WCET Annual Meeting Presentation

1. Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
WWW.CTDLC.ORG
State Agency Created in 1998

2. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Federal Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary
Education Grant (FIPSE)
Innovative Strategies in Community Colleges for Working
Adults and Displaced Workers.
•FIPSE Grant Period: 3 years -- 01/01/2010 - 12/31/2012
•Institutional Partners:
•Manchester CC (CT); Middlesex CC (MA);
Northwestern CT CC (CT); Passaic County CC (NJ)
•Initial Pilot: Began 9/1/2010

3. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Additional funding Year Two from the
DAVIS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Develop same service for adults in baccalaureate
granting institutions
Added resources for help with transfer from
Community Colleges
New Institutional Partners
Central CT State University
University of Hartford

4. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
PROJECT GOALS
• Increase persistence via a virtual network of Coaches who help
students articulate their academic, career and personal goals in an
online “Success Plan”
• Identify best practices in delivering coaching online
• Provide virtual access to resources specifically designed to help
adult learners understand the culture of post-secondary education

5. Replicating a Successful
Collaborative Model

6. Collaboration Advantages
• Cost effective
• Flexible coaching schedule allows evening & weekend sessions
• More coaching time available for students
• Shared resources
• Pool of expertise for planning, training and troubleshooting
• Support network for coaches

7. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
ASC WEB SITE

8. AdultSuccessCoach.Org

9. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Campus Specific Resources
for each Student
General Resources
Across the Program

10. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Scheduled 1:1 Coaching Sessions via web conferencing

11. Lessons Learned
Coaching must be clearly defined, refined, and practiced.
Students:
• What is a coach?
• How will this benefit me?
Coaches:
• Am I an advisor?
• Am I a counselor?
• How do I balancing troubleshooting and planning in a
session?

12. Training Coaches: Challenges
• Troubleshooting vs. long-range planning
• Urge to “fix” problems
• Prescriptive mindset
• Overwhelmed by number of student problems
• Defining success for students vs. guiding them through decision-
making
• Transactional distance
• Campus-specific questions

13. Training Coaches
Understanding the Platform:
• F2F technical training
• Online technical training
• Online documentation in Coaches Resources section of ASC
Coaching Strategies:
• F2F
• Moodle classroom
• Online documentation in Coaches Resources section of ASC
• Phone conferences

14. Training Coaches
Face-to-face training
• Modeling
• Role playing
• Sharing experiences with other coaching
• Collectively refining process

15. Training: Role-playing
Student Two: James is a white man in his early 60s. He had been a construction
worker, but a back injury put an end to that career. He is enrolled in a job
retraining program that is paying his college tuition. He is divorced and has no
children. He lives in a small house with a mixed breed dog that he rescued after it
had been hit by a car on one of his construction sites. James is not adjusting well
to college. He is uncomfortable around the “kids” in his classes and is only going
to school so he can receive benefits. He has a high school diploma, but often cut
classes and had a C- average. He is enrolled in a general studies program, because
he could not decide on a major. He does not think he is “college material,” and is
suspicious of “book smart” people. He likes being outdoors and goes fishing to
relax. He likes most sports, but can no longer play on his softball team because of
his back problems. He does not enjoy reading, but loves Sudoku puzzles.

21. The Success Plan

23. Coaching Resources
Training Coaches

24. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Greatest Challenge!! Student Engagement
If we build it,
they WON’T
necessarily come

25. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Different Institutional Implementations
• Replicating online an existing face-to-face Academic Coaching
service
• Providing coaching as a component of an Adult Student
Orientation course
• Targeting students at risk through student support programs
• Value-added component of registration in an online program
• All out, cross-campus Marketing efforts

26. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Lessons Learned
• Replicating an existing on campus program was most effective
• Clarify purpose- What is Coaching? Intended outcomes?
• Partner with Directors of programs with known retention
challenges
• Create buy in with Key Players on campus from the start
• Provide Coaching as a Targeted Solution
• Support Institution-Specific Programs

27. AdultSuccessCoach.Org
Contacts
Carolyn Rogers
Director of Academic Services
CT Distance Learning Consortium
860.515.3727
crogers@ctdlc.org
Bonnie Riedinger
Director of eLearning
University of New Haven
203.479.4125
briedinger@newhaven.edu