More on how Valencia College started the conversation with faculty, engaged them in a pilot, and ultimately had them informed and excited as they began app implementation. This breakout session was hosted at the Civitas Learning 2015 Winter Summit, by Kurt Ewen and Wendy Dew, Valencia College.

1. Creating a Data Culture with
Faculty
Kurt Ewen
Valencia College
Presidential Fellow
Wendi Dew
Valencia College
AVP, Teaching and Learning

2. Valencia College (2012-2013)
• 69,422 students annual headcount (Credit & Continuing Ed.; 12-13)
• 5 campuses in 2 counties in Central Florida
• 87% of students are degree-seeking
• 39.6% Full time enrollment
• 69% age 24 or younger
• 18.0% African-American, 30.7% Hispanic, 35.1% Caucasian
• 49% students receive financial aid
• 2013 Graduates by Degree (Total Graduates 11,434)
• B.S. 10.1%
• A.A. 51.1%
• A.S. 11.9%
• Technical Certificate 33.4%
• Career Certificate 2.8%
• Educator Preparation Institute Certificate 0.8%

3. Valencia’s Big Ideas

4. “The Big Ideas are fulcrums for
change, signifiers for emerging
organizational culture, and
rallying points for action“
Sanford Shugart, President, Valencia College

5. The Power of “Big Ideas”
• To transform an institution “High Impact Practices” (AAC&U) and
“Promising Practices” (CCSSE) must be rooted in “Big Ideas”
• “Big Ideas” are “theories of work”
• “Big Ideas” must emerge from and be rooted in an
institutions culture in order to be sustained.
• “Big Ideas” must be nurtured and evolve with the institutions
growth and development.
• “Big Ideas” serve as a vehicle for institutional socialization
• “Big Ideas” are the midwives of innovation
• “Big Ideas” are a tool for communal evaluation

6. “We believe that our students have all the biological gifts,
the inherent capabilities to learn anything we teach. This
belief shifts the focus from the deficiencies of the learner to
the condition we create for learning.”

7. “We believe that the greatest challenge and opportunity
for improvement in student success and graduation at
Valencia is at the beginning of every new experience a
student has with us. Our rallying cry is “make the first
minute of the first meeting, in every course a learning
minute.”

8. “We believe …
… a student must make a personal connection very
early in her experience at the college with staff,
with faculty and with other students.
… a student needs a clear direction and a plan to
graduate, as soon as possible in his college career.”

9. “We believe that our students are unique individuals
and they experience college in powerfully personal ways.
Our measures of success are found in what students’
experience.”

10. “We believe that the most important beneficiaries of
authentic assessment are the learners and those who
facilitate learning. Establishing clear learning
expectations and identifying the methods of assessments
are essential steps to creating partnerships between these
groups that can improve learning.”

11. The Purpose of Assessment
(Assessment data) is to improve
student learning
• Assessment of learning
creates the possibility of
better conversations
• Course Level Assessment
• Faculty – Student
• Student – Students
• Program Level Assessment
• Faculty – Faculty

12. “We believe that our best ideas are formed and embraced
when everyone collectively contributes to a shared
purpose through an ongoing dialogue. All of our Big
Ideas depend on authentic collaboration for their
legitimacy.”

13. Example 1
Achieving the Dream

14. 89
Good
Ideas
Ripeness
Effectiveness
Scalability
3
College
Wide
Strategies
+ Campus
Strategies

15. Innovation Management System
1000’s of
opportunties
tried.
Maintain a
Research and
Development
Component.
Climate of
Innovation
Level I
Level II
Level III
“Eye for
Evidence”:
More rigorous
at each level.
Standard of evidence increases at each level.
100 are
selected
for support
as Phase I
Innovations.
“Angel
Capital
Stage”
Prototype
10
supported
as Phase II
Innovations.
“Venture Capital
Stage”
Pilot
Implementation
(Limited Scale)
1 or 2
are brought up
to scale and
Institutionalized.
Level II Innovations
must be scalable
and must show
potential to bring
systemic change
and “business-changing
results.”
Valencia’s challenge
has been moving from
Level II to Level III.

16. Example 2
Online Instruction

19. “We believe that our students have all the biological gifts,
the inherent capabilities to learn anything we teach. This
belief shifts the focus from the deficiencies of the learner to
the condition we create for learning.”

21. Initial Implementation
• Summer Destination
• An annual professional development program brings
Valencia colleagues together to explore teaching and
learning innovations, challenges, and solutions. 5 weeks /
25 hours / $500.
• Destination 2014 – 200+ faculty working in 5 tracks
• Predictive Analytics Track involving 10 faculty from
varying campuses and disciplines

22. Faculty participants in Destination 2014 -
Predictive Analytics Track - will:
• emerge as campus-based subject matter experts in
predictive analytics and how it is currently being used in
learning environments
• directly engage data scientists and designers from
Civitas Learning in order to better understand the
predictive analytic tools they provide
• identify the potential uses of Civitas Learning’s analytic
tools to the online learning environment.

23. Faculty participants in Destination 2014 -
Predictive Analytics Track - will:
• directly engage data on their students (enrolled in
Summer 2014) and work with their Destination peers to
determine how best to “use" the data to improve
student learning / success
• study / test the impact of student engagement strategies
in online courses using predictive analytic tools to
measure changes in student performance over time
• serve as campus-based resources in support of the
scaled implementation of the Civitas predictive analytic
tools in 2014-2015.