Innovations Library

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Supporting One of Our Most At-Risk Populations: Student-Parents
Mary Ann DeMario October 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 10
Count all 45
College students who are parents, a.k.a., student-parents, have always been enrolled in community colleges, but only within the past few years have they been explicitly recognized as a distinct student group with a unique set of support needs. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (2018), more than one in five postsecondary students in the U.S. is a student-parent. This holds true at Monroe Community College (MCC), where 21.4 percent of students enrolled in 2019-2020 had children under age 18 (DeMario, 2021).
Tags: Student Services, Access, Inclusion, Programs and Practices, Innovations
New Cannabis Program at Moraine Valley Community College Trains Students for Emerging Industry
Karen Town September 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 9
Count all 85
Moraine Valley Community College introduced its new Cannabis Retail Specialist Certificate program in fall 2020 to attract students to the cannabis industry during its infancy in Illinois. In spring 2019, a retired Moraine Valley professor and department chair approached his former colleague, Dr. Margaret Lehner, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive Assistant to the President, to gauge the college’s interest in developing a program in this emerging field on behalf of a vice president at Cresco Labs. Lehner discussed the issue with President Dr. Sylvia M.
Tags: Partnerships, Workforce Preparation, Innovations
Dallas College’s State-of-the-Art Construction Sciences Building Set to Fill In-Demand Skilled Trades Positions
Cherie Yurco August 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 8
Count all 154
Ground broke on Dallas College’s state-of-the-art Construction Sciences Building in 2019, and the need for the new training facility could not be more urgent. Before the design for the new building began, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (2019) had already predicted a shortage of one million craft professionals in the construction industry by 2023. In Dallas, the shortage is critical.
Tags: Economic Development, Learning Environments, Workforce Preparation, Innovations
Using Innovative and Strategic Solutions to Provide Access to Underserved Populations Through a Corrections Education Program
Bobby Beauchamp July 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 7
Count all 214
For decades, Jackson College (JC) has been a U.S. leader in providing higher education access and opportunity to incarcerated students. The town of Jackson, Michigan, has long been known as a “prison city,” and three large correctional facilities are located less than 15 miles from JC’s Central Campus. In 1967, the college offered its first class “inside the walls.” In 1969-1970, a pilot prison education program for the Southern Michigan Prison was launched to provide qualifying inmates an opportunity to further their education.
Tags: Teaching and Learning, Access, Inclusion, Learning Environments, Innovations
Award-Winning Programs at League Board and Alliance Institutions Exemplify Community College Innovation
From the League June 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 6
Count all 192
Congratulations to the 2020-2021 Innovation of the Year Award recipients from 32 participating League Board and Alliance member colleges. The League initiated the Innovation of the Year award over thirty-five years ago to recognize local community college projects and initiatives that reflect the spirit of innovation and experimentation on which our organization was founded.
Tags: Teaching and Learning, Innovations
Creating a Campus Culture of Self-Directed Student Learning
Chardin Claybourne May 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 5
Count all 18
Student retention continues to be a major concern for most community colleges in the U.S. According to research conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2019), of all students enrolled in two-year public institutions beginning in fall 2017, only 48.9 percent would continue at the same institution in fall 2018. Comparatively, students at four-year public institutions over the same period boasted an 82.7 percent retention rate. While students may struggle for a variety of reasons, one way to positively address this issue is within the classroom.
Tags: Teaching and Learning, Student Completion, Student Retention, Innovations
Alumni Engagement and the Community College
Jeff Hooks April 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 4
Count all 51
The level of alumni engagement at two-year colleges is well below that which is typically found at four-year institutions (Magaw, 2013; Skari, 2013; Theis, 2018). This is an issue that affects community colleges’ bottom line, the experience of currently enrolled students, and the connection between alumni and their institutions.
Tags: Resource Development, Fundraising, Mentoring, Programs and Practices, Innovations
Share Your College’s Innovative Solutions for Hunger Relief
From the League March 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 3
Count all 10
Almost half of U.S. community college students responding to the #RealCollege survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community and Justice indicated that they had experienced food insecurity within the 30 days before completing the survey (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2019). In response, an increasing number of community colleges are working to eliminate food insecurity for students and their families.
Tags: Student Services, Access, Community Relations, Organizational Culture, Partnerships, Student Retention, Innovations
Reconnecting, Reenrolling, and Retaining Stopped-Out Students
Carol Bonner February 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 2
Count all 46
In fiscal year 2019-2020, Sinclair Community College (Sinclair) received $10,000 from StrivePartnership Cincinnati and Learn to Earn Dayton to develop and implement a strategic communication plan to reach students who had stopped out in the previous two years without completing a degree from any postsecondary institution. Sinclair chose to expand their reach beyond the originally funded 2,000 students to include an additional 6,300 students who had stopped out in the previous five years.
Tags: Student Services, Access, Enrollment Services, Student Completion, Innovations
Collaboration Across the Curriculum: Model UN Program at Monroe Community College
Shirley Batistta-Provost January 2021
Volume: 16 Issue: 1
Count all 26
The Model United Nations (UN) program is extremely popular throughout the United States and globally, with hundreds of thousands of students from all levels of education participating every year (United Nations, n.d.). This UN simulation enables college students to engage in and learn about international political issues and the UN while developing their communication, deliberation, leadership, and debate skills. According to National Model United Nations (NMUN) (n.d.),
Tags: Leadership Development, Diversity, Partnerships, Innovations
Beyond the Pandemic: Community of Practice and Techno-Resiliency
Diane P. Janes and Lorraine M. Carter December 2020
Volume: 15 Issue: 12
Count all 19
In March 2020, as the world became drastically different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions found themselves pivoting to remote operations, quarantine, and technology-enabled strategies for working and learning. At SAIT, a polytechnic in Western Canada, actions to ensure the techno-resiliency of instructors were taken through innovative use of a community of practice (CoP) model and a digital learning exchange, which have proven to be effective in empowering postsecondary educators to master this difficult transition.
Tags: Learning and Organization, Organizational Culture, Technology Systems, Innovations
California Community College Students Transformed by Makerspaces
Karen Fraser-Middleton November 2020
Volume: 15 Issue: 11
Count all 14
Sacramento City College student and entrepreneur Christian Espinoza’s personal essay was published in Makerspace Impact: Implementation Strategies & Stores of Transformation: “At the time, it was all I ever wanted—to create things that were unbelievable and out of this world,” wrote Espinoza, who exemplifies thousands of students whose lives have been transformed by the CCC Maker initiative. He continued,
Tags: Teaching and Learning, Learning Environments, Teaching Strategies, Workforce Preparation, Innovations
Bridging Programs Connect Newcomers and Employers in Canada
Peter Paul, Geraldine Babcock, and Thomas Puthenmadhom October 2020
Volume: 15 Issue: 10
Count all 25
Like many newcomers to Canada, Malvika Mahajan immigrated to Toronto to find a better life for her family. She was anxious about restarting her career in a new country, despite having many years of experience as a supply chain specialist in India, including work for a large multinational corporation.
Tags: Economic Development, Teaching and Learning, Access, Community Relations, Partnerships, Workforce Preparation, Innovations
Building a Teacher Pipeline at San Diego Mesa College
David Ogul September 2020
Volume: Issue: 9
Count all 22
San Diego Mesa College is partnering with San Diego Unified School District, San Diego State University (SDSU), and National University to mold a new generation of K-12 educators from diverse backgrounds who reflect the students they teach.
Tags: Teaching and Learning, Access, Diversity, Partnerships, Programs and Disciplines, Innovations
Tapping Into Student Interests to Drive Innovative Academic Career Programming
Ruth M. Williams August 2020
Volume: 15 Issue: 8
Count all 9
Oakton Community College’s Cannabis Dispensary and Patient Care Specialist certificate program is the direct result of a single interaction between a senior Oakton administrator and an Oakton alumnus. The alumnus worked for a medical cannabis dispensary and expressed the need for educated patient care specialists who were able to interact with chronically ill patients—in other words, those with job skills that go beyond being a “weed enthusiast.”
Tags: Economic Development, Community Relations, Partnerships, Workforce Preparation, Innovations

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