Vol. 3, Issue No. 21
December 4, 2015
From the Hawk's Nest
is distributed twice a month, and we need your input!  Please send your ideas for stories on upcoming events, reports on attendance at conferences, awards and honors received, photos or information on outstanding employees or students to Elizabeth Belcher, ebelcher@newriver.edu or Kelly Taber, ktaber@newriver.edu. The deadline for the next issue is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16. 
Allied Health Wing Open House and Ribbon Cutting

Dr. Washington joined the presidents of Concord University and Bluefield State College and members of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, and West Virginia Community and Technical College System in celebrating the open house and ribbon cutting for the Allied Health wing shared by the three institutions at the Raleigh County Campus.

Bluefield State College and Concord University each operate offices and classes at the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center adjacent to the Raleigh County Campus. The Register-Herald wrote a news article about the event.

LEGO Winners To Compete at State Tournament

On Saturday, Dec. 5, four teams that won the regional LEGO robotics competition in Lewisburg will compete in the state tournament at NASA IV&V in Fairmont.

The four teams that won the regional event hosted at New River CTC's Greenbrier Valley Campus were: Buckeye Winners of Marlinton; Robocraft of Fayetteville ; Talk Nerdy to Me of Charleston; and Thunderbrain of Beckley.

Gloria Kincaid, who coordinated several LEGO events held at the Lee Street Complex, said she would like to thank all of the volunteers, including the GVC maintenance team, who helped in setting up for the events, and the SGA, who provided snacks and lunches.


New River CTC Celebrates Princeton Christmas Parade

The new CDL truck, The Hawk mascot, and New River CTC friends and family celebrated the season during the Princeton Christmas Parade on Nov. 30.

Online Suggestion Box Now Available

The Human Capital Ad Hoc Committee recommended to me that the College implement a "suggestion" program for faculty, staff and students and I agreed. The implementation of the program began with Fall Convocation.

The Human Capital Ad Hoc committee is the neutral party who will review the suggestions, request responses from appropriate employees and provide recommendations to the President. Issues that are related to policies/procedures, legal or urgent in nature may be addressed and resolved without input from the Human Capital Ad Hoc Committee.

An online Suggestion Box has been created for your convenience. It can be accessed by logging into the intranet. http://www.newriver.edu/index.php/faculty-and-staff2/intranet-page

L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D.
President

Winter Session Online Courses To Be Held 

For the first time, the College will be offering Winter Session courses, ideal for fulfilling a prerequisite, catching up or getting ahead in a degree program.

Winter Session courses offered Dec. 21 through Jan. 15 enable a student to earn three credits in four weeks.

Courses available: English (101 and 102), Computer Science (101), History (101 and 105), Humanities (150), Math (101 and 109), Political Science (200), and Psychology (103).

The courses are intended to be just as comprehensive as semester-long courses, so students should not enroll if they are planning vacation time during the holidays. 

Credits will transfer to four-year institutions. It is the student's responsibility to make sure that their institution will transfer credits toward their degree program.

College Research Oversight Board Established

New River Community and Technical College encourages and supports scholarly research conducted by students, faculty, and staff. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) was recently formed to provide oversight of research involving human participants in research studies conducted at our institution. The IRB will seek to minimize risk to research subjects by reviewing research proposals to ensure that: 1) participants are treated in an ethical manner; 2) the rights and welfare of research participants are protected; 3) risks associated with the research have been considered and minimized; and 4) that volunteers are provided effective informed consent concerning the research project.

Most classroom activities and assignments that are likely to take place at New River CTC will not require IRB review. However, some studies by their nature have greater potential of risk for the participants and would require review by the IRB. Examples of projects that would require review include studies that gather data from vulnerable populations such as children or mentally disabled individuals; studies that ask subjects about illegal activities; studies that collect personally identifiable information or ask sensitive or intrusive questions about personal behaviors; or studies that place subjects at risk due to emotionally charged subject matter. In addition, research projects conducted by New River CTC for institutional purposes or by employees or outside individuals for graduate studies or other reasons may require IRB review as well.

Interested individuals should make an effort to learn more about the IRB and its review processes. The IRB has a draft website that contains additional information and links to application materials. Additional information is also available from our board members: Dr. Kristi Dumas, Dr. Kelli White, Dr. John Mark Walkup, Dr. Arnold Simonse of the University of Charleston-Beckley Campus, and from Jim Fedders, IRB Chair.

Your help promoting scholarly research that minimizes risk to our College family and surrounding communities is appreciated.

Course Content -- Quality Matters

From 2009 through 2013, as part of a Title III grant, New River CTC developed an instructional design theory and distance learning technology training program for faculty. Instructors developed distance learning courses (either completely online, hybrid, or IVN), which were reviewed for effectiveness.

The review procedure for new courses was implemented using a rubric created from various sources pieced together. In the final year of the grant period, members of the grant administration team were asking: how are we going to continue to ensure course quality after the Title III grant concludes?

Quality Matters (QM), an international organization advocating for online course quality, was one of the chief sources used to create the original Title III course rubric. The Quality Matters process is designed to improve and certify online course content.

When the Title III grant ended in October 2013, Ralph Payne, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, helped to form a QM committee, began QM-managed training of faculty members to become QM Peer Reviewers using the QM Course Review Management System, and developed a plan to internally review all online courses.

Assistant Professor Karen Carter-Harvey and Professor Shirley Davis also were instrumental in developing the QM committee and the internal review process.
 
During spring 2014, a pilot of the QM Internal Review System began by reviewing two courses (COSC-131 taught by Brian Testerman and ADOF 251 taught by Libby Rogers), both of which proved to be outstanding online courses and passed the review. 

The immediate goal was to review six courses. Since the beginning of the fall 2015 term, Payne has successfully recruited and helped to enrolled 13 QM reviewers. By the end of the 2015-2016 term, he is hoping to have a total of 17 trained reviewers.

The Quality Matters program has provided a catalyst to ensure online courses at New River CTC are valuable and effective.

Promotion 

Melissa D. Craddock has been promoted to Accounting Assistant II at the Raleigh County Campus. 

Congratulations, Melissa!