Thanks to an award-winning effort, led by two women in technology leadership at Coast Community College District, students from across the state now have access to course offerings at all three Colleges – Coastline College, Golden West College, and Orange Coast College – without needing to apply.
“This project reflects the focused work of the districtwide California Virtual College Course Exchange Implementation Team. We have a great and dedicated team and I am grateful for their effort,” said Dr. Andreea Serban, Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Technology. “With the hard work put in districtwide, in collaboration with our state partners, we have broken down yet another barrier for community college students.”
The Coast District California Virtual College (CVC) Course Exchange Team was awarded the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) Technology Focus Team Award on February 11, 2021. The award was presented at the Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) Virtual Technology Summit. The project for which the award was given was to integrate fully online classes in the CVC Course Exchange that will allow students across the state to have access to class offerings without needing to apply to the college offering those classes. The award committee consisted of the CCCCO, the CISOA Board, and the CISOA Awards Committee.
The award-winning team, led by Vice Chancellor Serban and Rupa Saran, Deputy Chief Information Technology Officer, was able to use the CVC middleware to create the enrollment record at the teaching college in order to gain access to the needed instructional resources and apply financial aid and payment data to complete the needed processes. The successful completion of this process provided the template for other institutions to follow and it opens up multiple pathways to completion for students of the California Community Colleges (CCC).
“We are actively helping students in completing their degrees and certificates at the community college level, in accomplishing their educational goals while increasing the overall success rate,” Saran said. “The CVC will not only help our local students, but will also help students across the state. I am proud to have been a part of this statewide project for the greater good.”
Students now have the opportunity to take needed courses across the growing number of partnering colleges in the CCC system. Colleges can now offer online classes to the totality of the students in the CCC system, thereby filling available class seats and making greater use of scarce resources.
By offering instruction to all students across the Community College system, the CVC facilitates access throughout the state. Removing geographic boundaries means that any student can take and complete their course of study wherever they choose to take their coursework. Colleges are able to expand their reach throughout the state and bring different experiences and populations to the educational landscape of their institutions. The CCC is better able to fulfill its educational mission by providing greater opportunity and access to higher education to the students of California.