The Current Online

Stephanie Weissman/The Current

by Liz Harmon

Students are required to take two science classes to complete their associate’s degree and geology is an option. Not all students who sign up for the class are interested in becoming geologists, but MCC-Longview geology instructor Carl Priesendorf says he hopes to teach students that geology is more than just rocks and dirt, it’s a way of life.

Priesendorf sets his classroom agenda as both educational and promising for the future of our earth and the environment we live in. Longview geology student Iris Mansfield said she’s discovering that the class is offering her more education than she thought.

“I took geology because I needed another science with a lab. I had to choose from chemistry, physics, or geology so I definitely went with geology. I thought it was going to be pretty easy just learning about rocks and the earth, but now that we have gotten further into it I realize there is so much more to it,” Mansfield said. [...]

by Jetta Barbar

Cultural Arts Center Gallery curator Daniel Reneau wants to create a gallery that Lee’s Summit can be proud of at Metropolitan Community College-Longview. He aims to create bold and unusual shows at the gallery:. Several shows he has previously organized have included bed sheets as wall hangings, twisted wire sculptures, and paper boxes lay out on the floor, colored with charcoal.

Reneau says that such art is more challenging than classic art, which delivers its message immediately to the viewer. [...]

by Jetta Barbar

John Mikolajcik, the new debate coach at MCC-Longview, says he focuses on supporting his debaters and pushing them to high achievement. According to Mikolajcik, the coaching style that he employs is a mix of laid-back supportiveness with high expectations for his students. He said he hopes to send the team to nationals, but he also understands that there is more to be earned from debate and public speaking than trophies.

“It’s not all about winning at the end of the day,” said Mikolajcik. [...]

by Lindsey Moore

Rate My Professor is a website where students can go to inform others just how awesome, or not so awesome, a teacher is. Students can post comments about past instructors and share whether the class was too hard or extremely easy, but most importantly, students can critique professors.

The site is a way for students to get a hint of what exactly they are getting themselves into for the semester, but students and staff say that the site has become a bashing ground for students who are fed up with their professors. Staff and even students say that the site should not be taken too seriously.

Stephen Murphy, a part-time history instructor at Longview, said that he does not have a problem with the website, and that everyone has their different ways of assessment, yet the site has a tendency to be inaccurate.

“I think that some of the posts on Rate My Professor say more about the student than it does the instructor,” Murphy says. “Some ratings are positive and flattering, and then you’ll see something very mean and derogatory. I have no problem with it, but I take it with a grain of salt,” he said. [...]

by Gini Swartz

As long as you’re taking two courses, why not make it easier by taking them together?

Learning Community (LNCO) courses were introduced for students into the MCC-Maple Woods curricula in the 1990s, but became a requirement for the A.A. degree 10 years ago. According to the college’s explanation in the course guide, “LNCO courses are taught within a community to help focus your education, build motivation and give added meaning to a student’s college experience. These courses allow students to interact with a group of peers, while having multiple professors teach the course(s). The LNCO courses include lecture, small group work and reading/writing assignments.”

“The courses are connected by a common LNCO theme, which is used to integrate the content and learning outcomes of the two disciplines.  While we sometimes try to create LNCOs that combine courses needed for specific degree programs, often it is two faculty who want to teach together and share some common interests that drives the creation of the specific LNCO,” says William Young, history professor at Maple Woods and chair of the Social Sciences/Business Division. [...]