The Educational Environment
Working in an educational setting may be a first for some of you. Obviously, we all went to school sometime, somewhere; but working in an educational environment can mean some new lingo and ways of operating. Perhaps this will help. If we've missed something, check the Student Handbook or Catalog, or email us your question. Remember, one of the first rules of thumb in any educational setting is there are no dumb questions!
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Academic Cabinet is chaired by the VP for Instruction and meets regularly to communicate and coordinate matters pertaining to the operation of the academic programs and support services of the College.
Accreditation refers to the approval by a regional accreditation agency, in our case the Commission on Higher Learning of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (usually referred to as the NCA), that provides assurance to students that their work at KCC will be accepted by other reputable colleges and universities. This approval is earned only after an extensive self-study and a thorough review by the agency.
ACT stands for American College Test, a nationally recognized aptitude (ability to learn) test. While students here are not required to take the test for most programs, the test may be a factor in admissions to the nursing and allied health programs.
Adjunct faculty are part-time instructors. They are not under regular contract.
Allied Health refers to the group of health science-related occupations offered here in addition to Nursing: Dental Hygiene, Emergency Medical Services, Medical Laboratory Technology, Physical Therapist Assistant, and Radiography. The Allied Health Department at KCC includes all of these programs except EMS
Articulation is the process by which educational institutions agree to grant credit for specific work done at other institutions.
Arts and Sciences is the division that serves the transfer needs of KCC students. It includes the following program/department areas: Arts and Communication, Social Science, Math, Science, Physical Education and Wellness, and Criminal Justice. There are also occupational programs in Early Childhood Education, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Human Services, Paralegal, Photography and Multimedia.
ASSET is the basic skills assessment test in reading, writing and math used by KCC counselors and faculty to help students enroll in classes for which they are adequately prepared and, consequently, have the most opportunity for success.
Audit is a designation students can indicate when they register for a course if they do not want to take the course for credit. Often people use this when they take something for personal interest. They do still need to pay tuition and fees, however!
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CLEP stands for College Level Examination Program, a national credit by examination program that allows students an opportunity to demonstrate prior learning. Many colleges, including KCC, grant credit for scores that meet the recommendations determined by the American Council on Education. Five general examinations and 29 specific subject examinations are offered.
Colleague is the name of our College administrative software program. It keeps track of enrollments, registrations, class lists, grades, student accounts, etc. Generally, only staff who need access to such information to do their jobs have passwords to the system.
COMPASS is a new computer adaptive placement test that measures skills in reading, writing and mathematics. It will be replacing the ASSET test.
Confidentiality of records means that persons or agencies outside the College will not have access to nor will the College disclose any information from student records without the student's consent. That includes parents, if the student is eighteen or older.
Credit hours refer to units of time and effort spent in a class. For example, a traditional three credit hour course would meet for three hours of class over a week's time, e.g. an hour and a half two days a week or three hours one evening. While the advent of online courses muddies this up a bit, credit hours still refer to a unit of effort for a course. Credits generally range from one to five per course.
Curricula refers to the courses of study offered by an institution.
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Deans, department chairs, directors and coordinators are all administrators with varying levels of responsibility. Deans usually supervise and provide leadership for a division of departments or areas of responsibility. Department Chairs and Department Directors supervise and provide leadership for the full-time and adjunct faculty assigned to their area and oversee the department's course offerings. Directors have responsibility for an areaof activity, e.g. learning technologies, institutional facilities, life long learning. Coordinators coordinate and arrange activities performed by other people.
Distance learning refers to a variety of alternative ways of learning, usually with the help of technology. Our distributed learning formats include interactive TV courses, hybrid courses, and online courses. Their particular appeal is their flexibility of time and location.
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Experiential learning includes background experiences obtained through proprietary schools, on-the-job training, apprenticeship, or correspondence courses. Students may have this prior learning evaluated for recognition toward a certificate or degree from KCC. Credits awarded for experiential learning may or may not be transferable.
Extended campus refers to all of KCC's centers in addition to the Battle Creek site.
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Information Technology (IT) is a department and curricula that includes: computer communication technologies, graphic design, computer-aided drafting and design technology, computer engineering technology, computer information systems and office information systems.
Information Services (IS) refers to all the staff who manage our phone and computer hardware and software infrastructure.
ITV stands for interactive television courses. In ITV classes students at different sites can see and communicate with each other as if they were in the same classroom. Though originally available at all KCC sites, ITV is now used primarily between the North Avenue campus and the Eastern Academic Center.
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Learning Resources is our term for a library with all the learning resources (books, periodicals, tapes, electronic databases etc.) needed to support instruction at KCC.
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Orientation is an information session. We regularly offer orientation sessions for new students that include information about using the College catalog and class schedule, as well as all the other topics new students have questions about.
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Performing Arts are ones that are usually performed in public, e.g. choir, band, theatre, art and photography exhibits
Pre-requisites are courses a student must take prior to taking the course in question. For example, the pre-requisite for taking the abnormal psychology course is the introduction to psychology course.
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Registration is the act of signing up and paying for a course or courses.
Residency refers to a student's status with regard to whether or not he/she lives within the College service district (for KCC that's roughly Calhoun County). Students are either in-district, out-of-district or out-of-state. Their tuition is based on that status, with those students outside of the district paying more per credit, since they do not contribute local taxes in support of the institution.
Requisitions and purchase orders are for when you need to purchase something. The requisition form has places to fill in all the what and how much information; then a purchase order number needs to be added. The PO number helps the business office keep track of your request.
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Student Services is the umbrella term for all the services that support students while they are here, from admissions and financial aid to academic advising and special assistance to college activities to employment and placement.
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Taxonomy is the master document that keeps track of the details of every course we offer - the course number, credit hours, fees etc.
Transcript is what we call the official record of a student's coursework. KCC student transcripts list all courses taken at KCC, as well as any credit transferred in from another institution.
Tuition and fees refers to the total amount a student pays for a course. Tuition is a standard amount per credit hour based on residency, while fees may vary depending on added costs, such as lab fees.
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Virtual University refers to organized Internet-based courses and services. In Michigan we have both a virtual university (MVU) and a virtual community college (MCCVLC). Because they are Internet-based they can serve students anywhere.
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Work-study is a program to allow students to work as a part of a financial aid package. It is based on need and students are limited to twenty hours of work per week.
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