Nontraditional Student Week Programs
The programs below were submitted to help you get ideas for your own campus's activities for Nontraditional Student Week. Feel free to use the information to enhance your own programming efforts!
New technology for managing Prior Learning Assessment
"Bring Your Significant Other to Class" Day
Family Activity Tailgate Party
Faculty Staff Awareness Open House
Celebrate Night OWLS Open House
Adult Student Services Center Open House
Essay Contest: "How I have learned to succeed as a nontraditional student"
Who are Iowa State's Nontraditional Students?
Educational Campaign for Faculty/Staff
Recognition Reception for Nontrads
Program Category: Prior
learning credit and re-entry
programs
Program Title:
New
technology for managing Prior Learning Assessment
Name:
Elaine Pearse
Position/Title: PLA
Advisor/Testing Assistant
Address:
12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 662
10-1299
Institution:
Johnson County Community College
Telephone:
913-469-8500 x3538
Fax:
913-469-2523
E-Mail Address: [email protected]
Web Site Address: www.johnco.cc.ks.us/acad/studserv/testing/apl.htm
The Prior
Learning Assessment program at Johnson County Community College is for granting
college credit to some students who can demonstrate or document that they have
achieved the objectives of a given course in theory and/or practice. This
program is constantly evolving and growing as we continually try to meet student
needs and help the adult learner in higher education Candidates requesting
nontraditional credit are usually returning adults who are juggling career,
education and family commitments. On this campus, the average student is age 27.
This program acknowledges and values prior learning, eliminates the need to
repeat coursework and can help students achieve their education goals.
The PLA program
has been operating at JCCC in some form for over 30 years. It was originally
called EBE (Experience Based Education) and credit was awarded on an individual
student basis by faculty who identified and acknowledged the value of
experiential learning. The program was initially very limited and tests
administered were recorded in a notebook. It
has developed, with the support of our Board of Trustees, faculty and Student
Services, under the guidance of CAEL (the Council for Adult and Experiential
Learning). The current program utilizes the Internet and Microsoft software.
We use a
Microsoft data-storage and tracking system to record and report student credit
activity. We endeavor to meet the changing needs of students and college
administrators by utilizing new technology.
A complete and
up-to-date catalog of credit courses is listed on our homepage, identifying
those courses offering nontraditional credit and specifying the options
available for evaluation. We have made this information available, using a Lotus
Notes software program, in order to reach as many people as possible. Students
enrolling in a credit class can now access this information via the Internet to
see if there are alternative educational options for a class in which they may
have prior learning, knowledge or experience. Advisors and administrators can
also access this information for offsite advising.
Some examples of the options available are:
College credit may be awarded for some of the CEEB-AP (College Entrance Examination Board-Advanced Placement examinations taken in high school
College credit may be awarded for some of the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests, e.g. 10 hours of foreign language credit may be awarded for either French, German or Spanish tests
College credit may be awarded to someone with experience in business communications by producing a portfolio documenting knowledge and learning
Someone with accounting experience may take a proficiency test to receive college credit for Accounting I
A person who has successfully completed the CPS (Certified Professional Secretary) examination may get up to 21 hours of related college credit through certificate evaluation, and finally
Training Programs and Military experience and coursework may be
evaluated based on ACE (American Council on Education) Guide recommendations,
and converted to nontraditional credit.
The process
involves liaison between the student and faculty. Academic directors, in
conjunction with their faculty, can review current information via the Internet
to ensure that it accurately reflects the current PLA options for all courses.
As new courses are added, or courses dropped or deleted, the course listing is
edited or updated by the PLA advisor. By using a Lotus Notes program the advisor
can add or edit relevant notes or instructions, noting specific requirements,
faculty contact, etc. The notes section is not accessible to anyone other
than the PLA advisor.
This new technology has greatly enhanced the process for managing the PLA program for faculty and administrators. It has made oft-site advising available by counselors and admissions staff via the Internet and it has made the information more readily available to a much wider audience, which fits with the synchronistic learning model. Finally, It has enhanced college recruitment by community outreach to offsite locations, attracting high-achieving adult students.
Program Category:
Other programs
Program Title:
Car Care Basics
Name:
Mary Bulla
Position:
Assistant Director/Office of Admissions
Address:
Wichita State University, 1845 N.
Fairmount
Wichita
Institution:
Wichita State University
Telephone:
(316) 978-3638
Fax:
(316) 978-3174
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
www.wichita.edu
Description:
This Non Traditional Student Association fall semester program, co-sponsored
with the Wichita Area Vocational Technical College, provided students on campus
with the opportunity to learn automotive preventative maintenance skills prior
to the onset of cold weather. This
event, which displayed flashy, sporty cars, was set up in a central, high
visibility-high pedestrian traffic area on campus and attracted the interest and
attention of passers-by.
Goals:
The goal of this program was to give basic car care information and
winterization techniques. After
several of our NTSA members requested help or assistance in this area, we
decided that a program on this topic would be beneficial to a wide range of
Resources:
Minimal costs were involved in this program.
The only expense was the cost for printing the posters, flyers and
handouts used to promote and advertise the program. The mechanical expertise and equipment was provided, at no
charge, by the Technical College.
Assessment:
This program was quite a popular campus event.
The information provided was well received, and provided practical
information on basic skills that proved valuable to all commuter students,
faculty and staff.
General Program Ideas & Contact Information
Program Title: Adult Student Friendly Awards
Contact Person:
Erin Taylor Weathers
Adult Student Services, Center for Student Life
University of Oklahoma
(405) 325-3263
[email protected]
The Adult Student Services office is awarding five campus offices and/or
staff people as the most adult-friendly on their campus. Awards will
consist of a certificate and the office/individual's name mentioned in a school
paper announcement. An example is the student health center keeping toys
and other children's activities in all of their waiting rooms. Since the
center serves student and faculty families, they work hard to keep
child-friendly medical equipment and a pediatrician for consulting.
Program Title: "Bring Your Significant Other to Class" Day
Contact Person:
Dr. Paula Willits
LRP Publications
(561) 622-6520 ext. 8669
[email protected]
Designate a particular evening or weekend class day as a "bring your significant other to class" day. Professors who allow visitors to come to class with the adult students could really help mates/significant others understand what their partner is doing in school and a bonus for the school might be that the mate would be so intrigued that he/she would enroll, too!
Program Title: Family
Activity Tailgate Party
Contact Person:
Jennifer Grandi
Weber State University
[email protected]
Hold a tailgate just for adult students and their families before a home football game to involve both the student and the family in the extracurricular activities of the college.
Program Titles:
Faculty
Staff Awareness Open House
Celebrate Night OWLS Open
House
Juggling OWLS
Adult
Student Services Center Open House
Essay Contest
Contact Person:
Carol Ann Baily
Adult Student Services Center
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
(615) 898-5646
[email protected]
Faculty/Staff Awareness Open House: we will invite all faculty and staff to come by our office for an open house on Monday and Tuesday of the week. We will operate that from 7:30 - 7:30 each of those days.
Celebrate Night OWLs Open House: we will invite all students enrolled in evening classes to come by the Adult Services Center to celebrate being "Older Wiser Learners" or OWLs Monday through Thursday evenings from 4:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Juggling OWLS: On Wednesday, 10-2:00, we will have a table out in front of our bookstore where the OWLs organization will be celebrating the Juggling OWLs. We will have someone in a big owl costume. We will have some jugglers demonstrating and teaching juggling. We will be giving out sets of juggling balls to our members and selling them to others who are not members who want to buy the balls. We'll also be promoting the organization and trying to recruit new members.
Adult Student Services Center Open House: On Thursday, 11:30 - 1:00, we will invite all the staff in the Student Affairs Division to come to the Adult Services Center for our Division Staff Open House.
Essay Contest: We are going to sponsor an essay contest about "How I have learned to succeed as a nontraditional student". The essays will be due in the Adult Services Center by Thursday of that week. We will announce the winner and make the presentation of the award at our annual Holiday Potluck later in November.
Program Titles: Who
are Iowa State's Nontraditional Students?
Educational Campaign for
Faculty/Staff
Question A Week
Program
Contact Person:
Robert Wiese
Off Campus & Adult Student Services
Iowa State University
B6 Memorial Union
Ames, IA 50011
(515) 294-2364
[email protected]
Who are Iowa State's Nontraditional Students?: We sent letters to all high-ranking administrators at Iowa State asking them to define the term: nontraditional student. Their responses will then be compiled and used in publicity for Nontraditional Student Week.
Educational Campaign for Faculty/Staff: An email is being sent to every faculty and staff member at Iowa State (yes, all 6,000!) with information on facts about the nontraditional student population, myths & realities and how to make nontrads matter on campus.
Question A Week Program: This program involves the Off Campus & Adult Student Services sending a "Question A Week" to offices and departments which work with nontraditional students for discussion at their staff meetings. Questions range from issues such as commuting to office hours geared to nontrads.
Program Titles:
"Answers for Adults"
Recognition Reception for Nontrads
Contact Person:
Ann Willis
Kent State University-Salem Campus
[email protected]
"Answers for Adults": This is an informational, career guidance seminar in which current nontrad students and administrators will talk to prospective adult learners about a variety of concerns, do some hands-on activities with them, give them tours, provide refreshments, etc.
Recognition Reception for Nontrads: Faculty, staff, and administrators will be given one invitation each which they will give to a nontrad who has achieved academic excellence, provided outstanding service to the campus, AND/OR shown great "survival skills" for success in higher education. Students who receive invitations may invite family members and supportive friends to the reception. A program will be printed with names of the students along with the names of those who invited them. Name tags will also identify invited students. I am hoping this reception will receive media attention during this first national celebration. I also plan to write some short bios about some of these students to give to the newspaper reporters.