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CCS
College & Career Success


This new course will play a vital role in the Guided Pathways work in Connecticut, and beginning in Fall 2023, will serve as the primary vehicle in CT State Community College degree programs to ensure that every student has the strategies and skills to succeed in college and beyond including a clear and customized academic and career plan.

CCS
Resources

Guiding Documents

Overview & Training

  • College & Career Success Course Overview & Training
    This online presentation on Microsoft Stream provides an overview of the College & Career Success Course and addresses the following topics:

    • WHY CCS is important to student success
    • WHO…
      is required to take CCS
      our students are
      should teach CCS
    • WHEN students should take CCS
    • WHAT is CCS 1001
    • HOW to teach CCS 1001
    • WHERE CCS is housed on org chart
    • Important contacts and resources
    • Future plans for CCS 1001!
  • CCS Overview & Training Slides

  • CCS Course Shell and Repository

    The CCS Course Shell and Repository are found on Blackboard under “Organizations”:

    CCS Course Shell

    • The CCS Course Shell in Blackboard is a sample shell that can be customized. It is an example of how this course can be organized with samples of course content. 

    CCS Course Repository

    • The CCS Course Repository is where you will find a wealth of content that is organized by the Main Topic Areas and then more specific topics in subfolders to help you meet the outcomes of the College & Career Success course. NOTE:  This repository is a work in progress and will be in continual development. If you have a resource you would like shared on this repository, please submit to your College & Career Success Coordinator for the CCS Advisory Council to review. 

    How do I access the CCS Course Shell and/or Repository?

    • To get access to the CCS Course Repository in Blackboard, please use the self-enroll instructions provided by your CCS Faculty Coordinator. If you have any questions, please contact Katie O’Connell at koconnell@commnet.edu.
    • To get access to the CCS Course Shell, please contact your local Educational/Instructional Technology staff member. The Shell will be visible under “Courses” in Blackboard and you will have access to copy the course using the Course Copy feature.

CCS
Advisory Council

Mission

The CCS Advisory Council will:

  • Oversee the continual curriculum development and assessment process of CCS 101 including providing guidance on assessment of student learning outcomes including Course Outcomes, General Education Core Competency Outcomes, and Diversity Requirement Outcomes.
  • Plan for the optimum delivery of CCS 101 by informing and developing professional learning opportunities for instructors of CCS 101.
  • Determine, refine, and clarify policy related to CCS 101.
  • Utilize and review data/student success measures to evaluate effectiveness of CCS 101 course.
  • Guide practices to enhance quality of instruction statewide including developing a CCS 101 repository, creating consistent job descriptions, training requirements and evaluative measures for CCS 101 instructors.

Meeting Info

Membership

Ex Officio Members

Tutoring - Marie Basche abasche@ccc.commnet.edu  Erica Michalski emichalski@qvcc.commnet.edu

CCS 1001 Coordinators & Alternates AY 2023-2024:

Agendas & Minutes

CCS
Events

College & Career Success (CCS) Workshop #4 - Recognize Cultural Identity and the Value of Diversity

Friday, 3/31/23, 10:00a.m. – 11:30 a.m. - College & Career Success (CCS) Advisory Council members share promising practices including teaching strategies (activities, assignments, and instructor resources) to be used to meet CCS Outcome: "Recognize cultural identity and the value of diversity". Guest speaker, Patricia Gagliardi, Director of Education & Restorative Justice, Division of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion from Southern Connecticut State University

Video: Watch the presentation   View Slides

Guided Pathways Advisor Training on CCS 1001: College & Career Success

Topics include:

WHY CCS 1001 is important to student success
WHAT is CCS 1001
WHO is required to take CCS 1001
Exemption and Substitution Process
WHEN students should take CCS 1001
HOW students can take this course
HOW to handle a student scenario

Video: Watch the presentation   View Slides

Growth Mindset in Mind: Providing High Quality and Productive Feedback to Students in CCS 1001: College & Career Success

Friday, February 24th 12:00p.m. – 2:00p.m. - During this session, participants learn about how to foster a growth mindset when providing feedback to students. Numerous feedback strategies that will increase engagement and learning while not overly taxing faculty time are discussed and illustrated.

Video: Watch the presentation   View Slides

College & Career Success (CCS) Workshop #3 - Create Academic and Career Plans

Friday, 12/9/22, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm - College & Career Success (CCS) Advisory Council members share promising practices including teaching strategies (activities, assignments, and instructor resources) to be used to meet the CCS Outcome: "Create academic and career plans including financial and success strategies for goal attainment"

Video: Watch the presentation   Slides: Agenda - Career and Academic Planning   Slides: Academic and Career Planning   Slides: Incorporating Focus2 into Career Assignments

College & Career Success (CCS) Workshop #2: Define and Apply College Success and Resilience Strategies

Friday, 11/18/22, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm - College & Career Success (CCS) Advisory Council members share promising practices including teaching strategies (activities, assignments, and instructor resources) to be used to meet the CCS Outcome: “Define and apply college success and resilience strategies”

Video: Watch the presentation   Slides: Download the slides

College & Career Success (CCS) Workshop #1: Identifying and Engaging with Campus Resources and Community

Friday, 10/14/22, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm - College & Career Success (CCS) Advisory Council members share promising practices including teaching strategies (activities, assignments, and instructor resources) to be used to meet CCS Outcome: Identify campus resources and engage with the campus community.

Video: Watch the presentation   Slides: Download the slides

Engaging Students in Asynchronous and Synchronous Online College & Career Success (CCS) Courses”

Fri, Sep 16, 2022 - Participants learned about the importance of the College & Career Success course and how they can engage online learners in this class. Student endorsed and research-based student engagement strategies that can work in asynchronous and synchronous learning environments will be shared and modeled.

Video: Watch the presentation   Slides: Download the slides

Presented by

Christine Harrington

Questions

Please contact Jill Rushbrook with any questions.

CT State Professional Learning Day

Resources from CT State Professional Learning Day for FYE/College & Career Success on 11/12/21:  

Videos

Presentation Articles & Slide Decks 


More resources to be added soon! Stay tuned!

CCS
Course

View the Course

CCS
Policy

View the Policy

CCS
Background

Faculty, staff, and coordinators involved in first year experience courses from the twelve CT community colleges developed a new College & Career Success course during the period of Spring 2018 to Fall 2019. The course was informed by Guided Pathways principles and backward designed to ensure that students develop the knowledge and skills to establish and achieve their academic and career goals. The course outcomes were carefully crafted to serve as a foundation for students to begin to develop core general education competencies, such as critical thinking and information literacy. In addition to emphasizing the development of essential success skills and strategies, the course includes a focus on career exploration culminating in the creation of an academic and career plan. The FYE work group completed the design of the three credit College and Career Success course (CCS 101) for CT State Community College in Fall 2019. The FYE work group then developed and submitted a statement in support of the CCS 101 course recommending the following:

  • FYE/Student Success departments and faculty move the course through their campus curriculum approval process and begin teaching this course at their respective colleges.
  • Academic administrators support the scheduling and staffing of the course.
  • Academic programs include this course in their newly aligned curriculum for the one college.

The recommendations of the FYE work group were affirmed by the Choice Architecture and Holistic Student Support Redesign teams. The work and recommendations from the FYE work group provided the foundation for the College and Career Success (CCS 101) policy recommendation. The policy recommendations, supported by the staff report, were approved by the BOR in June 2020 (see CSCC College & Career Success 101 Policy).

The policy requires that all CT State Community College programs include the three credit CCS 101 course and that all degree-seeking students enroll in CCS 101 within the first nine credits.  Additionally, policy requires that CCS 101 1) includes a component that meets the general education core diversity requirement, with the acknowledgement that diversity topics should ideally be embedded throughout the General Education core and across the curriculum and 2) fulfills one of the general education core competencies. There must also be administrative oversight to ensure consistency of delivery and outcomes. An Interim Coordinator of CCS 101: College & Career Success was hired in July 2021 and a CCS 101 Advisory Council was formed in Fall 2021 with representation from each of the twelve campuses. Council voting members included coordinators and instructors of First Year/College Success courses along with non-voting members from Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Professional Development, and Institutional Research. This council met during Fall 2021 to incorporate the General Education Core Competency of Continued Learning Information Literacy as well as the Diversity Requirement into the course outcomes, description, and topics outline. This new course will play a vital role in the Guided Pathways work in Connecticut, and beginning in Fall 2023, will serve as the primary vehicle in CT State Community College degree programs to ensure that every student has the strategies and skills to succeed in college, an introduction to diversity, and a clear, well designed individual academic and career plan.