 |
Ellsworth Community College
 |
|
|
Ellsworth Community College ranked 17th best in the nation IOWA FALLS, IA – Ellsworth Community College (ECC) is the 17th best community college in America, according to the September 2007 issue of The Washington Monthly’s data-based analysis. ECC is the only Iowa community college on the top 30 list and one of only a few in the Midwest that received this honor based on the graduation rate of its students, coupled with superb results on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Ellsworth Community College is a unit of Iowa Valley Community College District. There are approximately 1,200 community colleges nationwide. ECC Provost Mollie Teckenburg praises the ECC faculty and said the college is very proud of this recognition of excellence. She continues, “Our faculty-driven CCSSE committee has evaluated the scores each year since 2004 and worked hard to find ways to improve student engagement; this national recognition shows how successful they have been.” The CCSSE survey gathers information in five academic areas: Active and collaborative learning, Student effort, Academic challenge, Student-faculty interaction, and Support for learners. Years of research have proven that these five areas influence student learning significantly. CCSSE is administered through the University of Texas – Austin to a random sampling of students in 540 participating institutions in 48 states. Institutions use the CCSSE scores to compare performance with other colleges, to identify areas in need of improvement, and measure quality education and teaching. Student success is a major objective. “We use the CCSSE results to improve/enhance student learning on our Ellsworth campus by addressing those needs with faculty and other campus entities to benefit the students,” explains Ken Bell, Associate Professor of Business/Marketing and member of the CCSSE committee at ECC. “Methods and plans are implemented to address the issues that CCSSE results provide to us.” Bell added that another focus of CCSSE is that of student learning in a global context. “We in the business area chose communicating effectively as our CCSSE goal. As part of our teaching, all business instructors at Ellsworth incorporated forms of writing into their course curriculum this past academic year. Ethics, diversity and other areas may also be chosen. This year, we will choose another area from the CCSSE results to focus on.” It is the ECC faculty’s initiative to address the CCSSE findings that has contributed to its successful and continuous improvement. This year ECC placed in the 90th percentile (top 10 percent) of community colleges of all sizes using the survey, in the areas of student and faculty interaction and active and collaborative learning. ECC’s progressive scores are visible evidence of the faculty’s commitment to excellence and the college’s participation in the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. “CCSSE was chosen as a key component for our AQIP accreditation process,” explains Dr. Lisa Breja, IVCCD Institutional Researcher. “CCSSE, along with the National Student Benchmarking Project, are national projects that provide us data which are used to drive our continuous quality improvement processes and measure institutional performance. As a district, we continue to try to make informed decisions by using data. During our recent AQIP accreditation visit, we were challenged to answer the question, “How do you know you are successful?” CCSSE provides data that allows us to answer this question when it comes to student engagement.” “CCSSE as a tool has added value to our quality teaching,” said Donna Beltrame, ECC Professor of Physical Education. “Insight into effectiveness of teaching strategies and emphasizing student needs has been a plus. It shows that new goals can be developed while not dropping effective teaching methods.” One of the most dramatic areas of improvement for ECC was in the area of Active and Collaborative Learning. The 2007 benchmark score jumped four points from 2006 and nearly 10 points from when ECC first implemented the survey in 2004. Students respond to questions about whether they: ask questions in class, make a class presentation, work with other students on a class project – during and outside of class time, participate in a community-based project, and discuss ideas from course work outside of the classroom. ECC students’ responses also showed a 7-point increase in Student-Faculty Interaction benchmark score over four years. Students considered the amount of communication they had with an instructor through email contact, discussions, advising sessions, discussions outside of the classroom, feedback received from instructors, and working with a faculty member on something other than coursework. This contact is proven to lead to better learning by students. “As a researcher you expect to see a little fluctuation in scores from year to year, but to see an increase such as we have with ECC, is really exciting and illustrates that improvements are taking place, change is being made, and we have the data to answer ‘how do you know?’” adds Dr. Breja. As #17 in the nation, great teaching is happening at Ellsworth Community College and the commitment of its faculty and administration makes them determined to continue the climb in excellence. “CCSSE gives ECC information about what to focus our actions on to improve the quality of our teaching in regards to student engagement,” adds Marcia Hovinga, ECC Professor of Mathematics. “Even with our good performance this year, as an institution we always need to be looking for areas to improve, even in areas that our students tell us we are performing well.” |
Home | Library | Course Schedules | Student Records | ECC Foundation & Alumni | Transcripts | Contact Us
