SUNY Learning Network Receives Grant to Improve College Readiness & Completion

Albany – The State University of New York today announced it has received a $250,000 grant for a new initiative aimed at improving college readiness and completion, especially for low-income young adults.

The SUNY Learning Network (SLN) received the grant from Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) and will use the funding to identify and bring to scale new, technology-enabled approaches in helping students prepare for college and earn their degrees.

“This grant will enable participating campuses to use technology-enhanced blended learning to increase student success and reduce costs,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “By targeting the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of developmental education – where students enroll but don’t complete – this program will help them catch up academically and put them on a path to earning a degree they can put to use in the state’s workforce.”

In a nationwide, competitive grant process, the SLN proposal was one of only 29 selected from a pool of 600 to be funded. The initiative will be coordinated by SLN and implemented at Herkimer County Community College, Finger Lakes Community College, Jamestown Community College, and Westchester Community College.

Specifically, the grant money will be used to enhance a developmental math course and develop a blended online degree program called “Catch Up and Complete,” which will use technology to improve student success among young adults from under-served populations who are single parents in low-paying jobs.

Also as part of the initiative, campuses will:

• Adopt common standards, course objectives, and assessments within the program’s courses;
• Share and collaborate on content adapted, developed, and/or curated by the participating faculty and delivered in courses taught at all four campuses;
• Develop online learning concierges that offer a personalized student experience.
• Use campus librarians to promote knowledge of digital-age competencies and the development of information fluency skills in project participants;
• Implement several innovations in technologies and approaches to test effectiveness;
• Launch an online, interactive social networking hub to be used by all four campuses to interconnect student resilience with peer-to-peer support and new media; and
• Reduce textbook costs by using open, digital content that also promotes higher levels of engagement through the use of rich media.

David K. Lavallee, SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost, said, “Standardization of tools, technologies, and approaches at the system-level afford numerous benefits to all of SUNY. A successful blended learning initiative can serve tens of thousands of SUNY students more efficiently and effectively, reduce costs, address persistence and completion, and inform and influence the quality of technology-enhanced instruction across the system.”

Alexandra M. Pickett, associate director of SLN and author of the grant application, said that the program seeks to provide at-risk students with an educational experience that targets their developmental needs, program completion and ultimate success, simultaneously contributing to the decrease of poverty in New York.

“The ultimate goal is to reduce poverty, and the trans-generational transmission of poverty, in New York by assisting young, single parents from under-served populations who are in low-paying jobs complete a degree program that provides them with a credential they can use to move into a higher paying career,” she said.

The blended learning initiative aligns with The Power of SUNY, the university system’s strategic plan, which calls for action, credibility, and data-driven decision-making together with core values of student-centeredness, community engagement, diversity, integrity, and collaboration. This grant gives SUNY the opportunity to address the issues systematically, thereby improving the likelihood of positive, sustainable impact and success. The lessons learned from this project will be used to bring the initiative to other SUNY campuses and to inform and influence the quality of blended and technology-enhanced instruction across SUNY.

About Next Generation Learning Challenges

NGLC is a collaborative, multi-year initiative created by the Gates and Hewlett foundations and others to address the barriers to educational innovation and tap the potential of technology to dramatically improve college readiness and completion in the United States.

About the SUNY Learning Network

SLN helps SUNY lead the way in online teaching and learning innovation. SLN is an award-winning national and international leader in effective online teaching and learning, faculty development, course design and practices.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 467,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with more than 2.5 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

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