Image by Al_HikesAZ via FlickrWe are pretty excited about this grant. This is the press release from Paul DeMark's office here at College of the Redwoods:
College of the Redwoods announced that it has been awarded part of a $750,000 grant from Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) as a member of the Kaleidoscope Project.
Designed and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and William & Flora Hewlett Foundations, NGLC is focused on identifying and scaling technology-enabled approaches to dramatically improve college readiness and completion, especially for low-income young adults, in the United States. CR's portion of the grant is approximately $100,000.
The Kaleidoscope Project will implement a fully open general education curriculum across eight colleges that serve predominantly at-risk students. M.L. Bettino, dean of academic affairs for Cerritos College explained the benefits of the project: ''The Kaleidoscope Project’s use of open educational resources will virtually eliminate textbooks costs as an obstacle to success for low-income students. It will also allow institutions to collaborate to refine and improve course content, closing the loop between course design and student learning outcomes.''
''I am very pleased that CR has received this grant,'' said CR Interim President Utpal Goswami. ''It will enable us to continue to develop innovative instructional projects to serve student needs. The ultimate beneficiaries will be students.''
''This grant will help us to support the academic achievement of our students, many of whom are low-income, first-generation college students who live in rural areas a long distance from any of our campus sites,'' explained Maggie Lynch, Chief Technology Officer and Dean of Distance Education. ''Our participation in the Kaleidoscope Project allows us to bring the resources of the Gates and Hewlett Foundations, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and our innovative Kaleidoscope college partners. We look forward to creating improved opportunities for access and success for our students through this important work.''
Led by Cerritos College, the Kaleidoscope Project includes partners, in addition to CR, include Chadron State College, Mercy College, Palo Verde College, Rancho Santiago Community College District and Tompkins Cortland Community College. The eight colleges collectively serve more than 100,000 students annually; 69 percent of these students are at risk of dropping out.
A team of respected, global open education experts will support the college partners including Norman Bier from Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative, Chris Coppola from rSmart, Cable Green from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Vijay Kumar of MIT, Kim Thanos of Thanos Partners and David Wiley from Brigham Young University.
The project will also benefit from use of the Sakai collaboration platform for course delivery, and the use of both Sakai analytics and the Association of American Colleges and Universities VALUE rubrics to assess student learning.
About Next Generation Learning Challenges:
NGLC focuses on identifying and scaling technology-enabled approaches to dramatically improve college readiness and completion by addressing a continuum of interrelated issues spanning secondary and postsecondary education from grades 6 through college. NGLC is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with The League for Innovation in the Community College, the International Association of K-12 Online Learning, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. In addition to funding, NGLC is gathering evidence about effective practices, and working to develop a community dedicated to these persistent challenges. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helped design the Next Generation Learning Challenges, and fund the initiative.
Designed and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and William & Flora Hewlett Foundations, NGLC is focused on identifying and scaling technology-enabled approaches to dramatically improve college readiness and completion, especially for low-income young adults, in the United States. CR's portion of the grant is approximately $100,000.
The Kaleidoscope Project will implement a fully open general education curriculum across eight colleges that serve predominantly at-risk students. M.L. Bettino, dean of academic affairs for Cerritos College explained the benefits of the project: ''The Kaleidoscope Project’s use of open educational resources will virtually eliminate textbooks costs as an obstacle to success for low-income students. It will also allow institutions to collaborate to refine and improve course content, closing the loop between course design and student learning outcomes.''
''I am very pleased that CR has received this grant,'' said CR Interim President Utpal Goswami. ''It will enable us to continue to develop innovative instructional projects to serve student needs. The ultimate beneficiaries will be students.''
''This grant will help us to support the academic achievement of our students, many of whom are low-income, first-generation college students who live in rural areas a long distance from any of our campus sites,'' explained Maggie Lynch, Chief Technology Officer and Dean of Distance Education. ''Our participation in the Kaleidoscope Project allows us to bring the resources of the Gates and Hewlett Foundations, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and our innovative Kaleidoscope college partners. We look forward to creating improved opportunities for access and success for our students through this important work.''
Led by Cerritos College, the Kaleidoscope Project includes partners, in addition to CR, include Chadron State College, Mercy College, Palo Verde College, Rancho Santiago Community College District and Tompkins Cortland Community College. The eight colleges collectively serve more than 100,000 students annually; 69 percent of these students are at risk of dropping out.
A team of respected, global open education experts will support the college partners including Norman Bier from Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative, Chris Coppola from rSmart, Cable Green from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Vijay Kumar of MIT, Kim Thanos of Thanos Partners and David Wiley from Brigham Young University.
The project will also benefit from use of the Sakai collaboration platform for course delivery, and the use of both Sakai analytics and the Association of American Colleges and Universities VALUE rubrics to assess student learning.
About Next Generation Learning Challenges:
NGLC focuses on identifying and scaling technology-enabled approaches to dramatically improve college readiness and completion by addressing a continuum of interrelated issues spanning secondary and postsecondary education from grades 6 through college. NGLC is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with The League for Innovation in the Community College, the International Association of K-12 Online Learning, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. In addition to funding, NGLC is gathering evidence about effective practices, and working to develop a community dedicated to these persistent challenges. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helped design the Next Generation Learning Challenges, and fund the initiative.
Wow! Great news! Congratulations!
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