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League for Innovation Learning Abstract - Focus on Learning Emerges from Participatory Strategic Planning


With development of the ideal learner the ultimate goal, the Metropolitan
Campus in the Cuyahoga Community College district (OH) dedicated its resources
to creating a new strategy for emphasizing learning over process. Read about
this Focus on Learning structure in the August Learning Abstracts.
To view the web version of this abstract, in printer friendly layout, go to
<https://www.league.org/publication/abstracts/learning/lelabs0802.html>
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Focus on Learning Emerges from Participatory Strategic Planning
Belinda Miles, Cynthia Nelson-Angell, Dan O'Connor, and Alex Johnson
Ongoing strategic planning can contribute to the advancement of a college by
serving as a foundation for the introduction of cutting-edge initiatives. This
conclusion epitomizes the strategic planning history on the Metropolitan Campus
in the Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) district in Cleveland, Ohio. During the
past decade, the campus has benefited from a participatory strategic planning
process for strengthening its traditional programs and launching innovations.
The districtwide goals and a set of campus-specific guiding principles,
including facilities development, student services, curricular innovation,
enrollment development, and internal operations, serve as the foundation from
which the strategic planning process is driven.

In an effort to continuously improve on this approach, a task force
encompassing individuals at all levels of the campus was commissioned to
evaluate its effectiveness and to recommend improvements. The result is an
updated strategic plan covering academic years 2001 to 2005 that is more
efficient, more connected to the needs of the community, and more in line with
districtwide initiatives. The task force not only validated the efficacy of the
guiding principles, but also identified the priorities as defined in Table 1,
"Strategic Planning Priorities," to be emphasized during the planning period.
The task force determined that the priorities gleaned from the strategic
planning review would be helpful in enumerating achievements against
institutional goals and help in facilitating student learning.

Table 1: Strategic Planning Priorities
RETENTION
Implement policies and strategies designed to keep students actively enrolled
until they complete the individual educational and/or career goals they set out
to achieve.
TECHNOLOGY
Effect ongoing acquisition and use of state-of-the-art technology to enable and
enhance teaching and learning, student support, and operational efficiency.
ACCESS
Provide quality education, program, and training opportunities to learners with
increasingly varied educational and career backgrounds and interests.
INTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS
Encourage collaboration among faculty and staff to reach the articulated goals
for the campus.
COMMUNITY COLLABORATION
Extend the entire campus community beyond its perimeter and engage
community-based constituencies in mutually beneficial partnerships.
DIVERSITY
Celebrate and embrace the distinctiveness of the various groups and individuals
that comprise the campus community; recognize the collective strength and
talent associated with such an environment as well as the challenges and
opportunities it creates.

This latter discovery related to student learning was most satisfying, but not
unusual for an institution completing a major process or policy review such as
strategic planning. According to Kay McClenny (2001) in her discussion of
Vanguard Learning Colleges, the commitment to student success stems from
policies, practices, and behavior characterized by the belief that student
learning is the fundamental concern of the learning college. Thus, the
emphasis on goal attainment for students has become an even more important
objective for the Metropolitan Campus.

Focus on Learning Structure
The strategic planning review aided in formulating the steps required to become
a more learner-centered campus. But during this review, the task force found
that traditional administrative "silos" divided into academic, student, and
administrative affairs might impose barriers that impede the work. The
conclusion was that these independent structures must share responsibility for
learning through ongoing examination of instructional policies and procedures
that foster broad-based participation. The task force decided to make use of
the Metropolitan Campus guiding principles, which facilitate collective
involvement, as the administrative framework in which priorities and the
commitment to student learning would be carried out.

The Focus on Learning structure illustrates this concept (go to
<https://www.league.org/publication/abstracts/learning/lelabs0802.html> to view
diagram). It is based on the belief that all segments of the campus
community-especially students-advance and evaluate learning everywhere to
produce the ideal learner: in classrooms, laboratories, corridors, physical
grounds, and community settings. The ideal learner is one who aspires to
demonstrate discernible and measurable behaviors (characterized in Table 2)
that contribute to success and are a result of interactions within a learning
college where operations are facilitated by the Focus on Learning structure.

Table 2: The Ideal Learner
ACADEMICALLY SUCCESSFUL
Is a completer; attains immediate and long-term goals
Takes responsibility for learning
Demonstrates and is satisfied with academic achievement
Engages in extracurricular programming
Transfers to four-year institution; obtains job in educational field

CONCERNED CITIZEN
Obtains community outreach experience
Expresses belief in self and society
Is a caring individual

INSTITUTIONAL LOYALTY
Remains connected with institution
Stays involved with alumni functions
Appreciates the experience at the campus
Serves as ambassador for the institution
Conveys pride in the institution
Is not afraid to offer corrective feedback

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Recognizes value in campus experiences
Matures in interpersonal communications and behaviors

EMPOWERED
Is able to successfully navigate operational systems
Exhibits confidence in ability to pursue next steps


An Application of Focus on Learning
The following example highlights Focus on Learning as it applies to improving
retention, and to developing and evaluating behaviors reflected in the ideal
learner. Through surveys and interviews administered during the strategic plan
review, we determined that retention (or persistence) could be improved when
students are knowledgeable of institutional practices, involved with student
and instructional services in a responsive campus setting, and interactive with
resources in the community including social services, schools, and jobs. To
test this assumption, the task force instituted under each guiding principle
the following exemplary activities as a part of a Growth and Enrollment
Management (GEM) program for 2001-2003. This is being done in an effort to
increase the retention rate from 58 to 67 percent in Fall 2003 as one measure
of success in this area:
1. INTERNAL OPERATIONS
Improve internal procedures for processing financial aid applications.
Revamp registration procedures so that students can be required to register and
pay for classes by established deadlines.
Start the process to employ an assessment coordinator to identify the outcomes
and evaluate the effectiveness of Focus on Learning.

2. STUDENT SERVICES
Hire an assistant dean to achieve the following:
Integrate the "One Stop Shop" program to admit, assess, and advise students,
qualify them for financial aid, and enroll them in classes.
Oversee cross training to prepare staff to perform jobs in either the financial
aid, business, registration, or academic areas.
Coordinate efforts among teaching faculty, counselors, and student services
staff to increase retention, such as the on the "Fast Forward" decentralized
registration process.
Create within the Technology Learning Center (TLC) computer programs that allow
students to handle their college affairs (i.e., register, apply for financial
aid, or converse with various offices and faculty) online at the campus and
from their homes, jobs, and communities.
Distribute material, including class rolls and grade forms, to faculty in a
timely manner.
Advertise Career Place, a unit of CCC where students can obtain career
counseling and job placement services

3. CURRICULAR INNOVATION
Assist faculty to more broadly employ Web for Faculty to help ensure students
are officially registered in their classes; refer students to support services;
submit midterm evaluations and final grades; and advise students on upcoming
classes before the printed class schedule becomes available.
Introduce measures to improve developmental education, such as the Supplemental
Mathematics Instruction for Learning Effectiveness (SMILE) program.

4. FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT
Incorporate supplemental instructional resources in the Learning Resource
Center as part of the Technology Information and Literacy Initiative (TILI) to
ensure greater access to these services by students.

5. ENROLLMENT DEVELOPMENT
Conduct a marketing campaign targeted to the students in the Metropolitan
Campus draw area.


Activities for each of the remaining priority areas-technology, access,
internal partnerships, community collaboration, and diversity-have been
established under the guiding principles for the period 2001-2003. Ongoing
evaluation to determine the effectiveness of Focus on Learning is essential to
its continuous improvement. As an aspect of the evaluation program, an interim
assessment will take place during Fall 2002, and an extensive analysis of
outcomes will occur during Spring 2003 in preparation for updating the
strategic plan.

Conclusions
The Metropolitan Campus has benefited from a consistent record of strategic
planning to identify its priorities in response to the urban community it
serves. The planning process itself has resulted in greater efficiency in
campus operations and allowed for the introduction of innovations. In an
attempt to improve upon the college's efforts, an extensive review of the
strategic planning process was undertaken to identify more precisely how to
emphasize learning over educational process. The task force decided that the
traditional organizational structure that separates educational programs,
student services, and administrative operations needed to be more connected to
implement and evaluate activities dedicated to learning. The Focus on Learning
structure allows for such collaboration by requiring interaction among all
segments of the campus community to complete priorities that foster development
of the ideal learner.

Development of the ideal learner is the ultimate goal, and all resources are
dedicated to this purpose through commitment to guiding principles and
strategic priorities within the Focus on Learning structure. These efforts
underscore a commitment to help individuals transform their lives both
personally and educationally, contribute to community development, and succeed
in the workforce.

Reference

McClenney, K. (2001). Learning from the learning colleges: Observations along
the journey. Learning Abstracts: League for Innovation in the Community
College, v4, n2.
The authors serve at the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in
the following capacities: Belinda Miles is Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts,
Cynthia Nelson-Angell is Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management, Dan
O'Connor is Dean of Health Career and Sciences, and Alex Johnson is Campus
President. Send questions or comments to <mailto:alex.johnson@tri-c.edu>.

Dr. Susan Salvador
Vice President, Student Services
09/09/2002