Learning analytics is an emerging trend in American community colleges brought about by technological advancements, institutional accountability, and external pressure on institutions to substantiate and improve learning. Learning analytics can potentially improve student engagement, retention, and success but also possess inherent ethical and…

Cybersecurity workers protect crucial information across the industry spectrum, from health records to bank accounts to sensitive military communications. A massive shortage of skilled technical employees in the U.S. has put the nation's digital privacy and infrastructure at risk, observers say, leading more community colleges to include…

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to identify if and how a community college provided services to meet the needs of undocumented students seeking STEM degrees during the pandemic. The study is grounded in the framework of Institutional Undocu-Competence (IU-C) and draws from interviews with 16 students at an urban community…

Shifting demographics within the state of California and more specifically within the California Community College System have created a need for equitable processes to promote the success of students. Students who enter community colleges should be afforded the same level of support whether they enter virtually or in-person. The development of…

Libraries are the central resource for supporting faculty and students in their research and information needs, both physically and remotely. This essential role of libraries and library faculty has remained consistent amid significant technological and pedagogical changes within the community college system. As librarians continue to determine…

Data breach prevention is a battle, rarely plain and never simple. For higher education institutions, the Sisyphean aspects of the task are more complex than for industry and business. Two-year colleges have payrolls and vendor contracts like those enterprises. They also have public record and student confidentiality requirements. Colleges must…

While higher education institutions seem to be utilizing social media more and more, there still exist enormous challenges in trying to understand the new dynamics generated by social media in higher education, particularly for the context of community colleges. In March 2011, the author and her colleague Dr. Regina Deil-Amen (Associate Professor…

The development of this policy guide was prompted by a variety of needs and issues in the field of adult education as related to adult students who have special learning needs. After many years of workshops and policy committee meetings, the resulting document reflects the growth in awareness for special needs students by both practitioners and…

The increasing demand of constituents to conduct analyses in order to help inform the decision-making process has led to the need for Institutional Research (IR) guidelines for community college educators. One method of maintaining the quality of research conducted by IR staff is to include professional development about ethics. This article…

Over the coming years an increasing number of college presidencies will change hands. Choice of a new president who will effectively lead an institution is a decision of great importance to individuals within the organization and to the community the college serves. Most colleges employ a search process composed of representatives of key…

Many education reporters are drawn to the beat because of its complexity and rich variety. Few topics provide such a wealth of political, business, human interest, breaking news, feature, and investigative stories. A reporter's day can start in a classroom with 4-year-olds struggling to learn to read, and end at a school board meeting with…

This chapter describes the evolution, content, and use of Florida's unit record system, which includes data on K-20 students and staff. It presents examples of how information derived from tracking is used both for state-level policy making and institution-level research and practice.

This report serves as a progress report on the implementation of the Commission's longitudinal student data system. Recent data submission by the University of California and the California State University, along with the community college data already in-house, will make it possible for the Commission to conduct studies on time-to-degree,…