EP Team: Cultural Opportunities

Core Indicator: Service Area Participation Rate (C.I. #12)

What We Know.
We know what we count:

• Listeners to WDCB radio - Listenership generally trending up
• Tickets sold to MAC events (from MAC survey completed in spring of '99)
  • Increases in first time visitors
  • Increases in repeat visitors
• Use of library:
  Some downturn in the 98/99 statistics vs. 97/98 stats (circulation, reference requests, patron numbers all down an average of 6%. Could be related to internet use
• College-wide lectures usually well-attended
• Study abroad scholarships
• Attendance at sports events
• Gahlberg Gallery events have good attendance

We know what we hear:
Focus Groups of administrators, faculty, staff, students and community members conducted in spring of '98 generated the following data:

• Many felt that awareness of Cultural Opportunities was poor community-wide
• Some felt that there are far too many events, limiting the number they can attend
• Information overload (in general) forces some to ignore cultural opportunities on campus
• Part-time faculty feel disenfranchised and therefore attend fewer events than full-time faculty
• Many believe that information about Cultural Opportunities is too diversified, that there needs to be one central location for information about Cultural Opportunities i.e. an "All Cultural Newsletter"
• Many felt that coordinating marketing efforts of various Cultural areas would increase participation in all

Data Gaps and Associated Possible Measures being assessed

Ours is not a directly quantifiable Enduring Purpose. As we can see above, some areas have easily quantifiable data, while other, smaller, less prominent areas often do not. Cultural Opportunities is so broad-based, encompassing so many areas, that coming up with hard data is very difficult.

We want more broad-based information about what is happening on campus in areas other than the "big culture guns", but don't know how to gather this data in an efficient way.

Smaller, less-prominent cultural areas not only may not gather data, but they may be "hidden".

Examples:

• International Ed events- some data exists, but not all events have attendance counted and that data archived
• People Educating People (PEP) has cultural component in ESL and ABE/GED
• Transfer office does outreach to minority students
• Many faculty use MAC events for classes, but none record numbers of students attending for class purposes
• Internet use is "everywhere" but its cultural significance is usually overlooked and certainly not quantified
• "Countless" opportunities are utilized in classrooms (field trips, guest speakers, on and offcampus cultural events, films, music, foods, etc) but there is no mechanism for recording how many and how often.

Possible Institutional Goals (that can be measured and are likely to positively influence the Core Indicators)

#2 Introduce new and modify existing programs services and systems eras as the continuous
assessment of community learning needs and outcomes direct us.

• What new Cultural Opportunities are needed?
• What modifications are needed for existing Cultural Opportunities?

#3 Promote and support collaborative experimentation within the college and through partnerships to maintain our strong reputation and secure our financial future.

• What sorts of collaborative efforts should happen within the college?
• Do High Schools know about the variety of Cultural Opportunities here and can we collaborate with them?
• Should collaboration occur with other area colleges vis-a-vis Cultural Opportunities?
• What sorts of experimental Cultural Opportunities should we be looking at?

Jeff Curto
11/23/99