Some faculty and administration members raised concerns on the proposed webpage that will be added to the El Camino College website.
“There is a large portion of employees on campus that feel their voices aren’t heard, and we are working on that as a college,” Polly Parks, an associate professor of biology, said.
The proposed webpage or microsite will feature short texts with more visual context instead of a written, long-form text.
It will house the college’s Comprehensive Integrated Plan (CIP), or what the college “will do to support student access and improve student success,” according to the website.
Viviana Unda, an institutional research staff member who is heading the project, presented the planned webpage during the March 5 Academic Senate meeting.
“The most important thing is that it’s a Comprehensive Integrated Plan. The website is the way we are going to capture all the work [being done for students],” Unda said.
Unda asked the faculty for comments on the webpage during the meeting. “We are looking for feedback on the content,” Unda said. “If anything is missing, is it not really what we are doing? Is this not really what we are?”
Faculty members set the deadlines for comments and suggestions to the microsite.
The Academic Senate will vote on the contents of the microsite during its next meeting on Tuesday, March 19.
Lars Kjeseth, a full-time mathematics professor, said the process of refining the microsite through faculty feedback is important.
“We are trying this microsite to be a living document that people interact with instead of this big document that sits on the shelf and doesn’t do much,” Kjeseth said.
El Camino President Brenda Thames said she hopes the webpage will help potential students learn more about the college and what each department offers.
“It is my hope for students, they should be able to look at the themes and key initiatives [on the webpage] and see the things the college is doing to support their students,” Thames said.
The five themes in the CIP are “student-centered learning and experiences, multiple pathways to success, innovative community partnerships, a culture of inclusion and an environment for transformation.”
“It has never been done before,” Thames said. “It may not work out perfectly right away. We may have to make some changes.”