Guided Pathways
News & Updates

August 2021 - The Year Ahead

Welcome back Hawks! Last year, 2020-2021, was affectionately called our Year of Action, and this year, 2021-2022, we have warmly deemed to be our Year of Implementation with its main focus being centered on the creation of Student Success Teams. 

August was a busy month for Guided Pathways! Between pre-Fall Semester retreats, our three College Day sessions and our first Community of Practice centered on the topic of equity, we have had a lot of meaningful discussions and conversations to reflect on as we start to define and develop Student Success Teams here at Las Positas College. Although we are not quite sure what success teams will look like yet as we are still gathering information, we do know that success teams can enhance the overall student experience in our Academic and Career Pathways and could include individuals such as: Peer Mentors, Classified Professionals, Counseling Faculty, Instructional Faculty, and Administrators.

As Guided Pathways thinks about these student success teams, we feel that we need a holistic approach in which our own Las Positas College support structures can be implemented at scale for all our students and needs to be a strategic, sustainable, and proactive so that we can ensure each student receives the information, assistance and encouragement they need along their entire Community College journey from application to graduation. Therefore as a college, we are engaging in a monthly Student Success Team Community of Practice to collaboratively develop Student Success Teams that will honor our LPC culture and strengths.

A Community of Practice, or CoP for short, is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems or interest in a topic and who come together to fulfill the goals of the group.  Our CoP is a big part of what will drive the rollout for Success Teams! We are taking this fall semester, with an equity and belonging focus, to learn from the expert practitioners and students on our campus and community to inform the creation and work of success teams at LPC so that it embraces our culture and enhances the student experience.

We had our first Community of Practice on August 27th that focused on Equity, and it was powerful.  There were many great conversations and great opportunities for learning about equity as it relates to the student experience from experts and students across our campus. In case you missed it, here is a recap of what we discussed:

Please join us next month on September 24th at 1:30 p.m. when we will be discussing the topic of belonging.  

---

2020-2021 Was An Amazing Year of Action!

An enormous thank you to everyone for all the amazing, hard work that went into making our year of action a huge success! Please take a moment celebrate what we have collectively done to move this work forward, as it truly was a campus-wide effort.

View our list of Guided Pathways 2020-2021 Accomplishments! 

---

Academic and Career Pathways LIVE on May 3rd 2021!

Exciting news!  Our new Academic and Career Pathways are live using Program Mapper.  Students can explore careers, salaries and local job growth predictions and see a semester-by-semester Program Map recommending a sequence of courses to complete for all of our degrees and certificates.  Thanks to Strong Workforce Funding, Las Positas College was able to launch this wonderful resource in May 2021.  

Visit our Academic and Career Pathways!   

In February 2021, College Council and Academic Senate approved these Academic and Career Program Groups and Titles.  These initial Academic and Career Pathways allow us to start sharing our program maps with students and to begin exploration of student success teams. 

THANK YOU for the cross campus collaboration and input from campus constituent groups.  This was truly an “US”  thing.  

---

Career Coach LIVE on March 1st, 2021!

We are excited to announce that Career Coach has been purchased thanks to Perkins Grant Funds. Career Coach will provide all Las Positas College students support to explore careers, salary information, and local job markets linked with our programs.  

Visit our Career Coach page!

---

Spring FLEX DAY March 9, 2021! 

We are excited to announce that all three of our Spring FLEX Day Proposals were approved!  Please join us for some EXCITING conversations that will move our work forward!

• What Are Success Teams?   3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. (PDF)

  What are success teams?  Many colleges across the state and country are focusing on developing success teams to address the many diverse and equity needs of their students as part of their Guided Pathways and Equity work.  Come and learn about what success teams can be and what they could look like at LPC.  We welcome all members of the campus to come to this interactive session.  This is part of the CA Demonstration Project work.

  For more information, contact:  Kristy Woods, Angella VenJohn

• Redesigning Orientation & Onboarding Activities: How Students Enter Their Path. 10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. (PDF)

In this one hour presentation, we will explore research and best practices for new student onboarding activities to help students enter college and identify their career earlier. We will discuss how we streamline and clarify the onboarding process from application to registration. Ensuring that students receive clear and accurate information regarding college requirements.

We will also engage in discussions on how we can create intentional experiences for our new students that build community and connection with Las Positas College. Come join us and share your ideas and be a part of this project.

For more information, contact:  Angella VenJohn 

• Persistence Project Debrief and Updates 11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. (PDF)

The Persistence Project began implementation in the Spring 2021 semester with over 40 instructional faculty members participating in the program.  This flex day activity will be used to highlight intervention strategies, discuss best practices/current challenges/next steps, and to consider engagement for the Fall 2021 semester.  

For more information, contact:  Jim Ott, Jeff Judd, Jared Howard

---

Fall FLEX DAY October 20, 2020!

We are thrilled to announce that all three of our Fall FLEX Day Proposals were accepted! Please join us for some EXHILARATING conversations that will advance our work forward!

• Career Exploration Platforms – 8:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. (PDF)

Join us as we explore different technologies to assist undecided students in Career Exploration. We will be looking at several career assessment tools and platforms with the intention of providing feedback to the Guided Pathways team. We will also discuss how such tools can support the Guided Pathways goal of helping students “Enter the Path” early and thoughtfully. We hope to elicit the perspectives from folks with and without a technology background.

For more information please contact: Jill Carbone and Joel Gagnon

• Persistence Project – 10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. (PDF)

A community college our size with similar demographics started a faculty driven, inexpensive initiative that had a huge impact on student retention rates which jumped on average 24% and increased satisfaction for participating faculty. This Flex session includes a live Zoom talk by a faculty member from Oakton College who will offer an overview of best practices and answer questions to assist us as we build our program. Join us if you are interested in taking action this Spring 2021 as we start our own persistence project to have a substantial, positive impact on our students and in our community!

For more information please contact: Jim Ott, Jeff Judd, and Jared Howard

• Academic and Career Communities – 2:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. (PDF)

Imagine if students who applied to Las Positas College could choose an area of study based on their interest. Students could explore related fields, careers, pathways, programs, courses. Folks from that area could find out about the student, reach out to them with information. Faculty, counselors and outreach specialists could work together to support students in their areas, provide intentional interventions along the way as they come to academic and career preparedness milestones. If we want this to happen, we need to continue our work on defining what Academic and Career communities we want to have at Las Positas College! Join us as we continue our conversation last year on developing areas of interest to improve the student experience at Las Positas College.

For more information please contact: Kristy Woods, Angella VenJohn, LaVaughn Hart, and Nan Ho