Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Waubonsee CC Supporting Latinx and Adult Learners with Coaching, Credit for Prior Learning

In an effort to increase Latinx and adult learner enrollment and completion rates, Waubonsee Community College in Illinois is working with nonprofits InsideTrack and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) to revamp its degree pathways and improve coaching and advising support for students. The five-year initiative is funded by a $3 million grant from the United States Department of Education.

The project will begin with "student journey mapping" sessions exploring the barriers to college access and success for Latinx students and working adults. InsideTrack's success coaches will help the college pinpoint the stages in the student journey where learners might go off-track and fine-tune its approaches to better engage and retain those students.

In addition, InsideTrack and CAEL will provide training for Waubonsee's advisers and staff to help them integrate student success coaching into their work, build and maintain a coaching program, and develop tools and processes to assess students' prior learning so that students can receive course credit, shorten their time to completion and save money. Advisers and admissions staff who complete the training will receive an InsideTrack-CAEL certification in best practices for supporting working adults and Latinx students.

"As the demographics of our communities and higher education continue to shift, it's critical that student support adapts to meet the needs of fast-growing student populations, including working adults and Latinx students," said Christine Sobek, president of Waubonsee Community College, in a statement. "This work is about better understanding the student journey — as adults, Latinx, and other historically excluded populations experience it — and transforming our approach to coaching, advising, and creating streamlined pathways to a degree or credential."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Neon blue security locks with a single red highlight

    AI Shifts Cybersecurity Focus from Finding Flaws to Fixing Them

    For decades, one of cybersecurity's most difficult challenges has been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

  • robot hand holding stacks of coins

    Designing AI Systems for Financial Aid

    Financial aid offices have been slow to adopt AI, risking technological stagnation at a critical early student touchpoint. Systematic AI integration can improve student experiences and strengthen institutional positioning.

  • silhouette of business person facing wall of data

    Why AI Strategy Belongs in the President's Office

    Institutions that are succeeding with AI share one thing in common, and it is not a better committee, a larger budget, or a more sophisticated technology stack. It is a president who never handed off the steering wheel.

  • digital brain with network connections

    Microsoft Moving to Internally Developed AI Models in Office Apps

    Microsoft is reportedly using its own in-house artificial intelligence models to handle some workloads in Excel and Outlook, offering new evidence that the company is moving its AI strategy beyond model development and into large-scale cost reduction.