Innovations
November
2015
The League for Innovation in the Community College has two awards programs each spring that recognize and celebrate community college innovation and excellence. League Alliance member institutions are encouraged to participate in this year’s awards season to showcase outstanding faculty, staff, and administrators and the creative programs and practices they have developed.
Innovation of the Year
Submission Deadline: April 18, 2016
www.league.org/ioy
Established over 30 years ago, the League’s Innovation of the Year award was devised as a way to recognize significant innovations at Alliance...
November
2015
We had an exciting time at our recent STEMtech 2015 conference, held this year in sunny Phoenix at the beautiful Arizona Grand Resort. While at the conference, we had an opportunity to meet many of you and capture your thoughts on video for our Faculty Voices VLOG project. Please click on the hyperlinks below to check out the latest faculty VLOGS as your colleagues share their thoughts and challenges, as well as our screen shots below from our social media chat.
Samantha Snavely, El Centro College, Biology Instructor, Student mentoring and the flipped classroom
Paul Pasichnyk El Centro...
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October
2015
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October
2015
The Wind Energy Department at Cloud County Community College (CCCC), Concordia, KS, held a two-day, 12-hour Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Community Enrichment class in June 2015. The class gave any interested community member the opportunity to gain hands-on experience flying, configuring, and taking photos with UAVs. Those attending also had the opportunity to learn about the current FAA regulations for UAVs. Monte Poersch, CCCC wind energy instructor, taught the class.
CCCC Wind Energy instructor demonstrates how to fly a drone
The Wind Energy Department at CCCC has...
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September
2015
Workforce programs have long been acknowledged as centers of innovation on every community college campus, and now a new evaluation system can help college workforce leaders demonstrate the learning quality of their instructional programs.
The Workforce Education Implementation Evaluation (WEIE) framework, developed by SRI International in Menlo Park, California, is based on a six-year case study supported by the National Science Foundation of five workforce education programs across the United States. It features tools and concepts that make it possible for program leaders to assess the hard...
September
2015
Wharton County Junior College (WCJC) students will soon have a cutting-edge career path to follow, thanks to an ongoing collaboration between the college, Tenaris, and the Bay City Community Development Corporation (BCCDC).
Through WCJC’s new Manufacturing Technology Program—which kicks off this fall—students will be able to obtain one of three different certificates or complete a two-year associate of applied science degree in Manufacturing Technology.
Students participating in the program will be well versed in the skills necessary for a host of industry-related fields, said Dr. Amy LaPan...
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September
2015
San Jacinto College veteran educator Dr. Karen Hattaway was selected by the League for Innovation in the Community College to author The Cross Papers, Number 18, a scholarly, in-depth monograph that will help to shape teaching strategies in many of the nation’s community colleges.
The format for The Cross Papers was established by K. Patricia Cross, a retired educator and scholar of educational research who wrote the first seven issues. Since the release of the inaugural issue in 1997, The Cross Papers have been designed to provide faculty with a body of useful, proven, practical strategies...
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August
2015
Many Norwalk Community College (NCC) students work full-time and care for their families while attending college. It's a constant juggling act with hurdles to overcome, including taking care of sick children, squeezing in study time between doctor's appointments, and coping with rising food costs.
NCC realizes that having determination and a sterling work ethic aren't enough for some students to succeed. That's why, in addition to the requisite financial aid and career services, NCC offers two uncommon support services that provide students with free medical care and free groceries, right on...
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August
2015
As community colleges prepare for classes to begin in coming weeks, the League congratulates the 2014-2015 Innovation of the Year award recipients, and invites participation in the 2015-2016 Innovation of the Year awards program.
Launched more than three decades ago to recognize significant innovations at member colleges, the awards are designed to recognize faculty, staff, and administrators at member colleges who have created and implemented innovative programs, practices, partnerships, policies, and activities that improve the institution's ability to serve students and the community....
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July
2015
Onondaga Community College's (Syracuse, NY) commitment to environmental responsibility earned it Green College status from the prestigious Princeton Review in April 2015. A total of 861 colleges applied for the classification and OCC was one of only 353 selected.
Green College status is based on academic offerings and career preparation for students, campus policies, initiatives, and activities. The Princeton Review helps students get ready for college by offering test preparation, admission services, tutoring, and online courses.While reviewing and evaluating OCC's dedication to...
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July
2015
Every college campus has a feel, an atmosphere, that is all its own. Having spent the last 16 years working in metropolitan community colleges, I have had the opportunity to see all types of students interact with one another in that atmosphere, as well as with faculty and staff from all backgrounds. All students are on campus to learn, and when the learning mission is disrupted, it's important to know two things: why it was interrupted and how the college can stop the interference from reoccurring. One issue facing today's college campuses is how to comply with federal Title IX guidelines....
July
2015
This webinar provides information for community college personnel interested in developing community college programs in Public Health and Health Navigation. It is applicable to the League for Innovation's 2015 and 2016 Calls for Planning Community College Programs in Public Health and Health Navigation.
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June
2015
Minnesota State Community and Technical College (M State) has announced an ambitious and exciting initiative that uses the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) as a tool to identify student achievement. CLA+ is a performance-based assessment that measures critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication and mechanics.
Up2U
Up2U is an incentive-based program that supports student learning, increases persistence and motivation, and advances achievement in degree completion. Students who participate in Up2U are driven to finish school on time and with a high level of academic...
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June
2015
Graduating high school students across the nation are faced with deciding whether to continue their education or enter the workforce. Many seek higher education in order to improve career opportunities and gain economic prosperity and social mobility (Blackwell & Pinder, 2014). The College Board claims that the average annual income for individuals who have a baccalaureate degree is $53,976. The unemployment rate among these graduates is 4.7 percent, which is lower than the U.S. unemployment rate of 6.7 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). While these statistics look promising, the...
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Television, radio, newspapers, and social media; community college marketers use many channels to communicate these days. But perhaps they should be considering a more grassroots approach: the humble church newsletter. Volunteer State Community College (Vol State) administrators learned this lesson thanks to a group of dedicated learners. The older residents and their unique communication approach helped to make the Keep Educating Yourself (KEY) Lifelong Learning continuing education program at Vol State a resounding success in its inaugural session. It began when Shirley Arrendale of Sumner...
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March
2015
In fall 2012, I applied for a Learning Challenge Grant to develop and present a hands-on workshop that would introduce a counseling, assessment, and retention tool (CART) system to the Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) department faculty and staff at Sinclair Community College (SCC). After this workshop, the goal was to offer it to the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) division, then to all SCC faculty.
The workshop was requested to:
Develop teamwork within the EET department;
Enhance the overall success rate of students and faculty by implementing a system to increase the...
March
2015
What issues surrounding student success and completion are important to community college faculty? What concerns do these faculty members have about the national focus on completion? As a community college faculty member, do you see any benefits to the so-called Completion Agenda, and if so, what are those benefits? These are some of the questions the Faculty Voices initiative seeks to answer by engaging community college faculty, full-time and adjunct, in the national conversation about student success and completion.Why faculty voices? When President Obama launched the American Graduation...
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February
2015
Having spent the last 16 years working in metropolitan community colleges, I have had the opportunity to see all types of students: new-to-college eighteen year olds, fifteen year old non-driving dual credit students, and returning students who would rather not divulge their ages. All bring with them the sum of their life experiences. But one group that brings a set of experiences and skills like no other is returning student veterans. Because of the nature of the service, these men and women are arriving on our college campuses with more technical knowledge than most generations of students...
