Strategic Plan Conversation Planning Feedback

Feedback is now closed. The Board of Education has approved the Lane 2016-2021 Strategic Plan at their July 13, 2016 meeting.

Feedback Update: April 30, 2016

Includes feedback from College Council, Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Executive Team, Diversity Council, Finance Council, Technology Council, Learning Council, Faculty Council, Student Affairs Council, Facilities Council, Deans & Directors, Finance & Administration Leadership Team, Peer-to-Peer, campus-wide planning meeting, and through the website and conversation@lanecc.edu email.

General Feedback on Draft Strategic Directions

The strategic directions should emphasize the centrality of teaching as part of learning, as it distinguishes us as an institution
Teaching isn’t mentioned explicitly in any of the strategic directions; it should be specifically called out as it is essential to our educational mission
Teaching occurs both inside and outside the classroom and by all employee groups
Be sure to review strategic directions and language through the lens of the college’s Core Values
Please ensure that all employee groups in all departments and divisions can see themselves and their work in the plan
Students and student learning should be prominently reflected
Please clearly articulate the relationship and alignment between core themes and strategic directions
Adopt an appreciative and enhancement view, not just focusing on what isn’t working
Lane acts more like an ocean liner than a speedboat, and it takes a long time to change course. There will be significant changes over the next year, in terms of retirements, college leadership, technology, etc. This makes it more difficult to create a single solid plan that addresses all our needs
We need to have a clear, shared understanding of success

Engagement in the Process

What is the student perspective? Have they been included in the process? Need perspective beyond ASLCC
Concern that few teaching faculty have been participating in the conversations. How can we bring more teaching faculty voices into this work?
Ideas for increasing faculty involvement:
Ask faculty council to send out invitations to participate in addition to college-wide notices
Encourage discussions at department levels (the community conversation kit is designed to support conversations for departments and affinity groups)
Bring councils together in the fall to develop and discuss a master planning calendar and key engagement points
Use college-wide convening efforts such as in-service and spring conference to host conversations
Seek teaching faculty representatives from each department
Send personal invitations
We need to figure out a way to overcome “process fatigue” and find new ways to get faculty re-engaged with important planning work. If the faculty is disengaged and/or distrustful, are there legitimate reasons?
We need to create an environment where individual employees, students and groups feel safe providing genuine and authentic feedback and bringing up issues and opportunities
Appreciate the level of input and feedback sought in this process. Before the plan is approved, please provide similar opportunities for input for the goals and outcomes/measures.
It has been useful to bring the conversation out to councils and various campus groups

Plan Design and Implementation

Can the strategic directions be represented as a Venn diagram to highlight the areas of intersection?
There are single actions that could address more than one strategic direction; how will these be interconnected?
The plan needs to be constructed in a way that really moves the institution forward
Lane needs a planning system that makes sense in a teaching and learning organization
Change occurs through leading behavior; this is what drives cultural change
Strategic directions need to lay out clear aspirations and targets to achieve
We need to be genuine and resolute in identifying and implementing our priorities through the strategic plan
Be sure to add actionable goals and outcomes/performance measures
Need to discuss how the plan will be implemented; we need the right people at the table when we start talking about implementation and organization
Please provide tools and implementation structures to support the plan
What will be the mechanisms for review and adjustment? We don’t want this to be a plan that is put on the shelf and forgotten until it is time to review
This should be an ongoing conversation, not a single static document
Desire to see evidence that the administration and board are using the strategic plan to make decisions
It would be useful to have data available and easily accessible to support the strategic plan, such as success rates

Language

Draft language is imprecise (optimize, support, encourage,…)
The language is general and all-inclusive; we need more specific goal language to help us prioritize and allocate resources
The wording (with –ing verb form) is more process- than outcome- based
Consider using the simple verb form in the titles, instead of the present participle or continuous form
Do not include reference to culture in the actionable goals
Customer service: strong desire to capture this mindset, but acknowledgement of the tension between that desire and the business model it connotes
The actionable goals and outcomes/indicators should add clarity to the strategic direction language, which is rather broad and vague
We need a clearer framing of the word “community” in the strategic directions generally.

Feedback on Specific Strategic Directions

Commitment to Student Learning and Success

We need to listen directly to students in order to improve their experience and minimize barriers
Wording about “Lane’s” high-impact practices is confusing; assumes these have already been identified and established
Consider adding more explicit language about customer service
Consider revising language around minimizing barriers (what about barriers such as progress holds that are designed to help students?)
Are processes included in systems and structures?
Consider adding recruitment into the high impact practices bullet
Consider specifically calling out interaction with faculty
Consider including the concept of developing students’ cultural proficiency
We need to improve basic service. There are systemic problems, starting with basic telephone and in-person service to students
Consider adding specific language for improving recruitment and admissions processes to make them more relational and welcoming to students
Suggested amended first bullet: “Fostering a college-wide culture of service to student learning, faculty excellence, and academic success”. This rephrasing pairs the importance of teaching to learning which results in academic success. It also reaffirms that faculty are front and center to these goals.
Include the concepts of students as adult learners
Consider the concept of relational vs. transactional service
Need to understand and be responsive to the needs of various “customers” (current students, employees, community members)
Customer service is more of a goal
Use language of success rather than language of barriers
Consider changing the title to “Commitment to Student Success”
Need to carefully design and tend to implementation; don’t just create another committee
Make sure outcomes and measures account for the diversity of student paths and goals

Suggested Actionable Goals

Implement Strategic Enrollment Management plan and address consultant recommendations
Optimize opportunities for recognizing, developing, and furthering life-long learning: transfer credits, credit for prior learning, articulation agreements, quality self-assessment tools, work experience, portfolio presentations
Welcome and orient students to Lane, our programs, and our services: user friendly web site, high-touch advising, recognition of prior learning, placement and transfer practices support positive results
Implement student-focused, high touch, holistic advising (academic, career, financial, wellness)
Allow students to make advising appointments
Increase open educational resources
Develop a method for eliciting student feedback – qualitative data to measure the attitudes and beliefs of students re: their experiences (annual campus climate survey)
Hold student experience focus groups
Create a student experience task force
Design and implement a customer service training program for ALL student-facing employees
Seek customer service skills in interview and screening processes
Create a data dashboard and host monthly campus conversations on student success

Suggested Outcomes

Students have economic, physical, technology and instructional resources that support their learning goals
Students take charge of their learning and can self-assess college readiness, program readiness, progress, and transfer readiness
Programs and services are continually assessed, evaluated and reviewed to ensure quality and student success
Faculty, staff and managers understand student success practices and data and their role in supporting student success
Lane is an adult-learning focused institution and students have optimal opportunities for recognizing, developing, and furthering lifelong learning

Suggested Measures

Student focus group/survey feedback
Enrollment funnel data
Student progression and completion data
Enrollment – all populations

A Culture of Learning, Assessment and Innovation

Consider adding reference to teaching and learning in the first bullet
Consider also adding reference to professional development in the first bullet: “Supporting teaching and learning, assessment, and innovation through faculty research, scholarship, and professional development”
Consider adding reference to teaching in the third bullet: “Building capacity to expand and support online teaching and learning and educational resources”
Consider specifically referencing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The language presumes only faculty can foster learning
Consider emphasizing assessment of student learning outcomes at the course, program and institutional level since this is an important area of accreditation standards and something that the college needs to improve upon
Consider amending the third bullet: “Building capacity to expand and support online learning and integrate open and low-cost educational resources”.
Consider adding the concept of faculty engagement and excellence as a metric of innovation, for example “Increase faculty engagement in innovative teaching practices and program development”.
There is a need for integrated assessment across disciplines and services – ongoing, integrated assessment
Consider changing the title to : A Culture of Teaching, Learning, Assessment and Innovation”
Does the college have an assessment plan?

Suggested Actionable Goals

Examine organizational structure and staffing at college to fully engage faculty as stakeholders
Establish infrastructure for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Sustain and scale academic program review
Reduce barriers to using low-cost/no-cost course materials
Establish mechanisms for robust and timely student feedback to inform and improve practices
Establish consistent, equitable, learner-centered practices for curriculum development and revision
Create a center for teaching and learning
Develop infrastructure for scaling up assessment and learning outcomes
Promote FPD opportunities tied to assessment (more release time for assessment fellows)

Suggested Outcomes

Curricula reflect contemporary practice and are regularly assessed
Resources are devoted to meaningful program review (process and implementation of recommendations)
Planning and resource allocation processes are aligned with continuous program improvement

Suggested Measures

Enrollment in OER-tagged courses
Student progression, completion and employment
Impact of professional development activities

A Diverse and Culturally Inclusive College

Concern with all the ways “diversity” language is used in many contexts; it becomes so diffused that it loses its meaning.
Consider including the issues of power and privilege to distinguish general claims of “honoring” diversity from historical and systematic institutionalized patterns of discrimination against specific groups of people. Consider pairing social justice with some mention of power and privilege in terms of retention of students, staff and faculty from underrepresented groups, as well as creating a climate of inclusion and respect.
What do we mean by “increasing” recruitment?
Consider emphasizing social justice
Consider fleshing out the first bullet: “Developing a culture of inclusivity and respect through articulation of shared goals, multiple points of view, and recognition of difference”.
Concern that the title is too similar to the current strategic direction and the work will suffer a similar fate
We need to do more than promote principles of social justice…; they need to be embedded in the learning and work environment of the college. Consider “Embed principles of social justice throughout the college environment to assure accessible and equitable learning opportunities and a culturally diverse and equitable work environment”
Diversity is an important term, even if overused

Suggested Actionable Goals

Develop and implement Equity Lens model
Create a consistent hiring process that orients new employees and clearly communicates the college’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive environment
Recruit outside our local area
Implement Board cultural competency policy
Create a permanent structure for staff education and training
Create an institutional structure and process to effectively respond to cultural issues
Integrate an examination of diversity and social justice issues to the program review process
Include diversity and cultural inclusiveness in student orientation

Suggested Outcomes

Increased number, retention and success of staff and students of color
Decrease in student and employee complaints

Community Responsiveness

Consider adding “advocating for reforms, policy changes, and student needs at the state, local and national level”
Consider including diversity considerations; we serve communities
Consider rephrasing the first bullet: “Identifying, evaluating, responding to community needs, issues, and opportunities with transparency and in a timely way”.
This section is problematic because it does not mention roles and responsibilities of campus or community stakeholders
We are a community’s college, but this has a range of implications, none of which exceeds the importance of promoting excellence in teaching and learning. We need more structure to how the “community” interacts with decision-making on campus.
The title makes it sound more reactive than proactive
Need clarity around the requisite responsibilities for stakeholder groups. When does (if ever) “community” override a stakeholder group’s legacy of responsibility or ownership?

Suggested Actionable Goals

Review advisory committee support, structures and processes to improve impact on programs and student success
Develop and implement a meaningful community conversation strategy with broad engagement
Track, connect and develop a library of resources for outreach and service)
Recognize faculty and staff involvement and service in the broader community
Align programs with community/employment needs through regular review
Develop a “Rapid Response Network” of students, staff, faculty and community members to provide timely feedback on emerging issues and opportunities (model: NASFAA)
Improve the effectiveness of the governance system
Increase Recognize faculty and staff involvement and service in the broader community
equitable participation in the college

Suggested Outcomes

Increased enrollment and student success
Improved recruitment (students and staff)
Improved community support (e.g. voter support)
Improved funding (scholarships, grants)

Suggested Measures

Internal and external engagement

Financial and Environmental Sustainability

Consider calling out student financial sustainability
Consider the triple bottom line of standard sustainability concepts; although social justice is captured under a Diverse and Culturally Inclusive College, consider adding a similar concept in this section
Consider including the concept of organizational sustainability, especially related to employees
Consider including the concept of sustainability of a quality educational environment
Financial and Environmental sustainability sounds like an agenda set forth by pop culture
Consider the potential adverse effects of some [fiscal and environmental sustainability] efforts on minority and underrepresented populations when identifying actionable goals
Consider adding community language in this strategic direction

Feedback Update: April 23, 2016

Includes feedback from College Council, Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Executive Team, Finance Council, Technology Council, Learning Council, Faculty Council, Student Affairs Council, Deans & Directors, Finance & Administration Leadership Team, Peer-to-Peer, and through the website and conversation@lanecc.edu. Meetings with Facilities Council and Diversity Council are scheduled for the week of April 25.

General Feedback

The strategic directions do a good job capturing the work ahead of us, including work in process
The language is general and all-inclusive; we need more specific goal language to help us prioritize and allocate resources
Be sure to add actionable goals and outcomes/performance measures
The Strategic Directions could use an additional which emphasizes the centrality of teaching as part of learning, and distinguishes us as an institution
The plan needs to be constructed in a way that really moves the institution forward
Need to discuss how the plan will be implemented; we need the right people at the table when we start talking about implementation and organization
Listen directly to students in order to improve their experience and minimize barriers
Change occurs through leading behavior; this drives cultural change
Teaching isn’t mentioned explicitly in any of the strategic directions; it should be specifically called out as it is essential to our educational mission
Desire to see evidence that the administration and board are using the strategic plan to make decisions
Concern that few teaching faculty have been participating in the conversations. How can we bring more teaching faculty voices into this work?
Ideas for increasing faculty involvement:
Ask faculty council to send out invitations to participate in addition to college-wide notices
Encourage discussions at department levels (the community conversation kit is designed to support conversations for departments and affinity groups)
Bring councils together in the fall to develop and discuss a master planning calendar and key engagement points
Use college-wide convening efforts such as in-service and spring conference to host conversations
Seek teaching faculty representatives from each department
Send personal invitations
Lane needs a planning system that makes sense in a teaching and learning organization
Be sure to review strategic directions and language through the lens of the college’s Core Values

Feedback on Specific Strategic Directions

Commitment to Student Learning and Success

Wording about “Lane’s” high-impact practices is confusing; assumes these have already been identified and established
Consider adding more explicit language about customer service
Consider revising language around minimizing barriers (what about barriers such as progress holds that are designed to help students?)
Are processes included in systems and structures?
Consider adding recruitment into the high impact practices bullet
Consider specifically calling out interaction with faculty

A Culture of Learning, Assessment and Innovation

Consider adding reference to teaching and learning in the first bullet
Consider also adding reference to professional development in the first bullet: “Supporting teaching and learning, assessment, and innovation through faculty research, scholarship, and professional development”
Consider adding reference to teaching in the third bullet: “Building capacity to expand and support online teaching and learning and educational resources”
Consider specifically referencing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

A Diverse and Culturally Inclusive College

Concern with all the ways “diversity” language is used in many contexts; it becomes so diffuse that it loses its meaning.
Consider including the issues of power and privilege to distinguish general claims of “honoring” diversity from historical and systematic institutionalized patterns of discrimination against specific groups of people. Consider pairing social justice with some mention of power and privilege in terms of retention of students, staff and faculty from underrepresented groups, as well as creating a climate of inclusion and respect
What do we mean by “increasing” recruitment?

Community Responsiveness

Consider adding “advocating for reforms, policy changes, and student needs at the state, local and national level”

Financial and Environmental Sustainability

Consider calling out student financial sustainability
Consider the triple bottom line of standard sustainability concepts; although social justice is captured under a Diverse and Culturally Inclusive College, consider adding a similar concept in this section, especially related to employees
Consider including the concept of sustainability of a quality educational environment

Feedback on the Conversation Kit

Add information graphic to conversation kit to show the connection between strategic directions and core themes (note: this has now been added as an insert)
The layout is engaging and easy to navigate and use
Add a What’s Next section
“Emerging” Strategic Directions is confusing; instead use “Draft” to be clear that the work is in draft form
The header is confusing; the document may be mistaken for an actual strategic plan
Please share summary feedback on the website
The tool is only useful if input is inclusive and has the potential for true impact; needs to be more than sharing thoughts and receiving a “thank you” for contributing
Consider relying more on the website to save paper resources

How to Submit Comments

We welcome your feedback in any form. Please submit your comments, feedback and ideas through any method listed below by May 9, 2016. They will be shared with the College Council Planning Subcommittee and Core Themes teams to inform Strategic Plan development.

You are invited to:

Attend a campus-wide meeting on Wednesday April 27 from 3-5pm in CML 220,
Submit your comments using the Feedback Form below,
Send us an email at conversation@lanecc.edu . and/or
Ask us to help facilitate a group meeting for your department, division or group.

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Strategic Plan Conversation Planning Feedback