APPENDIX 6

Draft Computer-Based

Learning-Support System

DRAFT

VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COMPUTER-BASED LEARNING-SUPPORT SYSTEM

The Computer-Based Learning-Support System includes commercial student, finance, human resources, and instructional software, along with customized web-based software developed at Valencia, based on learning-centered principles and criteria.

The College is developing the Cyber Suite of electronic services to enable students to establish a lifelong learning-centered relationship with the College supported by learning-centered partnerships with external resources (e.g., e-business services, employers, vendor products and services, and electronic learning resources). Students will be able to access the Cyber Suite of programs via the Internet through a variety of entry points.

Cyber Career - This system enables students to explore and identify career goals based upon their values, skills, and interests. Further, the system introduces students to the world of work by exploring educational majors related to career interests and degree requirements to pursue particular careers. Students will be able to link to other sites that provide assessments to use as part of their career planning process. This system will enable students to progressively reduce the number of career options down to a few and, ultimately, to one career goal. It is being pilot-tested in Student Success course in Session 1, 2000-01.

Cyber Advisor - The Cyber Advisor system provides students with the opportunity to develop an educational plan in terms of course requirements and to project a timeline for degree completion. This system enables students to determine the specific Valencia courses, common prerequisites for Florida university majors, and other degree requirements needed to graduate from Valencia, based upon their long-term career and educational goals. This computer-based system will be converted to web product over the next three years.

Cyber Registration - This system enables students to determine the courses that should be taken each semester and to actually register for those courses, based upon their educational plan, through a user-friendly system that allows students to build a schedule via a visual display of their proposed schedule, based on up-to-the minute course availability. This process encourages planning for work and other responsibilities, and dramatically reduces the time students need to register. Once this system is converted to a web-based process, students will be able to register from any convenient location.

Cyber Bridge - This system will link students to educational opportunities and to job opportunities. Students intending to transfer to a four-year institution upon completion of their associate degree will be able to identify the course work at both institutions, the sequence, and other baccalaureate degree graduation requirements. Links to job opportunities will provide individuals with specific information regarding job titles, positions, and salaries in Central Florida businesses. This system, which will allow students to move from career goals to a specific job, will be integrated with Florida's advising system, FACTS.

Cyber Connection - This system will link students to Valencia's business partners who support the continuation of the lifelong learning relationship of students with Valencia. Services and products will be selected that add value to relationships with students by supporting their e-commerce and e-education needs and creating connections that encourage students to return to Valencia to meet their educational needs.

Cyber Portfolio - This system will enable students to work with faculty and staff to document mastery of the student core competencies: think, value, communicate, and act. This portfolio will enable students to store demonstrations of their learning (e.g., assessments, written work, artwork) from specific courses in their educational program and to relate that information to a specific core competency and level (e.g., introductory, intermediate, advanced). As students near graduation, they can then analyze examples of learning they have electronically stored and select the most advanced examples of mastery for each core competency. This information then could be displayed in a public area for potential employers to review. The data can also be used by students to complete rŽsumŽs. This system will need to be linked to Eduprise, or other online course design software, to provide a more seamless way to transfer data from a specific course to studnts' portfolios.

Cyber Community - This system will enable students to link to learning communities supported by faculty mentors, student advisors, career mentors, and professional associations beyond the associate degree. Initially, students could be grouped into learning communities based upon career or other interests clusters. Faculty and advisors will be able to interact with students with e-mail accounts provided by the College and will be able to direct them to other components of the Cyber Suite or to other resources within the College. Students will also be linked to career mentors in a career area, once they had narrowed their career interests sufficiently. This system would enable students to move from a support structure of mentors and advisors within the College to industry associations and professionals who would continue to mentor and support them through their career.

These commercial systems will provide the infrastructure and the linkages among the various cyber systems, as well as provide students access to their educational records and to complete business transactions with the College.

Rev. 9/29/00