Allen Community College plans to use academic videos this fall in hopes of creating a deeper connection between the instructor and the student.
Jon Marshall, Vice President of Academic Affairs, explained the process at the schools Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night.
Marshall broke the homemade videos down to three categories, consisting of introductory, demonstration and informational videos.
Introductory videos would be where the instructor lets the student know a little more about themselves. Demonstration videos is where the instructor demonstrates a process or laboratory experiment. And instructional videos is where an instructor may explain a concept, Marshall said.
The videos are to range from 4 to 6 minutes long, to be used for both online and onsite students.
What we are talking about is shorter videos that really focus on a learning objective, Marshall said. We want a deeper connection with the student. When you really boil down online learning it is usually just reading and writing. This adds a visual connection to the topic and to the instructor.
Marshall said that they want to set a specific purpose for a video about a learning objective and to establish and expand an instructors presence. They also want to create an interactive element to close the video to reinforce learning with a quiz.
Instructors are currently making videos for their courses for this fall.
VICE PRESIDENT of Student Affairs Cynthia Jacobson said that ACC currently has 56 international students planning to attend classes in the fall. That number is up from 44 last month. Forty-two students will be attending classes for the first time this fall, with 14 returning students.
TOSCA HARRIS, Dean of the Iola campus, said that the Commercial Drivers License program is going well. She said that they didnt have as many students as they had planned for, but both Monarch Cement and Washburn University were pleased with how things were going and want to continue the program.
Harris said in the past they have had to eliminate classes due to a lack of students, but so far she has had to add several classes to the fall schedule.
This is a very good problem to have. Most of the classes have 20 to 25 students enrolled in them, Harris said.
PRESIDENT John Masterson said the school is facing an unexpected hit to its budget after they sent their bus to Texas for a routine inspection. The inspection revealed that the frame of the bus is rusted out.
Right now they are saying a minimum of $60,000 in labor and $32,000 in parts, Vice President of Finance and Operations Brian Counsil said. We originally paid $185,000 for the vehicle. John and I will start walking down avenues to see how we want to replace the bus.
Counsil said they allocate $50,000 per year for bus drivers and maintenance. The bus is a 2003 model and was purchased in 2013.
I have a feeling that once they start tearing that bus apart they are going to find more things to replace, Counsil said. If we were to take the bus off the lot where it currently sits, we would have to sign a waiver saying that we understand this bus could fall apart on the highway.
