After receiving several comments from colleagues about the format and information shared at the January 11, 2023, Spring Semester Kick-off, TMCC-NFA opened a survey to compile faculty opinions about the event and provide guidance for future events. The survey was open to all members of the collective bargaining unit from January 26 until February 9. Although only about 40 individuals responded, clear trends emerged from the results.
Generally, the respondents believe the mandatory portion of the convocation event should not exceed 60 minutes. In comments, they indicated that they appreciated the social activities and guest speaker, but felt those portions should be optional for individuals. While most of the respondents said the information and updates shared during the event were irrelevant, large majorities indicated a preference to receiving reports pending legislative and/or NSHE actions, enrollment updates, and budget plans.
Below are the summary of the survey results and a compilation of comments which have been shared with College Leadership to consider as they develop plans for the next event.
Comments:
I think that part of the point of convocation is to welcome back folks, get their heads in the game, socialize, team build, and maybe even have a little fun. I don't mind that it is mandatory, and I don't think that it takes too much time out of anyone's first day back on contract as there are 2 full weeks to prep for classes or do whatever needs to be done before students are back.
Convocation should last no longer than 1-1.5 hour, with a primary focus on information pertaining to the current state-of-the-college. Time should NOT be spent on telling faculty how to teach. And a professional development session embedded in the middle of convocation is highly inappropriate, as well as completely irrelevant for many administrators.
Get back to real content—convocation has become a symbol of the “dumbing down” of our profession.
Required events should be about useful and necessary communication.
We already have professional development requirements and options in our annual plan, so mandating additional development insults faculty and implies that we are not working hard enough. The biggest problems with kickoff are that the president did not allow Zoom options during terrible weather and that HR prioritizes the words "in-person" over attendance." Those with recognized ADA requirements have to sacrifice sick leave because they appear unable to hook up a webcam to a laptop. If the speaker visits via Zoom yet faculty attend in-person, the admin make it clear that faculty are pawns to be controlled.
I spend a lot of time keeping up in my discipline/field as well as with technology, and I'm very frustrated that I'm required to attend this event. What is its purpose? I get that they're trying to have a motivational moment, but it's so clearly about that rather than folx actually connecting with each other (how could we do that during all of the speeches/lectures from admin)
Would love to see the event have some notes on positive highlights from faculty work.
Admin and speakers need to check their tech and presentations before sharing with us in the audience. It seemed like everyone had issues and did not rehearse their material and the tech issues were amateurish.
It's not that the information itself is useless, just that presenting the information at that time in that format didn't feel useful. Send me a PDF of enrollment, budget, etc. Explain any important changes and successes during the convocation.
I answered that receiving information on pending legislation, NSHE initiatives, and budget information as "very irrelevant," not because I think this content is irrelevant, but because I feel that our current administrators attached to these areas are not credible nor knowledgeable enough to report on these items. Furthermore, we still have no VP of finance and there is no one on the administrative team that seems trustworthy, credible, or competent enough to deliver accurate and relevant budget information. Even our enrollment dashboards don't seem to synch up with what we are experiencing in our own departments and divisions. Even if kick-off were used to update us on what is going on, I would have no reason to believe what was presented, and would assume that administrators, as always, would use the time to congratulate one another and otherwise "spin" their latest "sustainability" initiatives (seems we're now in our fourth consecutive "year of sustainability"). Our "kick-offs" have devolved into meaningless, punitive mandatory sessions to ensure that all staff must dutifully report to be seen by administrators the very day that we are back on contract. They are a colossal waste of time, demeaning, and contribute to the overall disenfranchisement that faculty have been feeling since before the pandemic. To me, any kind of effective "kick off" would invigorate, engage, and fire up the faculty and staff for the upcoming semester. They have the exact opposite effect, and have for years.
Convocation has morphed and all of the budget, legislative, initiatives are now being reported in Division meetings. I disliked hearing it at convocation and then again in nearly every school-related meeting I attended. I think the general apathy and division within the faculty and staff was the original reason for using convocation as a team-building, informative time that was to set the tone for the semester. In the fall and very early spring there isn't always legislative items formally available for discussion and we are informed as time goes on, same with legislative budget items. Frankly, all of the budget and 'state of the school' items can be put into an email and people can read it if they want or hold onto it for later when it is more relevant to them. It can be done by ZOOM, people can still interact, and it is painful to sit and listen to for two hours. I think the kick off should be separate, should have some type of team building, if we do it in our classes, then we should walk the walk and do it with peers and colleagues. Some of the people who tout comradery and inclusiveness the loudest, are also the loudest when it comes to trying to do that on a larger scale. We used to sit through hours of the stats and initiatives, and now they are all pretty much available if we are truly so concerned about them. I also feel the survey answers should have included, I like the format, I don't like the format, instead of a very specific item being relevant, feels leading. The other questions are good.
I would like to return to a convocation that includes information that is relevant to us as TMCC employees, and then an optional social event that is for those who are so inclined. And if you're introducing new employees, have their names in a font people can actually read. I do NOT want a parade of updates on what leadership has been doing combined with a forced professional development Zoom that wasn't even relevant to non-teaching employees.
Any presentation that could be an email - please just email us the info. I would rather just read about non-academic info instead of sitting and listening (facilities, IT etc). The time together should be spent on ideas, inspiration, invigoration before school starts! And I’d like the kick-off take place after a few days of faculty get back on contract. Let us do some work before we all gather. Thanks!
Convocations used to include information on enrollment, finances, NSHE, goals and plans for the future, legislative agendas. This one did not. This is all important information that the faculty and staff should be made aware of. Transparency seems to be disappearing over the last few years.
I’m not sure what the criticisms were but I found the guest speaker to be interesting and helpful. Having relevant speakers like this is a good idea IMO. As far as the data shared by leadership, it’d be more useful to share “bulleted” type summaries and the impact/relevance for the college again IMO. Long data dump type presentations are often not effective for educating an audience. Long presentations that are read from a script IMO don’t make much of an impact.
As an academic faculty in a department that is very busy during convocation/kick off, I've stopped attending because I feel like it's more important that I'm helping students rather than attending. If the information was more relevant and not just a welcome back speech, I would feel like it was a better use of my time and not guilty about taking an hour to attend when I should be helping students. Any guest speakers after that could be optional.
Use convocation to disseminate information so faculty can meet the needs of the institution and their students. "I Love Lucy" reruns and administrators dancing on stage has no place in an institution of higher learning. Embarrassing to say the least.
"The guest speaker did provide a unifying course of discussion among faculty which was great. I do think it sparked some good conversation about pedagogy and teaching practices. I'm not sure it should always be mandatory, but is a good thing to have every once in a while when it is someone relevant and meaningful.
Most of the information that is shared could be sent out as an email or video. The guest speaker was great, but I don't think his talk was relevant for every employee (classified, for example). He was great for teachers, however. I am very thankful that we did not have any of those group "brainstorming" sessions that ultimately lead nowhere. My favorite convocation was the one we had in the fall. It gave us a chance to come together, socialize, and see what different departments were offering. I think it is awful to make people sit and listen for two to three hours when those things could easily be sent out in an email so those who really care and want to know can read it.
The content I'm looking for in convocation is about our strategic direction, legislative and BOR priorities, the status of the college, etc. Inspiration is nice, but I prefer a logistical focus for a mandatory meeting. The updates from individual administrators feels lengthy and unnecessary. Those updates can be given in another way for individuals to review on their own."
Each department VP should only share information that impacts faculty. Just touting their achievements and future goals is not informational for faculty. Please only share items that impact or concern faculty. Save the cheerleading for e-mail or newsletters which faculty can read on their own time. The first two weeks of the semester are such a crucial limited time frame for faculty to prepare their courses and instructional material so we can focus on students' needs and our choice of professional development. Each slide in a presentation should begin with the phrase" Faculty here is what we are doing or planning to do in the near term that directly impacts you and we need your feedback or input on." If the information shared does not fit that description then it is best to send it out later. I do not like having a professional development speaker as that takes away agency and academic freedom from faculty who should get to choose what professional development training they need. For instance, each year I try a new educational tool in my classroom and often I need the tool training during professional development time to develop and implement that in a course. So my choice would not be an overall pedagogy type training but a tool focused training. I can study the "other" type of training later in the semester but not during that first 2 weeks where I want to focus on professional development that I am applying immediately.
We are professionals and President Hilgersom should treat us as such. We have important prep work to do during the first week back, and these lengthy convocations waste our time and sap our energy, destroying morale.
Not all of these topics can be commented on at every convocation. For example legislative issues won't be relevant every semester. While it would have been hard to say something concrete about budget at this convocation since GovRec was not out yet, it would have been good to get an update from BPLAT on what they had been working on so far. Something that recognizes new employees in a meaningful way, where we actually get to see their faces, would be nice. Maybe have them come up on stage so they can really be seen and we can welcome them.
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