Michael Makowsky, Title V's Basic Skills Specialist and Janice Bryden are working with the Occupational/Technical program to develop a basic skills assessment tool. Since Occ/Tech students are exempt from taking the TASP, instructors have had no way of determining what areas of study a student may need work in. The goal of the assessment tool is to measure the skills students possess in Math, Reading, and Language, so instructors can gauge students' strengths and weaknesses upon entering one of the various programs and assist in proper placement.

During the first week in November, Michael conducted a demonstration of Plato Pathways for faculty and staff of the Occ/Tech, Developmental Writing, and Title V programs. Plato is a computer assisted instructional program for adult learners and is being considered as a means of delivering and tracking the Occ/Tech basic skills assessment, as well as tutorial opportunities for students in Occ/Tech and Developmental Writing who wish to enhance their basic skills in a self-paced environment. The demonstration was held at the Cogdell South Facility, where Plato has been utilized for over two years. Future demonstrations of comparable software are being planned and anyone wishing to attend is most welcomed. Please contact Michael Makowsky at 685-5593 for more information.

In October 2001, Michael Makowsky, Title V's Basic Skills Specialist, along with fellow Orientation Module Developers, Andrea Zabel and Jamie Walters, attended the 2001 Regional Student Success Conference in Indianapolis. MC's Title V representatives met with several leading authors and consultants in the student success field to discover proven ways other student success/orientation programs are improving student performance and persistence. They found the conference to be extremely informative and returned with numerous practical strategies and techniques for developing and enhancing our orientation modules.

Interested in working with Michael? Contact Michael at 432-685-5593.