THURSDAY APRIL 8, 1999 - VOL. 84#25
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MIKE JENNINGS
/
THE COURIER
KPCC personality Larry Mantle during his on-air talk show.
TECH NEWS
KPCC Faces Changes
Board of Trustees about to close a deal that would merge KPCC with Minnesota Public Radio
BY ROGER CHENG
Staff Writer
As the board of trustees approaches a final
decision concerning Minnesota Public Radio’s
proposal for a joint venture with the college,
many details still need to be hammered out.
Many people are hoping that KPCC’s past
controversy-filled year may be its last as a col¬
lege-owned radio station.
“The odds are 50-50 that it’ll go through,”
said Warren Weber, chair of the subcommittee
involved with the deal. “It has some problems,
but overall it looks good.”
One of the main points of contention revolves
around a new board of governors that would be
created to administrate over the radio station.
The board would consist of six members chosen
by the college, and seven members chosen by
MPR. This would give MPR majority rule over
every decision the board would make, surrender¬
ing an unprecedented amount of influence and
power to an outside party. Weber acknowledges
that point as one of many that are still in discus¬
sion within the committee.
There were also concerns from board member
Beth Wells-Miller.
“I would not support any deal if it didn’t guar¬
antee our mission for students’ rights for hands-
on experience, or if it forced us to give up our
license,” said Wells-Miller. “Our promise to our
students is critical.”
According to the current plan, the license
would be given up to a joint company created by
PCC and MPR.
Despite some worries, Weber feels optimistic
about the proposal.
“Very seldom does a community college have
an opportunity to enter into a commercial venture
like this,” he said.
He speculates that the reason MPR chose the
college’s radio station was because it had the
strongest and broadest signal among the public
radio stations in Southern California.
“It is a chance to create a flagship station with
our name on it,” said college president Dr. James
Kossler, who has great hopes for the alliance.
“It’ll put KPCC on the map. It seems to be a
win/win deal.”
Kossler is also hoping to create a radio tech¬
nician-training academy for digitally based tech¬
nology. He wants MPR to fund the teachers ini-
KPCC pg. 3
TECHNOLOGY BEAT
Online Classes are
Distance Learning
BY AUDREY ALLEN
Staff Writer
As a way to reach out to more of the
community, and to enable students who
work to have the time to get a college edu¬
cation, faculty have been developing on
line courses, known as “distance educa¬
tion.”
Dave Douglass, associate professor of
physical science, is involved in one of the
most successful Internet courses, Physical
Sciences 2, “Scientific Method as Critical
Thinking.” This course was taught for the
first time on-line in the fall of 1998. “If you
live a long way from PCC, you can avoid a
commute. Students can take classes from
the comfort of their own homes. You can
even teach the course from home,” said
Douglass.
“You get to know students on a more
personal level. They write more about
themselves than they will tell you in a class¬
room. There is more of a personal relation¬
ship between the instructor and student.”
Douglass calls the challenge of the
development of an Internet course, “a labor
of love. We have virtually no leadership or
support for on-line courses.”
The amount of work is overwhelming,
for the student there is no time to slack off.
There must be self-motivation, and a lot of
time must be spent at the computer. He said
he is bombarded by e-mail from his stu¬
dents, and he gets 20 to 30 per day.
Douglass said that the student’s privacy
is still protected even with on-line courses.
No private information is passed over the
web, other than the student’s e-mail
addresses. Passwords could be used, but so
far it has not been necessary.
There are potential problems other than
the issue of anonymity on the web. Things
like viruses, hackers, as well as students
who cheat, are always lingering concerns.
Douglass said there are “technical tricks”
like looking at log-in and log-out times and
IP addresses. The biggest problem so far is
plagiarism. However, a classroom setting
presents the same problems. “An impostor
could sit in my class the entire semester and
I wouldn’t know it because I don’t check
IDs in a regular classroom,” Douglass said.
Another concern is the price of the class.
If the Internet is going to reach more stu¬
dents, will this include students not in the
state of California, and if so, does the regu¬
lar fee of $120 per unit apply? If the cost is
less for Internet courses than regular cours¬
es, will the instructors get paid less, and
will California give PCC less money?
These questions have not been answered
yet.
“There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of
CLASS, pg. 4
ADMINISTRATION BEAT
College Divides Money
Half of $2 million grant to be used for achieving goals
BY TIM ALVES AND GAU
RAVAL
Staff Writer
The college will receive $2 million tar¬
geted at improving student performance
levels under a program funded by the state,
Partnership for Excellence.
Although the entire sum is already in the
college bank account, it has been divided
into two halves, the first half used toward
refining and increasing the effectiveness of
existing programs. The second half will be
used toward addressing transfers, degrees,
basic skills and workforce development.
Pertaining to the first half, “Division deans
have the authority to sign off money they
need,” said Ellen Ligons, faculty senate
president.
The excellence in learning steering
committee will thoroughly evaluate each
proposal submitted before any of the sec¬
ond million will be approved. Any college
staff or team of faculty and staff may sub¬
mit a proposal.
“We are encouraging divisions to
include students to get their input,” she
added. “No money has been funded [to any
division] yet.”
Dr. James Kossler, college president,
said, “It is important that we do a good job
and keep focused on improving students.
Ideas have to be proven that they will actu¬
ally help. We have to make sure that the
money is spent correctly.”
However, not all colleges are using the
money for student improvement. “Some
colleges have used the money to pay off
their debts, while other colleges don’t have
ENRIQUE ARMENDARIZ
/
THE COURIER
Although recent weather has been terrible, it was not like that
everywhere last week. This gentleman gets himself some water
to cool off. SEE PAGES 5 AND 6
any faculty input [in allocating funds],”
said Ligons.
According to the guidelines for submit¬
ting a proposal, unmet needs should be
identified and addressed. Some unmet
needs include software and equipment
upgrades. The problem should have a con¬
crete rationale explaining exactly how the
money given will help the goals of the pro¬
posal. The means of achieving this goal is
also a very important factor in receiving
funds.
The Partnership for Excellence money
is to be distributed to basic skills programs
as well, but will not be judged by the same
criteria as the transfer and degree areas.
The focus will be on determining what
classes students are repeating and why they
aren’t progressing to the next level.
Money will be spent to assess which
skills to target, how long it takes to move to
the next level of courses, and the best way
to increase student success in those areas.
“The college is committed to serving the
community. The basic skills program needs
more improvement,” said Kossler.
The state has secured $2 million per
year for the next three years for PCC, but
future funding is laden with performance
based incentives. Under the current condi¬
tions, all community colleges will be mea¬
sured from their fall 1995 statistics through
MONEY, pg. 4
FACILITIES
Loss of
Power
Causes
Problems
BY TIM ALVES AND
KAROLYNE STOKELY
Staff Writers
Power was lost on Monday when an
aged electrical panel in the C Building
shorted out, causing several buildings to go
without power until late Tuesday.
The panel which provides electricity for
the C Building as well as the food service
annex, blew up, and severed power to the
elevators, lights, air conditioning and heat¬
ing systems.
“There was a short circuit, which burned
out the bus bars, and blew out a number of
breakers that feed the C Building. It’s an
old piece of equipment, and it can go out
without any advance notice,” said Dr.
Richard van Pelt, director of facilities.
“When the circuit went out, our main
concern was that the elevators weren’t
functioning,” explained Sgt. Vince
Palmero. “That then led us to be concerned
about the students in the building that were
physically challenged.”
Police cadets were dispatched to the C
building to aid disabled students stranded
on the third and fourth floors.
A number of students needed assistance
getting down the stairs, while a team of four
cadets carried two others in wheelchairs
down. Cadets were also stationed at the
elevators and to advise arriving disabled
students that classes were cancelled for the
day.
Initially there was some confusion
whether or not the alarm systems were
functioning. Concerned that a fire could
smolder unnoticed, cadets roved the C
Building on what was termed a “fire
watch.”
“A lot of the buildings on campus are old
and a lot of the electrical equipment inside
them are as old as the buildings themselves.
We knew that this stuff wasn’t going to last
forever,” said Don Holthaus, manager of
building trades.
The electrical panfel was difficult to
replace immediately because the college
doesn’t routinely stock a replacement for
the bulky panel.
“The manufacturer is in Texas, and it’s
such a big piece of equipment that we don’t
keep one stored,” said van Pelt. “So we had
POWER, pg. D
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