3. Agenda – Virtual Session #3
Introductions (10 min)
Education Expressway (50 min)
What support services are available for
mature students?
How do they know about them?
Are there sector/program-specific services?
Persistence Parkway (15 min)
Your Best Ideas from Today (5 min)
Confirm next COP topics (5 min)
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4. Services for Mature Students
How are their needs different?
Sandwich generation
Disability issues
Health insurance
Financial Aid
PLA
Veterans affairs (Service Member Opportunity College
members?)
Remedial courses
Study skills
Technology assistance
5. Innovation in Student Services
Financial aid specifically for mature students
Match students with others who can help
Child care/elder care assistance for students
and staff
Transportation solutions
Public transportation pass
Parking/Escort to car
Safety workshops
Inter-campus shuttle
Mature Student Officer
Social Networking Sites
6. Sector Program Support??
• College counselors
– Available to everyone during mass registration. Information
provided ranged from adequate to incorrect. Using them
is like “throwing darts at a board.”
• Program counselors or faculty advisors
– Available to those who have declared a major or completed
a certain number of credits. Information provided was
useful but eligibility was confusing.
• “Casual counselors”
– Available to those who take the initiative. Information
provided was most helpful but available to the fewest
students
Source: Mature Students in the Persistence Puzzle, Canadian Council on Learning,
6
2008
7. Getting the Word Out
Orientation
Emails
Faculty and Staff
Messages through online courseware
Bulletin boards- Actual and electronic
Texting
Start Next Quarter - South Seattle CC
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8. Start Next Quarter
•http://sites.google.com/site/startnextquarter
•Specifying What you Want:
•Self
•Assessment
•Tracking Down Information:
Career Exploration
•Planning for Career Success:
•Doing and Learning
•Kelly DeForrest
•206-934-7962
•Kelly.deforrest@seattlecolleges.edu
9. Keys to Persistence
Persistence = time to degree
Stop talking about 2 & 4 year degrees
Supportive network – Stop Out vs. Drop
Out
Invite people back
Self- Motivation
Knowledge of available resources
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10. One Study- Five Top Themes
1. Relationships with professors***** -
2. Supportive institutional infrastructure
http://online.wsj.com/video/EC9B0B5
0-FE11-47A4-B3F2-
42A1AD97D8A6.html
3. Experiential learning opportunities
4. Peer relationships
5. Multi-faceted educational goals
Source: Mature Students in the Persistence Puzzle, Canadian Council on
Learning, 2008
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11. Influence of Support Services
• Participating in support services was
related to progress toward a degree
– Of students using two or more
services, 80% made progress toward
a degree
– Of students using fewer than two
services, 60% made progress
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12. Study Conclusions
“Open access” doesn’t mean all will participate
General advising is less effective than
personalized advising
Savvy students find their own information; the
students who need the information don’t have
the savvy to get it
Word-of-mouth doesn’t reach all students
Students who are part of a network get the best
information; but students who need the
information aren’t part of networks
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14. Next Session – Combined Sector &
Counselor
Thursday, June 21st 12-1 CST
Job Seeker Junction
What’s hot in job search coaching?
When is the search toolkit complete?
How much counseling is reasonable?
Career Path Court
Ongoing training for workforce
readiness
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Editor's Notes
Continue with our map. Program is built and marketed, students are at the college…today is about keeping them there and supporting their success
Plan for today: slideSharing – conversational, exploratory – don’t hold back – a COP only work when we share and compare. Permission to move beyond mature worker – tough to see this as distinct. But if there are mature-worker specific ?s or solutions BRING IT UP. This is YOUR COP – ‘let ideas fly’.No secrets!
This is a list of things we believe would be important to mature students. GO THROUGH LISTWhere are you doing these things well? Where could you use a boost? Jay from Bismark mentioned having someone physically next to registration kiosk to help mature students registerHow do you train for these services and is it different than training for traditional students? Are the services centralized and how does intake for mature students work? Counseling Vets- Service Members Opportunity Colleges
Financial Aid – worker retraining funds, food stampsMatching - Madison Area Technical College has WOW (Wiser Older Students Group) – meet weekly to discuss school, job hunt, life and the great balancing actChildcare – Gateway faculty and staff make monetary donations to center. Run as a business with intention of profitability
Source Speaks to sector program support services and where they break downI’m sure these quotes would never come from your students!!
Other ideas?Robert fromMidSouth mentioned mandatory orientation for staff/faculty – incentivized to complete an assessment post class
KeithMarler – Start Next Quarter web site – purpose to get people to the two-day orientation. Graciously agree to share how it works and why it works for South Seattle CC
In NACTEL program there are examples of students that have taken 9 years to earn an Associates degree. Persistence can be a long road. Don’t talk about 2 & 4 year degrees. What’s the culture at your schools? Stop Out vs. Drop Out - We all know that adult learners – Particularly those in sandwich generation have life-events that get in the way of completionImportant that when this happens….we INVITE them back. And keep asking. College shouldn’t see these gaps as dropping-out. Very important culturally.CAEL Returning to Learning workshops. Looking at an online offering now. Tool to make it fun, engaging, not punitive.
The # 1 indicator for persistence…relationship with professors. Part of why it’s so critical that they know about ALL support services. WSJ video about Student Achievement & Success (SAS) Program at Anne Arundle. Support academic, technical and emotional. Students in the program have 89% retention rate semester to semester. Their saying is “WE WANT TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF”When a professor uses the life experience of the mature student as an example to the rest of the class, there’s empirical evidence that links to persistence….ESPECIALLY during first crucial semesters of enrollmentInteresting piece of this study was that mature/adult students’ goals are broader than education attainment. Finishing, accomplishment, sense or worth were equally or more important than the credential…human connection and value
What did you hear today that resonated? Is there anything you’d like to try?