Community-college professors possess knowledge in distinct disciplines and have varied experiences that they encompass in their college classrooms. Additionally, creating effective environments for teaching and learning require these assets from instructors to fulfill their curriculum needs. Teaching is a multidimensional and complex activity that…

In this article, Julia So discusses the purpose of program assessment, four common missteps of program assessment and reporting, and how to prevent them. The four common missteps of program assessment and reporting she has observed are: (1) unclear or ambiguous program goals; (2) measurement error of program goals and outcomes; (3) incorrect unit…

Affective learning is important for the holistic development of students. Yet, not much is reported about how it is achieved in the higher education classroom. The purpose of this paper was to appraise the Hospitality and Tourism Management curriculum and pedagogical practices being utilized to deliver affective learning outcomes in Community…

High-impact practices (HIP) are evidence-based teaching and learning tools that improve learning and student engagement. This study investigated HIP implementation in undergraduate introduction to exercise science classes. Faculty at 182 academic institutions reported about the type and number of HIP used in their introductory course. Instructors…

There is evidence in the literature that teaching critical thinking in college courses at both community colleges and four-year universities helps students gain critical thinking skills. However, students are not learning the critical thinking skills that employers expect in freshman-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in education are common as the design allows for an unbiased estimate of the overall impact of a program. As more RCTs are completed, researchers are also noting that an overall average impact may mask substantial variation across sites or groups of individuals. Mixed methods can provide insight and help in…

Community college students are more likely than their peers in four-year colleges to experience homelessness or housing instability. At the same time, homelessness is a curricular topic, particularly in social science courses. Given the prevalence of homelessness and housing instability in the community college student population, likely worsened…

The broad diversity of the students who enroll in community colleges requires understanding more about the pedagogical techniques that respond to the needs of students. This article presents findings from a study of 149 community college instructors in which they define for themselves culturally relevant teaching.

Since their inception in 1901, community colleges (CCs) have been a bastion of open-access education for everyone, serving as entryways to post-secondary education for countless students regardless of their sociodemographic and socioacademic backgrounds. On average, students from minoritized backgrounds (SFMBs) make up at least 50% of student…

Caring Campus-Faculty is a program that supports faculty as they develop and implement "behavioral commitments" designed to help students feel a sense of belonging and to support them in their educational journey. Developed by the Institute for Evidence-Based Change, Caring Campus was evaluated by the Community College Research Center…

This chapter affirms the increasing value of outcomes assessment at one of many institutions where once it was mostly ignored, how the knowledge afforded by increased use of assessment functions as a precursor to change, and how the faculty and staff work of program and outcomes assessment--discussions, decisions, preparations, actions,…

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I (GCI), reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I (OCI), and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. Student difficulties with resonance are well documented. Instruction is one potential source of student difficulties. What instructors…

Poor mathematics preparation severely restricts students' future educational and occupational choices. This paper explores the extent to which differences were observed in the pedagogical practices of those teaching college introductory college math at a community college and at a four-year college. Although college math instructors generally may…

Asynchronous online learning has grown in popularity due to its flexibility in providing higher education access to learners regardless of distance, transportation, and scheduling constraints. However, for successful online learning, students must adapt and intensify the self-regulated learning (SRL) skills they developed in face-to-face settings…

This article unpacks the challenge of culturally responsive teaching in rural community colleges, based on emerging insights from a study of two community colleges in North Carolina. Culturally responsive strategies ask, how do our classrooms welcome the perspectives, voices, and distinctive cultural resources of people of color and other…