Describes the goals and focus of the National Workforce Assistance Collaborative, a national resource for technical assistance in workforce and workplace development supported by a Department of Labor grant. Indicates that the collaborative has developed two strategies for its dissemination effort: a national resource network and an electronic…

Defines community service, which involves unpaid work to improve the community, and service learning, which blends academic study and community service. Offers a rationale for service learning at community colleges. Explains how to start a service learning program, document students' community involvement, and obtain funding. Discusses…

Describes the Education Network of Maine, an interactive television system which uses one-way video and two-way audio to provide an interactive connection between the seven campuses of the University of Maine. Highlights ways of personalizing distance learning instruction, strategies for increasing student-teacher interaction, and the value of…

Describes the role of the community college in providing practical foreign language programs geared toward the needs of the business and emergency services communities rather than those of academia. Indicates that students need opportunities to develop sophisticated communicative abilities systematically in a short period of time. (MAB)

Provides a step-by-step guide to developing a college marketing plan. Identifying a target market and determining an appropriate mix of promotional strategies are considered key to the process. Highlights the college president's role in the marketing process, indicating that, although the president is the chief marketer, all employees must be…

Describes a partnership between Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute (New Mexico), neighborhood associations, and city government to revitalize a decaying community center by establishing a child care center for children of low-income parents. Describes initial neighborhood resistance to institute expansion and efforts to maintain community…

Describes efforts in Mississippi to reposition its 15 public community colleges to enhance their ability to provide work force training, adult literacy education, and information and communication technology programs. Discusses the colleges' assets, the use of the media to strengthen effective programs' images, and resulting increases in funding.…

Presents three essays examining topics that community college leaders should consider in utilizing advanced technologies to meet constituents' needs. Considers installing new technology, ownership of technology created by faculty and students, and the implications of using new technologies in the context of the requirements of the Americans with…

Suggests that the nature of the community college workplace and culture may undermine efforts at diversity. Argues that the emphases on fast-paced work environments and dynamic personalities of the colleges work against diversification efforts and that biases behind the idea of a "proper fit" for a job should be challenged. (MAB)

Argues that the technological revolution has changed occupational skills and employers' needs, forcing community colleges to do more with the same or less money. Calls for the reengineering of education to move from the current dependency on entitlements and legislative protection to a market-driven, cost-justified system. (MAB)

Provides a discussion of the debate surrounding multicultural education. Indicates that multiculturalism is an attempt to develop curricula, instructional materials, and pedagogy allowing individuals to acquire a perspective beyond their unique cultural, ethnic, gender, and racial perspective. Suggests that community colleges have fallen behind…

Describes background to the increasing pressure for instructional effectiveness in higher education and community colleges, particularly. Reviews differences between traditional discipline- and newer competency-based processes for measuring effectiveness and suggests methods for involving faculty in setting standards. Indicates that the integrity…

Describes the current status of California's community colleges and reviews predictions for the future. Indicates that innovation, change, the quality movement, and technology will be key players in the colleges' future. Discusses "Choosing the Future," a controversial report by the Commission on Innovation to the state Board of Governors. (MAB)

Describes Computer Access Centers (CACs), created by the Colorado Community College and Occupational Education System to help students with disabilities learn job skills and improve their lives. Indicates that, despite fears about program costs, CACs are in place at 11 sites and have expanded access for people with disabilities. (MAB)

Defines "quality" in terms of community college mission and discusses approaches to institutional assessment. Reports on a study of two-year college publications on quality, indicating that key variables in the colleges' definitions of quality included accessibility, faculty, curriculum, student support services, transferability of credit, and job…