MetLife Project: Counselor Community of Practice Call 2/23/12 Attendees:

Columbus State Community College -Chandra Bell -Clare Jordan -Lori Brown -Clayton Gibson -Terri Long -Amanda Jennings

Hennepin Technical College

Portland Community College -Valorie Adler -Andrew Roessler -Mariette Schlep (PCC Partner)

Red Rocks community College -Sarah Goepel -Nancy Carlson

-Judy Swanson -Matt Gustafson

Community of Practice Topics and Discussion Topic: Working with the Mature Student

-How do we make mature students a priority? -Are there opportunities for credit for Prior Learning Assessment to ease the transition back into the classroom for mature students?

Discussion: At some colleges enrollment has leveled out a bit, giving counseling staff time to step back and take a look at the bigger picture and begin to plan more targeted efforts around certain demographics of potential students, such as the mature worker. In several cases the colleges have mentorship programs where mature students or veterans mostly, can take on leadership roles among the other students and help in providing counseling and registration services. This model allows likeminded students to connect with each other and feel more at east transitioning back in college or coming in for the first time. In terms of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), specifically at Red Rocks Community College there are plans of study for all career and technical programs and within each of these PLA opportunities are specifically called out and highlighted for the student’s benefit and use. Also, at Portland Community College, the counseling and advising offices provide lists to students with give an overview of the PLA policies at the post-secondary (2 and 4 year colleges) institutions in the region. This has proven to be very helpful for the student so that they aren’t getting PLA credits at one institution with ambitions of transferring, only to have that credit unable to transfer. Nancy Carlson at Red Rocks: Topic: Resources to Make Your Job Easier

-What is your best resource? -What is your best assessment? -What else could you use?(What is best resource? Best Assessments?What else could you use?

Discussion: Some good national resources to keep on your radar and use for reference—

College Café, clearing house of guidance information to help your students decide what they want to focus on when they return to college - http://www.cafecollege.org/home In Ohio, there is a new job posting clearing house – OhioMeansJobs.com We encourage other states to advocate for similar portals of localized employer job posting information to help advise your students. Career Awareness Websites: BioOhioWorkforce.org Aarp.org Mymajors.com Wiscareers.com Assessments:

Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) used now in HS in Colorado. This is a cohort of students from high school to the community college level – they will see the first cohort of seniors coming out with the ICAP in 2014. This develops a comprehensive career pathway plan for the students from the time of high school all the way through post-secondary.

Many colleges use the STRONG Inventory

Self-directed searches are used by most colleges

What Other Tool would be Useful? : It was suggested that there should be a tool or mechanism in place at the community college level to better engage faculty to draw upon and capitalize on their experiences and career path. This expertise could be better utilized within the counseling and guidance aspect of student intake. Current labor market information seems to be of interest and need for all colleges. In North Dakota uses a labor market analysis tool that pulls very current information (data that represents the last two months). Below is a link to see their information. Online job openings report: http://www.ndworkforceintelligence.com/gsipub/index.asp?docid=529

- Select your data area from the scroll down box - The data areas consists of statewide and the Govenor’s Planning Regions - Govenor’s Planning Region Map:

https://www.ndworkforceintelligence.com/admin/gsipub/htmlarea/uploads/lmi_ndrefmapplanregion.pdf

State Labor Market Information Centers: http://dlr.sd.gov/lmic/relatedsites_state_lmi_shops.aspx