The Foothill-De Anza Community College District has digitalized student transcripts, and will create a Student Success Network (SSN) that will provide (1) online Individual Educational Plans for students; (2) electronic student portfolios to facilitate early identification of "at risk" students; and (3) a Counselor Web Portal for online advising.…

Asserts that graduation and placement rates based on surveys as forms of institutional assessment are no longer enough. Addresses five legitimate, critical concerns about outcomes reporting. Discusses the use of unemployment insurance data to document and report on institutional and program effectiveness by tracking students' placement and…

Discusses the need for graduate certificate programs for teaching in the California Community College System. Describes the Community College Faculty Preparation Program at California State University, Sacramento, which covers the following: the community college as an institution; curriculum, instruction, and assessment; the students; and the…

Asserts that community college leaders should give two important "good news" messages to graduates about their long-term career success and economic well-being: congratulatory and predictive. The latter component should make graduates aware that a community college degree should be the foundation for self-managed, continuous education and career…

Discusses the emergence of a global, technology-drive, skills-based economy where manufacturers are now talking about the need for qualified workers. Describes Minnesota's severe worker shortage that threatens to choke the state's continued economic growth. Recounts Dakota County Technical College's decision to take a leadership role to address…

Describes Forsyth Technical Community College's (North Carolina) CareersNOW! Partnership that fosters cooperative development of a training program directly linked to current job openings and responsive to state and federal mandates for the state's "working poor." Discusses the workforce development process, program impact, enhancing student…

Demonstrates how community colleges create a laboratory for the metamorphosis of democracy into synocracy, which is associated with participative leadership and a capacity to form and sustain synergistic partnership. The community college, through its leadership, student and service learning, and by involving its communities in dialogues of…

Offers benchmark activities and questions related to the Learning Revolution as an inventory for use by colleges and universities committed to becoming more learning-centered institutions. Includes steps such as: revising mission statements, training faculty and staff, holding conversations about learning, identifying learning outcomes, creating…

Recounts the conversations at three Sedona Conferences that attempted to align entertainment, education, and technology around a futures framework. Explores how linking insights from the entertainment world, especially from film and video production, from education, and from technology, unravels some secrets about who we are, why we are here, and…

Describes the development of an articulation agreement between community colleges and four-year schools in Maryland that benefits students in Early Childhood Education. Recounts the challenge, initiative development, the issue of mutual respect between professors, the process of developing an agreement, the agreement itself, results of the…

Describes the commitment of the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources at Chemeketa Community College's (Oregon) to include Native American traditions in its resource management curriculum. Recounts the Education and Career Conference sponsored by the college this spring aimed at educating northwestern Indian tribal students about college,…

Asserts that in order to transform colleges into learning organizations, the infrastructure of higher education must be analyzed. States that basic relationships must be redesigned--the pedagogical interaction between teacher and student, the tension between faculty and administration, the caste system relationship that has existed between faculty…

Explores the role two-year college faculty should play in scholarly research. The author describes a research project regarding nursing education and his participation in a listserv conversation with nursing educators. Asserts that two-year college professionals must cultivate their own specialty, think of ways of bridging the various gaps within…

Describes the many benefits now available to laid-off and displaced textile and apparel-related workers through the North American Free Trade Agreement's Transitional Adjustment Allowance (NAFTA-TAA), which allows them to attend college for the first time. Examines the effectiveness of the TAA program and concludes that there is room for "cautious…

Asserts that well-designed course assignments are a critical component of effective teaching and learning processes. Discusses the Course Assignment Framework, which delineates 10 assignment categories, their rationales, and their advantages for faculty and students. States that the framework promotes combining tasks so that instructors can…