Teaching Our Future Heroes

In honor of National Community College Month, we are publishing the personal reflections of our faculty.  These reflections focus upon the general topic “This I believe about the mission and value of community colleges today,” and offer thoughts about teaching and learning.

This reflection comes from Dr. Cynthia De Riemer, Professor of Communication Studies.

I teach communication courses, which are either required courses for many of our majors or an elective.  Over my years at JSRCC, I have listened to many student speeches and presentations.  These speeches reveal much about  the goals and aspirations of the student speakers.  As I listen, I have been especially struck by the critical roles our JSRCC students will fulfill in our community.   The following is a representative but not comprehensive list of what I mean:

·         I have taught future firefighters and EMTs who may one day rescue one of us from a burning building or rush us to hospitals for emergency care;

·         I have taught many students seeking careers as nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians and aides who will be on the frontline of administering medical care and treatment.  We will literally trust them with our lives and well being.

·         I have taught future teachers and child care providers who will come to know that a teacher’s influence only stops at eternity.  We will entrust our children’s welfare to these professionals.

·         I have taught police officers and security personnel working in local, state and federal positions.  We will depend on their courage, sound judgment and competency in times of crisis.

·         I have taught those seeking careers as social workers and counselors.  These students will offer assistance to those facing possibly the darkest days of their lives.

My list could go on and on—to the future entrepreneurs who will dream up new businesses and services for our community to the automotive technicians who make our cars run safely and efficiently.  I am reminded daily what a privilege, honor and special responsibility I have in nurturing, guiding and educating our students.  They will give our community so much more than we could ever estimate or predict.

--Cynthia De Riemer

Professor of Communication Studies

Rigor in the Distance Learning Classroom (An Ode to America’s Sport)

In honor of National Community College Month, we are publishing the personal reflections of our faculty.  These reflections focus upon the general topic “This I believe about the mission and value of community colleges today,” and offer thoughts about teaching and learning.

Our first reflection comes from David Barrish.

In honor of the start of baseball season, I immerse myself in everything hardball.  I love the smell of fresh-cut turf, the grind of cleats on packed earth, and the unrequited hope that the Cleveland Indians might make it to the World Series.

A movie to help get you in the spirit is “A League of Their Own,” a fine effort by Penny Marshall. While it will never be mistaken for cinéma vérité, it is a fun story with subtle messages throughout. The following is an excerpt from a heated discussion between catcher Dottie Hinson and manager Jimmy Dugan:

Jimmy Dugan: “Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that.”

Dottie Hinson: “It just got too hard.”

Jimmy Dugan: “It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!”

The JSRCC QEP and April Activities

April is an active month for the JSRCC QEP. The College's focus upon distance learning, and on the engagement of faculty, administrators, staff, and students with the broad issues of teaching and learning, coincides well with this year's development of a collaborative theme for the various conferences and symposia that typically highlight April at Reynolds. This unifying theme is Screen Time: Teaching, Learning, and Working in a Mediated World.

Presentations and sessions focused upon Screen Time began with Staff Professional Development Day on March 14. They continue this week at the VCCS New Horizons Conference in Roanoke, Virginia. Four different presentations will be made at New Horizons that are directly connected to the JSRCC QEP:

1) One panel of presenters will discuss the transformative impact a QEP has upon an institution.
2) Another panel will discuss the ways in which JSRCC has used institutional data to develop its faculty training program for online instructors.
3) The development of remediation and orientation modules for online students will be presented in a third session.
4) Finally, a fourth session will focus on the new Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) program that has emerged from the College's efforts to provide greater support for online learners.