CIRA de CASTILLOTGI Writer PUHI — Kaua’i Community College has always been a place to start and now, more than ever, it’s also a place to grow, says Provost Peggy Cha. “We are a community college and our mission is
CIRA de CASTILLOTGI Writer
PUHI — Kaua’i Community College has always been a place to start and now, more
than ever, it’s also a place to grow, says Provost Peggy Cha.
“We are a
community college and our mission is to provide Kaua’i with access to quality
learning. The bottom line here is serving the community.”
The profile of
KCC students has changed over the years. Cha said the traditional path of
education may not meet the needs of many of today’s students, especially those
who are looking for workforce training or retraining to meet the demands of the
labor market.
The average age of KCC students is 27. Students over 30 tend
to achieve the highest grades with grade point averages of 3.6 to 4.0.
Over
80 percent of KCC students work full- or part-time jobs.
Students who
continue their education beyond high school are generally driven by the need
for job-related training, career change, or a desire to participate in today’s
information-based environment.
KCC offers a variety of programs to meet
students needs and interests, Cha said.
“We have been paying a great deal
of attention to the General Plan Update and the ongoing economic discussions,”
she said.
“The college has been particularly interested in, and felt that
we can play a role in, the workforce development of Kaua’i by providing the
community with access to the traditional higher education path and meeting the
needs of today’s workforce development.”
With a current enrollment of more
than 1,100 students and a $7 million budget, Cha says there is room to grow by
about 150 students.
Appointed as provost earlier this year, Cha brings more
than 20 years of experience with the University of Hawaii system to her desk.
Experience she says helps her to navigate the budget and enrollment challenges
facing the college today.
Cha stepped into her position as acting provost
in 1998 when David Iha left the college for a position with the UH Board of
Regents.
One of the first items on Cha’s agenda was to impanel an
Enrollment Management Task Force (EMTF) comprised of faculty and staff from
across the campus, representing all the units and all the division.
The
task force is developing a plan of alternatives, options and strategies to best
meet and deliver the education needs of the Kaua’i community for today and the
future.
For more than 70 years KCC has provided the basic higher education
needs for the island, beginning as a vocational school in 1928, than 15 years
later developing into a technical college.
By 1965 the curriculum expanded
to a community college.
Today, Cha said, using the resources of campuses
across the state the college is able to be responsive to the needs of Kaua’i
residents.
“We view our combined resources of Kaua’i Community College and
the University Center, Kaua’i — as the University of Hawaii on Kaua’i — for
Kaua’i.”
Students are taking courses that are held on campus, at other
locations on Kaua’i, and through distance learning technologies.
They take
courses at home and after work at the office. They may even keep up with their
classes when they are traveling.
Making the resources of the entire UH
system available to Kaua’i’s residents means the college is able to provide
residents with expanded options to meet their needs for higher education while
balancing the demands of their personal and professional lives.
“While we
cannot offer all majors offered at other UH campuses, we are increasing the
choices for combining higher education with life on Kaua’i,” Cha
said.
“Maybe you want to take only courses offered by Kaua’i Community
College. Or, perhaps a cable TV course, an Internet course, or an interactive
TV course that will allow you to fit education into your busy life. Or, like
many students on Kaua’i, you may want to register for both KCC courses and
courses offered via distance technologies,” Cha said.
Distance learning
technologies are expanding the options for students on Kaua’i to fit higher
education into their busy lives. While the students may be separated from their
instructors by space and/or time, students are assured that any course offered
through cable TV, the Internet, or the Hawai’i Interactive Television System
(HITS) is a quality, academically demanding course that is comparable to that
of an on-campus course.
In other words, distance learning allows students
to study when and where they choose while ensuring that they are receiving the
same quality of education they would receive in an on-campus course.
This
is the case for KCC students Lehua Ka’auwai and Tweety Juarez who one day
recently were deep in discussion with Professor Noeau Sam Warner, who teaches
Hawaiian language.
The only hitch is that Warner is in actuality over 100
miles away in a building on the UH Manoa campus and is being tuned in via live
interactive video, or the HITS system.
At first the class itself was
canceled, having no UH Manoa enrollment but was reinstated when Helen Sina,
Director of the University Center at KCC and others convinced Warner to teach
the class via distance learning.
Now he broadcasts his class to 27
students on Molokai, Maui, and Kaua’i.
“Different people like different
media,” says Sina, who is also assistant dean for academic support .
She
says that many teachers and students are turning from the traditional classroom
to alternative learning methods.
One English professor at Kapiolani
Community College on Oahu teaches his course only via e-mail, without
necessarily meeting the students face to face.
Research shows that more
shy students whose English is not the best, feel more included during an e-mail
chat session than in the classroom, Sina says.
She says that there are
technologies available to fit whatever is most comfortable for a student,
teacher or department. Next semester at KCC there will be four classes offered
via distance learning.
One class on EKG, for example, employs multiple
media.
Instructors Judy Chovanic-Toy and Joanne Noone will be using HITS
to reach students statewide while at the same time broadcasting on local
cable to reach the EMT and hospital shift workers on island.
Computer
science instructor Ed Coll is teaching a course next semester giving the
students the option of taking the course at home via Internet or on
campus.
You can earn a Certificate of Completion, a Certificate of
Achievement, or an Associate in Science Degree in a number of job-related areas
like office administration, culinary arts or electronics technology at KCC.
Today liberal arts is one of a dozen AA degrees available. Accounting,
hospitality service and early childhood education are among the
choices.
The KCC nursing program is accredited at the highest level by the
National League of Nursing. “Our nursing students have one of the most
extensive and rigorous clinical experiences of any UH nursing programs,” said
Cha.
Important to many of today’s KCC students is the option to live on
Kaua’i while continuing to peruse education beyond the traditional two-year
program.
KCC serves as the University Center for Kaua’i, providing
coordination, facilities, and resources for upper division baccalaureate
courses as well as graduate courses and programs delivered via the Internet and
interactive and cable TV.
Brandon Sprague contributed to this report.