Participants in the Fall, 1997, forum found that there was enough consensus on a number of issues to take action. In January, 1998, the ACE/Kellogg Leadership Team finalized and submitted its recommendations to the President for Phase II.

Expanded Leadership Team and Charge

The leadership team was expanded to include additional faculty, a department chair, and a campus provost. This new leadership team has been coordinating Phase II of the Initiative. The name of the Initiative was changed from ACE/Kellogg Project to the Learning-Centered Initiative to reflect its major focus and transformative nature. The Initiative was not just a project that affected a specific program or could be completed in a short time frame. Rather, it involved a fundamental change in the teaching and learning processes and outcomes of the College that would ultimately affect all faculty, staff, and students.

Senior Administrative Office

A new Vice President for Curriculum Development, Teaching, and Learning position was established. The position was advertised and a person was selected via a national search in August, 1998. A number of functions dealing with teaching and learning, instructional technologies, and professional development were organized under this new position.

Educational Technologies

The leadership team recommended the design of an educational technologies plan. A new Educational Technologies Committee was established with sub-committees representing each campus, student services, economic development, and administrative services. The combined Educational Technologies Committee worked with a consultant to develop a new Educational Technologies Plan. The College established a contract with Eduprise, which provides software to support distance-learning courses. A new Director of Instructional Technologies was employed to provide support with online courses and web-enhanced instruction.

Focus on the Workplace

Faculty are provided the opportunity to work for a semester in a business in Central Florida related to their discipline. This program has been extremely popular among faculty and staff over the past three years and is providing critical understanding of evolving workforce needs and practices.

Developmental Advising

A Developmental Advising Model was designed by faculty and staff, which includes five major developmental stages that enable students to become increasingly self-sufficient. Computer-based systems have been created to support the developmental advising process. These systems include Cyber Advisor and Cyber Registration, which are PC-based systems that will be converted to web-based systems in Phase III of the Learning-Centered Initiative. Two other systems, Cyber Career and Cyber Portfolio (an electronic student portfolio system), have been designed and developed as internet-based products. They will be pilot-tested and implemented during Phase III of the Learning-Centered Initiative.

Underprepared Student Initiative

A number of student learning initiatives were established to improve the performance of underprepared students, as 85% of new students require remediation in reading, English, and/or mathematics. Collegewide forums were conducted on student learning in Spring and Fall, 1998, to review the current status and make recommendations. A task force of faculty, chairs, and student services staff was established to oversee implementation of recommendations. Strategies that have been implemented include increased College Prep offerings, professional development workshops, additional student support labs on each campus, more scholarships, College Prep exit exams, CPT review workshops, and additional College Prep faculty.

Student Core Competencies

Core competencies action teams were established to develop methods to integrate the core competencies into specific disciplines. Faculty and staff were asked to provide feedback regarding the core competencies. The Faculty Association endorsed the core competencies for inclusion in the 1999-2000 Catalog, and work has begun to develop discipline-specific and cross-discipline assessments..

Learning-Centered Presidential Search

In November, 1998,Valencia's president since 1984 announce his retirement. The Leadership Team made recommendations for conducting a learning-centered presidential search process, which was conducted throughout most of 1999. Faculty, students, administrators, and other staff were provided an opportunity to nominate representatives to serve on the search committee. Learning-centered writing samples and interview questions were designed and collegewide forums were conducted where faculty, staff, and students could ask questions of the candidates. Teams of Valencia faculty and staff also visited the home institutions of each finalist. The result was that the College's new president strongly supports the Learning-Centered Initiative and will chair the steering committee in Phase III of the Initiative.

College Roundtables

Ten roundtables were conducted February through April, 2000, involving 200 faculty and staff. Half the participants in each roundtable were faculty. Separate roundtables were conducted with students. The purpose of these roundtables was to discuss Valencia's Vision, Values, and Mission, and the role of the new student core competencies in improving student outcomes. The findings from the roundtables were compiled and distributed to all participants to secure additional feedback.

Vanguard Learning Colleges Project

The Leadership Team prepared a proposal to submit to the League for Innovation to participate in a three-year Vanguard Learning Colleges Project in Spring, 2000. Valencia was selected as one of only 12 community colleges from over 100 applications from throughout the United States and Canada. The purpose of the project is to assist the 12 colleges to become more learning-centered by creating a network of community colleges strongly committed to the learning-centered concept, whose efforts can serve as a basis for model programs and best practices. The objectives for the project include organizational culture, staff recruitment and development, technology, learning outcomes, and underprepared students. The articipating colleges will share ideas, challenges, resources, and documents they've developed. Consultants who will be available to work with the colleges include K. Patricia Cross, Senior League Fellow, Professor of Higher Education, Emerita, University of California, Berkley; Terry O'Banion, President Emeritus, League for Innovation and a Senior League Fellow; Robert McCabe, Senior League Fellow, President Emeritus, Miami Dade Community College; Jerry Sue Thornton, President, Cuyahoga Community College; John Roueche; Sid W. Richardson, Regent's Chair and Director, The Community College Leadership Program, University of Texas at Austin; Steven Gilbert, President, The TLT Group; and Kay McClenney, former Vice President, Education Commission of the States, evaluator for the Vanguard Learning Colleges Project.

Vision, Values, Mission Statements

The findings from the College roundtables were used by the Leadership Team to draft new Vision, Values, and Mission statements (Appendix). Forums have been conducted with faculty, staff, and students regarding the new draft. The Leadership Team has compiled this additional feedback and will make further revisions for the strategic planning meeting November 17-18, 2000. These statements will be submitted to the District Board of Trustees in January, 2001, as part of a new Strategic Learning Plan.

Strategic Goals

The President and Leadership Team have proposed a set of six goals and action strategies based on the roundtables, College discussions, and the Vanguard Learning Colleges Project to guide the planning discussions at meetings during Session 1, 200-01. The title for the six goals are: 1. Learning First; 2. Start Right; 3. Learning Leaders; 4. Learning By Design; 5. Learning Support Systems; and 6. Learning Works. The draft is provided in the Appendix.

Academic Assembly

Valencia's new President, Dr. Sanford Shugart, discussed the Learning-Centered Initiative in his first formal presentation to over 300 aculty and staff at the beginning of the 2000-01 academic year. He extended an invitation to all faculty and staff to participate in setting new directions for the College (

Strategic Planning Meeting

The president will be conducting a collegewide strategic planning meeting, focusing on learning-centered goals November 17-18, 2000. The proposed Vision, Values, and Mission statements, six strategic goals, core competencies, and LifeMap model will provide the framework for discussion. The focus of this workshop will be the development of strategies, outcome measures, and priorities for implementation of a new strategic plan, which will be submitted to the District Board of Trustees in January, 2001.