Phase I (1995-1998): Encouraging Dialogue and Building Consensus

Collegewide Roundtables

During May-September, 1996, the Valencia ACE/Kellogg Leadership Team conducted 12 roundtables for 300 faculty and staff, including nearly every full-time faculty member. The roundtables focused on what it means to be a learning-centered college and on recommendations for changes. The comments from all of the roundtables were compiled and circulated collegewide. All faculty and staff were invited to suggest additions to the document, and a final version was circulated collegewide. Based on the document, the ACE/Kellogg team developed a draft definition of a learning-centered college. It has been agreed that this will remain a perpetual draft with revision as the College's vision evolves.

Transformation Workshop

In October, 1996, the ACE/Kellogg team held a two and one-half day Transformation Workshop for administrators and key faculty and staff leaders of the College. The purposes of the workshop were to generate a common understanding of the transformation process, to review the findings of the twelve roundtables held during the summer, and to make recommendations about how best to move forward with the transformation agenda. The workshop met its goals. The chief recommendation of those attending was that the College establish action teams. These teams were not to be committees that would continue indefinitely into the future; they were collaborative action teams with distinct assignments that were completed in July, 1997.

Collegewide Roundtable on Understanding Change

The ACE/Kellogg team conducted a collegewide roundtable on understanding change in January, 1997. The roundtable's purpose was to introduce the concepts and language of change to a broad college audience, to invite membership on the action teams, and to continue to identify the "early majority" who would drive change at the College. Faculty were invited to secure substitutes or give alternate class assignments so that they might attend. Over 170 ersons attended. Small group sessions were used to invite input into the College's vision and values, to generate "BHAGs" (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals, James Collins and Jerry Parras), and to comment on a draft definition of learning-centered. Input from the roundtable was provided to the action teams as they began their work in February, 1997. Participant evaluation of the roundtable was invited via written forms and was very positive.

Work by Action Teams

The College formed the recommended action teams in February, 1997. A call for volunteers for the committees was sent out collegewide, and over 180 persons volunteered to serve. The teams were:

Short-Term Action Team - Some of the ideas in the compilation of comments from the roundtables described above enjoyed universal support and could be accomplished with relative ease and speed (within six months). The short-term action team identified these, evaluated them in terms of the contribution that each would make to improving learning at the College, ranked them according to this evaluation, and recommended to the President's Council persons at the College to be charged with carrying out these actions. One recommendation that was implemented was an ongoing professional development program called Leadership Valencia. An advising committee of faculty and staff oversee the design and implementation of over 140 workshops annually, most of which are provided on-site by Valencia faculty and staff at no charge to participants.

Core Process Action Team - During the summer of 1996, a team of faculty studied the College's existing core processes to determine how we were operating. This initial review led the ACE/Kellogg Leadership Team to offer the Core Process Model as a tool for institutional transformation. The core process action team studied the literature about core processes as a model for analyzing the College. The team agreed that it provided a useful lens through which the College could be viewed andproposed further study be done to outline the core processes as they currently existed and to propose changes that would make them more consistent with the institutional focus on becoming more learning-centered. This model has been used by the College to guide the design of job descriptions and operational processes.

Core Competencies Action Team - At the heart of the College, embodied by faculty and staff, are core competencies that enable the College to create a successful higher educational experience for its students. This action team set out to identify these competencies and recommend processes that would nourish them. The team reviewed the work of David Kolb, Benjamin Bloom, William Perry, etc. and exemplary practices at several institutions, including Alverno College and King's College. First, the team examined the core abilities expected of students. The team developed the draft competencies, which are a significant departure from the previous, discipline-based competencies expected of a Valencia graduate. The team recommended that a collaborative, collegewide process be put in place to achieve consensus on the core competencies and recommend procedures to maintain and continuously improve those core competencies. After considerable discussion and opportunity for feedback, the core competencies were endorsed by the Collegewide Faculty Association.

Fall Report to the Institution and Opportunity for Feedback

In August, 1997, as part of the faculty welcome back events for the fall session, the ACE-Kellogg Leadership Team provided a forum for all interested faculty to hear the reports of each of the four action teams and to consider the recommendations of these teams. Over 300 people attended and were split into small groups for discussion. Each group saw a videotaped presentation by a representative of each of the four action teams and a written report on the work of the team. Also, the groups reviewed key documents such as the recommended core competencies,short-term action strategies, and the proposed core processes model. Participants' comments were recorded on evaluation forms for the reports of each action team and compiled into a feedback report on the work of the action teams.

Fall Forum on Institutional Change

On November 5, 1997, the College held a forum on institutional change attended by 30 people who were active leaders in the ACE-Kellogg project.