About Us Colleges Contact Us   DTAE JobBoard SUBSCRIBE!  September 2004 • Volume 4 • Issue 3
Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education     Early Childhood Program Administration Technical Certificate   Student Seeks Advancement - Tiffany Young   GVTC Coordinator Spotlight Steve Brown Student Scene Timely Tips and Fun Stuff Center will Reap the Benefits - Robin Cochran Early Childcare Lead Instructor - Gary Larson   Ideas?    Faculty Focus Debbie Dlugolenski, GVTC President In this issue we spotlight Flint River Technical College and their Early Childhood Administration Technical Certificate.  This certificate is one of the first recognized training vehicles in the State of Georgia for those who wish to develop their careers by meeting statewide competencies for early childhood and school age program administration.  Read the article and learn what students are saying about this program and its instructor. Each quarter we focus on one of the GVTC Coordinators and this quarter we recognize Steve Brown of Flint River Technical College. Learn why Steve enjoys his responsibilities as a GVTC coordinator.  Also spotlighted is Gary Larson, lead instructor for the Early Childhood Administration Technical Certificate. Stop by the Student Scene and the Faculty Focus to discover what’s happening there. We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Velocity. Debbie Dlugolenski, President Georgia Virtual Technical College Top GVTC Coordinator Spotlight Steve Brown Flint River Technical College Steve Brown serves as Director of Information Technology at Flint River Technical College and as the GVTC Coordinator. Says Steve of his duties, “I enjoy the work as GVTC Coordinator most because I believe we are at the front of distance education and our organization is structured to give us tremendous support as we expand our offerings.” Steve enjoys the many occasions he has to work with his peers and to see the new and exciting innovations they are incorporating into their distance education offerings. In addition, Steve takes online courses for a master’s degree and likes to compare the GVTC design and tools with those of the University System’s. Steve’s GVTC Coordinator duties include: Working with admissions to communicate with transient students Providing faculty training and updates Providing student and faculty support Promoting web-based training development Finding and purchasing new tools for content development Evaluating distance education content Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA.  He began his career in the computer field in 1977 as an entry level operator.  From there, he migrated to application programming before coming to Flint Tech in August of 1999. After work, Steve enjoys anything outdoors: sports, gardening, cycling, golf, and exercise. Top Want to try a sample e-course? Click Here Is Online Learning for you? Click Here Ideas Submit a topic for “Velocity”.  If your idea is used, you win!  Click here for details. velocity@gvtc.org Check out our website! www.gvtc.org   Top   Early Childhood Program Administration Technical Certificate The Early Childhood Program Administration Technical Certificate of Credit is designed to provide students who are already knowledgeable about child development and early childhood care and education programs, with additional skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to succeed as early childhood program administrators. This certificate is one of the first recognized training vehicles in the state of Georgia for those who wish to develop their careers by meeting statewide competencies for early childhood and school age program administration. A sampling of topics includes: laws, rules and regulations; personnel management and managing interactions with staff and parents; administrative roles; money and program management; facility design and management; leadership and organizational structures. In terms of job prospects for graduates of the Early Childhood Program Administration Technical Certificate of Credit - job prospects are excellent. People currently working with children can open up new opportunities in the management of programs. Graduates of the program can become assistant directors, directors, or program coordinators, education coordinators, family service coordinators, or area, regional or district managers for chains of child care centers or Head Start operations.  They can also learn how to open their own center or home-based early childhood care and education program.   The definite trend in the industry is toward requiring some sort of credential for someone to manage an early childhood program.  Flint River Technical College hopes to make this program of study the most popularly accepted credential in the state of Georgia. This certificate, which is Hope Grant eligible, requires fifteen credit hours. Since the certificate consists of three – five hour courses, it can be completed in just one quarter; however, part-time students may wish to spread out the courses over three quarters. For more information about this program of study, please access Early Childhood Administration or call Mr. Gary Larson at glarson@flintrivertech.edu     Top Early Childhood Care and Education Lead Instructor Gary Larson Flint River Technical College Gary Larson is Flint River Technical College’s lead Early Childhood Care and Education instructor.  Gary has been at Flint River since 1991 and during that time has received numerous honors and awards, including the Rick Perkins Award, the Excellence in E-Learning Award, an Honorable Mention as the Georgia Child Care Professional of the Year, and the Lighthouse Award for Excellence in Technical Education. His devotion to children is evidenced by his community involvement by serving as a board member for the Families, Youth and Children’s Alliance and the Citizens for Kids organization. He also serves as his church’s music minister.   Gary enjoys spending time with his family and reading. Congratulations to Gary Larson for all his accomplishments. Top Faculty Focus Eighty-nine faculty and staff from GVTC participating technical colleges are taking advantage of the Certified Online Instructor training offered by the Learning Resources Network (LERN), an international education association and the leading provider of online courses for faculty in higher education. To be awarded this certification, participants must complete the following requirements: Complete three online courses:  Teaching Online, Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace and Designing Online Instruction. Teach at least two online courses. Pass a 50-question knowledge test. Have their students complete an online survey Have their online course critiqued by a LERN faculty member. For more information about this training, please access LERN. Top Student Seeks Advancement Tiffany Young Early Childhood Administration Student Tiffany Young chose the Early Childhood Program Administration Technical Certificate program because it catered to her specific needs as the office manager at a childcare facility with the possibility of becoming director. Tiffany states, “This program is helping me to understand all of the responsibilities that the position of director demands.” Tiffany plans to utilize the information provided by this program to perform the administrative requirements of her position to the best of her ability. Tiffany chose this online program because Flint River Technical College is a far distance from her home and work, and being able to participate in the Internet courses allows her to further her education and continue with the responsibilities of a full time job. In addition, the Internet courses allow her to gain further knowledge of the administrative position as well as hands on experience.  The program enables her to apply the newly learned skills directly to her job and that is helpful in understanding and retaining the material learned. Top Center will Reap the Benefits Robin Cochran Early Childhood Administration Student Robin Cochran has been the director of three preschool/childcare centers over the past nine years and is always eager to educate herself. Robin believes that we ALL learn something new each and every day. She is excited about the opportunity to receive this certificate and hopes that she can pass this education to her staff. Robin has big plans on taking the information she has learned through this course and creating many of the classroom scenarios and other tools, such as enrollment, parent involvement, assessment, and marketing. She will use this information to build a reference book for herself and her employees. As a director with nine years experience, Robin found this course especially helpful as a refresher/reminder course and it allowed her to communicate with her classmates through the discussion board. “This insight alone gave me an employee view as well as the opportunity to work with my advisor, Mr. Gary Larson, who has vast experience and insight in the childcare field,” says Robin. Robin discovered that the online classes are very similar to a traditional class – in that you must adhere to the guidelines in order to succeed and she was surprised at the contact and the level of interaction that she had with her classmates. Robin knows that any opportunity to meet contacts within your industry is a door that never stops knocking! She is excited about the new ideas and concepts that she studied over the quarter and the effects that they will make on her center as a whole next school year. Top Student Scene Timely Tips and Fun Stuff We continue to be excited about our partnership with SMARTHINKING which offers our students access to around-the-clock tutoring and academic assistance in both math and English.  For more information about online tutoring, click on SMARTHINKING or contact Cathy Brock at cbrock@gvtc.org . GALILEO Can’t travel to a library near you?  Check out GALILEO (GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online), a virtual library offering access to numerous research databases.  Contact your host college to obtain a password for entrance into the virtual library.  Stress Management Tips How can I turn stress into success? Time Management – create a “to do list” to plan activities. Get Enough Sleep – try to get in six to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Eat Healthy Foods – avoid foods high in fat, sugar and sodium.  Try not to skip meals, especially breakfast. Get Some Exercise – try walking, swimming, riding a bike or some physical activity that will get you going. Take Breaks – schedule short breaks during your workday and or school day to reduce stress. Avoid Alcohol and Drugs – causes “numbness” but the situations of life do not go away.   Say No – you can’t do it all, learn to say no instead of taking on more projects that will increase your stress level. Top Copyright 2001 GVTC.  All rights reserved.  Top