Part of our mission at the SOURCE is to conduct
deep research about community college issues, trends &
strategies (as our name obviously suggests) and to interview
educators who have a keen, in-the-trenches understanding
about what community colleges are facing these days. All
the research and
interviews form the base of reports that we write,
design and publish here in the SOURCE Library. The
backbone of our mission is to publish timely, relevant,
and highly informative reports and articles that are
easily accessible to SOURCE visitors at no cost.
To receive email updates (typically sent every
other week) that link you to our latest developments,
please join our mailing list.
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A
Systems Approach: Expanding Access and Achieving Student
Success through Support Services at Rio Salado College
This report
covers how Rio Salado College (RSC) in Tempe, Arizona provides a
full slate of support services to its online learners. The
report was designed to capture the essence of a relatively large
number of departments and initiatives that touch the faculty,
staff and students at RSC. It also describes the historic path
that has brought RSC to where it is today: the largest public,
non-profit, online 2-year college in the U.S.
The SOURCE interviewed 24 RSC employees and reviewed the
literature about RSC that has been published as far back as
1998.
The SOURCE and RSC offer this free report as an information
resource that will hopefully prove to be helpful to any higher
education institution that offers online courses and programs. |
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"A
Different Stage of Imagination": How Do We Create
"Smart" Colleges?
by Gordon Freedman
Community colleges in the U.S., and their counterparts
in Canada and the UK, are tasked with an amazing amount
of responsibilities, some of them in conflict with their
basic missions. As society becomes more complex and
economic stability more tenuous, the role of "colleges"
increases. However, with the added responsibilities to
simultaneously remediate, retrain and retain students,
it is difficult for colleges to do any one part of these
well. Adding more to do with fewer funds will not solve
the multiple problems colleges are asked to solve. The
only solution for colleges is to become "smart"
organizations like the leaders in industry and research.
To do this, college administrators and governing bodies
need to reach out beyond their borders and take a lesson
from turn-arounds in Detroit, start-ups in Silicon
Valley, and experts in technology and mission
integration like IBM. |
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What Community Colleges Need to Know About Advertising &
Marketing Online Programs
Part opinion, part rant and mostly information that
providers of online learning programs can use to build
an online presence that is geared specifically toward
attracting and enrolling prospective online learners. |
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Transfer and Articulation from Community Colleges to
Four-Year Institutions:
Hope on the Horizon
Interviews with 28 professionals and research into the
latest scholarly literature and news and feature
articles from respected educational publishers formed
this highly informative report on an important issue
facing all of higher education. |
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Eight Transfer Student Success Stories in Progress
This is a companion report to "Transfer and Articulation
from Community Colleges to Four-Year Institutions: Hope
on the Horizon." The eight students featured in this
document have transferred from community colleges to
four-year institutions. Their interesting and personal
stories are representative of a broad range of
challenges and opportunities students encounter on their
pathways toward earning a bachelor's degree. |
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Online Education Learner Engagement & Academic
Success Strategies at Community Colleges
Our fourth report, with many more
in the making, features a synthesis of issues, trends
and strategies relative to institutional and student
success in online education environments at community
colleges. It is based on some of the recent literature
about community college online education along with
interviews conducted with 17 community college educators
who can be considered innovators in the online education
sector. |
A synthesis on college
readiness, the completion agenda, workforce development,
funding and grants, data analysis, technology adoption,
student services, the future, and much more.
Support Provided
by
Western Governors University |
Eight Questions for Eleven Community College Leaders: An
Exploration of Community College Issues, Trends &
Strategies
SOURCE Editor-in-Chief George
Lorenzo conducted in-depth interviews
with (in alphabetical order) Donald Cameron, president
of Guilford Technical Community College; Gerardo de los
Santos, president and CEO of the League for Innovation
in the Community College; Ed Gould, superintendent and
president of Imperial Valley College; Lee Lambert,
president of Shoreline Community College; Wright
Lassiter, chancellor, Dallas County Community College
District; Mark Milliron, deputy director for
postsecondary improvement for the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation; Terry O'Banion, president emeritus and
senior League fellow of the League for Innovation in the
Community College; John Roueche, professor and director,
Sid W. Richardson Regents Chair in Community College
Leadership, University of Texas Austin Community College
Leadership Program; Sandy Shugart, president of Valencia
Community College; Thomas Snyder, president of Ivy Tech
Community College; and Linda Thor, chancellor, Foothill-DeAnza
Community College District. |
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The Revitalization of Community Colleges:
A Synthesis of Current Initiatives, Programs, Issues &
Challenges
There is no shortage of solutions
and advice for community colleges to be successful on
numerous fronts. Plus, during a down economy, the
importance of reigniting the economic drivers of
America's community colleges looms large. |
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Learn and Earn Initiatives and Programs in
Postsecondary Education
This report is about the
challenges being faced by postsecondary education and
business, with a focus on how the two can collaborate to
create Learn and Earn programs.
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