VVINSIDER : VOLUME 4 : NUMBER 20 : JULY 21, 1986 TUITION FEES FOR INSTRUCTOR TRAINING PROGRAM Over the past yea'r, VCC employees enrolling in the Instructor Training Program received a waiver of tuition fees. This procedure has now been changed slightly. In future, employees taking the Instructor Training Program will be required to pay their tuition fees when they register, and will be reimbursed once they produce proof that they have attended the program. Details of the reimbursement procedure are now being developed. JV/MEL LT. GOVERNOR'S SILVER MEDAL Mr. Ron Morrison, a graduate of the V.V.I. Printing Production Department, was awarded the 1985/86 Lt. Governor's Silver Medal for outstanding achievement at the Graduation Ceremony held Thursday, July 10, at the Queen Elizabeth Playhouse. The Medal was presented to Mr. Morrison by Dr. P. Gallagher, President of V.C.C. JW 1986/87 CAPITAL REQUEST V.C.C. has received an allocation of $307,000 for 1986/87 operating capital requirements; of this amount each campus will receive a small amount to cover emergencies in the form of broken-down equipment. The balance will be distributed to the various campuses and divisions dependent upon demonstrated need. V.V.I, has been requested to prepare a list of capital needs. This list could include replacement of obsolete equipment, professional development, program development, or equipment for new programs in the 1987/88 program profile. Please note that this should be a need list, not a wish list. Each Division Chairman has been requested to produce a prioritized list by August 18, 1986. If you wish to have something included on these lists, please contact your Department Head or Division Chairman. MEL/JV QUOTE OF THE WEEK S^NCOUi^ERTrUe ^r^en<:'s'1^P comes when silence between two people is comfortable. COMMUNITY VCC ¦ VANCOUVER VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE ) COLLEGE LIBRARY ^ Vancouver Vocational Institute 1 JUL 2 5 1986 1 J_dkL INNOVATION ABSTRACTS K&F i =3 L^S" Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development With support from the W K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W Richardson Foundation HOW TO ENCOURAGE DESPAIRING STUDENTS AND PREVENT THEM FROM DISAPPEARING Often students drop dasses unnecessarily. They don't know that, though, and quit working when they could have succeeded. They sometimes drop despite their instructors' efforts to encourage them to keep working and stay in class. Often, instructors just don't know what to say to motivate these students and watch helplessly as they struggle, flounder, drift into despair and give up. However, the principles of expectancy value theory may be useful in talking effectively with discouraged students. Expectancy Value Theory The basic premise of the expectancy value theory is: The more confidence one has that an action will produce a desired result, the more likely one is to complete the action. Notice the links in the chain: 1. People expect that their actions will produce results. 2. They expect that the results will produce rewards. 3. They expect that the rewards will be valuable. Expectancy value theory directly, implies that college students will stay in a course and work hard when they believe that staying and working hard will produce rewards that they value As long as they have positive expectations, they will persist despite all the common troubles students have—working with difficult material, making low grades, and having personal problems. If, however, they become convinced that their work is going to produce nothing rewarding and valuable to them, they will quit. Note that the key to student persistence is not what really will happen in the future but what students expect will happen. -How to Use Expectancy Value Theory Expect that Work Leads to Results—Many students truly believe that they are too dumb to succeed, and their first attempts to study often convince them further. If the work is difficult, if there's a lot of it, if time is short, and if learning comes slowly, then students often conclude they can't learn at all Conversely, sometimes the best students set very high standards for themselves, then conclude they cannot get the grade, and become discouraged. Sometimes an instructor merely needs to point out that more time on task will improve performance—and demonstrating same will give the student mcentive to continue For example, many students taking College Algebra and Calculus need to put in 15 hours or more of study a week; many underestimate "learning time." As well, they often will learn things one day, forget them the next day, and need to review They should be told that this cycle is quite normal and that they must devote more time to reviewing previously learned material. An instructor needs to say, "I know it's difficult, it could take x-amount of time, but I believe you can succeed if you take my suggestion." Students often use ineffective study techniques; assuming that this is likely, instructors should describe techniques that work. For example, m our Anatomy and Physiology course (taken by students m such programs as Dental Hygiene, Nursing, and Respiratory Therapy) both conceptual understanding and an extraordinary amount of memorization are required. Many students accustomed to making A's and B's in courses with a lighter memory load continue to study anatomy and physiology the same way. They read, they underline, and they reread. They often cram the material into long study penods The consequences of their study methods are short memones and confusion of the new terms Then, they despair over the results of their exams. An instructor can demonstrate the use of effective memory techniques—e g., using the keyword method of memorizing; distributing study sessions over many shorter sessions, studying a few concepts at a time; building larger sets gradually; and testing themselves frequently. It is encouraging to hear about methods that promise to produce good results. tQ-W Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712 Beware of the Trap—Sometimes, however, instructors look at their students in trouble and get too easily convinced that these students are going to fail. The discouraged students discourage their instructors. The key to encouraging them is to determine whether m fact they can succeed given their level of preparation and the time remaining in the course. If you conclude they can succeed, then vividly recall those who have made it m the past, look these present students m the eye, and tell them soberly and confidently that they can make it. When you know yourself that it's true, you can often help students believe it. Expect that Results Produce Rewards—Another serious problem is students believing that they can learn the material but that they won't be rewarded with things of value to them. This problem relates to the second principle of expectancy value theory Good grades are very important rewards to most students. If they believe their instructor won't reward honest accomplishment with good grades, they are likely to quit trying. Often they believe that the tests are unfair and that the teacher's grading standards are too severe. Some instructors in our Nursing Department conduct an item analysis on each test, identifying poor test items and eliminating them from the grading. They share what they are doing with their students, and students are encouraged that the testing/grading system is fair. Students want their work and the course content to have some value after the course is over. Far too often, instructors ]ust teach the subject and don't relate it to finanaal, social, intellectual, personal, altruistic, legal, and other situations outside the classroom. Students are encouraged to hear' "At this point in time, this bit of information will allow you to . . ." Share knowledge and skills to come later in the course. Expectancy value theory holds that people are future-oriented. It is important that students expect the coming weeks to contain interesting, valuable material. You can do this by giving "previews of commg attractions," describing forthcoming topics m an interesting way, writing your syllabus of assignments so that the wording promises rewarding information. When certain material seems both dull and useless in itself, acknowledge its dullness and the amount of tame and effort it will take to leam it. Then explain why it is important to spend that time and effort. Expect that the Rewards are Valuable—Finally, it's not called expectancy value theory for nothing Until now I've been assuming that people value all the rewards they get from learning. But they don't always. When people value something, they consider it important, attractive, significant, and desirable. When people don't value something, they think it is trivial, unrelated to their deeper desires, and generally unimportant. Have students identify the rewards they will value in the future; then have them identify the knowledge that will produce these rewards—both senous and fun. As well, connect the course material to your own values. Too often, we instructors look out at a sea of bored faces and teach the same material year after year. We gradually become convinced that the material is not valuable or interesting, and our belief shows m our tone of voice and body language. Encourage Students Before It's Too Late—Teachers should employ preventive mediane. Boosting students' beliefs that hard work leads to academic success and helps them attain the things they value does pay off. Don't wait until students are in academic trouble to provide that boost! Dan Hodges Coordinator of Testing Abstracted and edited with permission from Focus, No. 13, Winter 1985. For further information, contact the author at Lane Community College, Testing Office, 4000 East 30th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97405 Suanne D Roueche, Editor May 2, 1986, Vol. VIII, No 14 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is 3 publicaoon of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, SD8 34S, The Univer3