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| Office of Corporate Training (313) 845-9670 OCT
Staff OCT Educational Services
Henry
Ford Community College |
THE DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION DIMENSION Developmental education, the exact assessment of learners’ abilities coupled with proven strategies for their improvement, is an important component of the Bridge. It is a holistic approach to learner-centered skills acquisition. Many Bridge participants need special assistance with math, reading, and writing basics so often taken for granted in post-secondary education. The developmental effort is subtle, self-paced, and individualized to the needs of the specific learner. Its focus is both awareness of present abilities and opportunity for improvement.
The Bridge Developmental Instructor’s role is to identify resources for learning enhancement to assess participants’ skills and to help participants develop independent and flexible learning skills. The tools and processes for accomplishing this should be built within the organizational context of the Community-Based Organization (CBO) and with the full participation of the Community-Based Educator (CBE), a professional staff member at the CBO who works with Bridge participants. This coordinated effort should provide a system that allows students to work independently on short- and long-term skills building activities at both the community organization and the community college campus. The CBE plays a critical role in various aspects of the Bridge program, not the least being developmental education. The CBE provides both academic and moral support for the Bridge students, initially helping them to become acclimated to the CBO learning center. This person might be the primary instructor in the Pre-Bridge program, thereby providing a ready connection to the Bridge. The CBE is a counseling resource, a remediation instructor, a case manager related to learning issues, and a voice for the students in the program. The CBE is an important secondary link between students and Bridge instructors.
The college developmental instructor should guide the CBE in selecting the assessment tools, administering the assessment, scoring and analyzing the results, and preparing an independent learning plan for each student. To that end, consider the following: An Assessment of Learning Skills and Work Preparedness Skills Battery Several testing instruments should be selected to assess participants’ skills. The criteria for selection are threefold: 1) Select tools that will provide insight into specific functional areas of learning skills, 2) Select tools that can be administered in short assessment sessions, either during Bridge technology instruction or in one testing module of approximately two hours, and 3) Select tools that can easily be transferred to the skills building tools selected for the Bridge. The skills building tools can be both computer- based and text-based and ideally should be some of the same tools used at the community college. Such an arrangement will have multiple short-term and long-term benefits for participants. In the Detroit Bridge, these batteries were selected and used, for pre-test and post-test purposes*:
* A separate computer skills literacy test is given in the Industrial Computer area. Following students’ assessment, the college developmental instructor should help the CBE prepare a learning plan folder for each student. These folders should contain a charting of assessment results as well as a specific prescription for skills development. The college development instructor and the CBE should meet jointly with each participant to explain the assessment results and the recommended learning plan. A Remediation Program that Includes Computer Software It is important that all Bridge students have access to learning resources to develop basic skills in reading, writing, and math. They need to be able to work individually, at their own pace, in whatever time they have available, be that before or after class or on weekends. The availability of such resources will prove to be especially effective with low performers in the group who become motivated in the Bridge class experience and are looking for a readily accessible outlet to improve their skills. Wherever possible, the community college should attempt to provide the CBE with texts and handouts created to help build and remediate the students’ reading, writing, and math skills. Remediation software is recommended as well. The Detroit Bridge selected two remediation software programs to use at the CBO. One was Ultimate Speed Reader, a self-paced program intending to improve reading comprehension and reading rate. The other was Skills Bank 4, a more comprehensive program that includes a management function that allows students to access, work, save, and retrieve modules independently. It is designed to diagnose and remediate the student’s basic skills, providing an individualized learning program. It focuses on important competencies in reading, language, basic mathematics, intermediate mathematics, writing and information skills. The program affords students the opportunity to master each skill by working through as many tailored activities as is necessary to enhance performance and understanding through critical thinking exercises. Neither software program is rooted in a workplace context, but both are available at Henry Ford Community College as part of the Learning Resource Center’s Learning Laboratory. Detroit Bridge students will have continued access to these tools after completion of the Bridge program.
A Customized Learning Plan for Each Individual Bridge Participant To help Bridge students become independent learners, an individualized learning plan should be designed for each one. This individualized learning plan should be created with two goals in mind. The first goal is to provide students with a profile of their learning strengths and weaknesses. The second goal is to design an easy-to-follow skills building program utilizing learning resources. The plan should be developed by the developmental reading instructor, based on assessment results, and implemented by the CBE. Recommended activities should be directly tied to skill deficiencies identified in the assessment process. Activities would be accessed through computer programs, text exercises, and handouts developed to address specific needs. Also Effective in Supporting Learning in the Bridge: "Techniques for Learning" "Techniques for Learning" is a series of "How To" instruction sheets on skills development. The series touches sixteen key learning strategies that help students become better organized and prepared as learners. The series reviews detail-oriented topics and presents short learning moments in text form that foster independent and successful learning experiences. These instruction sheets can be introduced as stand- alone lessons or integrated into the modules as "Just In Time" support tools. They include such topics as: Organizing Resources, Managing Time, Setting Goals, Making the Most of Assignments, Taking Notes, Organizing Handouts, Building a Key Word Bank, Developing Precise Spelling, Taking Tests, Understanding Outlining, Writing Journals, Writing Effective Communications, Speaking Skillfully, Becoming an Entrepreneur, Designing a Resume, and Interviewing Successfully.
The "Working" Inventory "Working" is an inventory which assesses skills, habits, and styles. It is designed to evaluate nine characteristics, which include taking responsibility, working in teams, being persistent, developing a sense of quality, having an interest in lifelong learning, adapting to change, using problem-solving skills, processing information, and developing systematic thinking. Students take the inventory early in the Bridge program and use the results to help them become aware of how their skills, habits, and styles compare to expectations in the workplace. The traits inventoried are valuable in the work force. These are the traits possessed by successful and satisfied employees. They are also the traits which caused employers to hire them in the first place. Helping Bridge students to understand their strengths and weaknesses in these areas early in the program allows them a chance to utilize the many opportunities presented in the program to enhance their skills and their employability.
This document is available for download here. Click here to go to the Curriculum Index.
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