We continue to celebrate small successes at our campuses, as we see opportunities and adapt to the new normal, in 2021. Alysha sent out the schedule for the upcoming quarterly meetings. See dates below. We look forward to seeing you all.
In this issue:
- Quarterly Brieng
- Working Group Updates
- Campus Spotlight
- Best Practices & Strategy Share
- Staying Connected
Quarterly Briefing
- Database of Professional Journals and Conferences – Laurel Griggs is helping us create a list of disability focused professional journals and conferences. She has started a tracking sheet for this purpose. All are invited to add to this sheet which can be accessed here: College STAR Professional Organization Listing.
- Membership Survey – Adrienne Smith has sent out a survey about your College STAR membership. Please complete this survey if you have not done so as yet.
- Network Website – Tanner shared a preview and walkthrough of the College Star site. He will be putting all program updates on the main site. He is creating an internal links page that will host internal documents and meeting notes. Please send Tanner information about events that are happening within your program. They will be added to the College STAR site. His email is jonesjoe@ecu.edu
- Conference Planning Updates – More students attended the 2020 conference than previous years. We will work to make the conference more student oriented in the future so the information can be relevant to them. Ellen has started a master list of a proposal wish list with NC DPI. Next step is to send save the dates to forward to our colleagues. Please share the dates of the conference with your colleagues: October 26th, 2021 & Wednesday, October 27th, 2021.
- Communications Group – The communications group felt that rather than working with folks one by one, it would be best to create an extensive guide with all of the information needed for College STAR members for easy access. The guide will be developed in the coming weeks, and will include a few screen recording to best illustrate how to interact with the Smore website.
Working Group Updates
Research Team
Adam Denney completed the final edits and revisions to the first research manuscript. Research Team has decided to submit the disclosure manuscript to the Social Sciences Special Issues: Transition from Higher Education to Employment College STAR: Supporting Transition, Access, and Retention Additional information about the journal and issue can be found here:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci/special_issues/Higher_Education_to_Employment
Alysha and Adam have been meeting to review/discuss the requirements for publication with the identified journal and make any updates needed to the manuscript for consideration. The research group also discussed a second manuscript which is focused on alumni who are in the workforce, and how these individuals are affected by the pandemic. An alumni survey has been completed and received good feedback from those submissions. Adam will be sending the survey out to help with research.
K-12 Team
If you have any contact information for your K-12 connections that you would like to be included on emails regarding the 2021 College STAR Conference send Tanner information about events that are happening within your program. Tanner will add program events to the College STAR website. Tanner’s email is jonesjoe@ecu.edu.
Please add any contact information for your K-12 networks that you would like included in contacts about the College STAR Conference – K-12 Network Connections – Google Docs
Resource Team
We have hosted a couple of coffee chats since the start of this year to continue opportunities for networking, sharing and learning from each other. The last coffee Chat session was held on March 4. Stay tuned for more!
Along with the calendar invites, we want to increase the level and quality of interaction we have at the monthly get togethers so we will be posting the link and date of the upcoming meetings on the Facebook page to remind members of the meetings, but also drive more trac on the page. We want to encourage everyone to share ideas about topics for the meetings in the comment section.
Campus Spotlight
Landmark
While many colleges offer special programs for students with learning disabilities (LD) and other learning challenges, Landmark College is one of the only accredited colleges in the United States designed exclusively for students who learn differently, including students with learning disabilities (such as dyslexia), attention decit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Landmark College’s mission is to transform the way students learn, educators teach, and the public thinks about education. We provide highly accessible approaches to learning that empower individuals who learn differently to exceed their aspirations and to achieve their greatest potential. Through the Landmark College Institute for Research and Training, the College aims to extend its mission across the nation and throughout the world. Here at Landmark College, students learn how to learn, and this knowledge helps them become more condent and independent.
Best Practices & Strategy Share
Landmark College Online Dual Enrollment
Landmark College (LC) offers online dual enrollment (DE) to high school juniors, seniors, and gap year students who learn differently. These are accredited 14-week college courses uniquely designed for students with executive function and other academic challenges. LC DE credits are transferable to other institutions of higher education, depending on institutional requirements and provide high school students with transition to college experience while still in high school.
Growth in Online Dual Enrollement
Our DE courses have experienced robust growth since their inception and continue to show growth in enrollment (see image below). The annual growth rate from 2019 to 2022 (projected) is 77.6%.
Who Are Our Students?
Landmark College DE draws from a broad audience of students, including:
- § LD focused private schools
- § Public schools
- § Home and Charter schools
- § Gap Year students
- § Non- partnered students (these are students whose schools do not have a partnership agreement with LC).
The current number of partnership schools is 52. Partnership schools have grown from 15 in 2018 to 52 in 2021. Most partner schools are located in the east and west coast, but numbers from other parts of the country are growing. The image below shows the geographical distribution of dual enrollment students.
What Makes Landmark College Online Dual Enrollment Unique?
LC dual enrollment courses are resource rich and include multiple options for student support. The uniqueness of LC dual enrollment derives from four elements:
Pedagogical Approach
Instruction is based on 35 years of Landmark College experience with students who learn differently, and is anchored in the principles of universal design for learning.
Instructional Design
Courses have both asynchronous and synchronous components. Online content is specifically created for each course by subject matter experts and includes text with embedded links, videos, learning strategies, and a suggested study calendar. There are weekly video meetings with the advisor and scheduled oce hours with instructors.
Model of Delivery
Each course has a dedicated course advisor who helps students navigate the online platform, communicate with instructor, liaise with parents, and problem solve as needed. Many partnership schools also provide their own onsite academic/transition advisors as well.
Transition to College Skills
At the beginning of each course, students participate in a seven module Online Readiness[1] component. Online Readiness modules are self-paced and help prepare students for online competencies and college-level reading and writing demands before starting the course.
Research to Practice Online – Landmark College is Leading the Way
Landmark College dual enrollment courses demonstrate that students who learn differently can be successful in online courses provided they have the right supports and appropriate course design. Our pedagogical practices are informed by current research in the LD field. Online courses are continually evaluated and rened. Research conducted by the Landmark College Institute for Research and Training (LCIRT) further guides instruction and online design, which is engineered for students who learn differently.
A NSF grant funded research study awarded to LCIRT- NSF-ECR (# 1420198; 2014 -17; “Synchronous Versus Asynchronous On-Line Discussions for Students with Disabilities” found that while students who learn differently indicate a preference for synchronous sessions (live video conferences), their academic performance is significantly improved when given the opportunity to learn the information at their own pace and time online. NOTE: This study was conducted pre-Covid.
Research findings on online learning for students who learn differently are included into our online courses. Following best practices are built in:
- Creating a sense of belonging and a “learning community,” despite being remote
- Having clear and intuitive directions for navigation in the online platform; multiple repetitions
- Having instructor presence online
- Design and display of on-screen content that supports differences
- Ensuring that cognitive load is manageable
- Building in frequent breaks and exibility
- Providing multiple opportunities for instructor/advisor contact
- Taking advantage of the affordances of technology (personalized learning)
Bay Area Expansion
Landmark College online presence continues to grow with the hiring of a Regional Director for Online Programs in the California Bay Area. The base of operations is at the Compass School in San Mateo. We also have a Success Center in the Bay Area to serve as a resource and a physical space for online and face-to-face student support, initially for students in LC dual enrollment, but potentially in the future to other high school and college students seeking academic coaching. The Success Center will be operational in Summer 2021.
Finding More Information
For more information on the Landmark College online dual enrollment please contact:
Tabitha Mancini
Director of Customer Relations and Outreach, Online Programs
tabithamancini@landmark.edu
Staying Connected
We are gearing up for our very rst College STAR Professional Development “Lunch and Learn”. The session will be held on Tuesday, May 18th from 11:00 am-2:00 pm Eastern time.
We are excited to welcome new folks, and we will discuss how this network can provide broader professional development for our participating campuses. Additionally, we want to make time for people from different campuses to meet and get to know each other. To better prepare for the session, we are asking for all participants to register by May 14th using the information below.
