Serendipity35

I looked back at my first entry from February 2, 2006 and it seems simultaneously not that long ago, and a lot of posts ago.

Looking in our stats tool, I see that we have a total of 698 entries posted, but we have to get Tim's numbers up in 2009.  Tim has 36 entries (5.2%) and Ken has 662 entries (94.8%). (I think Tim needs an infusion of strong coffee and cookies!)

What can I update about myself since my last update in January 2008? That was when I was leaving NJIT for PCCC. I have completed my first year at Passaic County Community College. We launched the first 3 writing-intensive courses for the fall semester, have 2 more piloting in spring 09, and will select 3 more in January to redesign for fall 09.

Our writing center at PCCC was finally completed in December. Three months late and about 3 hours before our outside evaluators came on campus to grill us on the first year of the 5 year grant. We know we didn't hit all our own high goals for year one, so we are trying some new things in year two. Luckily, not much is written in permanent ink, so we have the freedom to redirect our efforts.

Our greatest success may be in an area that all agreed was more likely to occur in year 2 or 3. A number of our efforts like using LibGuides, use of our standard writing rubric, changes to the rubric and scoring sessions for the College Writing Exam have moved beyond our writing-intensive courses to the college community with very little prompting from us.

I have a few new projects starting in January including some presentations and conferences to prep for, and helping out with another grant that PCCC acquired for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).