Breakout Sessions for Nov 20 GP Workshop

Breakout Session Descriptions

Competency-based Education: A Flexible Approach to Learning
Competency-based Education (CBE) is a flexible approach to teaching and learning. Students earn certificates and degrees by demonstrating they have mastered knowledge and skill and are able to apply them. The breakout will include discussion of varying forms of CBE, including direct assessment and course-based CBE, as well as non-credit and full degree pathways. Join colleagues from San Diego Continuing Education, Los Angeles Trade Tech, and the Academic Senate to learn how they are implementing CBE and the potential of CBE as an equity and anti-poverty strategy.

• • Cheryl Aschenbach, Secretary, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
  • Dr. Carlos Cortez, President, San Diego Continuing Education
  • Jess Guerra, Director, Transportation Workforce Institute, and Chair, Advanced Transportation and Manufacturing, Los Angeles Trade Tech

Implementing Credit for Prior Learning as an Equity Strategy
Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) enables learners to obtain credit for college-level knowledge and skills gained outside of college or university courses, through industry credentials, public service academies, military service or other means. In this breakout session, practitioners from Norco College and Palomar College will provide an overview of CPL as an equity strategy especially for working adults and veterans. In smaller breakout sessions, attendees will be able to further explore subtopics including: Credit for Prior Learning 101; implementation nuts and bolts; and considerations and resources that can be used to provide post-secondary recognition and credit for skills earned during military service.

• • Norco College: Janelle Brekke, Senior Academic Evaluations Specialist; Dr. Peggy Campo, Professor Anatomy and Physiology; Mark DeAsis, Dean, Enrollment Services; and Terrence Nelson, Project Director, MAP
  • Palomar College: Ben Mudgett, Articulation Officer and Associate Professor; Nichol Roe, Associate Dean of Workforce Development and Extended Studies; and Candace Rose, CPL Coordinator/Associate Professor

Creating Community: Cohorts and Guided Pathways
In this breakout session, college presenters and attendees will explore ways cohorts can be used as a vehicle to create community and deliver support services and other interventions. Practitioners from Hartnell College and Skyline College will demonstrate the potential of cohorts as a mechanism for guided pathways intervention strategies including: work-based learning opportunities, meta major communities, specialized counseling, career exploration, and transitions from K-12 and to four-year institutions. Together, presenters and attendees will discuss both examples and possibilities.

• • Jackie Cruz, Vice President of Advancement and Development, Hartnell College
  • Ellen Murray, Director, Promise Scholars Program, Skyline College

Identity and Asset-based Approaches to Career Development
Career decisions have lifelong consequences. Therefore, supporting and advising students, particularly low-income students of color, through the career decision-making process is a high-stakes activity that requires: understanding the complexity of community college students’ decision-making processes, validating the knowledge and skills that they bring to college, and use of asset-based institutional practices. This session will share contextual data about the labor market that students face and will present an example of how Pasadena City College in partnership with UCLA is working to break silos to support students’ career exploration.

• • Myriam Altounji, Counselor, Pasadena City College
  • Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Professor and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, UCLA School of Education and Information Studies
  • Shelagh Rose, Professor, Pasadena City College

Onboarding and Student Supports Centered on Equity
Closing equity gaps in college completion is a key goal of guided pathways and the system’s Vision for Success. But if we ask the question “Who completes which programs?” then that begins to delve into issues of equity in program enrollment and outcomes. Colleges are reimagining student supports and the onboarding experience in order to set students up for college and career success from their earliest engagements with the college. In this breakout, MiraCosta College and Long Beach City College will share and lead discussion of their work to ground counseling in equity, integrate career counseling with student success teams and academic communities, and deepen alignment and professional development across K-16 segments.

• • Long Beach City College: Brenda Galvez, Faculty Intern; Lupe Pasillas, Program Supervisor, Student Success and Support; and Elijah Sims, Intervention Coordinator and Counselor
  • MiraCosta College: Wendy Stewart, Dean of Counseling and Student Development

Recording and Slides from Nov 13 Workshop

In the first GP workshop in the two-part series, we heard from Dr. Hana Lahr, Senior Research Associate at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) about CCRC’s recent work to uncover racial disparities in program choice, enrollment, and completion. This was followed by a panel discussion, Q&A session, and small group breakouts.

Access the recording or view the slide presentation.

Panelists included:

• • Dr. Abdimalik A. Buul, Counseling Faculty, San Diego City College
  • Jackie Cruz, Vice President of Advancement and Development, Hartnell College
  • Jennifer Johnson, Instructional Faculty, Nursing, Bakersfield College
  • Dr. Patricia Ramos, Dean of Workforce and Economic Development, Santa Monica College
  • Dr. Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Professor and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, UCLA School of Education and Information Studies
  • Michelle Simotas, Instructional Faculty, English, City College of San Francisco

CLP convened a small group of college leaders, university partners, and workforce partners to help develop the workshop content. This workshop is produced by the Career Ladders Project with funding from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.