Innovations
Breaking Down Nonacademic Barriers: Outcomes From the First Two Years of a Community School Approach
Historically, community colleges have lower completion and retention rates than their four-year counterparts. Hongwei (2015) suggested that this is in part due to the fact that leading retention models were designed for four-year institutions, not community colleges. Community college students often face unique nonacademic barriers which impact their retention and persistence rates (Goldrick-Rab, Broton, & Eisenberg, 2013; Goldrick-Rab, Broton, & Gates, 2015; Hongwei, 2015; Troester-Trate, 2017). Such barriers include, but are not limited to, a lack of resources such as food,...
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Recognized as a state model in noncredit instruction, San Diego Continuing Education (SDCE) continues its reputation of leadership and innovation by implementing open educational resources (OER) that increase accessibility and textbook affordability to adult students in San Diego.
“It’s about access,” said Matthew Rivaldi, a member of SDCE’s business faculty. “The goal is to offer SDCE students free textbooks or high-quality educational materials using OER.”
OER has been a buzz-term in the California legislature since 2012, when Governor Brown signed two bills that recognized that the cost of...
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Through rapid growth, acquisition of costly medical simulation equipment, and the expansion of technology-centered simulation facilities, Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech) has become one of the largest and most advanced providers of healthcare simulation programs in North Carolina. New state-of-the-art simulation labs in nursing, radiology, emergency medical sciences, dental assisting, dental hygiene, medical assisting, natural sciences, nurse aid, and medical lab technology have also made Wake Tech a focal point in the simulation community. But with these advancements come new...
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Only 25.9 percent of individuals residing in Aims Community College’s taxing district in Northern Colorado have earned a college degree or credential. In order to assist parents, families, and prospective students who are interested in college, but have no experience with the application process, Aims Community College hosts College 101 for anyone who would like to learn more about going to college. The free one-hour session is held at various locations, including the college campuses, local libraries, and community outreach centers. Dinner is provided.
At College 101, attendees learn about...
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While many students entering community college aim to earn a bachelor’s degree, only a relatively small portion of these students transfer and go on to successfully do so within six years. Therefore, faculty and staff must create opportunities to clarify paths toward student end goals and establish transfer pathways through alignment of learning outcomes, program plans, and strong partnerships with transfer institutions.
The Transfer Playbook: Essential Practices for Two- and Four-Year Colleges—released by the Community College Research Center, The Aspen Institute, and the National Student...
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San Diego Miramar College: Revamped Academic Success Center Leads the Way to Greater Student Success
San Diego Miramar College is literally tearing down walls for student success. In October of 2017, a construction crew took a hammer to the plaster walls separating the college’s student computing lab—the Independent Learning Center (ILC)—from its tutoring center. The end result is a more encompassing Academic Success Center (ASC) dedicated to student success.
“We knocked down the wall so that we could have a continuation of services,” said Donnie Tran, ASC faculty coordinator.
Students can now move more freely between the Independent Learning Center and the area that was formerly known as...
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Before Tallahassee Community College (TCC) founded the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence, there was no safety net for nonprofits in Florida’s Big Bend region, limited access to specialized training and resources, and no way for nonprofits to speak with a unified voice to local decision makers.
Leon County, where TCC is based, is home to more than 2,000 nonprofit organizations. These nonprofits are a critical part of the Big Bend’s economy, generating more than $3.1 billion in annual revenue and employing 1 in 10 workers. However, many nonprofits—particularly small ones—face...
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Congratulations to the 2018 Innovation of the Year Award winners! Forty-six institutions submitted innovations for a 2018 Innovation of the Year Award. Some of the innovations are described below. Click here for a full list of winners.
Wake Technical Community College: Launching North Carolina's First Associate Degree Program in Healthcare Simulation Technology
Wake Tech has become a leader in healthcare simulation in North Carolina by developing state-of-the-art simulation labs in its Nursing, Radiology, EMS, Dental Assisting and Hygiene, and other allied health programs. Working in this...
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Students and community members were invited to the Aims Community College Fort Lupton campus to celebrate National Agriculture Day and participate in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) career development event in March 2018.
Guests who attended the National Ag Day event saw baby chicks hatch; rode on the Precision Agriculture Mobile Educational Technology Unit (a John Deere gator equipped with auto-steer and GPS technologies); learned about dairy farming from June the Cow, an animatronic full-sized fiberglass Holstein that was provided by the Western Dairy Association; and interacted with...
Mesa Community College (MCC) was the first college, among six in the nation, selected by Apple to launch the iOS app development project and the first to offer associated courses for academic credit. The college views the Everyone Can Code project as more than a collection of courses. This is a foundation for a successful future for a diverse body of students.
MCC faculty embrace the concept that the key to innovation is to provide something that is unusual, to test the norms, to do it in a timely and meaningful manner, and to embrace teaching excellence through diversity and differentiated...
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The academic success outcomes of men of color remain deficient in community colleges compared to other student groups (Valliani, 2015). While many men begin their educational journey at community colleges, most African American and Latino men do not reach degree completion (Center for Community College Student Engagement, 2014). Men of color often report that they feel unwelcome in college environments because of negative stereotypes associated with their physical appearance and challenged by academic unpreparedness and financial stress (Gardenhire-Cooks, Collado, Martin, & Castro, 2010;...
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If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a virtual reality (VR) tour must be worth a million. Portage College has seven campus locations throughout northeastern Alberta, a vast rural region in which it is difficult to provide potential students an on-location experience. Since one of the primary ways an individual chooses a college is by visiting it, we decided if students can’t get to us due to distance and travel time, why not bring it to them?
Portage College produced a 360 VR tour video to show potential students our campuses, program labs, and local areas. The Corporate...
In 2014, Sierra College, located in Rocklin, CA, was one of the first community colleges in the nation to establish a public/private partnership with Hacker Lab, a Sacramento community-based makerspace, to enhance students’ education through maker experiences. Through a competitive process, Sierra College was awarded a $350,000 CCC Maker Grant in July 2017, renewable for a second year, from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), Workforce and Economic Development Division, under the Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework. Sierra College is one of 24 CCC...
How can the Gateway Community and Technical College best support early childhood education (ECE) students who are balancing work, college, and parenthood? This was the question that the ECE program coordinator was attempting to answer when redesigning the program to boost enrollment, retention, and completion in fall 2015. Sarah Smith, ECE Program Coordinator and faculty member utilized the design thinking process that had been recently introduced to the college during its strategic planning development. The process incorporates an empathetic outlook that focuses on the end-users’ needs to...
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Congratulations to the 2017 recipients of the League's Innovation of the Year Award!
The League initiated the award over thirty years ago to recognize local community college projects and initiatives that reflect extraordinary achievement and the spirit of innovation and experimentation on which the League was founded. The competition provides an opportunity for League Board and Alliance member colleges to showcase their innovative programs, practices, policies, partnerships, and resources; to celebrate the dedicated educators who are responsible for such exceptional work; and to promote a...
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South Louisiana Community College (SLCC), the board of directors for Local Workforce Development Board #40, and area parish presidents are partnering to improve workforce development in the region. The collaboration—a first for a community college in Louisiana—falls under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) enacted in 2014.
Through a competitive selection process, SLCC was chosen to serve as the One-Stop Operator and Career Services provider for Local Workforce Development Area #40, which includes Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and...
February
2018
Educating students is no longer the only role that community college faculty members are tasked with as part of their job description. They are increasingly forced to wear multiple hats and function more as advisors to their students and as support staff for administrators, helping them to craft strategies to improve graduation rates.
In a move to better understand how these growing responsibilities impact educators and students at community colleges, Public Agenda, in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College (the League), administered a survey in 2015 to community...
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Student retention and persistence have become areas of intense focus for college administrators in recent years. The growing concern with student retention is in part due to the recently declining number of high school graduates nationwide (Mertes & Jakoviak, 2016; Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2012). A decreasing number of high school graduates often means fewer potential students eligible to enroll in an institution of higher education (Mertes & Jakoviak, 2016; Troester-Trate, 2017). Enrollment numbers for all types of higher education institutions have...
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