Step Ahead: The NC Student Success Center is excited to announce the launch of our newest teaching and learning online course in addition to our nine existing courses.

Each course consists of four to six modules.  Each module can be completed in 30 to 45 minutes. The course topics and objectives were selected based on faculty surveys and focus groups facilitated by the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at NC State.

NC community colleges were then asked to nominate faculty and staff to develop the courses. The nominated faculty worked with our instructional designer to create robust online courses that meet the objectives identified in our focus groups. The courses are now available through the NC SSC Moodle site for free use by all college personnel.

Go to ncssc-pd.org to review the course offerings (descriptions below). If it is your first time at our site, watch the “First Time Here?” video to learn how to set up your account. If you already have an account, sign in and start exploring.

Our Newest Course:

Bandwidth: Recovering Bandwidth and Creating Opportunities for Student Success 

What is “bandwidth”? How is it lost? What can faculty do to help students reclaim it? You will learn the answers to all of these questions in this interactive course that is based on Cia Vershelden’s groundbreaking book Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Social Marginalization. This course was created by Wake Technical Community College’s resident experts on bandwidth, Ann Schlieper and Holly Markovich. The course encompasses four modules at the end of which you will take a final quiz and receive a certificate of completion. The course should take educators approximately 2.5-3.5 hours to complete depending upon their own discoveries and journal entries.

Learning Online Courses:

Backward Course Design

One way to improve student outcomes is to teach with the end in mind. Learn how to design courses so that students learn what they need to learn to be successful. This course covers a way of looking at courses that will help make instruction even more effective.

Developing Online Courses 

Online courses open doors to accessibility for students to attend college with flexibility. Quality online instruction takes intention and time. This course provides resources and ideas for design, structure, assessments, accessibility, and more to empower online teaching and learning. 

Equity in the Classroom

Learn practical strategies for building self-awareness as well as ideas for implementing equitable practices in your classroom. Discover how data is used to help close the equity gap at your college. This course addresses how equity impacts the learning environment.

Growth Mindset

Growth mindset can be driven by a sense of purpose. Growth mindset should be part of every community college course to support students in developing through application and experience. This course defines growth mindset, connects theory to classroom practice, and enables faculty to model growth mindset for their students. 

Introduction to Equity

This module covers the Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of the Start Right Now course. This module is open to guest access, which may be completed without creating an account on the Moodle site.

Start Right Now

 The mission of the North Carolina Community College System is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to post-secondary education, maximize student success, develop a globally and multi-culturally competent workforce, and improve the lives and well-being of individuals. This course includes modules covering Who We Are, What We Do, Who We Serve, Advising and Financial Aid, Best Practices for Teaching and Learning, and Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as an onboarding course for community college faculty and staff.

Teaching High School Students

With the expansion of dual enrollment programming, community colleges are likely to teach high school students at some point. This course defines dual enrollment, details how it impacts colleges and instruction, and prepares you to understand and meet the needs of the high school students.

Universal Design for Learning

 Designing instruction that meets the needs of all learners is an important student success strategy. This course covers the history and theories behind universal design, applications of the theory to teaching, and practical ways to approach instruction that incorporate the needs and preference of the widest possible variety of learners.

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