Opportunities to Engage First Year Students at Community Colleges

Opportunities to Engage First Year Students at a Community

College

OVERVIEW

Identifying the need for change

Implementation strategies

Evaluation: Work in progress

Background

Nine college districts are piloting the Hobsons Starfish Degree Planner and Early Alertsoftware which began in Fall 2015. Teams from the California Statewide Education PlanningInitiative and Hobsons are working closely with college IT personnel and student servicerepresentatives to discuss technology planning and implementation for the pilot collegecampuses.

Los Medanos College is part of the Contra Costa Community College District which includesContra Costa College and Diablo Valley College. While Los Medanos College is the lead inthe pilot, we are taking a district-wide approach, including our sister colleges in the project.

We are working closely with the California Community College Tech Center to develop bestpractices in implementation for new colleges coming on board.

Contra Costa Community College District (CCCCD)

There are 113 California Community Colleges- CCCCD is made up of 3 colleges: Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, and Los MedanosCollege.

All three colleges are Colleague schools

Los Medanos College Currently using

Ellucian Student Planning Tool Colleague Degree Audit

No early alert system in place at the time of implementation

How we are doing it Auto-upload from Colleague

Continuing to use current degree audit system

Started with existing Hobsons Degree Planner then transitioned to Starfish Degree Planner midway through implementation

Identifying the Need for Change

Step 1: Evaluating current technology and its capacity for supporting more student centered practices.

Step 2: Identifying the needs of the institution from various perspectives: Student, Faculty, Staff, and Administration.

Step 3: What is on your institution’s wish list?

Implementation Strategies

Identify your Implementation Team LMC has a team for Degree Planner and Early Alert Includes representation from Admissions & Records,

Success & Retention Programs, Counseling, Welcome Center, Faculty, and IT

Districtwide Implementation Team


Develop Communication Strategies/Marketing Starfish Conversations Taking the show on the road: Academic Senate,

Classified Senate, Student Senate, Shared Governance…

Workshops & Trainings Classroom Visits Drop-In Lab Hours


Who gets to go first? Learning Communities, Extended Opportunity

Programs & Services (EOPS)

How to prepare and provide support? Developing materials for faculty/staff use Consulting on best practices within the

department/classroom Providing support during initial implementation in

testing phase (i.e., Transcripts)

Implementation Strategies: Resources

Implementation Strategies: Resources

Faculty/Staff/Administrator

Student

?

Implementation Strategies: Work Flows


Student Success & Retention Programs(SSRP)Goals and objectives

Research and develop best practices working with “at risk” student populations Student Success Workshops/Seminars Fostering collaborative relationships on and off campus Oversee development and implementation of Starfish Early Alert Retention tool

• Intrusive Case Management• Follow up on alerts, referrals, and other tasks submitted by Starfish users• Facilitate training and workshops on implementation of Starfish Early Alert• On campus technical support of Starfish Early Alert• And more…

• Staffing• 2 FT- SSRP Counselors• 1.5 FT- SSRP Coordinators• 1FT – Office Assistant


Department: SSRP Run report and filter by flag type. (Retention Program Office

Assistant) Contact the students with general concerns.

(Coordinator/Student Ambassador) Schedule a follow-up counseling appointment with a Retention

Counselor. Close the loop. (Coordinator/Counselor)

Evaluation: Work in Progress

Identify a decision making process for changes that can potentially impact the district Districtwide monthly meetings

Informal work group meetings for respective implementations

Develop check points along the way Be responsive to recommendations/feedback

Understand limitations – such as limitations imposed by current institutional practices

QUESTIONS

Contact Us:

Robin ArmourDirector, Admissions & [email protected]

Carla RosasDirector, Success & Retention [email protected]