Connect2Complete Miami Hamilton: Impact Conference Presentation

Originally posted April 2, 2014. View here!

I presented at the national Impact Conference in Valparaiso Indiana at Valparaiso University on Friday March 28, 2014 with my site supervisor and Director of the Office of Learning Assistance, Sue Sepela. Our presentation on Connect2Complete at the Miami University Hamilton campus focused on: preparation, implementation, and evaluation of the program since it's start in July 2013.

Workshop title: "When Community Service and Student Success Collide: Connect2Complete".
Partial workshop description: "Through group discussion and activities we'll investigate barriers faced by low income and first generation college students, how to link class content to community service projects and ways to implement Connect2Complete on your campus."

I used social media to advertise our workshop using the conference hashtag!

We're hoping to see a great turn out for #Connect2Complete workshop in rm Gellersen 124 at @impactconf #30YearsOfImpact #Block1
— Rachael Lange (@Rlange001) February 28, 2014

We had 12 attendees ranging from undergraduate students and graduate students to Civic Engagement & Service Learning professionals. One even tweeted about us!!

Day 1 of workshops @impactconf with @OHCampusCompact discussing comm service and student success #30yearsofimpact
— Ally K (@AllyKruz) February 28, 2014

Preparation
During the preparation portion we discussed the groundwork that was completed before the VISTA (me) came on board. This included choosing classes that were under the Learning Assistance umbrella, potential service sites, and introducing the program to the staff and faculty.

Implementation
We then discussed how the program was implemented. I covered:

Development of parameters and structure of the program.
Development of necessary recruiting and training materials for both instructors and students.
Recruitment of instructors and Peer Advocates to work on the Connect2Complete team.
Development and facilitation of the Peer Advocate orientation.

Evaluation

For the evaluation section I compared the structure of the program from the first semester (Fall 2013) to the second semester (Spring 2014), shown below. I also shared a few graphs from the data we had collected during our first semester.

This graph displays the responses from students on questions related to campus connections.

This graph shows the responses from students on surveys given after their Civic Engagement project.

Barriers
As a group, we discussed the barriers faced by many first generation and low-come students during college. We discussed these in terms of: institutional barriers, life barriers and academic barriers. The Connect2Complete program at Miami Hamilton works to assist the students in overcoming these barriers by offering accessible peer mentors known as Peer Advocates, Student Success workshops during the first 6 weeks of classes and connecting the students to the community through Civic Engagement projects.

Group Activity
The final portion of our workshop involved the attendees splitting up into three groups of four. Each group chose a group member's campus and decided what office(s) would be best to house the program. Then, how they would recruit students and instructors on this campus, what classes would benefit the most from the program, and finally a Civic Engagement project that would address both a community need and an academic goal of the class.

Below is a tweeted picture of a group presentation from our workshop.