CcATS

CcATS Future in Doubt Postponed Till Spring

I have returend to my former teaching post at A & M San Antonio. I can be reached at

972 835 7555

dennis.elam@att.net

Ron Schmidt the new Accounting Professor  at El Centro is gauging interest in a spring session for CcATS.  I think we accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. I would hope that there is collective interest on your part in continuing this successful, one of a kind symposium.  But frankly, no one ever volunteered to present or otherwise be involved in the program.  Future programs will take a collective effort in my judgement.

All my best to all of you and your programs.

Dennis Elam

Fall 2008 CcATS Scheduled

The fourth Community College Accounting Teacher Symposium is scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2008.

Brenda Canard with the Internal Revenue Service will discuss the use of  your students to offer the VITA tax service. Many college accounting students perform this service for community and campus tax payers.  The service introduces accounting students to the real world of client service. And it puts accounting front and center as a service to the community.

Barbara Scoefield PHD CPA University of Dallas will present Winning Classroom Techniques.  Barbara has taught at the University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Southeastern Louisiana, and at the University of Texas Permian Basin.  She is active with the Dallas Management  Accountants and has taken students to their national conference.  We look forward to her insight on engaging students in the classroom.

Stephanie Carpenter, President Dallas Institute of Management Accountants, will lead a Roundtable of Certified Management Accountants CMAs. One size no longer fits all in Accounting. Actually only a minority of accountants work for external CPA firms. The CMA is designed to be the right Certification for the Industry Accountant.  This group will bring us up to speed on what the CMA designation has meant for their career.

As usual, we will feature ninety minutes for our catered lunch.This leaves plenty of time for networking and visiting with sponsors. The schedule shapes up like this.

8:30-9:30 Continental Breakfast and Networking

9:30-11:30 Program for CPE hours

11:30-1:00 PM Catered Lunch and Networking with Sponsors

1:00-3:00 PM Program for CPE Hours

3:00 Beat the DFW traffic Home!

This schedule has proved to be a winning combination. The later start allows attendees to attend from longer distances without the cost and hassle of an overnight stay. The 3:00 PM End Time means that participants are not thrown into 5:00 PM DFW traffic allowing  a more relaxed trip back home.

Once again we will meet in our first floor  auditorium with theater seating and state of the art audio visual technology.  So make plans now to join your Community College Colleagues.  Recent forums have attracted Accounting Educators from as far as  Midland and Lubbock. We cast a wide net in the DFW metro area attracting educators from Waco to Sherman and Tyler to Fort Worth. And as always admission is free to those interested in furthering Community College Accounting Education.

E mail Dennis Elam, CcATS Director,  at delam@unt.edu or call 972 780 3007.

UNT at TCCTA Feb 22-23 Fairmont Hotel Dallas, TX

Like any James Bond thriller, the last of the credits announces the next adventure, and so

UNT Dallas will be manning a booth at the Feb 22-23 annual Texas Community College Teachers Convention. it is right here in our own back yard so why not?  All disciplines will be re-presented to let meet and greet our CC teaching counterparts. So stop by and plan to say hello!

CcATS III Another Successful Symposium!

Dr. Derrick D'Souza kicked off CcATS III at left. Click on the photo to view the aptly named bullet on this slide - Effective On Line Learning!  And that is what the Syposium was all about.  It was my pleasure to help judge our recent Capstone presentations at UNT Dallas. It was clear that he had many years consulting experience as he zeroed in on the students' plans.   He certainly got our attendees involved and asking questinons.  Click on any of these photos for an elargement.

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The Swedish Baroque Trio sans one performed classical music during the networking session after lunch.

Barbara Scoefield Univ Dallas, Susan Rhame Collin County CC, and Jimmie Smith President Institute Dallas Managerial Accountants smile for our camera.

Carol Pace Grayson CC in Sherman, samples the lunch buffet.

We took over 150 photos, so go to photo albums on the left. There was a lot of learning and  a lot of networking going on. We had several instructors new to CcATS with us this time. 

We welcomed Ann Gregory and Mackinzee Escamilla from South Plains College in Levelland, TX!   These ladies flew in on SW Air to tune up on Distance Ed. We are delighted to have them join the ranks of CcATS.

More photos and activites are on the sidebar of the weblog.  Just click no the photo to go to the album.

Plans for the next CcATS are already underway.  Our tenative topics are

Fall 2008 Teaching Tax

Winter Spring 2009 Ethics-Incorporating Fundmentals Into the Curriculum

If you did not join us for Distance Education you should have, it was a great program!

Here is a final shot of all that participated, smiles all around, won't you join us next time!

Super Friday for CcATS

Yes the Presidentail hopefuls are haviing their big day today, ours will be Friday. 

We are thrilled that we have more full tme Community College Accounting Teachers than ever before pre registered for CcATS. We have no less than NINE, count 'em, different CC Districts represented for this Symposium, here is the rundown.

Dallas CCCD
Tarrant CCD
Navarro CC
Tyler Junior College
Grayson College
Hill College
Collin County
McClennan CC
South Texas College

Our original idea was that CcATS would have state wide appeal, at least east and west on I 20 and south on I 35 to the Austin area,and north on I 35 to Sherman.  This is proving to be true.  '

Please remember to bring your business cards, CcATS will be all about networking.  If you know someone who would be interested that is not yet registered, thanks to our expansive meeting room we still have space available. 

Special Appearance!  So what are we doing special for you this time?

We have arranged for a classical performance by the Swedish Baroque Trio durng the lnetworking lunch break.  Members of this group have performed with the Stockholm Symphony. We look forward to another 'value added' event that makes CcATS so special and fun to attend.

Coffee and continental breakfast will be available from 8:15 to start at 9:30. We will have the digital cameras to capture the event, so come early and catch up on what is happening at  other Community Colleges.

Now, one more thing, we have already started thinking about the NEXT CcATS for FAll 2008. What would you like to see offered on the program?  We would like to see more participation and presentation by CC teachers. What are your best practices and classroom success stories?  We look forward to your ideas and input. 

So, the name tags are printed, the lanyards gathered, the programs are in place and the folders will be stuffed, we get goose bumps these few days before the real thing, we hope you are as excited as ourselves over CcATS III!

See you Friday!

Barbara Altman

Dr. Altman was asked to speak to specifically address the concerns many of you may have. How does one balance the demand for online courses from administrators and students with the reality of trying to deliver accounting education? The answer is the blended or hybrid course that combines both in and out-of-class instruction. Dr. Altman teaches the popular MBA hybrid class at UNT Dallas Campus and will bring that experience to CcATS.

Dr. Altman earned her PhD from Boston Unviersity.  She is a Senior Research Fellow  at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.  Her BBA and MBA are from UT Austin.

Derrick D'Souza

Dr. D'Souza spent ten years in industry before coming to UNT in 1989.  He has served as an Assistant Dean in the College of Business. He participated in the creation of the On Line MBA program.

He will discuss the Vision of moving your classroom courses to the internet. " There is  a good deal more involved than 'just putting it on the net!"  Dr. D'Souza has worked as a corporate consultant and remains a popular speaker in all his apperances.

Planning CcATS Winter 2008

Ever wonder how the CcATS program comes together?  Well trust us there is a lot more to it than just making a few phone calls and lining up the speakers.  Here Derrick D' Souza, Professor of Management at UNT, discusses the layout of the overall program for February 8, 2008.  Handily our presenters have experience working together. Still it takes planning to make sure each has a distinct and separate presentation. We don't want one covering the same ground as another.

This session involved Derrick and Barbara Altman, Professor of Management UNT Dallas, and myself. We discussed how we would structure their morning presentations.  We want the presentations to logicall flow from the more general to the more specific that will be done in the afternoon.  Derrick will be discusing your Vision for Transforming a regular Class to an On line Class.  He was part of the team that fashioned the UNT MBA Online Program.  Check out Dr. D'Souza's website  for more information.

Several of you mentioned the push pull demands of CC administrators wanting more on line content. Yet this is difficult in delivering the intricacies of an accounting class. What to do?  Professor Barbara Altman at left suggest the hybrid or blended class.  A hybrid class is a combination of Online content coupled with in class presentations.  Okay, there are WEB CT, now VISTA 4.2, ready made online classes from the textbook publishers.  What does one do in class to make the participants feel taht the trip to school was worth the effort?  Professor Altman will address just that question in her presentation.  We fashioned this presentation specifically to address the concerns expressed by all of you in our fall meeting of balancing delivery and content in the online world amid demands for enrollment via the internet.

Check out Dr. Altman's website here.

CcATS Moves to the Big Room!

The Feb 8, 2008 CcATS will take place in the state of the art lecture Room 102 at UNT Dallas Campus.  The room features theater style seating with plenty of 'wiggle room' unlike most crowded venues of this type.  Seasting is avilable for 75+, a larger venue than we have had on the third floor in previous get togethers.

Here is a view of what the speakers will  experience.  The podium houses a computer and multiple screens for prompts or display of material to the audience.  A motorized screen behind the podium offers giant sized displays for easy viewing.  The room is fitted with speakers that allow  audio to be easily heard. 

Our goal of course is to fill the room and we anticipate that will happen based on past attendance.

Michelle Farley

Michelle A. Farley will be discussing Student Motivation and Engagement via online learning.  She has been with the Center for Distributed Learning at UNT Denton as an Instructional Designer since August, 2007.  Prior to joining UNT, she served as the Coordinator of Instructional Technology at a regional CC in  New Mexico.  (Well the group  should certainly like that!)  Michelle is also an adjunct instructor for Eastern New Mexico University - Roswell, teaching fire protection technology courses online.  MIchelle is currently a doctoral student in the Educational Learning Technologies Doctoral Program at New Mexico State University.