Bridging Gaps
Gap: Educational Achievement
Overview
I would be remiss if I did not thank the Office of the Provost for leading Pima’s transition to virtual instruction in March 2020. In a few weeks, nearly 2,000 courses pivoted to new ways of learning, a remarkable accomplishment that puts a dent in the myth that higher education is slow to change.
Academic Transformation
Work will continue to begin providing guaranteed schedules for students participating in pathways. Additional resources have been allocated to provide students with improved degree audits, electronic planners for their programs and support staff to help them utilize these tools.
Bellwether
In February, Pima’s redesign of its Developmental Education program received best-in-the-nation recognition, beating out nine other community colleges from across the U.S. to win a Bellwether Award for higher education innovation that produces substantial results.
The College was honored for a half-decade effort to build a multipronged program that serves the student holistically and challenges conventional wisdom surrounding college readiness. Our results: a 20% increase from Fall 2014 in students earning credit in English Composition, and a 90% increase in students earning credit in a gateway Mathematics course.
Guided Pathways
The DegreeWorks academic advising and degree-audit tool helps students and advisors chart students’ academic pathway. They have built pathway templates that they will begin using once testing is complete. The College has completed its initial analysis of Guided Pathways and will begin a deep-dive assessment soon. Guided Pathways is part of my Chancellor’s Goals.
MIT Initiative
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Jaweel World Education Lab (J-WEL) is addressing concerns by employers and students about the ROI of a liberal arts education. Pima was invited to join an initiative that seeks to better integrate the Liberal Arts into Workforce programs. The other institutions are: Wellesley, Kenyon, Wheaton, Davidson, Simmons, Babson, Trinity, and Lehigh. The initiative will:
- prepare liberal arts students for career readiness in a technological economy
- map liberal arts outcomes to technical and professional skills requirements
- align liberal arts programs to labor markets and transferable skills
PimaOnline
24/7 D2L support is providing same-day solutions for students through chat, phone and email. A new ticketing service is helping students and faculty.
PimaOnline is offering webinars that help students learn how to use educational technology tools such as Google Meet, Bongo, D2L Brightspace, as well as teaching online success strategies.
Removing a barrier
Money saved on textbooks by Pima students through Open Educational Resources since the initiative’s inception. (Savings include in-person and hybrid courses utilizing OER materials.)
UArizona collaborations
Pima and the University of Arizona are collaborating and sharing resources to enable students who are interested but not yet eligible or able to be admitted at Arizona Online to be referred to Pima to obtain the necessary academic prerequisites to eventually gain acceptance to Arizona Online.
In 2019, instructional designers and faculty from PimaOnline collaborated with Arizona Online to create STU210UA online. A main objective of the course is to support successful transfer to the UArizona, Both schools are ready to collaborate on more online offerings.
Gap: Global and Diversity
Center for International Education and Global Engagement (CIEGE)
Welcomed 191 International students this fall, a decline from last year, but an achievement nonetheless, given that many colleges and universities are reporting substantial declines.
Helped create a new three-college/university virtual recruitment team with Boise State University, State University of New York-Plattsburgh, and Pima. The virtual recruitment team has presented four virtual sessions/recruiting webinars with participation from 250 people from 41 countries.
Partnering with EducationUSA for upcoming virtual fairs. One of the promising markets is Pakistan.
Working with Community Colleges for International Development (CCID) on a conference discussion with colleges in Colombia’s public university system. The objective is to develop virtual exchange programs for our students. It should be noted that 53 percent of Pima’s education abroad participants identify as Latino/Hispanic and 6.6 percent who identify as Native/Indigenous.
Other Diversity accomplishments
Recognition
In February, Pima received the Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion in International Education Award from Diversity Abroad.
Access and Disability Resources
ADR is working with other units of the College to determine how we can continue our path toward Universal Design – ensuring all courses, meetings, community events, and spaces are accessible and equally effective, equally integrated, and provide an equal ease of use.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
For years, the College, through our Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and other units, has been instrumental in supporting the DACA program, beginning with the Governing Board’s decision in 2014 to offer in-state tuition to qualified DACA recipients, thus removing a financial barrier to a Pima education for those who embody the best in our students.
On Aug. 24, about 100 people attended a webinar co-hosted by DEI and the Provost’s Office. Internal and external experts shared information and guidance about the implications of federal and state decisions.
Immigrant and Refugee Student Resource Center
Through the pandemic, the IRSRC -- one of the few refugee resource centers at a community college -- served over 50 students using Google through Zoom, Google Meet and phone calls.
LGBTQ
The registrar’s office can now include a student’s chosen (preferred) name on class, 45th day and final grade rosters when it exists in Banner. Additionally, students will soon be able to initiate this change for themselves using MyPima.
Refugee Education Program
An analysis conducted by Adult Education’s REP team in March revealed that less than 20% of refugee students have access to technology, but the majority of students have a smartphone.
The REP program retooled for virtual learning. With students at home, transportation and childcare issues were ameloriated and attendance improved tremendously, from 111 face-to-face students in January to 165 participants active virtually in April.
Impact
Gap: Technology
Laptops and hotspots
The PCC Governing Board approved expenditure of up to $2.6 million in CARES Act funding to close the “digital divide” that inhibits the academic and career success of so many of our students, especially those who are first-generation, low-income and often from Communities of Color. The College purchased nearly 2,100 laptops and tablets, and 250 mobile wifi hotspots. As of August 15, 626 students have been approved to borrow devices.
New app
The Pulse app provided through PimaOnline allows students to access instant information and guidance on their phones.
Gap: Sustainability
With a mission of saving lives, Facilities/PCC Police has conducted a deep cleaning of all campuses and facilities, and is providing around-the-clock monitoring of all College sites, as well as distributing Personal Protective Equipment to employees working at campuses and facilities.
Working with multiple other College units, Facilities helped establish free parking lot wifi for students at all campuses.
The Building & Construction program is partnering with Trane to design a living lab that will enable students to program and troubleshoot advanced control systems for heating and cooling. A feature of the partnership is providing students with real-time data to help in the decision-making process. This program will provide high school students participating in JTED partnerships with Trane a path to continue their studies and earn additional NC3 certifications for building automation. This expansion will also allow the BCT program to expand its partnership with the University of Arizona for apprenticeships in building control systems.
Gap: Skills
Google IT Certificate
The Google IT Professional Support Certificate is a 5-course online program developed by Google that includes innovative curriculum to prepare participants for an entry-level role in IT support. Pima is collaborating with Jobs of the Future and the Arizona Community College Coordinating Council as part of a statewide consortium of seven community colleges.
So far, Pima has enrolled 89 participants in this high-demand course. The consortium has enrolled 300 participants and will ultimately serve 635 by the end of fall 2020, with an option to further expand. The implications this collaboration are substantial:
- Serving as a launching point for further statewide collaboration.
- Increasing competency-based models for prior learning assessment (PLA)
- Meeting the needs of working learners who need upskilling or re-careering
- Increasing opportunities for short-term training in virtual or hybrid formats
Reskilling and Recovery Network
Pima is one of several Arizona community colleges participating in the network, a multi-state collaboration to equip Arizonans with the skills they need to get back to work and help revitalize Communities of Color, which have been disproportionately affected by economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Registered Apprenticeships
Pima has been awarded two U.S. Department of Labor grants to accelerate and expand earn and learn models in apprenticeship, with PCC’s primary focus being in the construction and applied technology sectors. Pima is the first community college in Arizona to become an intermediary sponsor.
Earn and learn models can help bridge the gap to jobs by allowing participants to gain viable skills, while earning income and reducing debt. We are expanding these apprenticeship models to healthcare, emergency services, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and other applied technology areas.
Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs
IRAPs offer structured competency-based training and an industry-recognized credential. As the lead applicant in a multi-community college initiative, Pima is committed to working in collaboration with employers to build a stronger Arizona and serve more than 3,000 participants over the next four years.
Previous Section: Introduction
Next section: Empowering Equity