News

Recap through tweets: DCCCD student-centric transformation team hears concerns, questions

March 22, 2019

Eastfield employees had the opportunity to pose questions to the student-centric transformation team March 22 at a forum in the performance hall. Photo courtesy of Liliana Rodriguez/Eastfield College

By JAMES HARTLEY
@ByJamesHartley

Representatives from the Dallas County Community College District’s team working on student-centric transformation initiatives visited campus Friday to update employees on progress and hear questions and concerns. The team included DCCCD General Counsel Robert Wendland and two consultants with the Boston Consulting Group.
While the event was labeled as a town hall, Eastfield President Eddie Tealer said it was more of a “listening town hall,” as employees would not receive immediate responses to their questions or statements.
The DCCCD is expected to respond in two virtual forums March 28 and April 1, both at 4 p.m.
Here’s a quick look at some of the questions raised at the forum:

“Students, their welfare and their experience, that will be the strategic filter moving forward” -Transformation team

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

The forum began with the introduction, where an employee from the Boston Consulting Group made some introductory comments. Policies impacting faculty were the main focus of the introduction.

Problems with policy, load and schedule are some of the main focuses of the transformation team for the immediate future. “These are not the faults of faculty or administration,” one of the team members said

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

History professor Matt Hinckley kicked off the comments with a prepared statement about the impact of extra service contracts on employees at Eastfield, particularly faculty.

Matt Hinckley — reducing extra service contract opportunities will make it harder for some employees to make ends meet. Reductions may make it difficult or impossible to provide classes like biology | @dcccd @EastfieldDCCCD @TheEtCetera

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

One audience member said she felt the student-centric initiatives had less to do with students and more to do with district employees.

Pebble Barberra — Policy changes being considered seem more “employee-centric and not really geared toward students … it just makes me nervous”

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Other comments looked at the importance of advisers, needed changes to financial aid, improvements to programs of study and difficulties faced in the eight-week term format. You can read the questions in the tweets from the event below:

Nick Vera — Would like to see a “real town hall,” with feedback during the event. Wonders how much district is spending on consulting group, why work is not done in-house | @TheEtCetera @dcccd @EastfieldDCCCD

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Cindy Castaneda — AP scores are not always awarded, often not awarded until their third semester after students have retaken courses. Needs to be fixed

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Tuesday Hambric — Adviser pay, treatment lead to high turnover. Student-centric transformation requires a high number of dedicated, well paid advisers

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Audience member — Students need more restrictions on program or study. Scheduling is a major issue. Need more advisers to make this happen

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Audience member — Progress report window in 8 week does not give advisers enough time to discuss the possible need to drop a class. Time between terms is too short, not enough time or enough advisers to drop students from 1302 who failed 1301

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Audience member — Many students automatically graduating from Eastfield have already left the college. Should be automatically graduated immediately

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Katie Launius — concerned @dcccd is tying initiatives to performance-based funding. Studies show this is a bad idea. Encourages transition team to create their own definition of student success

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Another audience member — Students need 16 week class options to practice and learn

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

The next tweet is two parts. You can view the first portion of the tweet in smaller print on top.

… advisers, not the fault of advisers.

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

IT director — @dcccd needs a comprehensive technology plan. Professors don’t need to be held back by tech in the classroom. A lot of innovation at the campus level needs to continue, tech is holding that back. Can’t meet communities where they are at

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Liz Nichols — An open mind requires for change to work. Open invitation to faculty who want to talk about changes in student-centric transformation and pass on questions or concerns

— James Hartley ☀️ (@ByJamesHartley) March 22, 2019

Wendland and Tealer closed the forum by encouraging more comments and participation from employees on Sharepoint, the Microsoft-hosted intranet used by the district.