Jay Hollowell

Jay Hollowell

About me

Please allow me this opportunity to welcome everyone to The Lounge! As someone who has had the honor of being in career education and corporate training for thirty years (gee, it makes me feel much older!), I can honestly say that I am the happiest professionally when having the opportunity to interact with fellow career educators - whether it be a training event, webinar, or medium such as this where we can collaboratively share our thoughts.

Activity

“It’s one more thing on the plate and I already have a huge teaching load in a short time frame? And you want me to complete what?” It’s a legitimate reaction. What are some ways that you have encouraged and motivated your instructors to engage in faculty development? How have you created excitement? 

In continuing education, instructors possess significant diversity in their backgrounds, credentials and levels of teaching experience. I always encourage fellow teaching colleagues to share their experiences, best practices and challenges through the discussion forums in the CEE courses they complete, hence becoming valuable mentors to other participants.

Additionally, in my own continuing education I still discover new ideas and techniques. And at other times, a course provides a refresher or re-awareness, a different position, or even an “arguable” point that result in value to my teaching experience.

One of the suggested post-course activities in the CEE Faculty Development Program is the instructor training observation. Most institutions already have an observation process in place for the evaluation of overall faculty performance, but why are observations important from the training perspective?

Training observations can be customized to specific, as opposed to summative, observable areas. For example, after completing a CEE online course, or courses, an instructor may wish to have the opportunity to demonstrate a specific application or technique acquired from the training, or a mentor may wish an instructor to concentrate in a particular developmental area.

Welcome to the CEE Faculty Coach Consortium! Perhaps one of the best ways to enhance our roles as Faculty Coaches in the Center for Excellence in Education Faculty Development Program is to learn from each other. And as the word “consortium” implies, our Faculty Coach roles can create a host of common interests, best practices, successes and challenges.  Please share your experience in our special learning community.

There is a big difference between customer service and a customer first mindset! Most companies provide some form of support to their customers; however, those whose employees place customers at the center of attention are far more competitive. This is, of course, equally true in our career college environments, particularly with our most important customers - employers and students! Employees who are customer first focused listen to their customers’ needs and act on them quickly. If they can’t honor a request, they state what they can do or refer the customer to someone who can help, then follow-up to make… >>>

Hi Marc! Thanks for your response. I too see a budget as both a planning tool and a control measure. It does give us the confidence to make the right decisions if it is realistic and well researched, and then holds us accountable accordingly. Quick question, how much do you rely on former budgetary information or data to develop e new budget, given a margin for expansion or contingency? Jay Hollowell ML142 Facilitator

I have always been interested in Project Management, I suppose because anything that can get me from point A to point B in an organized fashion must have merit! :) Having facilitated many project management workshops for the manufacturing and service industries, I have found that the same managerial processes apply to both – and, of course, the career college sector offers products and services. Most managers know some of the processes, tools and terminology of project management such as the project life cycle, the project scope, the statement of work and the communications plan, etc. One component that has… >>>

Discussion Comment

Hi Alicia! Thanks for your reply! To your point, these financial tools do provide information such as asset value, debt and equity structure, cash liquidity, return-on-investment, etc. This is company-wide and, in some cases, by department as well. Such tools help a functional manager not only control costs, but aid in decision-making on things such as budgeting, asset allocation, lease vs. buy, and debt vs. equity financing. Perhaps most importantly from the department standpoint is cost control and short -term liquidity. If an organization's current ratio is such that it cannot pay its short-term obligations, that is an immediate red… >>>

When I have a cut on the finger, I typically get a Band Aid as opposed to a piece of adhesive gauze, or get a Kleenex tissue when sneezing, or make a Xerox copy. We all know the power of branding - to the point where many products and services in the marketplace have become household names. Perhaps the same opportunity is applicable to career colleges. What is your school's brand? What special or unique feature or benefit stems from your college and its programs that distinguish it as the best choice? In our educational venue, the primary goal for… >>>

Hi Cheryl! You have touched on an important point regarding the learning process. The more an adult learner sees the reasoning and purpose behind a concept or application, the more he or she is likely to retain the information. Providing relevant and meaningful examples is an extremely effective tool in this process. Thanks for you comments, Jay Hollowell Guest Co-Facilitator

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