DREAM Studios are three-hour workshops where experts dive into effective practices to support your work and advance the field. Presentations highlight critical elements for advancing student success.
DREAM Studios will take place Tuesday, February 14, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Central Time. Registered DREAM 2023 attendees may sign up to attend for an additional fee.
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Creating Strategic Partnerships to Support Students Holistically
Students can face several academic and academic-adjacent challenges while going to college. While many institutions have existing resources to support students through their journeys, there may be instances where capacity and resources become limited. To continue to provide students with access to support services many colleges have tapped into the wealth of resources that exist in their community. By creating partnerships with local organizations, like public food pantries and mental health services, colleges can provide resources to students without the need for additional funding. This Dream Studio Session explores Achieving the Dream’s new Strategic Partnerships for Holistic Student Supports Toolkit, a resource to help colleges create support services for students through partnerships with community stakeholders. Attendees will learn about the 7-step process to creating sustainable and meaningful community partnerships, learn from colleges who have created successful partnerships, and begin to uncover how to explore partnerships in their own communities.
Registration Fee:
$190 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$245 for out-of-Network attendees.
Equity-Minded Disaggregated Course-Level Data Tools: Fueling Momentum by Breaking Down the Aggregate
It’s never a question of whether our instructional practices are working; it’s a question of who they are and are not working for. In this interactive session participants will explore how disaggregated course level "in the moment” data, course outcomes, and institutional trends can illuminate opportunities for addressing equity through teaching and learning. Participants will begin to engage in sensemaking practices to interpret outcomes through intentional interrogation of engagement patterns, attendance, formative assessments, and grade distributions. This workshop will equip faculty with tools to recognize inequities experienced by students with racialized and minoritized identities. Participants will discuss how equity minded data approaches can go beyond the analysis of quantitative data as a performative “check the box” activity. The session will explore how data informed instruction that utilizes multiple modalities of data collection and analysis can transform student experiences in higher education courses.
Presenters:
Dr. Ruanda Garth-McCullough, Director of Program Development, ATD
Dr. Lisa Stich, Director of PDP Program/Strategic Data & Technology Coach
H. Ray Keith, Associate Director of Teaching and Learning
Lydia Cdebaca-Cruz, Adjunct Professor of Humanities and Composition and Literary Studies, Austin Community College
Registration Fee:
$190 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$245 for out-of-Network attendees
Everyone is a Data Person: Building Diverse, Effective Teams
We bring different perspectives, strengths, and backgrounds to the work. That's why nearly every campus professional needs to approach their work with a data-informed perspective to deliver equitable, holistic experiences for students. This session provides a framework, resources, and tools to build strong, collaborative college teams, leveraging the interpersonal ways we work together to make a real difference in the lives of our students.
What kind of data person are you? The Connector? The Curator? The Recruiter? The Trend Observer? The Mission Monitor? In this interactive session you will learn how to identify your data superpowers and those of the other data superheroes in the room. Dr. Amelia Parnell, Vice President for Research and Policy at NASPA and author of You are a Data Person, will share her data identity framework. Participants will complete Dr. Parnell’s data identity self-assessment tool. ATD coaches will facilitate an activity designed to help identify leaders at all organizational levels on campus whose data identities will help you and your college build and sustain a strong data-informed culture that supports equitable student success.
Presenters:
Amelia Parnell, Vice President for Research and Policy at NASPA and author of "You are a Data Person: Strategies for Using Analytics on Campus"
Laurie Heacock, Data Coach, Achieving the Dream
Registration Fee:
$190 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$245 for out-of-Network attendees.
Leading from the Middle for Equity-Focused Student Success: Discovering Your Leadership Orientation
Achieving the Dream’s Middle Leaders professional learning program is designed to deepen the understanding and skillsets of higher education middle managers who are responsible for leading transformative change efforts that support student success through equity-minded practices. Modules address developing an organizational culture that supports belonging and student success, leading with an equity minded lens, building internal and external collaborations to bridge equity gaps, and navigating unique challenges and opportunities inherent to middle management in higher education. Participants in this Studio will receive an orientation to the content of the full program and engage in a hands-on exercise selected from the program’s first module to deepen their understanding of their own leadership orientation and style. They also will discover how these traits can contribute to a campus that supports belonging for students, faculty, and staff. Details about how ATD will roll out this new service will also be shared.
Presenters:
Dr. Paul Hernandez, Senior Advisor to the President and CEO, Achieving the Dream
Dr. Tanya Scott, Associate Director, Teaching and Learning, Achieving the Dream
Dr. Monica Trent, Vice President, Network Engagement, Achieving the Dream
Registration Fee:
$75 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$100 for out-of-Network attendees
Increasing Community Vibrancy: Expanding Access to Historically Disconnected Populations
Community college enrollment has dropped significantly over the past decade, and there are more than 100 million people nationally who have either not engaged with postsecondary education and training, who started but never completed a credential, or whose jobs will require new skills and competencies. This Studio will introduce ATD’s new Community Vibrancy framework and share data sources for colleges to use to identify these potential students. Participants will examine data from local scenario examples and learn about effective strategies to build comprehensive systems that identify potential populations for targeted recruitment efforts and incorporate relevant academic programs, holistic student supports, aligned processes and practices, and strong outreach and communications strategies.
Presenter:
Susan Mayer, Chief Learning Officer, Achieving the Dream
Registration Fee:
$190 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$245 for out-of-Network attendees.
12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Bridging the Non-Credit to Credit Transition
Colleges are increasingly focused on creating flexible educational and career pathways that allow students to earn the credentials they need, when they need them. Standing up well-structured stackable pathways requires an intentional focus on design and delivery and the intentional use of local and regional labor market information to ensure students have options with the greatest earning potential. This requires ongoing collaboration and coordination among cross-functional teams, including academic affairs, workforce development, and student services to best leverage state and local policies and procedures in novel ways that maximize flexibility and value.
This Studio will highlight the key decision areas that college teams need to address to design and implement stackable and aligned educational pathways -- such as important data and strategic questions to consider, best practices in professional development, monitoring and assessment protocols, and communications planning. Topics that will be covered include state-level policy alignment, making the most of industry partnerships, enhancing prior learning assessment options and infrastructures, breaking down non-credit and credit silos, and mapping industry certifications during academic program development.
Presenters:
Keith E. Babuszczak, Ed.D., Provost of IT Programs and Chief Campus Officer, RTP Campus, Wake Technical Community College
Marc Goldberg, Principal, Skills Strategy Consulting Group and Achieving the Dream Coach
Julie Parks, Executive Director of Workforce Training and the Leslie E. Tassell M-TEC, Grand Rapids Community College
Registration Fee:
$190 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$245 for out-of-Network attendees.
Getting the Answers you Need - A data workshop for leaders
Are there burning data questions about your students you wish you could answer? Questions like how to disaggregate on multiple characteristics simultaneously? Or seeing how disaggregated course success rates differ by modality, section, or instructor? Or perhaps how transfer success rates vary by disaggregated characteristics as well as earned credits prior to transfer? Are you wanting to benchmark your early momentum metrics, like credit accumulation, with other similar institutions? The Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) empowers institutions with more comprehensive data, easier analysis, and better visual representations to help you understand, improve, and communicate student momentum, outcomes, and equity. Through the use of dashboards and student level reports, the PDP can help you move beyond data to action. This hands-on session will explore how the PDP can help you answer your questions, extend your insights, and tell stories that create urgency and momentum for change.
Presenters:
Dr. Lisa Stich, Director, PDP Program and Strategic Data and Technology Coach
Ken McVearry, Senior Specialist, National Student Clearinghouse
Registration Fee:
$75 per workshop for in-Network Colleges
$100 for out-of-Network attendees