Education Commons^™

Transitioning From Following To Making Your Own Path Through Critical And Creative Thinking, Cassie Tighe-Hansen

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In my experience Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) will work to open minds and help transition a person. It can take someone from a place of not being open to challenges and having a closed mindset to one of openness and allowance for ambiguity and new ideas. This paper shows the transitions I have made in my career by way of a tragic incident and the structure I hope to create in a new class focusing on the college freshman. Included is a sample of the CCT curriculum I hope to teach to this class- both more thorough, concrete plans …

Developing A Creative Thinking Course For Community College Students, Noreen Mcginness Olson

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This project describes the development of an online Creative Thinking course designed specifically for community college students. This interdisciplinary college course will be one component of an entrepreneurial certificate program aimed at business students, but will be open to all students seeking to improve their creative thinking abilities. While developing the course the author engaged in the process described in Cameron’s The Artists Way as a structured reflective practice.

In this writing, selected theories of creativity are described in their connection to course content and approach. The course was informed by traditional western ideas on creativity as well as an …

Batec Bridge To Community College, Deborah Boisvert, Paula Velluto, Dawn Zapata

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Bridge to Community College Program is a comprehensive college program that creates postsecondary education access for nontraditional learners with limited technology skills. It offers two credit-bearing technology courses combined with English and Mathematics tutoring to reinforce the basic math and literacy competencies required for entry into a community college. The Bridge Program transitions students into higher education by partnering with trusted community organizations to offer introductory college technology courses at a community site with a facilitated transition to the partner community college.

Amesbury Early College Program: Second-Year Outcomes, John E. Leonard, Sue Grolnic, Roy Hamond

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This program involves creating five-year longitudinal community-based program evaluation reports annually based on outcomes for early college program for academically average students in grades 10-12, in a suburban high school partnership with MA community college. The Mixed methodology employed uses surveys and interviews and quantitative student data to illuminate program design, measure student outcomes, investigate changes in teaching practice and examine effective leadership practices. The two-year results show impressive credit accumulation and improved college readiness skills in students. It also shows that strong support mechanisms promote student success. This Program is now being replicated in other communities.

Brief 18: Creating A Culture Of Inquiry, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The Community College Student Success Think Tank, part of the Community College Student Success Project, funded by Lumina Foundation for Education, brings student and academic affairs officers together with institutional researchers to reflect on trends and issues surrounding data-driven decision making in community colleges. Participants consider various forms of accountability data, processes and analyses to bring about institutional transformation. At a recent meeting, Think Tank members discussed ways to create a culture of inquiry at community colleges.

“Knowledge Utilization” Universities: A Paradigm For Applying Academic Expertise To Social And Environmental Problems, Abraham B. Bernstein

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Promoting the utilization of knowledge is an important mission for institutions of higher education. The "knowledge utilization" university should stand alongside the research university, the professional school, the liberal arts college, and the community college as one of the five archetypes of higher education institutions.

Environmental problems typify a class of social problems that require the utilization of existing knowledge in a trans-disciplinary manner just as much as they require the creation of new knowledge through research. These problems are characterized by their multiple dimensions-- they have scientific, technical, social, political, economic, and ethical aspects, all of which must be …