The average college student in 2021-2022 spent between $628 and $1,471 annually on textbooks and supplies. In this new report by Megan Crossfield, Manager, Academic Initiatives and Special Projects; and Diane Ryan, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Yavapai College, the authors adocate for greater acceptance and understanding of Open Education Resources (OER).

The report, from the The NISOD Papers, is titled, Improving Student Success Through the Use of Open Educational Resources. OER are alternatives to commercial textbooks that can lead to an increase in student cost savings, access, and quality of instruction. OER are openly licensed teaching materials that are freely available for an instructor, student, or self-learner. 

The report draws conclusions from a two-year quality initiative study in Fall 2020 through Spring 2022 at Yavapai College (YC). The study aimed to:

• Increase access to course learning materials.
• Increase student cost savings.
• Increase student course retention, completion, and persistence rates.
• Determine if students enrolled in two or more OER courses in one semester are retained the next semester with more credits than students in non-OER courses.
• ...

CAST's Annual Symposium will be a hybrid event in Denver, Monday, July 31 - Tuesday, August 1, 2023.  This year's event invites experts across various fields to explore the ways that Universal Design for Learning can be used as a lens to see teaching and learning. 

CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines, used the world over to make learning more inclusive. The CAST Symposium aims to highlight the promising ways UDL has already made great practices even better and to co-create a vision for making UDL ubiquitous as a lens for collective work of designing learning without limits.

This symposium is for educators working both inside and outside of classrooms, including teachers, professors, administrators, curriculum designers, technology leaders, specialists, advocacy groups, workforce trainers, activists, researchers, parents, students, and more.

All proposals are due by Friday, January 20, 2023, at 11:59 pm PST. 

Find out more about CAST and submit your proposal via CAST's website. 

Do you have an innovative practice or cutting-edge research you want to share with your colleagues from around the world? The Call for Presentations for the 2023 NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence is open. Community college staff and faculty are invited to submit a presentation proposal that focuses on best and promising practices that increase student success at community and technical colleges. 

Preconference Seminar proposals are due December 16, 2022 and Breakout Session/Roundtable Discussion proposals are due February 10, 2023. 

The conference covers the following themes: 

• Emerging Issues and Trends at Community and Technical Colleges
• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice
• Online, Face-to-Face, and Hybrid Teaching and Learning   
• Student Services, Support, and Success
• Using Technology to Improve Student and Organizational Outcomes
• Workforce Preparation and Development

To present at the NISOD’s annual conference, you must be employed by a community college, technical college, or not-for-profit organization or university, or represent a conference sponsor.

More information can be found on the NISOD website.

A new effort to increase the number of community college students transferring to some of America’s most elite colleges and universities was launched today, focused in particular on increasing enrollment by students from lower-income backgrounds and communities of color.

The Transfer Scholars Network (TSN), supported by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, brings together community colleges and four-year colleges in an attempt to open a new pipeline for transfer students. Over the course of the past 18-month pilot, the TSN has shown great results.  The preliminary results show: 

• More than a third of the 372 TSN students applied to the four-year institutions in the network.
• After the admissions cycle in Spring 2022, at least 20 percent of TSN students who applied to four-year partner colleges received offers of admission, greater than the average admission rate of 15.6 percent at these schools.
• At least two-thirds of students receiving offers of admission enrolled at one of the partner colleges.
• Dozens of additional TSN students have enrolled at other high-graduation-rate colleges across the country.

This initiative shows a...

American Association from the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is looking for submissions for the 2023 year as part of their  AAAS-Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Initiative. The call is open for blog authors and workshop presenters, and the deadline is December 1st. 

The AAAS-Improving Undergraduate STEM Education initiative supports faculty, students, and the greater undergraduate STEM education community by disseminating research and knowledge about STEM teaching, learning, equity and institutional transformation.

The 2023 AAAS-IUSE blog is dedicated to promoting research on inclusive STEM ecosystems for faculty, students, and the greater undergraduate community. Authors should focus on the implications of their work, how studies, strategies, and examples can serve as a model for others, and identifying opportunities, barriers, and questions surrounding these strategies.

The AAAS-IUSE workshops serve as a space to learn, meet, and collaborate with faculty, researchers, and professionals working to improve undergraduate STEM education. Furthermore, these workshops aim to encourage and empower participants to take action toward improving undergraduate STEM education....

The American Association of Community Colleges is now accepting abstract submissions for consideration for inclusion on the agenda for 2023 AACC Annual. The deadline to submit abstracts is November 15, by 4:59 p.m. Eastern.

AACC Annual is the premier event for community college leaders. The meeting offers professional development as well as the opportunity to network, share, and learn from professionals in the fields of education, business and industry, and the government sector. 

Read the guidelines under the "Abstract Details" tab to learn more about the types of abstracts the AACC is looking for: 

• Must be employed by an educational associate, corporate partner, or institutional member of AACC
• No more than three presenters on each session
• Keep a copy of the submission for your records (AACC is unable to provide copies of abstracts once submitted)

Read more and submit an abstract through the AACC's website! More information on the conference can be found on the AACC Annual website.

A new report from the Mary Christie Institute, a think tank concerned with the emotional and behavioral health of young adults, suggests that student-led and peer-to-peer programs are instrumental in mental health wellness. Through surveys and cases studies, the organization looked at how students drive mental health programs in colleges and universities. 

The report states,"It is well documented that, when in distress, students will turn first to each other, making it incumbent on colleges and universities to respond to this inclination with training and support. With modalities that are targeted to students along the behavioral health continuum, peer support has the potential to help all students on campus with a range of issues that impact their ability to thrive."

The report goes on to cover the history and recent literature on student-led mental health programs, and provides options for college campuses on implementing programs. Read more of the full report here.  

Register now for the virtual Fall 2022 Engineering Technology Forum on November 10th and 18th! Hosted by the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), this forum will bring together diverse Florida colleges with similar interests. 

The Florida Forum on Engineering Technology (E.T. Forum) is an important vehicle to bring together colleges with common issues and challenges. The Forum is a semiannual 2-day meeting of community college engineering technologies faculty in Florida. FLATE utilizes the Forum to strengthen its Technology Consortium; share its activities and projects; provide professional development; bring industry and academics together; engage faculty and administrators in statewide curriculum reform; and keep in touch with new and ongoing college program issues and concerns.

Check out the ATE Central Twitter for up to date event announcements. You can learn more about FLATE programs and the E.T. Forum on the FLATE website, and register for the forum here. 

AACC and ATE Central are pleased to announce the release of the 2022 ATE PI Conference mobile app! The app and companion website are designed to help you make the most of your conference experience. Use your phone, tablet, or Internet browser to create a personal schedule, stay up-to-date with the agenda and speaker lineup, search the attendee directory, and more. Whether in-person or online, we look forward to connecting with you at this year's conference!

How to Download

Search your app store for the EventMobi mobile app or click the following link to download the app to your iPhone or iPad or Android device. Next, open the EventMobi app and enter code atepi2022 to launch the 2022 ATE PI Conference app. Log in with the email you used to register for the conference. Attendees who have downloaded the ATE PI Conference app in years past may have an existing user account. New users will be asked to create a password. For assistance with the app, email [email protected].

The NSF-funded Fall 2022 Inclusive Research Mentor-Manager Training has spaces for approximately 10 community college faculty (including administrators or staff) and approximately 5 spots for community college alumni who are now managers in biotech. 

The training is free and modules begin tomorrow, October 11th. The training is designed to teach current and future science professionals how to efficiently and effectively train, performance manage, and support interns and employees of diverse backgrounds in an effort to foster inclusive, high-functioning working relationships. 

The creators of the training, the University of California at San Francisco, City College of San Francisco, and the CLS Racial & Social Equity Initiative, believe community college faculty that run/coordinate work-based learning programs (internships, apprenticeships, etc) would be the best fit to attend these workshops to determine if the training and frameworks are a good fit for their program's mentor-supervisors.

Currently, the training has 222 registrants, including 140 scientists from academia and over 70 scientists from 48 biotech companies. Register for tomorrow's training and check out upcoming...