Hostos Center for Teaching and Learning on Tour: Sharing and Passing on Effective Strategies for Retention
Nelson Nunez Rodriguez, Christine Hutchins, Sarah Brennan, Cynthia Jones, America Trinidad,
Hostos Community College of The City University of New York
500 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY
Introduction
Research into retention consistently shows that models designed for student success at residential universities and liberal arts colleges do not have the same impact for students at commuter institutions and community
colleges (Braxton, 2004; Pascarella, 2005; Seidman, 2005). Among most important insights that have emerged from researchers' revisions to earlier "one-size-fits-all" models for student success have been quantitative
and qualitative studies showing that whereas social relationships loom large for retention at residential colleges and universities, academic relationships predominate at commuter and community colleges. For most
commuter students, classrooms provide their primary connections to peers, faculty, staff, and, hence, to their institutions (Braxton, 2004). Consequently, the role of teaching and learning, and most especially active
engagement of students, have farther reaching effects on students' persistence to degree completion at commuter and community colleges. Student learning networks flourish at such institutions "only if faculty members
actively involve students in the process of learning" so as to provide "opportunities for student social interaction" (Braxton, 2004, 48-49). Hence, at Hostos, administration, faculty, and staff collaborate via its Center for
Teaching and Learning in ongoing, team-oriented, and reflective forums that allow all members of the community to strategize, develop, and support teaching and learning practices that research has shown most foster the
academic and social networks crucial to student success.
Theory of Student Departure in Commuter Institutions
The Role of Active Learning in Student Persistence
Adapted from Toward understanding and Reducing College Student Departure (p. 43), by J. M. Braxton, A. S. Hirschy and S. A. McClendon, 2004. Copyright 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
►Student Persistence◄
At Community Colleges
Student Entry Characteristics
Motivation
Self-Efficacy
Empathy and Personal Choice
Parental Education
Anticipatory Socialization
Campus Internal Environment
Student External Environment
Faculty Crafted Active Learning Environments
Institution Designed Learning Communities
External Integrity and Reputation
Faculty and Staff Commitment to Student Welfare
Personal Finances, Support Networks
Living Environment
Work
Family Responsibilities
Hostos Legacy Seminar Series
Author of the Month
“active learning practices that faculty use shape in students the perception that
their college or university is committed to their welfare in general and their growth
and development in particular, a perception that leads to their sense of social
integration. The greater a student’s degree of social integration, the greater is his
or her level of subsequent commitment to the college or university. The greater the
student’s level of subsequent commitment to the college or university, the greater is
his or her likelihood of persistence in the college or university of initial choice”
John M. Braxton, Willis A. Jones, Amy S. Hirschy, and Harold V. Hartley III (Fall 2008) New Directions For Teaching and Learning
New Faculty Orientation
Brown Bag Lunch
Adjunct Pedagogical Workshops
Nursing Department
“Minimizing Classroom Disruptions”
Natural Sciences Department
“Safe Zone Allies and The Heroic Imagination Project”
Humanities Conference Room
“Hybrid Hangout”
A Day at the Professional
Development Spa!
May 2011
Featured Speakers and Lecture Series
Special Guest Speakers
Helen Barrett, emerita, U. of Alaska
Randy Bass, Georgetown U.
Alma Clayton-Pederson, emerita, AAC&U
Charles Dziuban, U. Central Florida
Sharon Hamilton, IUPUI
Jim Keen, emeritus, Antioch College
Debbie Langsom, emerita, UNC
Leila May-Landy, Columbia U.
Judy Patton, Portland State U.
Candice Reynolds, Portland State U.
David Schoem, Michigan U.
C. Clint Sidle, Cornell U.
Nancy Sommers, Harvard U.
Maryellen Weimer, The Teaching Professor
Adjunct Junction (Eunice
Flemister)
Behavioral and Social Sciences Department
“Teaching with ePortfolios”
Education Department
“Teaching as Research: Projects and Case Studies”
CTL On Tour
English Department
“How Does a Lesson Plan?”
Don’t Do It: Ethics and Integrity
in
Teaching and Student Work
(Cynthia Jones, Clarence
Robertson, America Trinidad)
Faculty Dining Room
“Academic Freedom”
Effective Assignment Design Workshops
Business Department
“Service Learning, Experiential Learning, and Volunteering”
Professional Development Initiative Week
Jailbreak: Academic Freedom is
on the Loose (Craig Bernardini,
Ernest Ialongo, Gregory Marks)
Safe Zone at Hostos:
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Support
(Christine Hutchins, Leigh
Phillips and Elyse Zucker)
COBI Competition and Retreats
Faculty Investigation Groups
Discussion and Results
The Center for Teaching and Learning established the Committee On Beautiful Ideas (COBI) to nurture the culture of faculty engagement in frequent interdisciplinary and cross-divisional innovations. From 2006, COBI has
positively impacted student learning outcomes, and, therefore, retention and graduation rates. COBI understands pedagogy as a long-term metamorphosis including the freedom to imagine. In building this culture, the CTL
offers stand-alone professional development opportunities as well as sustained conversations on specific topics over time for small groups of committed faculty during each academic year. Beginning in Fall 2011, the CTL is
on tour making stops at all the different college departments. The tour stops allow for faculty from across the disciplines to share pedagogical strategies in department settings different from their own. The tour goals are: to
discuss successful teaching approaches, challenges and opportunities with other instructors; promote a community of practice across the departments; and enlighten faculty and staff about alternate teaching and learning
styles considering the plethora of cultural identities that we have in our New York urban institution. The tour, as a community-building activity, is not primarily about faculty and classrooms but about all members of the
college everyday. In this regard, the conversations have underscored our need to understand the syllabus as living, dynamic, and community-based. This vision both reconciles teaching and learning styles and brings
learners to the conversation. Each CTL tour month has a theme and tour dates are scheduled on random, non-traditional days and times during the week; therefore, the tour reaches a different cohort of participants each
session. College staff running student support initiatives, such as the tutorial center, career services, and honor programs, participate along with faculty and administrators. Tour session attendants fill out surveys after each
dialogue, and use follow-up email loops for conversation. All survey responses and email loop thoughts are part of a collective memoir from the tour stop conversations.