Other examples of infusion are more purposeful, often using occupational content as writing topics. For instance, nursing students at Imperial Valley College in California follow writing guidelines for Patient Care Plans and clinical case studies. At Chattahoochee Technical Institute in Georgia, students write electronic lab reports which are graded by English faculty [N] and at George Wallace Community College in Alabama, students write auto manuals. [N]
Some colleges have published handbooks to provide instructors with sample applications or assignments. When a campuswide effort to infuse reading, writing, computing, speaking, and diversity was undertaken at the Community College of Denver, their Teaching and Learning Center compiled an Integration of Critical Skills Handbook, describing examples of integrated applications at each of three increasing levels of proficiency. [N] An instructor at The State University of New York College of Technology at Delhi (a two-year institution) developed a Snapshots: Math Applications booklet, [N] and another at Ohlone College designed a Language and Reading Skills Handbook especially for occupational educators. [N] These and similar texts point out the difficulty many faculty expressed in finding published materials to assist in integrating career preparation into the general curriculum.
Institutional initiatives, in which cross-curricular teams of faculty design a collection of learning activities to infuse academic skills into occupational courses, spread benefits to large numbers of students. For example, at Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina, four teams of six faculty initiated an experimental Quality Curriculum Integration Project, in which fifty curriculum integration activity guides were developed for 16 technical courses. The Math and Paralegal Studies faculty jointly developed a number of typical math problems found in the legal field, involving pro rata distribution of assets in bankruptcy cases, and fee calculations for real estate closing, contingency agreements, and consultation. Dental hygiene students write essays comparing diseases, following well-defined guidelines for content (disease etiology, symptoms, pathophysiology, treatment) as well as organization and mechanics. Teams of health careers students compare group writing after a video describing smoking cessation, so that students understand how personal bias may influence their ability to gain data from audio or visual material. [II-8]
At Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, infusion is the avenue for cross-faculty implementation of career preparation. Each of nine teams of academic and technical faculty design two activities per semester, which are piloted and "tweaked" the next semester as the teams devise another pair of activities. The dean of the college is committed to faculty initiative, stating that "you can't go into a classroom and tell an instructor what to do. You can't mandate change, so we try to convince them [to change]." There is a willingness to experiment, as administrators and faculty consciously acknowledge that learning and modifications do not constitute mistakes. By accepting some risk and starting with a small group of volunteers, MGCCC is able to get new learning activities into the classroom in a short period of time. [N]
Even as some colleges move to add skills to existing courses, other colleges have "dis-embedded" academic skills, preferring to teach content in the more controlled environment of an independent course. Boise State College of Technology responded to a frequently cited call from accreditation boards and industry representatives for more academic content in applied courses and better basic skills from graduates. In response, the college brought together a joint curriculum review committee, which recommended a move away from academic skills embedded in technical courses and taught by vocational faculty, in favor of the development of applied courses which would meet academic and transfer requirements as well as industry needs. Because liberal arts instructors were so integral to the course development process, they have supported academic credit for the new applied courses which are described in the next section. Similarly, Durham Technical Community College in North Carolina identified the communication and computation skills common to technical areas, and devised separate courses to ensure those competencies were given greater attention.
Hybrid Courses
Hybrid courses at the Associate degree level are often referred to as "applied academics" because conventional academic competencies are meshed with work-related applications. Applied academics courses have evolved in response to a number of common challenges at community colleges. Boise State College of Technology in Idaho and Broome Community College in New York developed multiple applied courses to enhance student academic and employment success.[10] For similar reasons, Illinois Central Community College initiated eight applied academic courses this year, each jointly designed and taught by occupational and academic faculty. Although team teaching is a costly practice and may not continue after grant funds expire, the activities designed will continue to be useful.
A major strength of the new Technical Calculus course at Illinois Central is the addition of lab exercises for every topic, designed jointly by engineering/technology and math faculty. [II-9] The instructors noted the following:
Several of the students have said that they do not really understand the topics until they see them used in the lab. In addition to helping in the comprehension of calculus, the labs also . . . help students gain experience in such areas as modeling a real system using mathematics, solving a problem in different ways to check for accuracy, and interpreting data and graphs. Recent studies indicate that these are the math skills that industry expects of Associate degree graduates.In the new Business Communications course at Illinois Central College, students analyze an archival letter from a woman who worked as a "Rosie the Riveter" and petitioned President Truman to redress the unemployment of women and falling wages following World War II; they then conduct oral histories with senior citizens about their employment experiences after the war. In short written and oral reports, students convert statistics from business journals to charts or graphs and create colored overhead transparencies to accompany presentations. As a final evaluation of the course, students use standard memorandum format to describe ways they anticipate using the skills learned in the course. [II-10]
Other colleges have been motivated to offer a progression of applied courses as a way to ensure advanced competency. Believing that more conventional math is not necessarily better at imparting the skills needed by employers, Pulaski Technical College in Arkansas has designed two applied courses in Business Math, one of which is equivalent to Intermediate Algebra. [N] Other community colleges offer two or more levels of applied math or communications (Jefferson State, Alabama; Germanna, Virginia; Johnson County, Kansas; Washtenaw, Michigan; Broome, New York; and Del Mar, Texas). Based on employer input that traditional math did not equip students with the necessary technical or computational skills for productive employment, Peninsula Community College in Washington redesigned Technical Math, adding a substantial component of statistics and specific sections targeted to the skills required for careers in technology, health science, business, mechanics, fisheries, and engineering.
Another way to assure rigor is to cross instructors as well as content by having academic faculty teach occupational content. Mt. Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts and City College of San Francisco offer Nutrition and Food Safety courses through their microbiology or chemistry departments. [II-11] Introduction to Biochemistry of Food Science at Mt. Holyoke fulfills a one semester lab science for the Associate degree. [II-12] At Gateway Technical Community College in Connecticut, Environmental Regulations is offered by the chemistry department. It uses case studies developed by instructors to help students connect political, economic, and chemical aspects of environmental regulation. [II-13]
Applied science courses may be targeted to specific careers, like the Biology for Health Careers course at Normandale Community College in Minnesota; Applied Physics for X-Ray Technology at Vista College in California; or Environmental Engineering, a chemistry-engineering combination at Mohegan Community College in Connecticut. Albuquerque Technical College in New Mexico introduced a Technical Writing for Environmental Sciences course because students were unable to meet national certification requirements for documenting hazardous materials management. Some courses are narrowly directed, with titles like Applied Math for Respiratory Technicians (Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York), Math for Science Technicians (Vista Community College in California), Pharmaceutical Math (Community College of Allegheny in Pennsylvania) and Math for Nursing (South Florida Community College). One technical math instructor noted,
Technology students are very capable of learning math skills, but will only do so if they understand how they can make money with those math skills. They show very little interest in learning math for any beauty or logic that math may offer to others.A special case of hybrid instruction exists at vocational training centers and technical institutes with a specific occupational focus. At these institutions, students enroll in a dedicated program of instruction, and foundation academic content is provided entirely within that context. At Alaska Vocational Technical Center, competency-based training programs include technical, generic, and academic skills in short-term "For Hire Education." For instance, Math for Baking, in which students learn to use and adjust bakery formulas and production tables, is an integral component of the Culinary Program rather than an independent math course. [II-14] At Alabama Aviation and Technical College, all gen ed courses are infused with aviation examples, so that students learn academic foundations and related industry applications simultaneously.
A few colleges reported eliminating applied courses in favor of infusion. Aims Community College in Colorado has moved towards substantial infusion of technical examples into Associate level courses. Tidewater Community College in Virginia favors infusion because applied courses are not accepted for transfer by four-year universities.
Clusters
Courses in Associate degree programs are often naturally linked. The Community College of Allegheny in Pennsylvania joins Medical Terminology with Anatomy and Physiology and Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon links Business Quantitative Methods with Technical Report Writing. Southeastern Community College in Iowa links Physical Science and Engineering Materials, and also Nursing with Psychology. Similarly, San Diego City College in California links Business Communication and Small Business Management so that students have time and the necessary expertise to produce professional business plans. Students apply communication skills as they analyze potential competitors, request demographic information and industry trends from a trade association, and document an interview with a small business owner. [II-15]
A second impetus for linked courses at the Associate level is to provide a context for academic concepts. At Vista Community College in California, the Communication Arts and Information Technologies cluster combines software applications with Computing-to-Write, Computing-to-Illustrate, Computing-to-Research, and Telecommunications and the Internet. Styles of writing are joined in a course with computer and visual design tools. Anecdotal reports indicate that by offering this cluster two evenings and Saturday each week, a cohort of individuals with previous negative academic experience has returned to college armed with skills and confidence. [II-16]
Macomb Community College in Michigan has clustered three courses, using a real-life automotive manufacturing problem for writing themes. In the Machining Cluster, one unit each of technology and business were linked with English Composition, a connection motivated by the tendency of technology students to postpone the required Composition class until the end of their college program, eliminating the benefits of writing proficiency throughout their coursework. Working as Human Resource, Training, Old Equipment Phase Out, and New Equipment Implementation Teams, the students designed a prototype plan for changing over to a new engine model in an automobile production plant. In addition to reading atypical texts, such as Ford: The Men and the Machine by Robert Lacey and The Things They Carried by Tom O'Brien, students wrote case studies to demonstrate solutions to manufacturing problems, applying the Theory of Constraints, decision trees, and industrial research techniques. [II-17]
[9] We thank Dennis Atkinson, Automotive Instructor at Fresno City College in California, and Dr. H. Earl Roberts, Tech Prep Director at Delaware Technical and Community College, for helping us identify these informal practices.
[10] The applied courses at these two colleges typify the variety of applied courses offered by community colleges. Boise State COT offers applied physics, mathematics, English, communication, Technical Writing and Mathematics, and Materials Science Lab. [N] Broome offers 23 sections of applied courses, including math, biology, earth science, chemistry, communication, and Principles of Technology. [N]