The first working day:
I actually slept through the night and was awoken by my alarm this morning. I'm getting adjusted to the time difference I think. Liesbeth starts her work day at about 9am and she lives only 5 minutes from work. This means I have plenty of time in the morning to have a cup of coffee (she has a great coffee maker that grinds the beans and makes the coffee automatically). It's so good. I can do this first think like I do at home. Then I have time to shower and have some breakfast before we leave.
We started the day with a tour of her office building and introductions to many of the people who work there. Her college, Noorderport, actually has 20+ locations all around the city, not one big campus like we have. Each location houses it's own special programs/vocational programs.
We then went to another location which is actually part of the structure that houses the local soccer team's stadium. This location houses several programs, one if which works with students who have dropped out of school and have decided to return but need help with career/program exploration to figure out what they want to study. They meet in one of the skyboxes of the stadium for a ten week course. They has prepared some questions for me ahead of time, which included simple questions and some questions about Trump and the legalization of marijuana. We had a great conversation. I shared some ranch flavored Corn Nuts and saltwater taffy with them.
I should mention that the "colleges" in the Netherlands are actually more like vocational schools and works with students as from the age of 16. They, like us have issues with early drop-outs, but are working hard to create programs that help students stay in school and return if they have left.
A great, short video about the Dutch education system and the type of college I am visiting:
https://youtu.be/TOpwMyG4o8k
After that meeting we had lunch at the same location in the restaurant run by the hotel and hospitality program of Noorderport. It was very good.
In the afternoon we had an informal conversation with two of the managers of the student services division of Noorderport. We are going to have to talk more, but I was struck by how similar our challenges are when it comes to working with students who may be underprepared for more school, have special needs, a lack of motivation, or an unclear idea about what they want to study. I was interested to see that have are taking a very integrated approach to providing support services ... and ... that they are looking at supoport for non-academic aspects of their lives. They realize that the socio-economic factors of students' lives greatly impact student performance and success. Of course we know these factors are important for most of our students, but I want to continue to observe how they are dealing with it here.
I think we are talking another bike ride to the grocery store to get things for dinner. The food here is very similar to what we might eat in the US. But their cheese if better ... I love cheese!
We started the day with a tour of her office building and introductions to many of the people who work there. Her college, Noorderport, actually has 20+ locations all around the city, not one big campus like we have. Each location houses it's own special programs/vocational programs.
We then went to another location which is actually part of the structure that houses the local soccer team's stadium. This location houses several programs, one if which works with students who have dropped out of school and have decided to return but need help with career/program exploration to figure out what they want to study. They meet in one of the skyboxes of the stadium for a ten week course. They has prepared some questions for me ahead of time, which included simple questions and some questions about Trump and the legalization of marijuana. We had a great conversation. I shared some ranch flavored Corn Nuts and saltwater taffy with them.
I should mention that the "colleges" in the Netherlands are actually more like vocational schools and works with students as from the age of 16. They, like us have issues with early drop-outs, but are working hard to create programs that help students stay in school and return if they have left.
A great, short video about the Dutch education system and the type of college I am visiting:
https://youtu.be/TOpwMyG4o8k
After that meeting we had lunch at the same location in the restaurant run by the hotel and hospitality program of Noorderport. It was very good.
In the afternoon we had an informal conversation with two of the managers of the student services division of Noorderport. We are going to have to talk more, but I was struck by how similar our challenges are when it comes to working with students who may be underprepared for more school, have special needs, a lack of motivation, or an unclear idea about what they want to study. I was interested to see that have are taking a very integrated approach to providing support services ... and ... that they are looking at supoport for non-academic aspects of their lives. They realize that the socio-economic factors of students' lives greatly impact student performance and success. Of course we know these factors are important for most of our students, but I want to continue to observe how they are dealing with it here.
I think we are talking another bike ride to the grocery store to get things for dinner. The food here is very similar to what we might eat in the US. But their cheese if better ... I love cheese!
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