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| Danny Aynes, May, 2020 (Courtesy of Danny Aynes) |
What are your responsibilities at Linn-Benton
Community College and how long have you worked here?
I became the associate dean of Academic
Foundations a year ago, and that includes admissions, registration, graduation,
and Adult Basic Skills, which is the English Language Acquisition and GED
program. Prior to this, I was the director of Enrollment Services and registrar
for 11 1/2 years.
Tell us a bit about your own education and
background.
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in
communications from Arkansas Tech University and received my master’s degree in
college student services administration at Oregon State University. Before
joining the team at LBCC, I worked at Eastern Oregon University and at Southern
Oregon University. My wife and I live in Philomath with our two sons.
This is a big time right now, historically
speaking. What did you think of the impact moving forward with how the
coronavirus pandemic would affect students?
It was coming at the end of winter term and I
wasn't too connected to the news so I didn’t think it would be as big as it
was. I wasn't resistant to what I was hearing, but just assumed in a couple
weeks we’d be back to normal. Then it got bigger and bigger. I was surprised at
how fast everything happened.
We haven’t lived through something like this
before. We’re all in reactive mode.
It’s caused us to change really fast and to go
with the flow in a way we’re not used to. It requires lots of teamwork and
being comfortable with change.
LBCC was very responsive from the beginning by
sending out communication to the community, the staff, and the students while
keeping everyone up-to-date as the information was coming in. Did you
experience any difficulties while sharing the news regarding the closure of
LBCC and the subsequent reopening?
It’s great to hear that a student feels we were
communicating well. An interesting thing that came up during this time is what
qualifies as “all-student communication.” It caused us to discuss and question
whether something merits being sent out to everybody, or should an announcement
just be on social media? How should we communicate? Is this an email? Is this a
text message? That type of thing. We used to send out items that were
announcements for the good of the order. The type that are informational; but we
worried about sending too many emails and over-communicating -- when things
that are sent out now are so much bigger.
How has the pandemic affected transitions in
maintaining curriculum standards in regards to collaboration with high school
partnerships through the College Now program? High schools shut down for two to
three weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, and there are many schools with
whom LBCC partners (over fifty).
Our high school partnerships director Virginia
Mallory has done a great job working hard and communicating with all of the
partners. The enrollment has stayed pretty steady. We were worried about that.
But I think with so much time at home, students have stayed interested. We have
been flexible with drop dates. The partnerships program is doing well with
enrollment.
I noticed that the grading scale this term has
changed to a “pass/no pass” mode by many high schools who partner with College Now.
How might this translate into standards for certain courses? For instance, with
Math 111, Math 112, and Writing 121? Have there been adjustments?
Yes. We have not changed all classes to “pass/no pass” because it
wasn't an option when the course was created. So, we've opened up where
students can change the grade mode, but not all courses have the same grade
modes. It’s caused us to do a lot of questioning about our system and how
things are built and discussions for a catalog and how we would do things
moving forward. What will a “pass” do for transfer students? It is hard to say.
How will every school take it? Every school is so different. A “pass” -- what
will they bring it in as? And a “no pass?” A “no pass” versus a “D.” A “D” will
count in some places and a “no pass” won’t. It’s all tough.
What is your student enrollment for spring term?
Did you see a huge drop?
We are down about 11 percent in our credit and
degree-seeking programs. There was a time during the quarantine where Community
Education was put on hold until we figured out what we could do. A lot of those
courses were canceled, so they came back with a smaller offering of online
courses which meant they took a big enrollment hit. With the Career
Technical Education programs, some of their courses have to be in person.
That’s probably one of the biggest concerns
right now -- well, there are lots of big concerns -- figuring out some of the
programs, like nursing. How do they finish? That is a question I don't know the
answer to. The community colleges are asking the governor: could certain
programs have social distance classes that are considered end points, where
they could finish this summer? I don't know if they have an answer for that
yet. Otherwise enrollment hasn't dropped as much as we thought.
That stands to reason. People still have time
and were enrolled already. What is the impact of moving to an online format
this term?
From all sides, it caused everyone to change and
move online whether they thought they could or couldn't, everybody had to do
it. And there are benefits -- everyone is learning Moodle and other different
technologies … figuring out what’s possible when we have to change.
Do you see this might be a model for the future?
For non-traditional students who have perhaps an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. type of job? Many
in our community may benefit greatly from online courses offered through
LBCC.
This is causing colleges to go another layer
deep into defining what an online course is. I do think it will result in more
of our classes having different options versus campus or distance. The academic
program I'm involved with for scheduling is the ELA and GED. They had never
done an online format before and they hope to continue it moving forward,
because it is a flexible option for people. I do think some instructors are
finding they really like it, and I do think some things will continue. It’s led
to three definitions of online courses: virtual, hybrid, and fully
online. Instructors have asked for specific times when students know they have
to do something online (such as in Zoom meetings). They're working right now
with getting this type of information added to the class schedule where
students can know what type of online course they're signing up for.
For fall term?
For fall term, yes.
That's exciting to hear! Community colleges
seizing an opportunity to build upon the accessibility, affordability, and
equity for members of our community.
Community colleges are a great model. Things
we're hearing is that the state budget issues are coming up. And so, preparing and
trying to figure out what that looks like for us… typically when there's a
budget crisis, our budget goes down and we have more students, like when we've
had an increase in the past. For example, when the statewide budget is bad and
there's a recession, and more people are going to community colleges -- it
makes it a tough time.
There may be many individuals who will need to
reinvent themselves.
I could imagine, based on my time at community
colleges, that when we do come out of this if certain jobs don't come back,
there will be some kind of fund or benefit for people in those jobs to go to
school. Sometimes there are benefits for people to go to school.
LBCC raised a large amount of funds with the Day
of Caring which coincided with the Federal CARES Act. Could you share a bit
about both of those?
Yes. I was involved in one challenge that
if we raised $600 I would wear a suit to all Zoom meetings for the rest of the
week. So we did, and now I've had to do this. The best challenge was a guy in
the business office who said if we raise a certain amount he would shave his
beard and he had a beard probably like, down to here. He definitely looks like
a new person! It added some fun to it.
So, you don't always wear a suit and tie while
working from home?
No, I don't. Usually shorts and a t-shirt.
Or, I thought you were dressing up for our
interview.
I could have let you think that the whole time…
The Federal CARES Act has started to be
implemented. The money was given and then different criteria kept being added.
It has taken a while to shift into “This is what this is.” There are guidelines
the government has given us, and there have been changes as the days have gone
by.
Were the guidelines not clear from the federal
government or from the state government?
I think the money might have come as they were
developing guidelines. And so each college had to put together a process --
there was some freedom in how each college has been able to handle it. The
criteria is it can benefit all eligible students. If you qualify, you get
something, and it looks at categories such as expected family contribution.
There are three different criteria for level: most, medium, and then
least need. Those funds just started going out.
To supplement the Federal CARES Act, the LBCC Day of Caring collaborated with the LBCC Foundation to help pool together
funds, is this correct?
Yes, and that is a type of emergency fund for
students. Over the years the fund has grown. Each year it helps with items such
as car repairs, bikes, rent -- basically a short-term crisis fund to help
students.
That is great support. Let's talk a little about
your plan for this year’s commencement ceremony.
We are working on a keepsake mailing to go to
students that will have caps and tassels and some other things, such as a
letter from the college. There is a lot we can't do that we'd like to, which
would be having people come to campus, but we just can't do that yet. So, along
with a package that goes to students, there will be a website that honors
graduates and has a message from the college. Also, this year's graduates will
be involved in next year's graduation. It will be a double commencement
ceremony.
What is one college course you wish you
would have taken?
I was going to be a football coach, but then I
decided I wanted to go into higher education, so I changed to communication. I
ended up working in a position at a school where I had to have technical skills.
So, I wish there was a college course that was called something like “Workplace
Technical Skills,” and for me, it’d involve something like SQL (SQL is a
domain-specific language used in programming and designed for managing data).
Something else that would be helpful would be basic website editing, and also
tools and tricks with Excel. There are things that are helpful and useful for
everybody. But they probably all wouldn't be contained in the same
course!
Rather, you have to learn on the job.
You have to teach yourself and use YouTube to
figure it out.
What does LBCC’s future look like? We know
summer term classes will be online.
Yes, and I think face to face is still an option
for fall. The assumption that I've heard is that some sort of distancing would
be in place. If we expect to be face to face, there would be certain criteria,
but we don't know about that yet. My hope is that we’ll definitely be coming
together, being able to get somewhere close to normal. We just don't know when.
At a Glance:
Danny Aynes
Occupation:
Associate Dean of Academic Foundations
Hometown:
Mena, Arkansas
Family: Married, two children
Education: BA
in Communications from Arkansas Tech University; MA in College Student Services
Administration from Oregon State University
Years at LBCC: 12
Before employment at LBCC: Worked at Eastern Oregon University and Southern Oregon
University
Links and Additional Sources:
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