford Technical Community College.  A supplementary course was designed for NATEF certified programs to assist with ASE certification of automobile technicians. Course outlines, linkage with high school courses, and a test bank were developed.  Resource guides were developed as on-line products that enable any high school teacher to find resources for teaching these subjects.  These guides are available at the college’s website and are linked to the System site. Contact: Ed Frye

Alternative Fuels Technology Applications – Wake Technical Community College.  No community colleges in the state provide instruction in alternative fuels technology, even though federal and state mandates are in place to immediately start moving in that direction.  To that end, this project provided that members of the Automotive and Heavy Equipment program received training at the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium Center at West Virginia University.  Through this effort, Wake Tech became an institutional member of the Consortium in 2002.  Faculty also visited an electric vehicle center, alternative fuel providers, took in-service training at auto dealers, and linked with training at the College of the Desert, Palm Springs, California.  An alternative fuels vehicles training resource section has been established at the college’s library and Internet links have been established between the college’s web page and West Virginia University.  Contact: Sammie Thornton