Faculty Development Evolution and Offerings

In the USA, most faculty development is voluntary. At some community colleges, is mandatory in the contracts to attend some type of training to be able to work. In Dr. Archer's participation, she indicated the importance of having different colleges and universities to develop a faculty development program. I prepared this timeline that identified the major steps in the development of faculty development.

At UNIBE, we publish all the initiatives at a web page link  Espacio Docente at UNIBE that keeps all events, calendar of training, educational resources and faculty strategies in a shared common web space.

EDLD 6890 – Summer II 2015 Reflective Journal Assignment Week 3

Week 3 Readings.

Theory or Model	Course Material	Application to Your Life
Schooling improves society, promote access, and preserve advantage.	Article by David Labaree.	The author presents schools as the primary way to accomplish Americans highest social ideals and address individual problems. A narrative about the system history is in this article, and I find it the most interesting part of the reading. The rest of the article questions the different processes, and I believe it too pessimistic and negative. I think educational changes take time and results are part of the constant changing process. The system is more about schooling that about educating the society.  Reformers from 19th century invented the public school system to preserve the republic without putting a damper on economic growth.The common school movement established the basic organizational structure and political rationale that maintained the US as a Protestant republican nation. In the 20th century, the progressive movement tried to find a way to manage the new corporate economy, growing inequality, angry labor relations, the rapid growth of cities, and European immigrants. A child-centered education that takes into account the needs and interest of the child were led by John Dewey. Administrative progressives developed the vocational education to address the needs of the new economy,  Segregation of blacks turned into a consumer issue of social mobility. Standardization of curriculum raised the level of achievement in students, and school choice movements started allowing individuals to attend any school. All these movement focused on school access and a common curriculum. Moreover, at the end I agree with the author that there’s a value in schooling but the social benefits are far behind. When I read this article all I could think about was about Eugenio Maria de Hostos.  Hostos was born in Puerto Rico but is considered the father of education in the Dominican Republic. Back to the 17th century his vision of pedagogy was student-centered and bases on scientific and rational methods of teaching including experiential learning and critical thinking.  Founder of the teacher school for men and with Dominican poet Salomé Ureña, he opened a normal school for women. He also supported the establishment of kindergartens and created evening schools for workers. There’s no reason I would like to compare this with the Dominican Republic education systems since schooling is starting to be addressed, and social problems. We are one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean where people live in poverty; we are dealing with children with malnutrition and children forced to work.  School is free and mandatory until age 14. 90% of literary but 10% of high school completion. We are happy, and positive of seeing the rise in the number of students that parents send to complete school and Labaree reflection at this moment is ages from where we are now.
Purpose, growth and limits to growth	Book Chapter from Higher Education In American From Derek Bok	This chapter explains how universities get involved in multiple goals that end defining the type of institution that they become.  Multiple aims have significant benefits that complement one another and allows institutional growth. Areas that balance include economic development and research, service learning and nonprofits organizations,  international collaboration and science department and so on. This different purpose increases the pressure to growth, and additional governance structures dived the faculty and administrative bodies.  This growth can be managed setting objective and measurable goals that attract outstanding scholars, build a sound reputation, strong leadership, develop innovative programs. The goal is to reform what matters more and venture into worthwhile activities led by the people you already have. This chapter reinforces my operational plan at UNIBE. My job as Academic Management Director helps the university achieve its objectives using the different resources already available.  I enjoyed reading the various management choices mainly attracting outstanding scholars to the university operational and development plan. This is in my to do list!
Social Justice	Article by Osei-Kofi, Shahjahan & Patton	This reading relates to a faculty group process of developing a Ph.D. concentration in social justice. They define social justice as ending oppression and domination at the individual, institutional, and systemic levels. They pledge to end oppression by studying how to identify equitable policies and practices that challenge any oppression experienced by marginalized groups. The  international campaign against the Dominican Republic has been merciless and ruthless. After a successful National Regularization Plan undocumented foreigners opted for voluntary return, especially Haitian poor workers.  We have been questioned in our sovereignty and accused of human rights violations and social injustice toward undocumented Haitian immigrants. International agencies accused us of racism and mass deportations and Dominican anti-Haitian policies.  Be amnesty to keep in our territory each and every one of irregular foreigners social justice for all parts? The study of social justice in a concrete context, higher education of Haitian students in DR is something challenging for any academic program.
Higher Education and Public Good	Article by Marginson, Simon	Universities have universal knowledge of international network based on shared values.  In 2010, in the United Kingdom, the government decided to withdraw public subsidies for social and humanities sciences.  This article differentiates what is public in higher education and presents three concepts: ·         Public Goods. Universal knowledge and information. ·         The Public Good. Democratization and human development; equality. ·         The Public Sphere. Critic and renewal of the state. Different context, fields and political and social interest create tensions that will ideally convert the universities into a system for increasing value in the economy. Opposite ideas to this tensions can support intellectual ideas to provide status and ranking to these institutions. Other diversification of this tensions could lead to a global universality that network to build status. Politics influences in how universities approach social justice and compete between them from social peace. These aspects make universities compete for state-driven and market driven forgetting their basic social need. In the Dominican Republic, the state regulates the universities, but the market makes them perform as private companies. The idealistic of a public good is only present in the public sector.

http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/hostos175

Student Affairs in Higher Education

Student Affairs in Higher Education

Today we had the visit of Ann Lundquist, Director of Strategic Planning and Assesment, Division of Studen Affairs. Her presentation included aspects that justified the arguments towards the many times minimized, Students Affairs Department. In our country, students live with the family during their studies, so many functions of the department do not apply to the Dominican context.

We are now entering the career accreditation process with different agencies and are in the process of changing the culture from good intentions to evidence. To collect sound evidence for students affairs, a school must change from we might do it to we are intentionally doing to obtain a particular result in students. During her participation, other members of my faculty were present, and we remembered a meeting that we had just to address this process. My role is to support them to create assessment with the end in mind and to organize students affairs activities that enrich student development while in UNIBE. Also, my role at UNIBE includes complying with both Dominican and USA Education and revising that our rules and regulations policies comply with both systems. 

Student development at UNIBE implies to develop an institutional environment of healthy coexistence and solidarity.  There's a unit that services the student and provides orientation services, advice and follow up to students. They facilitate the integration of the students to the university and promote their connection with their career through different activities including, job fair, athletics and sports, counseling, and legal activities among others.

Athletics Department

Dr. Archer's visit to our classroom adds to the understanding of American educational systems and their purpose by explaining athletics. Athletics started to build pride between the regions. They were very popular in the south and were tight to civil rights movements of including African American players in university teams. Sports also increased the awareness of discrimination, so universities to obtain title nine funds for scholarships must demonstrate proportionality.

The meaning of athletics is so different between both systems. In The USA, the athletic program is part of student integration and loyalty to their school. In DR sports are a personal area of interest and teams are not used to increase university image or improve student commitment but to increase student well-being.

Benefits for US schools include increasing school spirit and gaining publicity and marketing. Aspects of benefits for schools also include revenue, resources and, scholarships. The sports division reflects an American sports tradition, success image, and pride.

There is a controversy between athlete’s creative learning strategies and regular learning strategies. A support system is placed for athletes, so programs are friendlier to them.  They serve to comply with the academic requirements and athlete development.

The economics of these programs were unimaginable for many of us in the class. How can a program receive a subsidy, make money and still lose money?

A subject of discussion was the transition for athletes once eligibility is over, and studies are focusing on addressing these topics to understand how to help athletes once the move along their career and work life.

KVCC Museum Trolley Ride

This visit has been one of the happiest experiences during my stay in Kalamazoo; enjoying the trolley ride, the delicious food and the shared experience with the group will be in my memory for long.

The inspiring display of Kalamazoo history gave me an insight of the town that was unclear to me until then. Also, the archeological finding on Forth St. Joseph makes you wonder about what else is around.

My favorite part was the oral history section where stories from ancestor are related to kids. I believe this is a beautiful way of keeping traditions and helping them understand their context.

Philosophy of Education Group Work

Philosophy of Education Group Work

On the tornado watch night, the group decided to make use of the free time and meet to organize and develop ideas for the final paper.

Led by Maximo, our classmate, he used the book "Classic and Contemporary reading in the philosophy of education" by Steven M. Cahn; to explain the classic theories of education and its different approaches. His knowledge and enthusiasm for this subject made us understand how to support, and argument around our beliefs regarding education, school changes and how to develop your personal philosophy using your story.

His approach helped me build a framework to work for my paper. By selecting the essential parts and develop the ideas around a frame so I could identify the concept, the purpose, create and support my arguments and, compare with practice and ideal state of the subject. This hour helped me to understand how I could write with soundness and argument around the ideas I have.

Part 3. Class Notes on Ethics

Visit of Dr. Anne Hornak

Dr. Hornak's visit to the classroom made me think of how important it is to cultivate faculty ethics and talk about it with other colleagues, Our relations with them are challenging and transparency, when you govern and benefit, are better when consulted and clarified.

Writing explicit policies that help faculty and student behave in an ethical way will encourage people to act consistently and trustful way.