Minutes taken by: Meg Barbalato, Sr. Clerk Typist / Committee
Co-Chairs:
Attendees: Meg Barbalato, Dr. Ken Barnes, Gary Bellagamba, Dave Bochynski, Joan Castro, Joanne Colmerauer, Heather Cruz, Peter Decarolis, Fabio Escobar, Petrina Hill-Cheatom, Mark Hoeber, Ed Holmes, Kimberly Iannucci, Charnelle Mason, Mark Mazzone, Eleanor Paterson, Jason Perri, Karen Roberts, Patrick Ryan, Dr. Carolyn Storms / Rick Washousky Dave Bochynski
Absent: Dave Arlington, Nuriyah Clark, Michael Delaney, Julianne Fusani, John Godert, Patricia Kaiser, Joseph Krenitsky, Donna Malczewski, Verlaine Quinniey, Michael Rio, Rick Washousky
MINUTES
- Call to order
- Upcoming Meetings
July 7 – to discuss Projects 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 42, 44, 47 and 48 and determine project leaders
August 11 – to complete Year One closures and discuss next year’s projects
- Review Year One Goals and Initiatives
Communication
Ensure that students and faculty receive all appropriate communications relevant to student completion.
Project 29: Identify current communication gaps related to completion
Project Manager: Nora Clark
(Fabio reported – generic overview)
Marlene was compiling report and working with Nora. Very close to final product. Excel spreadsheet looking at every individual communication gap and highlighting 8-9 different elements for that gap (e.g., audience, relevance to success).
Project 30: Increase automated and customized communication to students and faculty via Colleague Communications Management in order to minimize manual processing and ensure consistency
Project Manager: Fabio Escobar and Peter Decarolis
Working with Ellucian consultant to work on communications management over summer. Once we receive the final report on Project #29 will begin building the specific communication workflows. Scheduled for Year Two closure but should be able to close out a little early.
Distance Learning Success
Identify and address barriers to student success in online courses and programs.
Added two Instructional Designers
Excels has determination to grow Distance Learning and online courses.
Project 39: Expand instructional design services to faculty
Project Manager: Pat Ryan
Constantly expanding the instructional design services available. Producing a new training module each month. Two Instructional Designers continue another year on Perkins grant.
Student Support – third mentor begins June 19. Will have evening and some Saturday hours of mentoring to support our students. Expanded the offering of night tours to not only night classes but hybrid classes also. For faculty, rolling out a new one-on-one training method for online teaching so they are working closer with Instructional Designer on building a course and learning by building.
Grow the online support structure for students and faculty.
Project 43: Complete Open SUNY self-assessment
Project Manager: Pat Ryan
Open SUNY implementation plan has been approved by Senate and presented to Board of Trustees. Now at signatures, needs Rick’s and Presidents. Next step in process is the Open SUNY Enrollment Roundtable. Pat Ryan established a team and answering questionnaire to start that process. Hoping to complete over summer. Looking for answers from Erik D’Aquino regarding questionnaire. Goal is completing the assessment so project will be done.
Student Placement
Identify student readiness gaps and develop customized success plans for incoming students.
Project 45: Utilize student self-assessment of educational dispositions to develop customized success plans
Project Manager: Heather Cruz
Success navigator score report (advisory report and student report) has been imbedded into Starfish. Students receive copy of score report on conclusion of accuplacer test. About 95% complete on student success guide after revisions. Diane McLaughlin and START team are putting together booklet, which will fill in communication gaps with students upon completion of the test and helps prepare students and set them up for orientation and first semester of attendance. Should be complete by July. Success navigator scores are now included on START advisement sheet. Training is being implemented for START advisors on Starfish and success navigator. Preliminary assessment of success navigator information for students to be tested in fall and spring (900 students tested for year) and looks like best predictors of students GPA appear to be preliminarily the academic indexes as well as retention index which is on the score report. Doing final examinations on other indexes, like social support and self-management, which will be reviewed by counseling staff. Heather, Caroline Storms and counseling staff met on providing some transitional programs this fall. Based on indexes whether they scored low, moderate or high will have tailored interventions and programming for those students during each month of the semester. Starfish has attributes for each indexes and will be working with counseling staff and others to find best model of outreach. Starfish is becoming more of a case management model, more proactive looking at Starfish configuration of how the types of flags are, the frequency of those flags as well as the success navigator information using all those pieces to go after students. The whole Starfish package, including Connect, has been approved by the legislature. Connect has more enhanced features including: referrals for support offices, success plans, appointments, etc.
Starfish retreat to be held on September 22 from 1-5pm at Chestnut Ridge in Commissions Cabin. Department chairs will be invited to retreat.
Case managers – proven offices actively using Starfish case management model proficiently. Goal is to do this in more widespread manner across institution using feedback from those offices as well as best practices and data to figure out best model for students.
Waived students have a lower participation rate because it is not streamlined into placement testing. Had conversations with Caroline Storms to have those students test during START orientation.
Support
Increase consistency of departmental advising and support.
Project 49: Consistently promote 15-credit loads for full-time students
Project Manager: Carolyn Storms
Project is 60-70% complete.
Two developments:
(1) When doing planning, developing 15-credit hour curriculum paths per semester has been absorbed by another overlapping ECC Excels Guided Curriculum Pathways Committee.
(2) Promoting Academic Momentum Theory as motivation for students to take 15-credit hours because statistically it proves that it increases their chances for completion by 30%. The Excelsior Scholarships requirement of taking 15-credits has served that purpose.
Action Plan:
- Research – done;
- Planning – done;
- Pledge – Caroline questioned if redundant due to Excelsior Scholarship?; Fabio believes worth looking into how it will work in our system. What promise are we making to the student when we ask them to pledge to take the 15-credits?
Secrets to Success workshop will be offered at START orientation. Caroline working with counselors on presentation of workshop. Students not applying for Excelsior Scholarship – hopefully will be filled in with growth mindset academic workshop.
Is it beneficial for students that have been taking 12-credit hours to bump up to 15-credit hours? Fabio believes the first time students versus continuing students leads this project to be something outside of START. This project is almost a generic advisement project about how we encourage our advisors to promote a common message. Expected Excelsior impact is only a few hundred students out of 11,000 so should be considered irrelevant. May have a larger impact next year but requirements for existing students to take advantage of scholarships are so tough to meet that about 2/3 of ECC students are automatically excluded from it. Next year may be easier and a few hundred taking advance of scholarship. For time being would go forward as if Excelsior is not there. If students pledge to take 15-credit hours ECC will guarantee that the courses are available. Eleanor Patterson thinks it would be great for students who want to be guaranteed to finish in two years. Carolyn believes students are signing up for 15-credit hours to be in running for Excelsior Scholarships. Dr. Holmes feels should be all inclusive of all degree programs and there should be a Fall entry stipulation. Dave B. thinks doing the pledge for all students would be a good commitment even if they do not get the scholarship. Plan has not been drafted yet, research is done. Can show the success impact and because of the reimbursement structure at the college it has a direct financial impact. At chair retreat chairs were 50/50 in favor of pledge. Scheduling of classes will make an impact on work schedule and will dictate if 12 or 15 credits will be taken. Institution is already obligated to offer degree within 4 semesters by regulation and federal and state funding are based on that. Studies indicate a 12-credit hour high developmental load has little to no benefit for students. In fact, you will get non-completers who are in debt. Must think of ethics of advising someone who may not fully comprehend what time and money is going to do for them, or work against them. The institution cannot make a commitment to say that a pledge that you take 15-credit hours and more you will finish a degree in a timely fashion. If you start in the Fall and register for 15-credits for four consecutive semesters you still won’t finish in time for many degree programs because that’s the minimum. Will need to take classes over summer or heavier course load a few semesters. Need to educate faculty and students with timelines to show their completion timeframe based on course load. Students do not know what is best for them and they want an expert with their best interest at heart to guide them through their path.
- Miscellaneous
When a project is closed, provide a 1-2 paragraph summary of what was done and next steps, if needed.
- Next Meeting July 7 from 9am – 11am in G100, North Campus