Day Four in America - 5 February 2008

Capital Community College - Hartford

Carl Antonucci - Director, Library Services

email: cantonucci@ccc.commnet.edu

My first meeting today was with Carl Antonucci who manages the staff and day to day operation of the library at the college. He explained that his main mission was Information Literacy and that the college needed to comply with the NEASC (see standard 7) standards for library functions.

How does the college measure information literacy? They have devised library workbooks that are assessed by library staff and works as an information literacy assessment tool. There is an information literacy test before and after to measure the effectiveness of learning.

Most students are from poor backgrounds and schools in poorer areas do not have the resources to prepare students as well as they'd like. Therefore, many of the students come in without the necessary skills of independence to cope with the study at higher levels. In order to widen participation and have an impact on retention, the college has opened a 'black and latinos men's centre' which was part of the 'Achieving the Dream' project. This was a grant to help with retention.

Carl explained that a common curriculum is being developed between the 5 colleges that are offering nursing. This seems to be one of the biggest differences; there is no common curriculum within the state or the country. It is down to the staff within the colleges to agree to develop common practice. Carl explained that if a high school teacher wanted to transfer to another state, they would probably have to take the relevant courses within the state in order to meet the criteria for the post! It is difficult to transfer qualifications and it is up to the receiving institution as to whether they'll accept them.

Capital College has 1,800 FTEs. Lots of these students do information literacy courses; there are also a lot of ESL (ESOL/ EFL) students, particularly Hispanic.

Carl demonstrated 'Info Anytime' a fantastic resourse, available 24/7 to help students with research issues. They can access online chat with a librarian in order to be pointed in the right direction. Also, there is access to 'MyComm Net', which is a rich resource with online learning support, study skills/research guides, WebCT (their VLE) and information about financial aid, amongst many other things.

Jacqueline Phillips - Director, Welcome Center
email: jphillips@ccc.commnet.edu

Jacqueline heads up the 'Welcome Center', which was formed 7 years ago in order to retain students and improve retention. Jacqueline explained that the Welcome Center was an 'open door' to the college. Before, there was no such thing. This was now a 'one stop shop' to deal with anyone who walks in, and deals with enquiry right through to the classroom. The Welcome Center gives potential students everything that they need.

Jacqueline explained two initiatives, Student Orientation and the workshops that take place. Student Orientation happens one week before classes start and is like an 'assembily'. During this, students can catch up on missing documentation, financial advice, carpark, expectations of the course, meeting the Deans, they have a motivational speaker and registration also takes place. The workshops are like mini versions of this in smaller groups and are focussed on the expectations of the faculty.

The Welcome Center does high school tours, and workshops with students, and develops strong partnerships with the community. One particular interesting strategy was to buddy college students with 5th graders and offer one credit to do so. This helped the transition process from school into college. Other initiatives include the 'Concast' programme. This is state funded and its goal is to increase retention and graduation. 50 learners come in, in the summer to do a 6 week bridging course and Jacqueline explained that all learners stay!

There is an academic alerts system. If students are presenting with difficulties, early warning letters are sent home outlining the issues and what the expectation are. There is a typical 50% resonse to these letters. Personal tutoring is not mandatory, unlike ours.

Ray Hughes - Acting Academic Division Director

email: chughes@ccc.commnet.edu

Ray explained that students who do not come up to the required standard in their placement tests (like our initial assessments), can only access 'development programmes'. About 90% of all students need to access development programmes before they can access credited programmes, as the college has an 'open enrollment' status. Credit courses last for 2 years and are full time. Typically, students take 4 courses, worth 3 credits each. If a student is a 'high flyer', they can do 15 credits.

Ray and I spoke about funding, and he explained the difference between continuing education (where students pay) and community college education (where there is funding from the state). There is an allocation given to the college, from the Connecticut state. The amount that is given depends on the number of equivalent FTEs. The college does try to augment the amount of money that it gets, through fees. If the college comes in over FTE target, they get more money!

Adjuncts (Part Time fixed term contract teachers 'instructors') are paid approximately $34,000 per annum. If recruitment goes down, funding would drop, but at present, there is no issue with lack of retention or achievement. It was apparent that many of the college staff weren't saddled with the worries and woes of the funding issues that UK colleges are.

There is a high reliance on adjunct teachers. I asked about teaching observations. It is apparent that this is done, however, I'm not sure whether this is a college wide initiative. Ray said that this happens if there is a promotion opportunity for an adjunct. Full time teachers are required to teach 4 classes (12 hours) per week, with an additional 3 hours of responsibility!

Ray Hughes (left), Jacqueline Phillips (right)


Glisma Pérez-Silva, MS - Learning Disabilities Specialist

email: gperez-silva@ccc.commnet.edu

Glisma has a background in special education. She explained that after the age of 21, people with special educational needs want to come to college, and the law (ADA) allows them to come to college under the section 504 rehabillitation law. It's part of the civil rights of the individual. Glisma sees her role as an advocate for people with special needs. The law states that the person can seek reasonable accommodations and they need to disclose any disability for these to be taken into account. It has to be the student who discloses, not a parent or anyone else. Glisma is then required to review documentation to prove that the learner needs special accommodations. The expectation is that the accommodations are 'reasonable'. Whatever accommodations are given, the student is still required to meet the requirements of the course; the course content does NOT change. A confidential disclosure letter is then sent to the professors to alert them to the fact that accommodations have been agreed. If it is ascertained that, for example, a laptop is needed, this has to be provided by the student. There is no pot of money for this from the college.

To begin with, only 35 students disclosed, but due to positive PR, now there are 70. The student body is tolerant of physical disabilities and sees peers with a disability as no different to others. This is due to the laws of America that have been in place for the past 25 years. Equality of service has been in force for this length of time already.

If there is an issue with behaviour, the Dean of Student Services deals with this; if it is a serious matter in the classroom, security is called immediately and students can actually be arrested by on site community police officers. Training in discipline control is not something that is ordinarily given to staff.

Glaisma's team find getting information from schools very difficult. If information is needed, the student themselves have to request it from the school due to the law on confidentiality.

Poor performance is tackled in 3 stages; a warning, followed by a probation period, and then suspension. Also, the majority of students study with financial aid; this is compromised if there are issues with performance.

The Career Centre within the college focusses on students developing skills in resume writing and identifying potential employers. They also provide a job fair where companies are invited in and mini interviews can take place.

Service Learning is a new strategy where learners gain credits for working in the community. This is a big movement within America in terms of contributing to the community. Students aren't paid, but earn credits. This is something that a student would elect to enrol on.

Glaisma stated that every student receives learning in, 'Introduction to Software Applications.' This is especially beneficial for older learners.

Childcare is limited for learners with children, and it is an expectation that students will make their own arrangements. There is a service within the college, but it has limited hours. Students pay for this service.

There is a 'lunch lecture' service. This is where lecturers or outside speakers give talks on interesting subjects during the lunchtime (12-1pm)

Glaisma does presentations about disabilities to staff within the college, in order to help them understand what it's like to work with a population with additional needs.

There are many distance learning opportunities. This is a growing area and there is a real demand for it.

Marie Basche - Acting Director, Academic Success Center
email: abasche@ccc.commnet.edu

Marie works in, what I would call, a basic and study skills centre. She has a caseload of support tutors, who are professional. At the Success Center, there is a Math Center and a Writing Skills Center, and these are 'drop in'. This support is entirely voluntary, however, 27% of students do come into the centre, which is open, airy, professional looking and fresh. Marie has software called 'Tutor Track' in order for her to analyse what support is being given where. There is a 1 hour per week, per subject amount of support that can be allocated to a typical student, and this is increased if there is a learner with special needs. Marie uses surveys to ascertain the effectiveness of support; she sees this as the most reliable measure. The math center is open 60 hours per week, and the most difficulties are with mathematics, the same as the UK. It appears that low levels of basic skills are an issue for those in the US too.

One of the main aims is to get the learners to take responsibility for their learning and to become more independent. They want independent, active learners.

Dr. Jai E. Smith - Director of Student Activities

email: jsmith@ccc.commnet.edu

Jai is the equivalent of our enrichment coordinator, but the difference is that the student body is really very much encouraged by Jai to become part of the student Senate! There are so many different initiatives which develop the students' management skills; they have an office, a board room, games rooms, television rooms, sports teams and those that are successfully voted for are given a small budget to spend on the activity that has been elected. In order to be elected, the student needs to get a petition of 50 signatures and this is carefully monitored.

As we walked around, it was clear that the learners knew and respected Jai. He clearly had a rapport with them and this was part of the strength of the work. The whole of one floor has been given over to students and their management of enrichment programmes!

Learning Opportunities for us so far...

1. Robust assessment of information literacy skills
2. Active development and assessment of information literacy skills
3. Widening participation; the Black and Latino Men's Center
4. College in the middle of the town
5. Courses offered to businesses for upskilling in ICT
6. InfoAnytime real time chat study support
7. One stop shop for enquiry thru to classroom - the Welcome Center
8. Student Orientation for whole college intake
9. 5th Grade buddying system from college students
10. Early warning letters sent to students with potential performance problems
11. Strong emphasis on basic skills within development programmes and through success center
12. Excellent disclosure rate for learners with disabilities through positive promotion
13. On the spot security if needed from telephones from classrooms
14. Specialised Careers Center
15. Service Learning initiative across America
16. Lunch lectures of interesting topics
17. Excellent enrichment take-up