Virtual Conference: Learning Resources - Making Connections Project

Learning Resources - Making Connections Project​

Nora Morales, Leslie Alfonso, and Charles Meehan

Miami Dade College

     The Kendall Campus Learning Resources Making Connections Project at Miami Dade College is an innovative example of an interdepartmental approach to facilitate student awareness of available resources that impacts learning and success. The LR Making Connections Project serves two main purposes: to market academic support services in specific courses, and to support student learning during a targeted timeframe (students’ freshmen year of college). The project is a unified effort between the Miami Dade College Kendall Campus Learning Resources staff and librarians, Academic Writing Support tutors and the English Department faculty. The shared vision of the project is to conveniently coordinate various support services early on during students’ college experiences, so they can apply the knowledge throughout their courses and as they enter a globally competitive workforce. During the summer of 2018, the idea was shared with the chairperson for the English department to add a “Learning Resources sampler” to the adjunct syllabus for ENC1101 to complement orientations of the writing tutoring services that were already a standard practice. The supplemental services suggested included a library tour, library instruction, workshop offerings on Cyberbullying, Project Development Skills (Microsoft Word, Time and Stress Management, PowerPoint, and Google Docs) and a Career Builder Series (Resume Writing, Interview with Confidence, Professional Communication, and Making a Lasting Impression). Enthusiastically, the department chairperson shared the idea with the English faculty during a staff meeting where the idea was also vetted. Afterwards, a joint e-mail was created to explain the collaboration to all adjunct faculty. Most faculty already participated in the practice of bringing their classes to the writing lab to receive an orientation about the services provided. This innovative idea afforded faculty an option to maximize their class time by adding a library tour, workshop, or library instruction for a full class period of support service immersion for their students. The pilot successfully ran during the 2018 Summer A and Summer B terms and picked up momentum during the Fall 2018 term. In reviewing the data, one can witness the momentum and increase in students reached through the collaborative orientation and workshop offerings. During the inaugural Summer A term, 119 students participated in supplemental offerings. Summer B term, which historically has fewer course offerings, saw 113 students participate in supplemental offerings through Learning Resources. Fall term experienced the biggest jump in students participating in supplemental offerings with a total of 1785 students. To assess the effectiveness of the pilot, optional qualtrics surveys were administered at the end of the workshops during the Fall term, and a total of 462 surveys were collected. Survey data reported was the following. When asked “Were you familiar with this topic prior to today’s workshop?” 386 said Yes and 67 said No. When asked, “Did you learn something new? If yes, explain” and an overwhelming 459 students answered yes and provided a wealth of responses including, “I learned that the school has many resources that are just at our fingertips. We have no excuse to not have everything prepared if they have most of our needs in the school library” and “I learned how to be confident”. The final question asked “Do you feel this workshop is useful in helping you achieve your academic and/or career goals?”. Only 13 students replied No and 449 students replied Yes.
     This collaborative endeavor between Learning Resources and the English Department supports the MDC Learning Resources Goal and Priority to develop specific tools and services to enhance the range and accessibility of academic/student supports available to underserved and/or at-risk populations. It also aligns with the mission of the Florida College System to provide educational opportunities to maximize student learning and success. Significant takeaways from the survey administered was students were not familiar with the services offered and found the information learned helpful. Informal communication with the adjunct and faculty professors that have participated has proven that they find the learning support offered to students is effective, and they have requested to participate again during the 2019 academic year. This partnership between Learning Resources, the Academic Support Writing Lab and the English department can easily be adapted to any institution of higher education to positively impact student learning by providing a strong foundation through informing students early on in their academic careers about the support services available to them.

At-A-Glance:
Number of supplemental offerings and unique students supported via the Learning Resources Making Connections Project during the Summer A, Summer B and Fall 2018 Term.