CAPS Career, Academic and Personal Success A Multidimensional Approach to Student Success Career Academic Success Personal Colleen R. Doherty cdoherty@qcc.mass.edu Quinsigamond Community College Worcester, Massachusetts International Conference on FYE Vancouver, BC July, 2003
Title III “The purpose of the Strengthening Institutions Program is to provide grants to eligible institutions of higher education to improve their academic programs, institutional management, and fjscal stability in order to increase their self- suffjciency and strengthen their capacity to make a substantial contribution to the higher education resources of the Nation. Funds may be used for faculty development, funds and administrative management, development and improvement of academic programs, joint use of facilities, and student services.” (US Dept. of Ed. Web site) Additional information may be found at http://www.ed.gov/offjces/OPE/HEP/idues/tit le3a.html
Title III Team • Cathy Livingston, Vice President of Academic Afgairs; Project Manager of Title III Grant • Pat T oney, Dean of Instruction for Humanities and Social Sciences • Jim Rice, Professor of English/Coordinator of Communication • Felix Rizvanov, Director of Instructional Design • Colleen Doherty, Director of Career Development • Anne Shull, Instructor of English as a Second Language • Sheila Booth, Assistant Professor of English • Steve Rayshick, Assistant Professor of English • Betsy Zuegg, Assistant Professor of Developmental English • Elaine Previte, Coordinator of Learning Resources • Virginia Asadoorian, Professor of Mathematics • Steve Zona, Professor of Mathematics
QCC Identifjed Needs • limited success of developmental students • large % of undeclared majors who do not persist to graduation • clear need to improve academic advising • course content and delivery methods for developmental courses
5 Major Target Areas • College Orientation Course • Curriculum Redesign • Research Success of Pilot Courses • Developmental Advising Model • Professional Development Program for Faculty
Successes Challenges Suggestions
1. College Orientation Course 3 Major Themes – Career Development – College Connection and Knowledge – Learning and Study Skills Final Project – CAPS Plan Active Instructional Methodologies Nearly 90 % of students returned the second semester
Community College Focus • Commuter Campus • Busy, Competing Agendas • Minimal Connection to College • Large Immigrant Population (Worcester) • High Percentage of Students beginning in Developmental Courses • Age Difgerence
CAPS PLAN: Career, Academic and Personal Success Career Academic Success Personal
QCC CAPS PLAN Career, Academic, and Personal Success ORT 110 & PSY 115 LEARNING PROFILE (complete 2) Index of Learning Styles Results _____________________ Modality Questionnaire Results _____________________ MBTI (Meyers-Briggs) Results _____________________ GEFT (Embedded Figures) Results______________________ Summarizing Comments: ____________________________________ __________________________________________________________
CAREER PLANNING (complete 3) *Self-Assessment Self-Directed Search Results _____________________ Strong-Campbell Results _____________________ Kuder Results _____________________ Career Link Inventory Results _____________________ MBTI (Meyers-Briggs) Results _____________________ Career Key Results _____________________ *Values (complete 1) Your Values Test Results ____________________ COPES Results ____________________ *Careers Researched (research 2 to 5 careers) ________________________ ________________________ *Career Options Exploring further Short-term Options Long -term Options coursework/Other Summarizing Comments:______________________________________
QCC Course Selection Planning Chart QCC Course Selection Planning Chart P l a n t o Co u r se # O fg e r e d G r a d e C r e d i t s P r e r e q u isit e s T a k e Fa ll _____ Sp rin g _____ Su m m e r/In t e rse ssio n _____ Fa ll _____ Sp rin g _____
Institutional Benefjts of CAPS Plan • Advising -Comprehensive view of student, including career plan and course selection • Transfer -Plan, contact schools • General Studies- Administrative Mechanism -Provide direction to large % of undecided students
Challenges & Suggestions • Faculty Selection Critical • Start up of New Course, Registering Appropriate Students • Faculty Training and Compensation • Technology Usage
2. Curriculum Re-Design • Faculty Release Time • Valuable Dialogue Across Disciplines • Uniformity within course sections • Improved Sequences from course to course • Customized Texts • Course Matrix
Matrix Categories Week Topics/ Instructional Learning Faculty Assessme Descriptio Strategies Outcomes Resources/ nt n Materials
Challenges & Suggestions • Academic Freedom • Pilot /Field Test Sections • Faculty Use of Technology • Adjuncts and Late Notifjcation of Teaching • Support for Faculty • Changing Instructional Methodologies
3. Research Attrition and Persistence • Fall, 2001 baseline cohort shows that within one semester QCC lost 30% of all students enrolled in developmental courses. • Within One year QCC lost 48.2% of the above students.
Retention and Grades from Fall 2002 to Spring 2003 Title III Pilot Results • 78.6% for ENG (10.5% increase over Fall, 01). • 80.5% for MATH (13.2% increase over Fall, 01). • 89.7% for ORT (College Orientation) (26% increase over Fall, 01). -------------------------------------------------------- GRADES- % of students with C+ or higher • 9.8% higher in Title III Pilot Sections of Math and English than in Non-pilot Sections.
ORT 110 College Orientation Course • Developmental Pilots with ORT 110= 75.4% of students in Dev. Pilots received grades of C+ or higher in Pilots. • Dev. Pilots without ORT 110= 60.7% of students in Dev. Pilots received grades of C+ or higher in Pilots. • ORT 110 infmuence resulted in 24.4% increase in student success.
Challenges & Suggestions • Integrating Data from Various Sources • Community College Enrollment Patterns difger from 4-year colleges • Defjne and Measure “Student Success” from both Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches
4. Developmental Advising • Goal- Design a Campus-wide, Comprehensive, Developmental Advising Program that addresses all Offjces or Departments Involved in Advising.
External Resources and Models • Valencia Community College- Life Map • NACADA • Work of Virginia Gordon (Undecided Students) • Work of Joe Cuseo (Advising, Retention and First- Year Initiatives) • Work of Terry O’Banion
O’Banion “ Academic Advising is much larger than assisting someone in course selection. One has to go through difgerent stages of development in order to ultimately select which courses are most appropriate. Stages include – (1) exploration of life goals; (2) exploration of career goals; (3) selection of a program major; (4) identifjcation of course choices; and (5) creation of course schedule.”
Developmental Advising Task Force • Stage Model -0-15 credits- Stage One -15-30 credits- Stage T wo -30-45 credits- Stage Three -45-60+- Stage Four -gradual shift of responsibilities to student as they move through the stages • Specifjc Performance Indicators at Each Stage • Existing Campus Resources and Solutions
Challenges & Suggestions • Difgering Perspectives and Approaches of Student Afgairs and Academic Afgairs • New Campus-wide Initiatives need Presidential Endorsement • Allow Ample TIME for Process and Results
5. Faculty Professional Development • Developmental Course Content Revised • Improving Instructional Methodologies – Inclusive Strategies Reaching ALL Students – Use/Integration of T echnology • On-going Improvement and Updating of Course Content
Develop and Sustain Faculty Professional Development • Expand to All Faculty -Those teaching Title III courses and others -Include existing training initiatives at college • Train-the-Trainer Model • Resources -Refmective Practice -Universal Design -Accelerated Learning
Teaching Every Student in the The Courage Digital Age, to Teach, D. Rose & A. Parker Palmer Meyer Creating Signifjcant Learning Experiences, Dee Fink
Challenges & Suggestions • Resources • Technology Availability & Comfort Level • Measuring Change and Improvement • Sustaining Momentum
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