2013 BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE PROGRAM
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.First Concurrent Sessions
Featured Session –
Accelerated Learning Program at AtlanticCapeCommunity College
AtlanticCapeCommunity College is completing the second semester of an Accelerated Learning Program for upper level developmental reading/writing students. The students are mainstreamed into ENGL 101 with a class for support. The Program differs from Peter Adams’ Baltimore model in that the structure is of a pyramid; the class size is also larger. ACCC classes use Blackboard to support Learning Style inventories and backup assignments and syllabus.
Effie Russell, Leila Crawfordand Regina VanEpps, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Engaging Students through Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Activities: Lesson Plans that Promote Student Success
Research shows actively engaging students through visual, auditory and kinesthetic activities promotes student success. New methods of pedagogy and delivery help capture and actively engage students in the classroom. Thus, adding to a rise in completion rates. This workshop demonstrates how the latest technology transforms lesson planning into positive student outcomes.
Maureen Sheridan and Mohamed Bel Haj Abdallah, HudsonCountyCommunity College
Graduation Workflow: Using Degree Audit Stored Evaluation Results, Communication Management and Webadvisor to Support Student Success
By storing degree audit evaluation results, Brookdale sends e-mails to students nearing degree completion that contain the status of their graduation requirements (degree audit summary), along with steps on how to apply for graduation through Webadvisor, or with a Counselor. This session will include user and technical documentation, as well as the implementation plan. Items to be discussed will include: how to store degree audit results, report options (DA files/fields), creation of the DA Summary (subroutine), communication management (e-mail), Webadvisor’s Graduation Application, implementation steps from our initial pilot to where we are now, and how the expansion of this student service, utilizing electronic communication and online services, has supported student success. ERP: Ellucian’s (Datatel’s) Colleague and Webadvisor.
Caesar Niglio and Heather Peterson, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Jennifer Jordan and Kim Heuser, BrookdaleCommunity College
Bryan Cochran, Ellucian
Increasing Retention in Online Classes
This presentation will detail the various methods that the three professors use to increase retention and overall student success in their online courses. Specific items that will be discussed include: the use of publishers’ sites for ebooks, assessment, and supplemental materials; the use of e-mail to reach out to students both before and during the class; the use of orientation assignments/quizzes; and the use of forums to continually engage students in the learning process. Since the professors are from three different disciplines, the presentations will focus on specific challenges for teaching these subjects in the online format.
Nancy E. Raftery, Martine Howard and Carla Monticelli, CamdenCountyCollege
Moderator: Eileen Radetich, CamdenCountyCollege
Innovations in Developmental Math and English
This session will cover new programs in developmental courses in order facilitate students to achieve the education that they require to pursue their goals and careers.
Mathematics faculty will present their innovations within the Brookdale Community College Mathematics Department. They will be focusing on the fact that developmental math courses must prepare students to be successful in credit-level courses with a quantitative component. Brookdale has created an algebra course for STEM majors and an alternate algebra course for non-STEM majors. The alternate course for non-STEM majors consists of the topics in the STEM algebra course that are necessary for success in our liberal arts, credit-level math classes.
English faculty from UnionCountyCollege will present their work on re-envisioning the developmental English program. Two new courses have been developed to accelerate student learning and progress through the program: one linking the reading and writing components, and one linking the developmental writing class with freshman English. They will describe the process for creating these courses, including the research behind their development, and will share the pedagogy and the assignments that were developed to help students meet the outcomes for developmental reading and writing at an accelerated pace.
James Poinsett and Daniel Lopez, BrookdaleCommunity College
Dr. Elise Donovan and KatharineMastrantonio, UnionCountyCollege
Online Adjunct Faculty: A Case Study of Orientation, Training, Certification, and Teaching Management
This presentation will showcase a case study of OceanCountyCollege’s online adjunct faculty orientation, training, certification, and teaching management processes. We will review the processes developed and utilized to orient off-site online adjuncts to college policies and procedures, the online instructor training certificate course methodology, share manuals developed for online adjunct faculty, and discuss ongoing adjunct management issues.
Jeff S. Harmon, OceanCountyCollege
The NJ CountyCollege eTutoring Consortium—A Real Possibility!
eTutoring.org is a not-for-profit, online tutoring program created by the CT Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC). eTutoring assists thousands of community college students attending over 130 institutions of higher education across the US and Canada. Learn how PassaicCountyCommunity College, participating with other colleges and universities in the Northeast, delivers sound and affordable learning support to students via a truly collaborative process. And learn, too, how NJ’s community colleges can form their own NJ eTutoring consortium, benefiting from the technical support (hosted platform) and pedagogical expertise (virtual training) of the CTDLC.
Gregory Fallon, Carolyn Rogers and Loren Kleinman, PassaicCountyCommunity College
10:15 – 10:30 a.m.Welcome
Bakari Lee, Esq., Chairman, New Jersey Council of County Colleges
Dr. Peter Mora, President, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Dr. Lawrence Nespoli, President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges
10:45 – 11:45 a.m.Second Concurrent Sessions
Featured Session –
The Completion Project
New methods of pedagogy and delivery help capture and actively engage students in the classroom. This promotes student success rates and increased degree completion. As more colleges rely on faculty to support students, it is imperative that educators embrace effective teaching and active learning strategies within course content delivery. This workshop provides educators with effective teaching and active learning strategies thatpromote student success and increase completion rates.Participants will be involved in mock demonstrations of these strategies.
Marva Mack, EssexCountyCollege
Be Prepared Be Connected - Lessons in Public Safety
In June of 2009, Atlantic Cape Community College President Dr. Peter Mora formed a Cross-Functional Safety Committee comprised of all the stake holders on campus. The team’s mission was to develop, implement and continually update college safety plans to assure the use of best practical solutions in order to make the college community safe. Following interviews and review of past critical incidents, the Cross-Functional Safety Committee concluded that training prior to a crisis, communication during a crisis and de-briefing following a crisis are the top priorities to assure a safer environment for the college community. The key to success is building strong, active and on-going communication with responding outside agencies.
William Keener and Stacey Clapp,AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Captain Michael Petuskey, Hamilton Police Department
I Walk The "Online"
“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds. Because you're mine, I walk the line.” Johnny Cash may have walked the line, but at BrookdaleCommunity College we walk the “online.” Information about the full-service online advising model offered at BrookdaleCommunity College will be shared, including the history and timeline of this project. Some of the pitfalls of implementing this model will be revealed. Additionally, we will give a demonstration of how Adobe Connect is used in our online advising sessions. This presentation was recently given at the 2012 Annual Conference of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) in Nashville, TN. In addition, it was awarded the distinction of being selected as one of only three to receive “Commission-Sponsored Status” by the Distance Education Advising Commission.
Cathleen Goode, Joe Caruso and Dr. Maria Fernandez, BrookdaleCommunity College
No Need to Reinvent the Wheel: Promoting Student Success by Using an Adjunct CD or Repository for Adjunct Faculty Development
Adjunct faculty are typically handed a syllabus, a textbook and a teaching schedule – often with only a few days to prepare their entire semester. We have devised a way to present adjuncts with a wealth of resources; everything from course schedules and syllabus addenda to in-class exercises and assignments, all in digital form so that they can tailor it to their individual needs quickly and easily. We will share how to set up a similar system for any department at any college.
Daniel Leyes, BrookdaleCommunity College
Primed for College Success: A College Readiness Project
Primed for College Success has provided BoundBrookHigh School seniors with early intervention measures to promote college readiness in math. Our presentation will describe the partnership between RVCC and BBHS, the testing (both Accuplacer and Diagnostic Accuplacer) and other program elements that were implemented as part of this project. We will also present the summer program facilitated by BBHS math teachers during which students addressed skills gaps through MyFoundations Lab. As a result of this program, 40 BBHS seniors are enrolled in either Precalculus or Quantitative Literacy (CEP) this year meeting the primary objective of this grant funded program, which is to significantly improve college readiness in mathematics minimizing the need for remedial coursework at the college level.
Nancy Jordan and Joanne Travaglini, RaritanValleyCommunity College
Gary Wenger, Bound Brook High School
Successful Accelerated Option for Decision Zone Students
CCC offers a fast-paced four day option for students who take Accuplacer and just miss the cut off score for college level math (Decision Zone Students). Rather than force this student to take a full semester of remedial math, we offer a one-credit accelerated course which meets a total of four days and offers a quick review of the course for which they tested into. Many of these students only need a quick “brush-up” in order to prepare them for the next level. Students may also enroll in this class by teacher recommendation. We have been offering these classes for many years and have had huge success.Our pass rates for those who take this class are the highest for any cohort in remedial math. This option is also offered to students within our basic skills sequence as well.
SandraTannen and Kelly Jackson,CamdenCountyCollege
Using Data from the Student Success Model to Understand Community College Enrollment Patterns
An analysis of enrollment patterns was done on data from the Student Success 2008 data from OceanCountyCollege. As opposed to some four-year colleges, community colleges show hundreds of different patterns. A cluster analysis was done to limit this to a manageable amount. Different enrollment patterns were associated with very different success rates. Some of the clusters were full-time for two years, full-time for two and a half years, and short-term students. An interesting cluster was students who were part-time time and persistent, a group not included in any regular reporting. These showed a surprisingly high success rate.
Dr. Mary Morley, OceanCountyCollege
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.Third Concurrent Sessions
Featured Session –
Accelerated Learning Program at AtlanticCapeCommunity College
AtlanticCapeCommunity College is completing the second semester of an Accelerated Learning Program for upper level developmental reading/writing students. The students are mainstreamed into ENGL 101 with a class for support. The Program differs from Peter Adams’ Baltimore model in that the structure is of a pyramid; the class size is also larger. ACCC classes use Blackboard to support Learning Style inventories and backup assignments and syllabus.
Effie Russell, Leila Crawford and Regina VanEpps, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Acceleration in an Advanced ESL Learning Community
Research shows that some students with strong language learning skills can fulfill their English language requirements more quickly in an accelerated model. To accomplish this, a redesigned accelerated ESL level 5/6 learning community was developed and offered through a Title V grant, “Learning Enhanced through Accelerated Paths.” The model includes courses that are thematically connected and task-based, giving students the opportunity to accelerate their academic language and study skill proficiency. An additional CALL component focuses on strengthening the individual language needs.
Arlene Marcus and Carrie Steenburgh, UnionCountyCollege
Adjunct Faculty Development Initiatives at BCC: A Team Approach for Student Success
BurlingtonCountyCollege has developed a broad continuum of adjunct initiatives that began in 1991 with the Adjunct Faculty Institute.These initiatives are recognized as exemplary models for enhancing adjunct development and instructional competencies within our pool of approximately 600 adjunct faculty who teach at BCC each semester.
Each semester’sAdjunct Institute survey evaluations led to decisions to expand the College’s Adjunct professional development initiatives and delivery systems. A need was identified to offer the hundreds of BCC adjuncts expanded professional developmentopportunities throughan Adjunct Intranet site, an OnlineAdjunct Institute and a variety of professional development workshops now offered to all adjuncts through BCC’sCenter for Learning Instruction.
BCC measures its adjuncts’ contributions to student satisfaction and successby surveying students each term during the College’s SUMMA Evaluations, which compare adjuncts’ scores with average scores for the College and across the nation, offering a glimpse into how individual adjunct faculty stand relative to their peers, from the students’ perspective.
The consistent exemplary scores of BCC’s adjunct faculty SUMMA Evaluations continue toconfirmboththe value of the College’s expanding adjunct professional development and the influence on student satisfaction and success.
Dr. David Spang, MindiCahall, Elizabeth Kerr, and Dan Egan, BurlingtonCountyCollege
COLL101 for Veterans; Helping Veterans Acclimate to College
The Veterans Task Force at SussexCountyCommunity College is comprised of members from every area of the college. Our mission is to offer comprehensive services for veterans. This presentation will highlight several initiatives, but will primarily focus on Foundations for Success for Veterans, a three credit, full semester course focusing on assisting veterans transition from military to civilian and student life.
Jan Jones and MikeDevilliers, SussexCountyCommunity College
Effects of Communication Apprehension on Student Learning
Researchers consider communication apprehension (CA) to be the most common handicap suffered by people in contemporary American society. However, although CA is one of the most extensively researched variables in the field of interpersonal communication, educators remain relatively unaware of the debilitating effects of CA on student motivation, participation, learning, and retention. Individuals with high levels of CA experience emotional distress during or anticipating communication, prefer to avoid communication, and are perceived by others and themselves as less competent, skilled and successful. Students with high levels of CA have been found to drop out of college more frequently and receive lower grades than students with low levels of CA. Furthermore, students with higher levels of CA have been found to have lower self-esteem and lower self-efficacy than students with lower levels of CA. In this workshop, participants will test their own communication anxiety and begin to understand how to recognize and combat CA in the classroom.
Joy Jones, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
LEAP into Advisement: An Intrusive Model
Intrusive advisement is a key component to the success of the learning community model in developmental education. This presentation will highlight the best practices utilized by the Title V Academic Advisors at UnionCountyCollege in contributing to student success. Participants will learn retention-based techniques used in the model such as pre-semester advisement day, biweekly class visits, required academic planning appointments, weekly communication with faculty, early warning initiatives, and student engagement activities. Title V Academic Advisors will provide evidence-based data on the impact of these techniques on student retention and success.
Lauren Falkowski and Jennifer Rodriguez, UnionCountyCollege
Using Portfolio Assessment to Improve Student Success and Mentor Adjunct Faculty
CamdenCountyCollege has used portfolios to assess developmental writing since 1997. Over the years, the program has changed and evolved into a vehicle for mentoring the large adjunct faculty population in the department well. Each full-time faculty member leads a team of adjunct professors, serving as a second reader for the adjuncts’ portfolios and an informal mentor and advisor for navigating the college, reinforcing department policies, and providing teaching tips and tools. This presentation will provide an overview of best practices for implementing this kind of assessment technique into a developmental education program. Recently, our ESL department made the decision to use portfolios to assess writing as well; the ESL department will be using portfolios as of Fall 2013, but the department has the added feature of using oral portfolios, which is a key component that is unique to ESL students.
Julie Yankanich, David Bruno and Lesley Fredericks,CamdenCountyCollege
1:15 – 2:15 p.m.Luncheon
2:15 – 3:15 p.m.Presidential Roundtable
Building Bridges to Success
The Presidents’ Forum will highlight the collaborative work presently underway as part of the Big Ideas project to transform student success efforts across the community college sector. These efforts include changing the culture across all areas of the colleges. The presidents will also discuss how Achieving the Dream is helping them meet their goals.
Dr. Peter Mora, President, AtlanticCapeCommunity College
Dr. Thomas Isekenegbe, President, CumberlandCountyCollege
Dr. Steven Rose, President, PassaicCountyCommunity College
Dr. Casey Crabill, President, RaritanValleyCommunity College