Haywood Community College Adult Education Instructors, Joan Rivet and Carla Woody, recently participated in Appalachian State University’s Professional Development Summer Institute. As a result, HCC is now field testing ASU’s online course, “Be Prepared! A Guide to College Success.”

The course is designed to guide students toward a seamless transition into post-secondary education through a series of student and instructor video interviews and surveys.  “Be Prepared!” includes components for both instructors and students that emphasize the importance of Accuplacer, the placement test used by HCC, and preparation for the entrance exam. To maximize the effectiveness of “Be Prepared!,” instructors should dedicate additional classroom time to support student performance on the placement test.

Rivet and Woody also participated in workshops to enhance instructor skill-levels around assessing new educational technology tools, choosing educational software, utilizing the internet in Adult Basic Skills instruction, and exploring the use of photography to teach writing by creating Power Point presentations. Further emphasis was placed on the utilization of Web tools that included an introduction to Livebinders, Wiki, Wordle, Wallwisher and creating web sites.       Working in small groups, Rivet and Woody collaboratively created a Livebinders resource that encompassed all of the online resources discussed earlier. These resources are free and open for public access which all participants and instructors can access, and will continue to be a collaborative effort by the Institute 2012 work groups throughout the year.

The HCC Adult Education Department is grateful to the HCC Foundation for recognizing the value of professional development and supporting participation in this opportunity. Rivet and Woody  will be providing training to other instructors in the Adult Education program in the near future utilizing the skill-sets, information, and teaching resources learned through the “Institute 2012: Creating Success Using Technology” experience.