tag: CCASSE
Blog Post
December 13, 2022
Building a Thriving Student Support Ecosystem
An Action Plan for Community Colleges
Community colleges have developed a variety of services to support their students’ success, but too often these offerings are siloed in different campus units, minimizing their impact. Over the past four years, Ithaka S+R has conducted IMLS-funded research to surface the most effective collaborative strategies to break down those siloes. This action plan summarizes best practices for faculty, librarians, administrators, and others as they implement these services.
Blog Post
May 19, 2022
Assessing the Role of the Community College Library
Innovation, Collaboration, and Taking a Holistic Approach
For the last three years, Ithaka S+R has been examining how academic and student support services at community colleges are organized, funded, and staffed in order to provide insight into how these services can most effectively advance student success. Through this IMLS-funded research initiative, known as Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE), we have fielded two surveys, one of academic and student affairs leaders and one of library directors, as well as conducted interviews with…
Past Event
April 19, 2022
Assessing the Evolution of the Community College Library Mission
Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration
Join us on Tuesday, April 19 , from 2-3:00 PM, for the third webinar in our Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration series. Assessing the evolution of the community college library mission Thursday, April 19, 2022, 2:00-3:00 PM (ET) REGISTER The past two decades have seen dramatic changes within the academic library community. Many libraries have expanded partnerships, both within their community college and with the wider community. More recently, upheaval…
Past Event
April 5, 2022
“When in Doubt, Go to the Library”: Navigating the Community College Ecosystem
Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration
Join us on Tuesday, April 5, from 2-3:00 PM, for the second webinar in our Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration series. “When in doubt, go to the library”: Navigating the community college ecosystem Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 2:00-3:00 PM (ET) REGISTER Community college libraries are a key part of the academic and student services ecosystem and contribute broadly to student success through their provision of scholarly resources and technologies. A…
Blog Post
March 11, 2022
Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration
Announcing Three Upcoming Virtual Convenings
In 2019, Ithaka S+R began a three-year IMLS-funded research initiative to help community colleges and their academic libraries more effectively support their students. The initiative, known as Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE), involved two surveys, one of academic and student affairs leaders and one of library directors, to identify trends shaping student support and perspectives on the impact of COVID-19, as well as a series…
Past Event
March 22, 2022
Emergency and Emerging Technology Programs at Community College Libraries
Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration
Join us on Tuesday, March 22, from 2-3:00 PM for the first webinar in our Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration series Emergency and emerging technology programs at community college libraries Tuesday, March 22, 2022, 2:00-3:00 PM (ET) REGISTER During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many community college libraries stepped up, developing new programs and technology lending services to assist students who would otherwise not have access. These libraries…
Blog Post
September 13, 2021
What Does It Mean to Be Successful as a Student During a Pandemic?
Centering Student Experiences
Ithaka S+R has long explored how students define their own success and how academic and student support services can most effectively advance that success—and our work on these issues has only ramped up during the pandemic. When it became clear that the pandemic was here to stay, students had to face dramatic shifts to their learning, a staggering amount of communication and newly-implemented policies from their institutions, and new expectations on what it means to be a…
Blog Post
September 9, 2021
How Can the Library Best Support Student and Institutional Success?
Perspectives from a National Survey of Community College Library Directors
For the past three years, Ithaka S+R has explored how student-facing service departments—including academic libraries—are organized, funded, and staffed at community and technical colleges across the country. As part of this ongoing IMLS-funded Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystem (CCASSE) research initiative, we surveyed community college library directors this past February. Today, I’m pleased to announce the publication of our findings from that national study. In Library Strategy and Collaboration Across the College Ecosystem…
Research Report
September 9, 2021
Library Strategy and Collaboration Across the College Ecosystem
Results from a National Survey of Community College Library Directors
How can the library be best positioned to continue enabling student and institutional success? The Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystem research initiative seeks to examine how student-facing service departments—including academic libraries—are organized, funded, and staffed at community and technical colleges across the country. In February 2021, we surveyed 321 community college library directors to provide the community with a snapshot of current service provision, leadership perspectives on the impact of COVID-19, and challenges faced in making decisions and…
Blog Post
August 26, 2021
Staying Connected Through the Power of Technology
Centering Student Experiences
At the onset of the pandemic, higher education institutions across the country rushed to bolster digital infrastructure, to maintain both instructional continuity as well as academic and financial advising, so that students could stay enrolled and graduate. Many institutions also rapidly developed new services to accommodate student technology needs through device loaning programs and Wi-Fi partnerships, typically led by the library as gleaned through a series of roundtables conducted with library directors earlier this spring. While the initial investments…
Blog Post
August 16, 2021
Building Community During the Pandemic and Beyond
Centering Student Experiences
The Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystem initiative began in 2019 as part of the Ithaka S+R research portfolio focused on understanding, measuring, and increasing student success at community colleges through a variety of departments and service providers. We have had the great fortune to work with a group of outstanding student advisors from across the country who contribute unique and vital perspectives as we shape recommendations…
Blog Post
August 2, 2021
Leading Community College Libraries During the Pandemic
Library Directors Share Their Experiences
Community colleges and their students have faced enormous challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-year colleges serve especially diverse student populations, including a high percentage of students of color, first-generation students, working students, and student parents, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the social, economic, and public health effects of the pandemic. Community colleges have made considerable efforts to meet student needs, despite having fewer resources than most four-year colleges and universities…
Blog Post
March 3, 2021
How Can Community College Services Be Organized to Best Meet Student Needs?
Over the course of their attendance, community college students must navigate through an array of services—delivered through student affairs departments, academic affairs departments, libraries, and their instructors—to find the support they need. Whether they find that support depends in part on whether their institutions have developed effective service models and organizational strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the attendant necessity for increased remoting learning amidst enrollment declines and budgetary strains, also creates new challenges for students as well as…
Research Report
March 3, 2021
Student Focused
Fostering Cross-Unit Collaboration to Meet the Changing Needs of Community College Students
Ensuring that community college students have access to academic and student support services requires more than simply understanding students’ needs—it also requires relating those needs to actionable service models and organizational strategies. Community college students navigate ecosystems of services provided and supported by academic affairs departments, student affairs departments, libraries, and faculty. How can these ecosystems best be organized and developed to adapt to changing student needs—particularly amidst the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic?…
Blog Post
January 13, 2021
Upcoming National Survey of Community College Library Directors
We are excited to announce that Ithaka S+R will launch a national survey of community college library directors and those in equivalent leadership positions this February. This study is part of a three-year IMLS-funded initiative—the Community College Academic and Student Service Ecosystem (CCASSE) project—to examine the current landscape of student service provision at community colleges and the role of the library in best contributing toward student success within this ecosystem. Over the course of the project, we have already…
Blog Post
November 11, 2020
Introducing our Student Advisors
Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems
In 2019, Ithaka S+R began a three-year project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), to help community colleges and their academic libraries more effectively support their students. This project, known as Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE), is part of a growing program of Ithaka S+R research focused on understanding, measuring, and increasing student success at community colleges. Our first phase of…
Blog Post
November 2, 2020
Five New Higher Ed Datasets Now Available from Ithaka S+R
Over the years, Ithaka S+R has routinely deposited datasets from our research projects with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, better known by its acronym of ICPSR. In doing so, this ensures that our data is not only digitally preserved, enabling long-term access, but also thoroughly processed and made available in a variety of formats for download. Several new datasets from our research projects have recently become available in our…
Blog Post
December 5, 2019
Making the CCASSE for Support Services
When we interviewed dozens of community college students about their challenges and unmet needs, many reported struggling with navigating college resources. When we subsequently heard from over 10,000 students via survey about the services they need to achieve their vision of success, the overwhelming majority responded positively to a service centered around helping students navigate these resources. Last year, we embarked on the…
Research Report
December 5, 2019
Organizing Support for Success
Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems
The Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE) project examines how academic and student support services at not-for-profit associate-degree granting colleges are organized, funded, and staffed, and how these services can most effectively advance student success. In spring 2019, we surveyed 249 chief academic and student affairs officers at community colleges across the United States on success measures, services offered, resource challenges and constraints, and vision for future service provision.
Past Event
September 28, 2019
Untapped Resources: Addressing Stigma & Scarcity
Christine Wolff-Eisenberg at #RealCollege
On Saturday, September 28, from 1:30-2:15, Christine Wolff-Eisenberg is speaking on “Untapped Resources: Addressing Stigma & Scarcity” at the #Real College Convening at the Houston Community College West Houston Institute. For more information and to register, please visit the #Real College website. …