Increasing the Limits to Student Learning

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Increasing the Limitsto Student Learning

• AMATYC Conference
• November 15, 2001
• George R. Boggs
• Toronto

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What Community Colleges Are All About
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Community College Values

• Access
• Community Responsiveness
• Clear Focus on Student Learning
• Resourcefulness
  Entrepreneurial Spirit
  Creativeness
  Innovativeness

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Enrollment by Racial/Ethnic Background
Source National Center for Education Statistics
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Enrollment by Age
Source National Center for Education Statistics
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Positive Opportunities for Community Colleges

• Increasing demand for skilled workers.
• Growing shortage of prepared workers.
• Decreasing job tenure.
• Increasing job demand for postsecondary
  education.
• Increasing productivity based on skills.
• Increasing higher educational attainment.
• Increasing in enrollment in postsecondary
  institutions.

• Increasing education level of the workforce.
• Increasing enrollment in community colleges.
• Increasing diversity of community colleges.
• Increasing need for financial assistance.
• Anywhere and anytime learning flexible
  responsive.
• Competencies vs. completions.
• Employer relationships.
• Increasing government attention.

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High Skilled and Unskilled Jobs as a Percent of
the Workforce, 1988 to 2008
National Perspective
Source Bureau of Labor Statistics
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National Perspective
Does not include all types of training
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Threats to Community College Values

• Student costs.
• Financial Aid Policies.
• Challenges to remedial Education.
• Capacity Challenges.

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Employment and Enrollment
Source National Center for Education Statistics
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Percent of High School Graduates Attending
College, 1979-1997 and Projected to 2010
National Perspective
Source U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics and National
Alliance of Business
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Total Undergraduate Enrollment in Postsecondary
Education, 1995 and 2015 (in millions)
National Perspective
Source Carnevale, Anthony P. and Richard A. Fry.
Crossing the Great Divide. Educational Testing
Services, 2000.
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Projected Postsecondary Enrollment Distribution
by Type of Institution, 1975 to 2015
National Perspective
Source U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics and National
Alliance of Business
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Students with degrees
Noncredit
Credit, Part-time
Credit, Full-time
Source Faces of the Future Survey, AACC-ACT
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The Learning Paradigm Movement
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Plans for Reform

• League for Innovation surveys reveal the majority
  of U.S. and Canadian community colleges are
  involved in or planning transformations to more
  learning-centered institutions.

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The Learning Paradigm

• What is it?
• What caused it?
• What does it mean for colleges?
• What does it mean for students?
• What does it mean for faculty and staff?
• What is the impact on employee selection?
• What support will faculty and staff need?

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Defining the Learning Revolution

• In a nutshell, the purpose of the Learning
  Revolution is to place learning first in every
  policy, program, and practice by overhauling the
  traditional architecture of education (OBanion,
  1997).

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What is Teaching?

• In classrooms, we find more emphasis on
  information transmission and less emphasis on
  vigorous intellectual exchange (Baker, 1999).

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Four Tenets of theLearning Paradigm

• The Mission is student learning rather than
  instruction.
• Institutions accept responsibility for student
  learning, not just access.
• Supporting and promoting student learning is
  everyones job.
• Institutions are evaluated based upon student
  learning outcomes.

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The Learning College

• The Learning College places learning first and
  provides educational experiences for learners any
  way, any place, any time (OBanion, 1995-96).

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Impetus for theLearning Paradigm

• The accountability and institutional
  effectiveness movements.
• The definition of a successful college.
• Reasons that it started in the community colleges.

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Institutional Impacts

• Accepting responsibility for student learning.
• Structural changes to enhance learning.
• Planning and decision-making based upon
  consequences to student learning.
• Evaluation of programs based upon impact on
  student learning.

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What Is Assessment?

• Assessment is the systematic collection,
  analysis, interpretation, and use of information
  to improve teaching and learning. (Tom Angelo,
  1999)

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Institutional Outcomes

• Degrees and certificates based upon demonstrated
  skills and knowledge.
• Continuous improvement in student learning.

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Meaning for Staff

• Unity of purpose.
• Identification with the institutions mission.
• More emphasis on teamwork.

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Meaning for Students

• Accepting responsibility for their learning.
• Learning in a more cooperative and collaborative
  environment.
• Making use of college support services.
• Making use of available technology.
• Making connections with other learners.
• Extending learning into the community.

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How Students Learn

• Traditional Thinking
• Lectures
• Reading assignments
• Writing assignments
• Problem sets
• Laboratory work
• Field work

• New Theories
• Constructivism
• Making connections
• Learning styles
• Involvement
• Learning in groups
• Learning to learn

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Meaning for Faculty

• Identifying learning outcomes.
• Designing the learning environment.
• Measuring gains in learning.
• Connecting students to each other and to support
  services.
• Guiding students to sources of information.
• Treating teaching as a scholarly activity.

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Barriers to Change
Departmental structure presents barriers to cross
discipline discussions.
Methods for promoting Institutional Communication

• Professional Development Activities
• Writing and Critical Thinking Across the
  Curriculum
• Assessment of Student Learning
• Learning Communities

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Using Technology to Enhance Learning

• Communicating with students electronically.
• Use of chat rooms and threaded discussions to
  connect students.
• Accessing sources of information.
• Presenting information more effectively.

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Measuring ProgressIdentifying Learning Outcomes

• At what levels (course,program, institution) are
  learning outcomes defined?
• In what ways are stakeholders involved in
  identifying learning outcomes?
• What opportunities are provided to students to
  achieve these outcomes?
• What strategies are used to focus on the
  importance of learning outcomes?

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Measuring Progress Documenting Outcomes

• What assessment methods are in place at the
  course, program, and institutional levels?
• What methods are used to document student
  learning?
• How is resistance to and fear of assessment
  addressed?
• What strategies are used to promote a culture of
  evidence?

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Measuring ProgressUsing Learning Technology

• Do all students have access to technology tools
  and training?
• Are students encouraged to develop the capacity
  to learn in multiple formats?
• Is technology used to promote learning
  communities and collaboration?
• Is the technology budget used to maximize the
  impact on student learning?

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Measuring ProgressOperational Technology

• Are faculty and staff trained to make the best
  use of technology?
• Are technology tools and training selected in a
  way to promote learning?
• Does a comprehensive plan exist for a
  learning-centered technology infrastructure
  (web/phone/teaching/learning/service tools)?
• How is return on investment measured?

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Measuring Progress Recruiting/Selecting
Learning-Centered Faculty and Staff

• How are learning-centered faculty,
  administrators, and staff recruited?
• What screening/interviewing criteria and
  processes are used to ensure candidates are
  learning-centered?
• How are search committees selected and trained?

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Measuring ProgressDeveloping/Evaluating/Rewarding
Faculty and Staff

• How are full- and part-time faculty, staff,
  trustees, and administrators oriented?
• How are professional development needs of current
  faculty and staff assessed?
• What critical core skills should be required of
  all faculty and staff?
• Do evaluation programs reflect learning-centered
  values?
• Are faculty and staff rewarded for their
  contributions to learning?

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Measuring ProgressStudent Orientation and
Engagement

• How are critical student behaviors promoted and
  supported?
• What instructional practices promote student
  retention and positive learning outcomes?
• How are students oriented and developed during
  their first year?
• How is student engagement in learning assessed,
  benchmarked, monitored, and improved?

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Monitoring ProgressCreating a Campus Culture for
Learning

• What strategies are used to create common
  understanding and language?
• What cultural elements work in favor of or
  against progress?
• What strategies are used to engender stakeholder
  ownership?
• How are learning-centered principles promoted?
• Do organizational structures promote decisions
  and plans based upon learning-centered principles?

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Monitoring ProgressOrganizational Change

• Are Learning College principles imbedded in
  policies, practices, programs and procedures?
• How are impediments identified and addressed?
• How is a culture of evidence to support
  learning cultivated?

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Monitoring ProgressRefocusing Funding

• What strategies link funding to student and
  organizational learning?
• What reward structures motivate faculty and staff
  to place learning first?
• What mechanisms are used to eliminate policies,
  programs, practices, and positions?
• What strategies secure alternate funding for
  strengthening the focus on learning?

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Touch the Future