1. Developing and Maintaining Inspired Learning
Environments for the CommunityCollege Student
Morgan P.Appel
Director, Education Department

2.  Role of the good observer,
first and foremost
 Moving from broader
understandings of the adult
learning landscape toward
cultural proficiency and
development of social
capital for/with students
 Using action to establish
Tipping Points for Change
 No answers just yet— but
rather things over which to
muse
Things have changed over the years.
Populations are different. Needs are
different. Our roles as instructional leaders
are different.

3. When I was enrolled in
ContraCosta, Laney
and Merritt Colleges in
1983 (third from left),
there were no
fees/tuition. Smoking
was allowed and
prevalent. Most of us
were 18-21 and moved
rather slowly from one
college to another—
always seeking out a
different environment.
Distance learning
meant taking a bus to
school.Whole-group
instruction was the
theme of the day.

4.  Enrollment decrease in urban
areas, slight increases in suburbs
and rural areas
 Unusually large decrease in
African American enrollees,
minorities generally
 Decline in the number of high
school graduates statewide
 Objectives: transfer or vocational
AA. Business as usual. Getting
through, getting by.
Source: State of California, 2015

5.  Demographic Shifts:
Majority/Minority
 Urbanicity (primarily large
cities and urban fringe)
 Bifurcated Mission (remedial
in some cases, advanced/
four-year in others)
 Linguistic Diversity (English
Learners – first, second, and
third generations)
 Female Majority (53.6
percent)
39%
31%
7%
1%
11%
3%
1% 4%
4%
CCC Student Demographics
by Ethnicity, 2012-2013
Latino
White
African American
Native American
Asian American
Filipino
Pacific Islander
Multiple Ethnicities
Unknown

6.  Increased distance learning
 Increased partnerships
between CCs and Four-Year
Institutions
 Greater recruiting of Baby
Boomers
 Changes in enrollment (non-
traditional students—
HS/ReverseTransfer/Veterans)
 Increased partnerships with
business
 Response to Globalization
 Policy trends (free community
college initiative)
 Inconsistent enrollment
vectors and intensity
(enrollment patterns—full/part-
time; enrollment during a given
semester), challenging
assumptions about regularity
and persistence
 Tracking transfers and
providing survival skills—
especially for non-traditional
enrollees.
 Technology and
formal/informal learning
resources – striking a balance

7.  As the landscape changes, so
must we change our practice
 Not to survive, but to thrive
 Need to provide learning
environments that are both
high challenge and low risk
 Cultural Competence and
Proficiency
 Facilitating the development of
social capital (putting
‘community’ in the community
college) – using technology to
the extent possible
 Sound andragogical practice
that attends not only to the
cognitive domain, but also to the
affective elements of teaching
and learning
 Developing and maintaining a
learning environment that
engages diversity in all of its
forms and serves as a
foundation for ongoing support
for students
 You need not change the
world—only your course and
your classroom

8. It all starts here.
Everyone has a
unique learning
profile and set of
life experiences
to scaffold upon.
This is especially
true for diverse
adult learners who
populate your
courses.
One size doesn’t fit
all – it never did!
Equity and equality are at the roots of the endeavor

9. Wisdom from
Miles Davis
My future starts when I
wake up every morning.
Every day I find
something creative to
do with my life.
It's not about standing
still and becoming safe.
If anybody wants to
keep creating they have
to be about change.
Do not fear mistakes -
there are none.

10.  Self-concept: dependent to
self directed as one matures
 Experience is a resource for
learning
 Readiness to learn is focused
on developmental tasks
 Postponed application versus
immediate application of
knowledge
 Learning is internally
motivated
 Adults need to be involved in
the planning and evaluation
of their instruction
 Experience (including
mistakes) provides the basis
for the learning activities
 Adults are most interested in
learning subjects that have
immediate relevance and
impact to their job or
personal lives
 Adult learning is problem-
centered rather than content-
oriented

11. Who we are and
how we learn
and teach
How these
factors influence
interactions with
others

12.  An idea that began in the health
sciences to better serve increasingly
diverse groups of patients
 Eventually integrated into mental
health services and into education
 Precursor to long-term, sustained
engagement with students
 Conceived of as a means to
facilitate collaboration and
communication between
educational institutions and
members of the broader
community
 What does Cultural Competence
look like in the community college
setting?
How does this
influence our
work with
students?
How does
this
influence
student
opinion?
How do we use
cultural
competency as a
basis for
supporting
students?

13. Source: VictorianAboriginalChild Care Agency,AboriginalCulturalCompetence Framework (2008), p 24;
www.humanrightsgroup.gov.au
Interpretations
about where one
(or a constituency)
falls along the
continuum tend
to differ greatly
depending upon
who is asked.
Cultural proficiency
is always the end
goal but very hard
to reach.
Competence and
Proficiency require
ACTION.

14.  Multifaceted and
multidimensional—interpreted
differently by different
constituencies (moving target)
 Ongoing self examination and
reflection; understanding contexts;
how identity impacts
assumptions, values, biases and
influences interactions on campus
 Cultivate awareness of
professional style that enhances or
impedes culturally competent
practice
 How content/ curriculum is
developed and delivered, including
the development of learning
objectives and assessments
 Awareness of current demographic
and sociocultural trends that
impact students and others
 Develop instructional methods,
practices and resources that are
accessible and reflective of diverse
learning styles, language abilities,
developmental skills and cultural
perspectives.
Source: ALA.org, 2015

15. Who we are and
how we learn and
teach
How these
factors influence
interactions with
others
How to use what
we know to
support others
and cultivate
survival skills

16.  The collective value of social
networks and relationships
 Bridging and bonding social
capital (across/within)
 Social relationships can be
managed and organized to
get things done
 Impacts both ‘survival skills’
for diverse student groups
and academic achievement
 Provides an important
socialization function in
education (and for transfers)

17.  Leveraging the power of relationships facilitates integration into
the college environment (especially bridging) through norms,
sanctions and socialization
 Alignment with Cultural Competence and cultural capital
(common understandings as a basis for connection and the ‘know
how’ to succeed)
 Impetus—intentionality in larger complex communities (the
institution plays a powerful role in building bridges and capital,
providing support
 Empowering students across the board to take charge of their own
learning
 Role of the faculty in establishing high-quality dyadic and
reciprocal relationships with students

18. Who we are and
how we learn
and teach
How these
factors
influence
interactions
with others
How to use
what we know
to support
others and
cultivate
survival skills
How we use
these factors to
guide sound
andragogical
practice and
differentiate
instruction

19. Wisdom from Martha
Graham
Great dancers are not
great because of their
technique, they are
great because of their
passion.
Some men have
thousands of reasons
why they cannot do
what they want to,
when all they need is
one reason why they
can.

20.  Key= different
 Content, process and
product (resources and
assessment)
 Ability, interest and
learning style (grouping)
 Scaffolding upon
experience and moving
from concrete to abstract
 Striking a balance between
formal and informal
learning resources
Meeting students where they are versus
having them come to us

21.  Differentiated instruction (DI)
lies at the heart of effective
learning
 DI attends to the unique
cognitive and affective needs
of diverse learners
 DI is a straightforward and
brain-friendly way to inspire
ingenuity and commitment
by appreciating diverse
abilities, interests, aptitudes
and learning styles
 Depth and complexity are the
essence of DI and engage the
brain through exploration,
creative problem solving,
metacognition and
opportunities for ‘flow’
 DI is organically cross-
disciplinary and collaborative
 Proof may be found in an
understanding of how the
brain learns and uses
information in context.

22.  Formal Resources: Courses; textbooks; trainings;
literature and other media; official websites; television;
radio; among others
 Informal Resources: Networks;YouTube; Facebook;
LinkedIn; Flickr; Google; Itunes; Netflix; Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs)
 Balance isTantamount —based on your resource
preferences and learning styles. What technology tools do
you use? For what purposes? How do you organize
learning? How do you map it out?
 ‘Buffets for the Brain’

23.  Customizing sets of online/offline resources (content; presentation;
navigation support; and educational services) to address the unique
learning styles, profiles and interests of the individual user
 Benefits:
 Engages students as creators (versus strict consumers) of education and
information
 Promotes ownership of knowledge and participation in assessment
 Offers choice and autonomy, values dimensions beyond cognitive
 Real-life connections and creativity -- culturally and contextually based
 Promotes critical thinking and sound habits of mind
 Opportunities to share ideas and processes in an integrated way
 Interdependence and mutual respect between teacher and student
 Enhances tiering, grouping and scaffolding

24.  Reflect upon your own
postsecondary experiences—
and your induction into
academia
 What are the most salient
issues in considering cultural
competence and
instructional practice? What
changes might be made?
 How do we move beyond our
traditional roles as members
of the faculty and into
professional mentorship?
 What small/incremental
changes can be affected to
your work to address
changing demographics,
diversity in skills, attitudes
and learning styles?
 Is it possible to differentiate
and personalize curriculum
and instruction in the current
environment? What factors
enhance or inhibit the
process?
 Others?

26. Morgan Appel, Director
Education Department
UC San Diego Extension
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N
La Jolla, California 92093-0170
mappel@ucsd.edu
858-534-9273
extension.ucsd.edu/education