Project Plans

Purpose of the Project

The purpose of the Learning College Project is to assist community colleges in the United States and Canada to become more learning centered by creating a network of 12 Vanguard Colleges strongly committed to the Learning College concept, whose efforts can serve as a basis for model programs and best practices.

Project Objectives

• Organizational Culture. Each of the 12 colleges will cultivate an organizational culture where policies, programs, practices, and personnel support learning as the major priority.
• Staff Recruitment & Development. Each of the 12 colleges will create or expand (a) recruitment and hiring programs to ensure that new staff and faculty are learning centered and (b) professional development programs that prepare all staff and faculty to become more effective facilitators of learning.
• Technology. Each of the 12 colleges will use information technology primarily to improve and expand student learning.
• Learning Outcomes. Each of the 12 colleges will agree on competencies for a core program of the college’s choice, on strategies to improve learning outcomes, on assessment processes to measure the acquisition of the learning outcomes, and on means for documenting achievement of outcomes.
• Underprepared Students. Each of the 12 colleges will create or expand learning=centered programs and strategies to ensure the success of underprepared students.

Vanguard Learning College Project

As our application to the League for consideration to be selected as a Vanguard College indicated, we have developed the college from scratch under the Learning College philosophical principles as well as the theoretical organizational models of the learning organization (a concept drawn from recent literature in organizational development). The Vanguard project objectives have been imbedded in our strategic planning processes and as such have been driving our resource allocation and visioning activities.

Cascadia Community College's vision, mission, and core values define the institution, all of its learning and learning support activities, and its relationship to the communities it serves. These guiding principles were developed over the years with broad community participation, have been reviewed by the entire college community, and are the basis for planning and assessment throughout the college. The "community of learners" at this new college has sought to build an infrastructure of processes, policies, and practices that provide optimal learning opportunities for its students, faculty and staff.

The Vanguard Project has been an invaluable resource to Cascadia and we have benefited tremendously from the experiences we have shared and the best practices we have implemented from our partner colleges. This experience has not only enriched all the members from the Cascadia team, but the students and residents of the communities we serve as we implement best practices which result in student success.

Good work has begun, but much more lies ahead as Cascadia strives to embody the ideals articulated in its vision, mission, and core values. The college will continue to use its foundational documents, complemented and enhanced by work such as that of Barr and Tagg, O'Banion, Senge, and others, to provide direction to all of its activities. A high priority in the near term is to develop and implement the comprehensive assessment practices and create the culture of assessment that is fundamental to the college's vision, mission, and values. As the college gains more experience and learns from it, Cascadia also looks forward to sharing and learning in a more substantial way with its fellow Vanguard Colleges.

The next natural phase for all 12 colleges in the Vanguard Project is, of course, developing and sharing accountability measures of what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. For us at Cascadia, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee is developing a comprehensive assessment plan that will incorporate all of the evaluative practices of the institution, appraise institutional effectiveness, and guide future strategic directions. When complete, the plan will provide a blueprint for assessing all college operations in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and consistency with institutional mission and values.

The greatest asset the college has is its talented, hard-working, committed employees who have demonstrated considerable ability to operate in a dynamic, innovative and fast-changing environment. This coupled with the Vanguard project benefits have enabled us to create a unique environment where our students are thriving and succeeding.

The college's vision, mission, and values are also at the core of its cyclical strategic planning process, which is collaborative and inclusive and contains all of the Vanguard project objectives. While the strategic planning process has recently moved to a two-year cycle (to parallel Washington State's biennial budget process), Cascadia continues to assess its goals and strategies annually, to accomplish resource allocation based on those evaluations, and to identify priorities for improvement.

Continuing the focus on the Vanguard Learning College (VLC) objectives, the following accomplishments reflect progress that has been made during the last academic year. These accomplishments reflect the college's commitment to activities that move toward the college's vision of excellent learning for all the college's learners.

Vanguard Learning Objectives

Organizational Culture

Accomplishments

• During the last academic year five surveys were conducted to gather data for self-improvement and the accreditation self-study. Two were surveys of students: the CCSSE and a "home-grown" survey picking up on areas not covered by CCSSE. Two were surveys of employees: one of all employees and a second aimed specifically to faculty. The fifth survey was of the Board of Trustees.
• June 2002, the Vanguard Learning College Team from Cascadia traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona to Seminar IV of the Learning College Project. The team was led by one Board of Trustee member and included classified, faculty and administrative employees. The primary focus of the seminar:
• Develop a list of performance criteria for the learning college.
• Answer the question: "How do we know?" in various contexts by a) sharing successful proven methods VLCs are using to assess, document, and/or improve student learning and b) examining other systems and strategies for assessing, documenting, and/or improving student learning.
• The Cascadia Vanguard Team led three sessions which highlighted our commitment to improving student learning.
• "Student Learning Through Student Enterprise," this seminar highlighted proven uses of instructional and administrative technology that is used on campus to improve student learning.
• "Student Input: An Essential Perspective in Governance," this seminar shared practices Cascadia uses in Governance to support learning-centered education.
• "Innovative Ways of Allocating Resources and Assessing Learning Outcomes," this seminar highlighted how Cascadia allocates resources to support learning and the assessment of learning outcomes.

In Progress

• October 2002, Cascadia will participate in a one-day VLC site visit which will include:
• Exhibition of Results - brief presentations which focus on the results of Cascadia's VLC team work.
• Lessons About Change - A discussion with Cascadia's VLC team about the most effective strategies used to enhance student learning.
• Evidence of Learning - A discussion with faculty about what we know about student learning at Cascadia.
• Focus Groups - Discussions with students and faculty.

Faculty and Staff Recruitment and Development

Accomplishments

• The recruitment strategy includes advertisements and brochures that identify the college as an institution that embraces learning centered initiatives. Hiring processes have consistently included the value of life long learning, teamwork and evidence of innovation and creativity as an important attributes.
• The Employee Learning Institute provided over 50 learning opportunities/workshops to employees. These learning opportunities included workshops on computer software; learning centered hiring practices, and performance evaluations. Most learning opportunities were provided to orient staff to the principles that are associated with a learning centered environment as well as providing critical tools for success.
• Summer 2002 the Employee Learning Institute held a retreat, which resulted in a restructuring of the learning modules. The new modules are: People Valuing People, Learning College, Health & Wellness, Collaborative Decision Making, Employee Orientation, Information Technology.
• The Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA) provided support for Cascadia's work on outcomes and assessment through hosting brownbag lunches to discuss the implications of student and faculty answers to the fall accreditation surveys, especially those that addressed Cascadia's learning outcomes. The TLA sponsored a workshop on Learning Communities, an element of which was the use of outcomes as a tool for integrating the disciplines.
• Training was provided to all faculty and other interested staff in learning outcomes assessment. In September 2001, consultants from Alverno spent two days, leading approximately 40 people through a process of refining outcomes and identifying criteria for various levels of performance
• In June 2002 a team of faculty participated in a weeklong summer institute to learn more about classroom and program assessment, and to develop expertise, which they shared with the rest of the campus at the Fall 2002 Convocation.

In Progress

• Assessment of learning centered recruitment and hiring practices will be a primary focus.
• The Employee Learning Institute will provide more learning opportunities for all employees which will enhance the tools necessary to be successful in a learning centered environment.

Information Technology

Accomplishments

• ePortfolio Development: Fall 2001, a database was developed that is more user friendly and easier for students to learn. Spring 2002 a training video was created and provided for instructors who teach students to use the ePortfolio and students who
need to learn how to create ePortfolios. Winter 2002 a student focus group was conducted to gather their assessment of the ePortfolio.
• Summer 2001 a technology steering committee was formed, which included full time and part time faculty, staff and administrators. This committee was formed to discuss the technology issues that should be addressed in order to improve and expand student learning.
• To improve student learning, the Open Learning Center streamlined its efforts to serve as a single point of contact for students working with a variety of computer software and hardware.
• Winter 2002 the Help Desk began serving employees, providing a single point of contact for requests for information technology services and troubleshooting computer issues.

In Progress

• Currently most ePortfolio activity is confined to 1-2 classes within the entire curriculum. Initiating discussions with full-time faculty, the Teaching and Learning Academy, and the Vice President for Student Learning to identify ways to support faculty who wish to incorporate ePortfolio assignments into their classes. The goal is to expand and examine the feasibility of making the ePortfolio a graduation requirement.

Learning Outcomes

Accomplishments

• Summer 2001, summer stipends were provided to faculty to plan assessment work for the coming year. Faculty and other members of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC) researched assessment rubrics in general and specific rubrics related to Cascadia's four learning outcomes. The committee designed a work plan whereby Learning Outcomes Teams (LOT) would develop Cascadia specific rubrics for each of the outcomes during the 2002-2003 year.
• Fall 2001, preliminary rubric templates were developed for each of Cascadia's four learning outcomes. Implementing the plan set forth by the Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC), each Learning Outcome Team (LOT) developed a rubric template that could be used (and modified) by faculty and staff to assess aspects of each of Cascadia's four learning outcomes.

In Progress

• Plans have been established for further refinement of rubrics, development of a website for rubric building and sharing.

Underprepared Students

Accomplishments

• Fall 2001, an outreach committee was formed to identify strategies for recruitment of underserved and under prepared students. The primary focus in of this committee was recruitment of ESL and ABE students in the community.
• Assessment tools for appropriate placement in Math course was evaluated with faculty input, which resulted in a restructure of class level placement criteria.
• Student to Student mentoring via email was created to provide ESL students an opportunity to share history.

In Progress

• Winter 2003, SLEP and COMPASS ESL diagnostic tools are scheduled to be available for use.

View these and other exciting initiatives by clicking on the options to the left.