Eastfield College

When I was in graduate school, my math professor, using a straightedge and a compass, marked off a unit distance and then halved it. He said he could halve the exact ½ again and exactly get ¼. He was leading up to infinite series.

Abstract Using an original representative national survey, data were gathered on the ways colleges have responded to student hunger through the provision of campus‐based food banks.

ABSTRACTHigh-quality student affairs programming and support services are indispensable to community college student success. Yet, while institutions establish well-structured assessment of academic programs, few engage in formal institutional measurement of student affairs and services effectiveness. This article shares two community colleges’ stories of building assessment capacity and assessment implementation within student support services. Using a case-study approach, this work traces the assessment journeys of Eastfield and El Centro Colleges through the eyes of student affairs administrators. Challenges, successes, and lessons learned inform community college practices.

Training through Multi-modal Collaborative Virtual Laboratory (MMCVL) aims at developing or improving skills of students without the need of them being physically present. MMCVL addresses the problems faced by the current education system such as lack of resources and safe use of expensive laboratory equipment. It also provides a means for easy collaboration between students and teachers from different universities and schools. Multimedia data in terms of 3D mesh, skeleton, audio and virtual object physics interaction are incorporated in MMCVL to provide a 3D Tele-Immersion environment. The system uses low-cost RGB-D cameras such as Microsoft Kinect V2 to capture and generate 3D model of the person by extracting him/her from the entire captured data and immersing it in different interactive virtual environments. Different lab environments can be virtually created to provide for and replace the real laboratories. Object interactions allow for users to interact with the virtual objects present in the scene similar to real lab setup. Recording module of the toolkit allows future reference for training and testing of the student. The system also facilitates virtual feedback by giving the correct measurements, video demonstrations as well as audio communication with the collaborating teacher. Two different Chemistry experiments were performed to evaluate the user experience and usability aspects of MMCVL. Results obtained from the user study analysis prove the system to be fun and realistic, and at the same time engaging and motivating for learning laboratory experiments.

ABSTRACTTarrant County College’s Achieving the Dream transformation has not only changed the college but all who engaged in the initiative. In four years, through ATD TCC became a college with one purpose, one goal, and one focus—student success through data informed decision making. From TCC Chancellor Dr. Erma Johnson Hadley to campus administrators, faculty, and staff, the college embraced the call for systemic change and fully engaged in the step by step process. Personnel throughout the college reported widespread satisfaction with senior leadership and viewed collaborations with colleagues across the district as beneficial and personally rewarding. Tireless endeavors to wholly engage stakeholders, build a culture of evidence, and employ effective student success interventions through ATD not only transformed TCC but ushered the college onto the national stage with Leader College recognition. The college’s next steps include keeping that momentum going and building on what it has accomplished.

"Growing Tomorrow's Teachers Through the Teacher Center." Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 29(8), pp. 617–618