Background-HCC Organization of Continuing Education/ Outreach Programs

Hillsborough Community College, based on several evaluations of its various continuing education and outreach programs conducted over the last decade and summarized below, has organized these programs in a way that logically ties them to the communities they are intended to serve.  The College has two centralized units, the Office of Continuing Education and The Corporate Training Center (TCTC). 

• The Office of Continuing Education is a multi-service unit of HCC that provides comprehensive educational experiences, promoting economic growth and global competitiveness through education, training, and services that contribute to continuous workforce improvement in the Tampa Bay Area.  The Office of Continuing Education offers and manages the following outreach programs: life long learning, continuing education allied health, CPR, insurance, real estate, and motorcycle safety.  The Office of Continuing Education also serves as an incubator for credit course offerings.
• The Corporate Training Center is a business solutions provider serving the training needs of Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay.  Opportunities are offered for professional development and continuing education for career enhancement and personal career growth.  This Center also provides performance improvement seminars and workshops customized to employee groups for growth, development, and refinement of business organizations.  The Corporate Training Center offer courses in the areas of business management, communications and presentation, and information technology and computers.

In addition to these two centralized units, the College has based some of its outreach programs on select campuses to facilitate serving communities that are more geographically focused.  An example of such a campus-based outreach program would be the Criminal Justice Training Institute, in which all related programs, including Postsecondary Adult Vocational and continuing workforce education programs, are centralized on the Ybor City Campus.

The Off-Site Committee commented upon Postsecondary Adult Vocational Programs versus “other continuing education programs.”  To assist in the interpretation of the below summary, the phrase Other Continuing Education Programs will be used to reference non-credit programs that are not Postsecondary Adult Vocational (i.e., the Office of Continuing Education, The Corporate Training Center, and Outreach Programs) wherein students may earn certificates of completion but not a credit degree.

Evaluation of Other Continuing Education Programs in Relation to Mission

Other Continuing Education Programs are regularly evaluated through external and internal assessments in relation to the HCC’s mission of delivering education of the highest standards thus enabling a diverse community of life-long learners to achieve their maximum potential in a global society.  External evaluations include cyclic reviews from the regulatory agencies that approve course curricula, sites where courses are offered, and the criteria for offering Continuing Education units for the courses.  Additionally, market (constituent) demand is another factor that drives program evaluation. 

Cyclic regulatory agency reviews are evident in Other Continuing Education Programs  such as Real Estate (Certificate of Affirmation), Insurance (Certification Process), continuing education Allied Health, CPR, child care services, driver education, Criminal Justice training, Bail Bonds, computer certification (e.g., Microsoft Certifications), and building and construction.  These programs engage in annual, biannual, and tri-annual renewal applications to sustain regulatory approval.  This renewal application process involves a curricula review/update, a check of instructional faculty credentials, specifications for awarding Continuing Education Units, and maintenance of student records (e.g., the number of years records are to be retained).

Internal evaluations include student course evaluations.  These are reviewed on a regular basis to determine instructional effectiveness and whether the course content was substantive and meaningful. The review and use of student aggregate data varies.  For example, some continuing education programs meet with their respective regulatory agency at the end of the instructional year to review the overall program offering.  Other internal evaluations include instructor feedback, job task analysis, medical and legal reviews, and curriculum review.

Specific examples follow of Other Continuing Education Program evaluations and the use of the results to improve these programs.

The Prescribed Fire Program provides a specific example of a regulatory agency’s cyclic review.  This program is conducted in conjunction with the Florida Division of Forestry and Interagency Prescribed Fire Cadre.  The Division of Forestry is the state agency with responsibility for issuing the prescribed burn certification number for those completing the requirements of the program.  The Interagency Prescribed Fire Cadre is an informal organization of state and federal agencies that have major responsibilities for conducting prescribed burns on lands which they manage.  These two agencies provide the regulatory guidance for the program’s curriculum.  Three types of courses are conducted:

• 40 hour (one week) on-site Basic Prescribed Fire Course (seven courses are offered this year at seven locations throughout Florida);
• Basic Prescribed Fire Short Course (three courses were offered this year at three locations throughout Florida); and the
• Certified Burner’s Course (one course offered this year). 

In the Prescribed Fire Cadre program, students are provided with an evaluation form to complete at the end of each course.  Hillsborough Community College and its partners meet each year after the completion of the schedule of the courses (usually June or July) to review the student evaluations, review the courses’ operations with the site coordinators and instructors, review any needed curricular changes, set the schedule for the upcoming year, and assign instructors (Prescribed Fire Cadre Agendas; 2005-06, 2006-07).   

These review meetings have resulted in recommendations such as: modifications as to how the materials are presented (e.g., conversion to PowerPoint presentations); modifications as to how the in-class prescribed burn is conducted; changes in how the classroom materials are forwarded to the course location sites; a re-writing of the required pre-course problem based on student concerns expressed to site coordinators and instructors; a revision and reprinting of the course manual; the implementation of a “short course” targeted to the business community for employees with some burn experience; and yearly reviews and modifications to the end of class exam.

Another example of an external evaluation that led to a modification is noted in the Fire Science Academy.  HCC's Fire Science Academy must provide students with training on equipment that complies with the State of Florida's mandated specifications. The Fire Science Academy was notified as a result of a regulatory review of its lack of compliance in regards to equipment/facilities requirements. To address the compliance issue, the College used Perkins Roll Forward funds to purchase bunker gear, breathing apparatus equipment, and industry-grade hoses for student use within the Minimum Standards Training Program (Roll Forward Initiatives for 2005-2006 Budget Year).   

The law enforcement, correctional, and correctional probation officer training programs are under the regulatory oversight of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Criminal Justice Standards Training Commission (CJSTC), Florida Administrative Code (FAC), and Florida Statute Chapter 943.  These regulatory agencies and state statute govern the development of curricula and establish the continuing education requirements for officers.  Law Enforcement, Correctional and Correctional Probation officers are expected to complete 40-hours of continuing education every four years.

The Law Enforcement and corrections course offerings are evaluated using several methods:  student and instructor feedback, job task analysis, medical and legal reviews, curriculum review, and special interest conferences.  Aggregate data for the continuing education program in Criminal Justice for 2004-05 and 2005-06 indicated that 90% of the students found the courses to be relevant to the students’ needs for career development and professional growth (Instructional Analyses).  Additionally, 90% of the students found the quality of instruction to be effective in delivering the course curriculum.

The Corporate Training Center gathers overall program data to determine relevancy, and course meaningfulness and sustenance.   The Corporate Training Center’s program quality is primarily measured by student feedback.  The aggregate data indicate that program service quality is above average on a scale of 0-100 for the 2005-06 program year; Program Administration – 90.71; Instructor Quality – 94.57; and Learning Environment – 89.37 (TCTC Program Quality Data).

In other Continuing Education Program courses such as real estate, insurance, allied health, CPR, child care services, driver education, computer certification (e.g., Microsoft Certifications), and building and construction, student evaluations are reviewed by the respective course coordinators, shared with the instructors and are stored for a period of five years (the length of time as mandated by Florida’ records retention statute).  Aggregate data for some of the Other Continuing Education Programs (Continuing Education Student Aggregate Data) for 2004-05 and 2005-06 indicated that instructional delivery is effective.  More specifically, student evaluation ratings indicated an average of a 92% instructional effectiveness rating for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 years.

Prior Program Reviews

There is a history of prior program reviews for Other Continuing Education Programs.  A program review of Continuing Education was completed in February 1995 by the current Dean of Continuing Education (Continuing Education Program Review—1996; Follow-up Meeting Minutes 1996).  Additionally, based on an overall review during that time frame, Continuing Education was reorganized to address the needs of the non-traditional student more effectively. 

To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HCC’s program review process while maintaining the relevancy to the institution’s mission, HCC’s program review process was revised in 2000.  The Other Continuing Education Programs under the direction of the AS Deans and the Dean of Continuing Education/Community Service were reviewed in 2005 (Program Reviews—Continuing Education/ Community Services; Autobody Repair; Criminal Justice/ PSAV).  All the instances listed began with an initial introspection (unit plan development or program review) followed by systematic reexaminations (Strategic Plans—Continuing Education/ Community Services; Early Childhood Management; Fire Science; The Corporate Training Center).  That is, the unit plans were developed in Fall 2004 and progress was reported in Fall 2005, and once again for Fall 2006 (available for On-Site Committee inspection).  Similarly, all of the program reviews listed were completed in Fall 2004 and revisited in Spring 2005 and Spring 2006 with the first report of progress.

In 2004, the Office of Continuing Education conducted an internal review (Continuing Education Unit Exploration) in regards to its mission in relation to the institution, service areas as related to the institution’s mission, quality checkpoint slogan, departmental logo, rationale for an advisory council, the types of skills employees needed to strengthen the unit and profit margins.  The results of this internal review resulted in the development of a unit mission statement, clarification of the service delivery areas, a departmental logo, a listing of the types of skills the unit employees needed to strengthen the existing team, the rationale for an advisory council, and the need to attend to profit margins. 

The development of the Corporate Training Center is an example of HCC’s response to an external review and to market demand.  In 1997, a community charrette was held to ascertain the continued viability of the institution’s mission statement.  The results of the charrette revealed a need for the institution to establish a Corporate Training Center to address the community’s business training needs.  The initiative was launched in 1998.  To maintain a current connection to the business community and its needs, The Center revised its original business plan in 2003.  The needs analysis of the plan indicated a recommendation for a name change from The Vision Center to The Corporate Training Center.  Additionally, the building where the program is housed underwent moderate renovations, and more staff was hired.

In summary, to ensure that HCC’s continuing education, outreach, and service programs are consistent with the institution’s mission, external and internal program evaluations are conducted.  Furthermore, student data are aggregated for use in modifying course delivery methods as well as determining instructional effectiveness.