When selecting courses, it’s easy for students to get lost in the never-ending list of options, which usually ends in frustration with a bad experience. Guided pathways are a way…
Community College
Supporting Students Through Meaningful Transfer Pathways
Tony Iacono | President, County College of MorrisMore often than not, adult students need to drop out of school due to family or financial issues. This trend is common to both universities and community colleges, and students…
Career and technical education are critical to filling the skills gap in the community, and community colleges are the key drivers to providing the right opportunities to fill these gaps.…
Defining a Model for Accessible Workforce Education: Calbright College and the Recession
Eloy Ortiz Oakley | Chancellor, California Community CollegesWith millions of displaced workers in the United States, the only fast and efficient way to get them back into the workforce is through short-term courses designed to support upskilling…
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves from an urgent public health crisis to an economic catastrophe, higher education institutions are bracing for long-term impact while working around the clock to continue…
Effective Employer Partnerships/Engagements in a Post-COVID-19 Environment
Howard Drake | Director of Polk State Corporate College, Polk State CollegeThe key constituencies or stakeholders for the workforce development practitioner are employer organizations. The practitioners have been somewhat successful in creating and delivering training services with mixed results. I can…
With adult learners looking to upskill and reskill, workforce education will become critical in serving these learners as we head into a new normal. Learner demographics—and whole institutions—will be looking…
Coping with an Existential Threat to Your Core Mission
Kevin E. Drumm | President, SUNY Broome Community CollegeRemote working and learning eliminate face-to-face interactions, which is a critical component in the community college world. As a result, students and even staff are beginning to look elsewhere for…
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s community colleges finalized a statewide articulation agreement with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). The historic agreement provides current and future Pennsylvania community college graduates the opportunity…
Delivering Higher Education’s Workforce and Community Access Mission
Mark Mrozinski | Assistant Vice President of Workforce Development and Executive Dean of Community Education, Harper College Kara MonroeCommunity and technical colleges serve essential missions. They create pathways to sustainable work for underserved audiences, respond to and fill emerging labor market gaps, and they do this work while…
So far, we’ve seen the COVID-19 crisis push institutions beyond their comfort zones. Many are aware of the anxieties of rapidly changing course, but the pandemic has brought on a…
Staying Flexible in a Time of Crisis
Joianne Smith | President, Oakton Community CollegeOne of the toughest challenges of remote learning is ensuring everyone has the same access to digital resources. To do this, tools and processes need to be established. The benefit…
Lifelong learning is becoming a reality for every adult, regardless of industry. Automation and technology evolution mean work expectations and standards change rapidly, as do the industries themselves. In this…
Employer Engagement: Creating A Successful Apprenticeship Program
John Rainone | President, Dabney S. Lancaster Community CollegeThere are too many jobs and not enough workers, so how do we close the gap? There’s a general perception of apprenticeships as being a lengthy and unrewarding processes, especially…
Most faculty and staff I know view education as a two-way street. After all, there’s a lot you can learn from students even as they are learning from you. Todd…
Rapid Response: Delivering the Best Learner Experience Under Crisis
Linda Lujan | President, Lamar Community CollegeThe COVID-19 outbreak has impacted higher education in a way that most are not prepared for. Institutions are looking for online solutions while trying to deliver the best experience possible…
Advocates of America’s community colleges have been actively managing public perception since our institutions were founded. Prior to the 1947 Truman Commission report “Higher Education for American Democracy,” junior colleges…
Framing States’ Education Attainment Goals at the Local Level: Leveraging Industry Sector Partnerships
Matthew Meyer | Associate Vice President for STEM Innovation and Strategic Planning, North Carolina Community College System Alex DolesWhat do the state initiatives Drive to 55, Launch Oklahoma, myFutureNC, Future Ready Iowa and Educating for the Future all have in common? They are states’ flashy names for education…
“One in three species threatened by extinction.” “Forty percent of the Antarctic ice melting—don’t call it climate change, call it climate emergency.” Such were the billboards in the Madrid subway…
Building Clock-Hour Competency-Based Education Programs with Flexibility in Mind
Franz Feierbach | Associate Dean for Operations and Academic Readiness in the School of Applied Technology, Salt Lake Community CollegeIn its simplest form, a clock-hour program is a set of non-credit courses that lead to the completion of a non-degree credential or certificate. Typically, such a program is offered…
The call to action is clear. The U.S. workforce has an immediate, and critical, demand for skilled labor to sustain our nation’s economic growth, and higher education is being called…
Holistic Workforce Development: A Collaborative Approach
Jo Alice Blondin | President, Clark State Community CollegeCommunity colleges are primary partners in workforce and economic development efforts in nearly every community we serve. Traditionally, workforce development has been viewed as a way to serve workforce needs…
Stackable credentials are becoming increasingly popular as workforce demands evolve faster than traditional education. Community colleges have always been intent on finding ways to best serve their communities. Stackable credentialing…
Community College Enrollment and Unemployment
Charlie Collins | Deputy Executive for Workforce Training, Maine Community College SystemCommunity colleges and the unemployment rate have long held a cyclical relationship. Two-year colleges have traditionally seen enrollments rise as jobs disappear in economic downturns and enrollments fall when jobs…
Iowa’s Community College Program Outcomes is an organization that studies employment outcomes gained through community college training for both credit and non-credit programming. The Iowa Department of Education’s Community College…
Focused Future: A Strategic Plan to Reshape the Future of Education
Janet Morrison | President and Vice Chancellor, Sheridan CollegeWith the demands of the workforce evolving rapidly, colleges and universities need to find ways to stay relevant and focused on their students’ and communities’ future. Sheridan College published its…
Clock hour programs are short-term programs that are aligned with industry recognized credentials and lead to accelerated entry into the workforce. For example, students in a Precision Machining clock hour…
Mapping the Enrollment Pipeline of Today’s Community College Customers
Vincent Norton | Managing Partner, Norton Norris Inc. Jean NorrisVincent Norton and Jean Norris will be diving deeper into this topic at the 50th Annual NCCET Conference in Orlando, running December 10-13. To register, click here. It’s essential…
The labor market skills gap is one the biggest problems higher ed faces today. As workforce demands increase, adult learners need to train quickly to stay relevant. Technical colleges have…
Creating Pathways to Second Chances for Inmates
Kimberly Moore | Vice President of Workforce Innovation, Tallahassee Community CollegeThroughout the evolution and history of community colleges, they have often been identified as the gateway to opportunity and prosperity for all. However, despite the many challenges that an open…