3.6         1998-2005+ Victor Valley College Goals and Objectives

Guided by the mission of the institution, its set of core values, overall strategic goals, and specific operational themes, the College has articulated a number of overarching goals and objectives that will drive much of its decision-making for the coming years.  These include the following:

Objectives/Activities:

·        Wire and rewire the entire campus in order to electronically connect all classrooms, labs, offices, study areas, administrative centers, etc., to each other and to a central server.

·        Improve connectivity and accessibility of various databases and records systems so they can be more efficiently utilized for communication, instruction, support services, tracking and follow up, and planning purposes.

·        Commit to the acquisition of current technology that supports academic instruction, vocational education, workforce preparation, delivery of support services, academic research and study, extension of instruction to off-campus sites and across campus locales, and communication between faculty, students, staff, and community stakeholders.

Objectives/Activities:

·        Provide motivation, incentives, and resources for the orderly updating of curricula, review of current programs and majors, and assessments of the needs of area students/residents/employers.

·        Revisit program advisory committees, campus advisory councils, etc., in order to expand access to the views, needs, and recommendations of area educators, civic leaders, industry representatives, and employers.

·        Accelerate the review of campus programs and services to identify how they are serving their publics and what refinements and resources are required to ensure that the changing needs of changing constituencies are addressed in creative and nurturing ways.

·        Promote the introduction of new or additional programs and courses that address some of the more contemporary occupational and commerce needs, such as GIS, digital mapping, advanced computer applications, and the like.

Objectives/Activities:

·        Provide motivation, incentives, and resources for faculty to embrace and adopt some of the emerging alternative and collaborative instructional modalities.

·        Encourage academic program reviews in the context of identifying opportunities to update and strengthen courses, programs, and instructional modules to reflect some of the recent advances in the delivery of education and instruction.

·        Appoint ad hoc committees and panels to examine key programs, to whom they are targeted, and how they are delivered, in order to identify more successful design and delivery strategies to fully serve the instructional and support needs of area residents.

Objectives/Activities:

·        Systematically update the computer and technology of campus programs, departments, majors, and support services.

·        Identify and pursue funding for additional computer labs, technology-rich learning labs, and more contemporary audio-video equipment so that all faculty and students have access to the technology they need for effective learning.

·        Find resources to accelerate the scheduled remodeling of campus facilities so they are on-line as soon as possible to better serve instruction and service delivery.

Objectives/Activities:

·        Undertake a comprehensive examination of the contemporary needs of the communities located within the service area of the college in order to identify the programs and resources required by the institution to better respond to community constituencies.

·        Systematically assess the service, advancement, and retention data of various campus programs and services to identify how increasingly diverse students are served and how to better serve them.

·        Reach out to other campuses and programs that have effectively responded to the challenge and opportunities of diversity by creating effective and innovative new programs and then examine those program strategies for their applicability to Victor Valley College.

·        Challenge faculty, staff, and students to identify societal and community trends relating to diversity and how to best prepare the college to better serve the new students of today and tomorrow.

Objectives/Activities:

·        Ensure strong linkages between the college and its area communities through representation on various chambers, civic organizations, professional societies, regional boards, and the like.

·        Periodically examine the technical assistance and workforce needs of area employers and then operationalize appropriate contract education, on-site instruction, campus courses, and technical assistance services to best meet those identified needs.

·        Through program evaluations and other methods, ensure that campus educational programs are meeting the contemporary needs of citizens and industry and that instruction is state-of-the-art.

Objectives/Activities:

·        The institution will continually track its budget in order to ensure there is no unplanned deficit spending or other conditions that violate the objective of maintaining a strong financial footing.

·        The college will increase its fund raising efforts in order to stimulate external support for some of the programmatic and infrastructure resource requirements of the institution.  Recent external support for athletic facilities, instructional labs, and additional technology are examples of strategies and outcomes that will be promoted.

·        The college will encourage -- where appropriate -- its senior administration, board, community colleagues, area legislators, and COCCC representatives to endorse and push for increased base support to community colleges within the General State Budget.

Beyond these highlighted above, this educational master plan features many proposed and underway initiatives and themes.  Those that achieve fruition will clearly help to magnify the successes and impacts of the District.  They will have several things in common.  They will hold to the vision of the college, to its values and set of beliefs.  And, most importantly, they will serve to operationalize the key themes and goals identified above.  To the extent that the faculty, staff, administration, and executive leadership of Victor Valley College can remain true to these values, principles, beliefs, goals, and vision, the college will continue to be a most remarkable and functional educational and community resource to the residents and economy of the High Desert.