PCC Courier, April 29, 1977

э1у to those non-combat urn to their umbers for is available ienter, C256. the center is may also riting to the arine Corps, i Office, US- 63132. I um ay to sell the also will be a 5 Center for e flower sale omore Class ant of PCC in aining items ment will be "N ✓ s о 1 IS* E, CA VOL. 43, NO. 10 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA APRIL 29, 1977 Computer Program Highly Rated Students React Well to S/G/'s Guidance By Dana Pedersen ' Staff Writer Students have had a positive reac¬ tion to their experiences with com¬ puterized career guidance counseling, according to a report presented to the Board of Trustees recently by John E. Tulley, PCC psychologist. The pilot study, conducted to determine the effectiveness of the System Interactive Guidance In- SIGI has been utilized by students seeking career guidance counseling formation (SIGI), began in March 1975 shortly after the installation of the SIGI hardware (computer, printer and terminals) and continued through December 1975. Since that time SIGI has been utilized by students seeking career guidance counseling. Applicants were assigned at random either to an ex¬ perimental group that worked with SIGI itself, or to a control group that went through the traditional vocational tests. The vocational tests given to the control group included comprehensive tests of basic skills, Kuder oc¬ cupational interest surveys, Strong- Campbell interest inventories, per¬ sonal research forms and a background information summary. The pilot study involved the first 50 students in each of the control and experimental groups who completed the experiment. Wpen students in the experimental group were compared to students in the control group, the experimental group expressed a higher degree of satisfaction and confidence in their educational and vocational plans, according to the report. They needed less additional help with educational or career planning and had acquired greater knowledge of the college courses required for their occupational preparation. The pilot study reported that PCC counselors rated the overall value of the career counseling sessions higher for students who received the SIGI experience than for those who took the traditional tests. Based on the study of the first 100 students who completed all aspects of SIGI, the program appealed to a representative sample of PCC students with regard to age, sex, ethnic distribution and educational and career plans, according to the survey. “Studies have also shown that there appears to be no correlation between slow readers and the amount of time spent on the computer. Actually, the faster readers tended to spend more time with the computer,” said Ernest F. Neumann, dean of counseling services. The SIGI project research design, from which the information for the pilot study was gathered, was devised by Dr. Tulley and John J. Risser, psychologist for counseling and guidance. Dr. Tulley is handling current research on the project until Dr. Risser returns from a sabbatical. The experimental stage of SIGI, during which time the pilot study occurred, was designed to serve We wanted to discover whether it [SIGI] would prove to be an effective tool in a career guidance framework several purposes, according to Dean Neumann. “We wanted to discover whether it (SIGI) would prove to be an effective tool in a career guidance framework, and secondly, was it economically feasible and transportable. In other words, was it usable in other in¬ stitutions such as high schools, colleges and industry.” Dean Neumann will submit a final report to the Board of Trustees in June, concerning these questions. “SIGI is funded by the Vocational Education Act (VEA) as a joint project of the State Department of Education and the Community College Chan¬ cellor’s Office. The VEA draws on federal funds which are funneled into state funds and dispensed to colleges and universities,” Neumann said. He went on to say that this is the first time in the history of the Chancellor’s Office that equipment has been pur¬ chased through research funds, such as national science and Carnegie funds. The cost factor of SIGI for the college district has been relatively inexpensive for its first two years. Expenses are divided into two catagories, hardware and software (printout and paper supplies). At the present time, the hardware is owned by the State. After five years at an institution, the State evaluates the Alfaro To Host Coronation Chicano Week Scheduled By Brad Haugaard Staff Writer Next week Chicano students celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a celebration that commemorates the victory of the Mexican people over the French in the War of the French Intervention. The celebration is scheduled daily from Monday through Saturday. Monday at 10 a.m. there will be an RIGHT BUS, WRONG SCHOOL— Driver Ed Haines prepares to climb aboard a van for the handicapped loaned by Chaffey College. Haines said that the PCC van was out of commission for a week while new wheelchairtie-downs were being added. The tie-downs which were in the van were not made to accommodate the electric wheelchairs used by many handicapped on campus. —Courier Photo by Blake Sell orientation for high school students in the Campus Center to acquaint them with PCC. At 11 a.m. there will be a poet, speaker and guitarist in the Free Speech Area. At noon, Mariachi Tenampa and Grupo Folklorico de las Rosas of PCC will perform in the Free Speech Area. Tuesday at 11 a.m. will be a high school orientation in the Campus Center. At noon El Nuevo Mundo, a Latin jazz band, will perform in the Free Speech Area. The leader of the ensemble is Rene Pineda, a freelance saxophonist. Bobby Rodriguez, on trumpet, has done recordings with Ike and Tina Turner and currently plays with Quincy James and the Johnson Brothers. Tommy Trujillo, who plays sax and guitar, has been with the Charles Lloyd Quartet and Willie Bobo. Frank De La Rosa, on string bass, has done recordings with Ella Fit¬ zgerald and Sarah Vaughn. The drummer, Roland Vasquez, is the leader of his own group called “Roland.” He has received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Wednesday at noon, Teatro Urvano will perform Chicano skits in the Free Speech Area. Thursday at 10 a.m., another high school orientation is scheduled. At 11 a.m. there will be a poet, speaker and guitarist in the Free Speech Area. At noon the Chicano and Latin band “Royal Majesty” will perform in the Free Speech Area. Friday is dedicated to the group’s fight against the Bakke decision, a ruling against minority quotas. Speakers will be in the Free Speech Area from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at 8 p.m. MEChA will present the Cinco de Mayo Coronation Ball. Entertainment will be by Ariel Disco Sound Production and Mariachi de Cal State L.A. Special guest and master of ceremonies will be Henry Alfaro of the Channel 7 Eyewitness News. , Tickets are $5 for couples and $3 for singles and are available at the Student Bank and Chicano Affairs Office. All proceeds will go to scholarships. Indian Educators Tour Campus, Area Schools Coffee Price Hikes Brew Pot of T rouble Й By Vivianne-Marie Parker Fine Arts Editor Ijij Still brewing over the coffee й situation? If you buy coffee by the can you have probably become ;jij disgusted with the high prices and $ occassionally bad coffee. Maybe ;A the high prices have forced you to cut down on usage, switch to tea or juices, visit the local health food j:j; store for some solutions, or eliminate coffee altogether, jjjj However it has caused you to react, the one-can buyer does have ;j;j one choice; drinking coffee or not jj:j drinking it. But for the cafeteria supplier there is no choice. It must $ serve coffee as an option. Con- $j stantly striving to serve good coffee at a decent price, cafeteria ijjj management must let the customer make the final choice. But their efforts to obtain low priced coffee ;jjj may soon force coffee prices to rise S; again. Using 22 pounds daily, the ijjj cafeteria wholesaler’s price stands jj:j 30 cents above the wholesale iS market price. The last time the ijij cafeteria bought coffee, the price S; was $3.29 per pound. Since then the iS price has increased twice and is ijij presently $4.19 per pound. ji:j At one time, cafeteria iS management considered either $ raising the prices or serving coffee S; in a smaller cup. However, they iS discovered that people believed ijij they were being cheated when Si buying beverages in a smaller cup. Instead of a smaller cup, the prices I; increased a nickel. j: To make coffee, the cafeteria ;j uses a standard container similar to j; other restaurants and fills it with j: two pounds of coffee per six gallons jj of water. :j In a Los Angeles Times article j: dated March 27 (“Beating the High j Price of Coffee”), it quotes what j proportions a major coffee j wholesaler recommends for coffee : to water. j “One major wholesaler (who i wishes to remain anonymous) says : a good percentage of restaurants he j services ‘use three and one-half j gallons of water to one pound of > coffee when they should be using ;• two gallons.’ ” jj If that is correct, people who use j: coffee heavy handedly— a dab of :j cream here and a gob of sugar j there— may not know what type of j: coffee they are really getting. :j Those who drink it black will know. I; Some people believe there may be j: a discrepancy between which jj coffee-water proportion is correct, :j but cafeteria manager Sharon j; Baker, has said they serve a decent jj cup of coffee and do not water it j; down . j: Until the wholesaler’s coffee ;j prices stabilize, the cafeteria coffee I; prices will continue to jump around, j: But at the rate the coffee prices jj increase monthly, the cafeteria j; may be forced to increase the j: prices again soon. :j Six university presidents and ad¬ ministrators from India will visit PCC today as part of a tour examining programs of Southern California schools. PCC was chosen as a sample com¬ munity college because of its large variety of academic and vocational facilities, according to Mildred Wardlow, vice-president for ad- Cap , Gown Deadline To Be Extended Reservation deadline for caps and gowns has been extended to May 10, due to a delay in sending invitations to participate in the Commencement Exercises next June, according to A1 Kauti, dean of student activities. In order to have their academic attire reserved, the graduates need to pay $5.65 to the College Bank. They do not need to wait until they receive their invitation. “Students graduating after the summer sessions may participate in the June Commencement,’ but their names will not appear until next year’s graduation list,” said Kauti. BIKE-A-THON The Adclphians arc sponsoring a Bike-a-Tlion Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting at the Hill and Colorado parking lot. Prizes will be awarded to the person who receives the most pledges. Sponsor sheets may be picked up at the Campus Center receptionist’s desk. Funds will go towards the All-Saints Episcopal Church Day Care Center. ministrative services. She said India has no community college system. Other schools on the tour include USC, Occidental College and Cal State Northridge. Dr. V. K. Malhotra of the School of International Relations at USC organized the visit. Superintendent-president Dr. E. Howard Floyd will welcome the guests on their arrival. As part of the tour, Mrs. Wardlow will speak on the community college and how it in¬ teracts with the community. Dean of Extended Campus Programs Manuel Perez will speak on “Continuing Education for Adults in the Com¬ munity.” Del Heyne, dean of admissions and records, and Ernest Neumann, dean of counseling services, will discuss their respective offices. RALPH GUTIERREZ President’s Committee effectiveness of the equipment and determines whether it will remain at the institution. If the equipment proves ineffective, it is transferred to another location. “SIGI will stay at PCC, it will not be removed,” Dean Neumann said. “It will eventually become the property of PCC.” PCC was selected by the We qualified on the basis of our counseling staff . . . our student body, facilities and educational philosophy Educational Testing Service (ETS) as one of the five best qualified in¬ stitutions in the nation for test sites for the SIGI project. “We were selected to take part in their (ETS) $2.5 million development program for SIGI because of our counseling and educational offerings. We qualified on the basis of our counseling staff, pareer guidance program, our student body, facilities and educational philosophy,” Neumann added. Now that the experimental phase for determining the effectiveness of SIGI is over, it will not be necessary for participants to spend as much time with the project as before. Due to the research requirements, it was essential to carefully monitor the total project. Students were required to fill out a pre-questionaire as well as a post-questionaire and follow up their experience with counseling by the staff. Students may now complete the system and determine for themselves whether they wish counseling af¬ terward. KNOWS ALL. TELLS ALL— Toy Davis uses the System Interactive Guidance Information (SIGI) to determine her interests and job priorities. Information received from the computerized SIGI program can be used in career guidance planning, -courier Photo by Annitta Hollis Equal Learning Program Offered For the first time at PCC, persons with learning deficiencies are being offered a chance to compete on an equal basis with other students. According to Sandra Sternig, learning skills coordinator, the program is designed for students with a learning deficiency in one or more areas of language learning, whether it is reading, comprehension or spelling. “The program is most beneficial to the student who recognizes and ac¬ cepts his particular learning strengths and weaknesses and who is willing to put in the necessary effort to im¬ prove,” Ms. Sternig said. Traditionally, students have been labeled as learning disabled, but Ms. Sternig said that she does not like to label students. So such persons are now referred to as having a learning deficiency. Intelligence Level “When defining a learning deficient person, one of the basic tenets is that the student is of normal or above average intelligence and potential,” she said. Learning problems have been found most common in the reading area. Students understand the information that they are taking in, but have dif¬ ficulty in repeating the information back again. Numerous services are available to students in the Learning Assistance Center, D317. This fall, a class based on solving students’ learning deficiencies will be offered. “First of all, we provide a great deal of testing to diagnose each student’s specific problem. We help students choose their classes, offer counseling and help them communicate with other college counselors and teachers to prepare them to transfer,” she said. Offers Students Help “We also coordinate activities with off-campus agencies for help the student may need, be it financial, psychological or educational. If an outside agency is already being em¬ ployed, we work with them to prevent duplication or leaving out of needed material,” she added. Tutoring is available either on an individual basis or in small group sessions. Personalized learning plans, counseling recommendations and future career and academic plans are formulated. Tutors are given specific training to implement the program designed for each student. Students who participate in the program as tutors earn a salary which is drawn from various college funds. Coop Coordinator Chosen to President's Committee By Maria Leon Staff Writer Ralph Gutierrez, coordinator of Cooperative Education and Placement Services, has been appointed to the President’s Committee on Em¬ ployment of the Handicapped by President Carter. Gutierrez will attend the first meeting of the committee, to discuss recruitment and accommodations for the handicapped on May 5 and 6, in Washington D.C. “Business and Industry should be more aware of the capabilities of the handicapped,” said Gutierrez. “Many handicapped people injured from accidents, keep their entire thinking capacity.” He explained that the general idea is that few people are born with a han¬ dicap, but many people are left han¬ dicapped from auto accidents every year. Persons intellectually prepared before their accident should not be confined to stereotyped jobs. Gutierrez joined the college ad¬ ministration staff in 1973 and also serves as a member of Rio Hondo College Board of Trustees, an educational coordinator for national agencies and the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, and a consultant for’ California State Scholarship and Loan Commission and the California State Personnel Board in Sacramento and Los Angeles. The President’s Committee for Employment of the Handicapped was established by President Truman in 1947.