Upcoming Presentations

League for Innovation in the Community College

Beyond Engagement: Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Learning Online

Date & Time TBD

Students and faculty both encounter challenges in the online environment. These challenges frequently manifest and are understood in terms of low student engagement. In this session, researchers and community college faculty will present a specific and actionable framework to bolster students’ abilities to remain motivated and manage their learning processes in online courses. The presenters refer to these mutually reinforcing mindsets and behaviors as self-directed learning (SDL) skills and they include motivational processes (e.g., self-efficacy), metacognitive processes (e.g., planning), and applied learning processes (e.g., help seeking). Presenters will describe a set of evidence-based instructional strategies to support SDL developed in collaboration with instructors at broad-access institutions. Speakers will share research findings on how the strategies have been implemented in postsecondary online STEM courses and their effect on student outcomes. A community college faculty member will share their experience implementing the strategies in an online biology course.

Presenters

Ellen Wasserman, Research Associate, CCRC

Allystair Jones, Department Chair, Science & Professor of Biology, Odessa College

Keena Walters, Education Research Associate, SRI Education

Aiming for Equity: Early College & Dual Enrollment

DREAM 2020
February 20, 2020
National Harbor, MD

For the past two decades, dual enrollment and early college have been among the fastest-growing sources of enrollment for community colleges. We know that dual enrollment is a powerful tool for increasing access to and equity in postsecondary education. However, recent research demonstrates that if these partnerships are not executed carefully, they may not yield their intended impact.

In April 2019, Gateway to College National Network merged with Achieving the Dream. As a result of this merger, ATD has expanded capacity to support colleges to develop and strengthen their K-12 pipelines with a focus on equity. This session focused on the transformative potential of dual enrollment and prompted colleges to reflect on whether their current practices achieve that potential. Research on dual enrollment across the country illustrated the achievements and the shortcomings of our current efforts, and innovative leaders shared their experiences fine-tuning dual enrollment and early college to create new pathways for young people who were not college-bound. Session participants also considered the current context for dual enrollment policy and discussed state and federal policy opportunities on the horizon.

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Participants

Senior Research Associate and Program Lead
Community College Research Center
Shasta Buchanan
Associate Vice President, College & High School Relations
Austin Community College
Alex Perry
Policy Advisor
Foresight Law + Policy
David E. Thomas
Associate Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Community College of Philadelphia

Associated Project(s)