VVINSIDER, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 02, FEBRUARY 12, 1987 vcc-VAfcouvee vocational imstitute WE HAVE MOVED .... LIBRMY Career Start has moved across the street to the second floor of 548 Cambie. The postal code is V6B 2N7 and the new telephone number is 683-7755. DID YOU KNOW?? ^ You may refer your students to the Library when they require the use of a typewriter. Students must bring their own paper, correction fluid, etc., and may not do practice typing. While these typewriters are primarily intended for the use of students, the public is not denied acce-ss. SJ HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR WORKERS Simon Eraser University is sponsoring a lecture series entitled Occupational Health and Safety for Clerical Workers with a focus on office computerization. The series will start Thursday, February 19, is four weeks long and runs from .17:00 to 19:00 in Room 3 at the Robson Square Media Centre. The specific topics for discussion are: February 19 February 26 March 5 March 12 Reorganization of work Stress in the workplace VDT's - radiation/other hazards Office environment issues For fee structure and registration call SFU Continuing Studies at 291-4304. ^Vancouver Municipal and Regional Employees Union VMREU members wishing to register for this series of courses (or individual topics) will have their registration reimbursed by the union. Fees are $25.00 for the series. QUOTE OF THE WEEK We can't reduce resistance to the solution until we first mmowER COMMUNITY Vancouver Vocational Institute reduce tension by listening and sharing . . . REPORT FROM THE COLLEGE BOARD The V.C.C. Educational Foundation now stands at $620,000. The Foundation has a segmented industry campaign for donations underway. At the V.V.I, this focuses on the Printing, Production program, the Dental Programs and the Transportation Analyst program, the Foundation is also mounting a drive to receive undesignated funds for its administrative operation. It expects to be fully independent from College support within three years. The next College Board meeting is on 1987 February 18 at the King Edward Campus. V.C.C. has received a total' of $360,000 from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Job Training, as a result of the drive to generate donations of equipment. Even though this amount far from matches the donations on a dollar for dollar basis, it was a very welcome supplement to the scare Operating Capital Allocations for 1986/87. The College Board acknowledged the receipt of a $5,000 donation from the Bakers' Association of B.C. for students in the Baking Program. The College Board approved the establishment of the new Hazel Bezeau Endowment Fund for students in the Medical Transcriptionist program by the Canadian Association of Medical Transcriptionists. The change of the program length of the Skin Care Advanced (Esthetics) Program was approved. The College Board was informed that for 1987/88 the amount of training in Power Engineering and Electronics would be increased by 61 full-time equivalent students (PTE's); the allocation for part-time vocational classes was reduced by 13% over 1986/87. Allocations for Dental Assistant, Practical Nursing and Nursing Aide programs are all below the requested FTE levels for 1987/88 (by as much as 20%); the new Security Officer Correspondence (V.V.I.) program was approved. The College Board approved the Request for Additional Course (RAC) for Electronics Technician program - Computer Electronics and the Special Training Project (STP) for the Electronics Technician - Telecommunications. The STP has, in addition to regular operating costs, $60,000 attached for equipment. The request for awarding a $68,000 contract for the removal and erection of a replacement wall at the south side of the courtyard at the V.V.I, was also approved. The College's computer capacity will be enhanced by the approval to purchase a fourth Prime Computer for about $741,000. The College Board approved the awarding of a purchase contract to Colwell Equipment Ltd. for five Hamada Offset Presses for $117,700 in order to upgrade the press section of the Printing Production program at the V.V.I. The College Board endorsed the Vision Statement for the Vancouver Community College, prepared by Dr. Paul Gallagher as part of the follow-up on the Institutional Evaluation. VIDEO TAPE ERASURES Any video tapes not obtained in accordance with the College Policy, Reference 6.4.2.2 entitled "COPYRIGHT - GENERAL", will be erased effective February 15, 1987. If you use video tapes that fall into this category, please contact Frieda Wiebe in your campus library. If you wish to have those titles slated for erasure identified, please contact Bob Loitz in I.M.S. at 324-5277. MH HEY ALL YOU MICROCOMPUTER BUFFS . . . NEW ... . LIMITED TIME OFFER!! The library has received the following guides on preview: Databank Reports on Electronic Publishing Systems Databank Directory: Microcomputer Software Databank Management: Microcomputer Systems They must be returned to the publisher on February 20, 1987 so please drop by and see them before then. ED NEWS FROM AROUND THE COLLEGE AT KEC Dr Lawrence Fast, formerly Dean of Instruction, Arts and Sciences at Langara Campus, has been named Principal of VCC King Edward Campus effective Jan 2,1987. Dr Fast's association with the future VCC began in 1962 as a teacher in the then King Edward Continu¬ ing Education Centre at 12th and Oak. He taught abroad from 1966 to 1970 when he returned to the Langara English Dept. At Langara he held the post of Assistant Director of Continuing Education until his appointment as Dean in Nov. 1979. Lawrence is a member of numerous professional and educational associations and has written and pub¬ lished over 400 book reviews in the Vancouver Sun. Dr. Lawrence Fast, new principal at KEC. JOIN THE'"GREAT LOVERS AT LANGARA OF THE PAST" Thursdays at 12 NOON In the ROBSON SQUARE LECTURE THEATRE! This popular series, presented by Langara Campus instructors, will introduce you to ten of history's most famous lovers . . Plan NOW to attend them all, ADMISSION IS FREE and light refreshments are available best of all. bring your funch. Oil* Sub|«cl F«b 12 Perlklea F«b 19 King Solomon «nd th« Queen of Sheba F«b 26 Lord Nelson and Lady Hamiilon Mar 05 Lovs Sacred and Profane during the Middle Ages Mar 12 Ae Fond Kiss (R Sums) Mar 19 Romeo Mar 26 Theodora and Justinian Apr 02 L« Comtesse da Barry Introducad by Malcolm McGregor Ariadne Bursewicz Val Sutherland Barne Brill Gordon Sutherland Arne Lund George Karas A M Bursewic* INNOVATION ABSTRACTS i i Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development With support from the W K Kellogg Foundation and Sid W Richardson Foundation EFFICIENT MEETINGS ARE SHORT MEETINGS Several topics, popular in college coffee break conversation today, are connected in ways not always obvious to the casual observer Certainly, budget cuts are a very real threat. Lack of enthusiasm about the new computer tools available in academe is dismaying to those who are versed in the subject. Communication problems get a lot of attention. And—perhaps the most frequent complaint among administrators—everyone agrees that too much time is spent in meetings All of these topics are closely related. Suppose that a college president has a coterie of seven deans and five directors reporting to him, and suppose that they meet on a weekly basis, along with a secretary who takes notes in order to publish minutes. Further, let's stipulate that the average salary of the deans is $45,000, the average salary of the directors is $30,000, and that the president's salary is $75,000. The secretary's salary is stipulated at $15,000. If their meeting lasts for three hours, the cost of the meeting in terms of resources spent is approximately $801, plus the costs of the secretary's typing time for minutes, the extra electricity, the coffee and snacks, and so forth The truth is that most meetings do not produce results worth expending approximately $800 of a limited budget. Most corporate managers agree that a meeting lasting longer than an hour is usually counterproductive. Two hours generally indicate diminishing productivity, often with the same points being belabored repeatedly. Three hours usually indicate negative productivity The hypothetical meeting described above, in addition to being costly in terms of the salary levels involved, took more than 42 hours of work time, resulting m considerably more cost than the original approximation of $800 Relate this to the communication problem that so many of us perceive in the education business: often one leaves a long meeting with a sense of relief at its end, but no feeling of accomplishment or of knowledge gained or shared. In many cases, a short written memo can convey much more information than a drawn out meeting. I would like to share a technique that I have developed recently, which accomplishes the tasks of reducing meeting length, reducing meeting frequency, improving communication and dissemination of information, and putting to use those nice little personal computers that are beginning to show up in administrators' offices all around the educational industry STEP 1. A detailed agenda of topics for discussion is circulated in advance of the meeting. [It helps if some of the topics can be worded in such a way as to evoke a smile or two—being in a good mood about a called meeting is not a bad way to start. An example might be found in mentioning that state employees cannot be paid twice for the same day's work, as in taking paid professional leave in order to stage a seminar for a state agency for pay: "Double Dipping and Those Awful Auditors."] Leave the agenda in computer storage or on a disk. STEP 2 Shortly before the meeting, bring the agenda back to your screen and annotate it. Briefly summarize the meat of each issue to be discussed, and parcel out assignments as needed. My technique is to do the agenda m boldface ("letter quality") lower case type, and the annotation in light ("draft") upper case type. STEP 3. After indoctrination, occurring at the first meeting in which this technique is used, your meeting participants will read the agenda in advance, the first time the technique is used, they may require a few Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712 minutes to read it over. When the groaning about the length of the agenda begins to diminish, pass out the annotated agenda. STEP 4. As each agenda item comes up for discussion, the meeting participants can respond very quickly to it. The relevant information is before them, and they are saved the task of "taking notes." Often (at least more often than in other meeting formats) there will be no discussion of an issue—the annotation provides the necessary information; and if it is well done, the item is understood If discussion and/or action is necessary, it can be tackled more directly Keep notes of such discussion and/or action for Step 6. STEP 5. When the agenda has been exhausted, give each participant an opportunity to bring up individual items or to seek information from you. Keep records. After this step, adjourn the meeting (1) with more accomplished m less time than is usually accomplished the old way and (2) with a feeling among the participants that even academe can enter the 20th century. STEP 6. The final step is critical When you get back to the office, call up your annotated agenda again and edit in the major discussion thrusts, the actions taken, and the items entered by the meeting participants This can be done in a contrasting form, such as lower case draft type, for ease of comprehension. Having finished this, distribute copies to all participants and the meeting is history. And you have your set of topical minutes to hie or post Your participants are back on the job, doing those things that you would still be talking about if you had followed a more traditional format. My Chairpersons include some crusty, "let's do it instead of talking about it" types; and they are enthusiastic about the improvement in communications, the reduction in nonproductive meeting time, the fresh minutes, the practice of what we traditionally preach to students—use of the new technology to save time and effort, and the saving of the unmentionable—money. One additional wrinkle augments this format for short meetings. Rather than spend interminable time discussing matters which are really only information distribution, and rather than writing an infinite senes of memoranda, one for each information item, a weekly newsletter can be published for the chairs and perhaps for general posting. This newsletter, best done by adding information to a dedicated disk as the information comes in, carries routine items such as deadline dates, conference announcements, items of general interest, etc. Participative cooperation is augmented by inviting announcements or information for the newsletter to be submitted by any faculty member or staff person. In our great state, the newsletter is an interesting way to spread the latest Aggie joke, or as a rejoinder, the most recent A&M-UT football score. R. M. Pope, Dean of Business Del Mar College For further information, contact the author at Del Mar College, Baldwin & Avers, Corpus Chnsti, TX 78404. Suanne D. Roueche, Editor November 14, 1986, Vol. VIII, l\Jo. 27 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS Is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, (512)471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortlum members for S35 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are In session during fall and spring terms and once during the summer. - The University of Texas at Austin, 1986 Further duplication Is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X FEBRUARY 1987 #VMREU ACTIVITIES SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 1 ^ Stewards 3 4 / Education Committee 6:00 pm - Lounge THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY p- Vancouver 6 7 12 13 14 1Q ^out^ OO Vancouver School 21 J School Board First Aid Meeting 4:30 pm - Lounge 00 9 10 ^ Central 1 1 Occupational •l"M~ Healty $ Safety Committee 5:45 pm - Lounge 15 22 16 r-r Part Time/ /^ Auxiliary Committee 6:00 pm - Board Room JAN 1987 MARCH 1987 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 U 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 17 A Women1s />-f- Forum Film "The Getting of Wisdom" 7:30 pm - Lounge 18 p* General X.. ) Membership Meeting 6:00 pm - King Edward Campus Auditorium JlZ/ African Congress of Trade Unions Speaker 6:00 pm - Lounge 26 Board - Career Development Committee - All Day.Windermere ^^econdary 28 UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, ALL EVENTS ARE AT THE UNION OFFICE - 545 WEST 10th AVENUE VANCOUVER. CALL 879-4671 FOR MORE INFORMATION.