West Los Angeles College was selected to work on the development of the online education portal, which will increase access to online courses and to help shape a common student assessment tool to be used by all California Community Colleges. West was one of only 24 out of 112 California Community Colleges to be selected.
“West is an outstanding choice to participate in these Initiatives,” West L.A. College President Dr. Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh said.
The college is a diverse urban institution that is already providing local leadership in these areas. Successful implementation of these programs will facilitate student access to core courses on their way to completing degrees and certificates and to transferring to a university or obtaining wellpaid jobs. Whether online or in a traditional class, students will have access to high quality learning experiences and the necessary supports to succeed.”
West was selected to help develop the standards, operational policies and an access portal for online classes that will be offered to all participating California Community Colleges. There were 56 colleges that applied to participate in the development group, of which only 24 made the cut.
The goal of the Online Education Initiative (OEI) is to have the pilot colleges launch and implement a sophisticated online education system to increase student access to online courses and to improve student retention and success rates. The OEI is also working to make it possible for a student based at one California Community College (CCC) to take an online class at any other CCC without needing to go through a separate admissions process and/or being required to have transcripts from the second college go through special evaluations at the home college.
West has one of the largest and most recognized online education programs within the state’s CCCs. Approximately 25 percent of the college’s instruction are provided online. The quality of the program, led by Academic Dean Eric Ichon, was noted in the college’s recent accreditation re-affirmation. West is unusual in that the success rate of students in online classes is almost identical to that in traditional classroombased courses. At most colleges, the online success rate is lower.
The 24 colleges have been divided into three groups: Official Launch, Student Readiness and Online Tutoring. West is in the Student Readiness group, which is looking at ways to help students succeed in online classes. West, for example, provides a brief seminar to help students understand what to expect and how to effectively function in the online format.
The lack of a common assessment test is another frustration for community college students, whom frequently attend more than one college during the course of completing a degree, certificate and/ or university-transfer requirements. Multiple assessments mean students must take a test at each community college they attend or go through a protracted process of having their test results from one college evaluated by another. Currently, more than 30 different assessment tools are used by the CCCs.
Through the assessment a school can determine what a student’s level of competency in math and English. The student’s score will have bearing on which courses they may select. Most classes (in and outside of math and English) require a particular level of competency in one of those two disciplines. A student with a low score may be required to take a pre-college level math and/or English class before being allowed to enroll in, for example, Chemistry or Anthropology.
West was selected, along with several other colleges, to develop and administer an effective and efficient common assessment system and web-portal “that utilizes computer- adaptive testing methods, diagnostic features, and robust administrative tools to accurately assess students in English, math, and ESL,” Director of West’s Student Success and Support Program Office Dr. Patricia Banday said.
The assessment will also strive to be well aligned with both curriculum at the colleges and California’s K-12 Common Core curriculum. Fall 2015 is the target launch of the new tool by the pilot participants. Serving on the State Committee are Dr. Banday, Director of West’s Student Success and Support Program Office which coordinates student assessment, English Division Chair Fran Leonard, and ESL Professor Nancy Sander serve on the State committee.