Asperger’s is a growing disorder in today’s college population at both community colleges and four years institutions. This program will offer a range of practical, research-based and time-tested techniques for working with students struggling with Asperger’s disorder. Dr. Brian Van Brunt will review how to assist students transitioning from high school to college, helping with social and communication challenges and ensuring proper access to services.

Many students enter college unaware of the expectations and unprepared for the academic rigors of college. Their initial enthusiasm and excitement is often replaced in a matter of weeks by varying degrees of discouragement. For many students, this first year of college is the “make or break” year. A national research study found that almost half of first-time students who leave their initial institutions by the end of the first year do not return to higher education. Identifying and engaging with these students is crucial to their persistence. Participants in this session will learn teaching strategies and techniques for engaging unprepared students, allowing them a better chance at success in the college classroom.

Early intervention is critical to campus retention efforts. Early alert systems offer institutions systematic approaches to identifying and intervening with students exhibiting at-risk behaviors before the behaviors reach the acute stage. Many of these systems rely on a common format for student referral to a central receiving point. Systems at larger institutions use web-based technology to allow for a scalable approach to at-risk intervention. This presentation describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a web-based, fully integrated early alert referral system at a large, public university in the Southwest.

Postsecondary education affirms both access and excellence in education. Both require resources and commitment to achieve. Traditional sources of learning assistance and developmental education are under both strain of limited financial resources and the desire to reduce offerings of developmental-level courses. Instructors of first-year and lower-division college courses are uniquely positioned to increase student achievement and persistence through using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to embed best practices of learning assistance into their classroom activities. The same UDL principles can also be used within student service units. This webinar will equip educators with a practical toolbox of activities and strategies that can easily be implemented.

Established via Legislative mandate, South Texas College opened its doors in 1993 and has grown from 1,038 to over 27,500 students in sixteen years. Serving a 95% Hispanic Student body, the College has taken bold steps to balance student access with student success. This session will focus on how an institution can positively impact student success by implementing a ‘culture of evidence’ to drive strategy development, assessment, and resource allocation/re-allocation. The session will demonstrate how one community college has utilized a culture of evidence to transform how the institution addresses student success issues.

This intensive three hour workshop (two 90 minute sessions) will identify the characteristics, challenges and strengths of African American and Latino male students whose backgrounds and experiences often put them at greater risk for not achieving their full potential and/or for leaving college.

Participants will consider how these students often confront multiple challenges due to overlapping issues (e.g., multicultural AND first generation AND first-year; multicultural AND underprepared AND GBT). The presentation will share intentional, structured and proactive theory-based individual and programmatic interventions that can increase engagement, motivation and achievement.

Early intervention is critical to campus retention efforts. Early alert systems offer institutions systematic approaches to identifying and intervening with students exhibiting at-risk behaviors before the behaviors reach the acute stage. Many of these systems rely on a common format for student referral to a central receiving point. Systems at larger institutions use web-based technology to allow for a scalable approach to at-risk intervention. This presentation describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a web-based, fully integrated early alert referral system at a large, public university in the Southwest.

This 90-minute webinar is designed specifically for classroom teachers who can expect to encounter non-traditional students regularly in their courses. A significant secondary audience would be the academic administrators who supervise those faculty members and who are responsible for training them. The purpose of this webinar is to help faculty members and administrators understand who non-traditional students are, what sorts of special needs they may have and how instructors can help to meet those needs, and how non-traditional students can often make unique contributions to the learning environment. The webinar will be led by a 26-year veteran of the community college classroom who has taught literally thousands of non-traditional students over the years and who has also served as a department chair and an academic dean.