Chabot College
Basic Skills Committee
MINUTES
October 12, 2010
Attendees
Carolyn Arnold, Shirley Pejman, Jennifer Lange, Matt Kristcher, Janice Golojuch, Alisa Klevens,
Becky Plaza, Marcia Corcoran, Jane Wolford, Ingrid hufgard, Diana Kuo, Michael Thompson, Deonne
Kunkel, Katie Hern, Rajinder Samra, Jeanne Wilson, Bob Buell, and Rudolph Cockerham
I.
Called to order 12:07 p.m.
II.
Introductions and minutes approved.
III.
Old Business
a. Presentation to Faculty Senate, review of one page handout
b. Katie Hern: revise the statement about 101/102, Carolyn will make change. Marcia,
made suggestions also. Others may make suggestions to Carolyn or Trish.
IV.
Learning Assistants Presentation
a. Data on retention and success, not much impact. But, in classes with learning assistants,
there is more engagement than in the college-wide average, particularly in classes where
students worked WITH the learning assistant.
b. Janice Golojuch talked about her learning assistants in the class. It really helps her in
the ability to work one-on-one with students. Her classes are really structured and the
learning assistants help ensure that students understand the material. Her students are A
students from beginning and intermediate drawing. They must be patient. Janice and
students track students who are not getting A’s, and they follow-up with those students.
Janice has a high drop rate (50%), generally because students do not attend class. Those
who do not drop, tend to succeed. Learning Assistants learn a great deal, both as
teachers and as artists.
c. Bob Buell talked about his learning assistants in the fire tech program. Fire Tech
presents with some unique challenges, for example, many are kinesthetic learners. Bob
started using Learning Assistants for the first time last year. “role is replicate what is
happening, not teach.” But, our experience is that students increasingly turn to the LA.
Growth has expanded from two classes to twelve. Learning Assistants are able to keep
their skills sharp. Success rate is now 95%. The factor that impacts students the most
are their class loads (fire academy is 6 units, a full time load is 12) or their outside lives
(multiple jobs or shifts). Because of team “approach,” when one student fails, the whole
team fails, so being able to give one-on-one attention when needed helps. The
connection that is made with peers is encouraging and supportive.
d. Q&A. How to measure these impacts or effects? For both students and learning
assistants, the effects are qualitative. Clearly, two very different approaches. The
question of the effects as peer mediated. The presence of a learning assistant shifts the
classroom dynamic.
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V.
VI.
No meeting in two weeks because of Flex Day. At the next meeting, attendees of the
Student Success Conferences will report.
Meeting adjourned.
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