Belk Center Releases Teaching & Learning Hubs Inaugural Report
As part of the effort to support equitable student success, the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research has collaborated with learning and evaluation partner, DVP-PRAXIS LTD, on an assessment of the early success of the North Carolina Teaching and Learning Hubs.
Initially launched in the East and West regions of the state in September 2021, and later expanded to support educators in the Central and Piedmont regions, the Hubs have connected educators and created professional development opportunities for community college leaders across North Carolina. By complementing the efforts of individual colleges’ teaching and learning centers, the Hubs help faculty and staff learn about, adopt, test and scale evidence-based strategies that have increased equitable student success outcomes across the nation.
In the assessment, titled “The Reach of the North Carolina Teaching and Learning Hubs: An Inaugural Year Report,” DVP PRAXIS LTD evaluates the East and West Hubs in their inaugural academic year (AY 2021-22) to determine their initial reach to North Carolina community college faculty, staff and students. The report also builds an evidence base for the impact of participation in offered programming.
Through the evaluation, DVP PRAXIS reviewed the Hubs’ scale; staff and faculty participation; courses taught by participants; and students enrolled in courses taught by Hub participants, and identified the following key takeaways:
- In this first year, the scale of the East and West Hubs is significant. These Hubs supported more than half of North Carolina’s community colleges, including nearly 300 instructors, more than 2,400 courses, and almost 21,000 students through high-quality, evidence-based professional learning opportunities.
- The scale of Hub participation can be improved by increasing outreach and engagement of participants who are underrepresented in current Hub-offered professional learning, including newer faculty, part-time and adjunct faculty, continuing education faculty and staff educators.
- In line with their mission of increasing equitable student success, Hubs should provide targeted support and outreach to faculty of color who are more likely to teach adult, minoritized, and low-income students, and who tend to be newer faculty, teaching continuing education, college and career readiness, and career and technical courses.
At the conclusion of the 2022-23 academic year, DVP PRAXIS plans to assess the impact of all four Hubs – East, West, Central and Piedmont – including the relationship between instructor participation in Hub professional learning and how that impacts equitable student outcomes across the state.
About the Belk Center
The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, at North Carolina State University, develops and sustains exceptional community college leaders who are committed to advancing equitable college access and student success, the social and economic mobility of their colleges’ students, and the economic competitiveness of their regions. The Center provides professional development and research related to current and emerging student success opportunities and challenges facing community college leaders and policymakers in North Carolina and the nation. The Belk Center commits to dismantling systemic barriers to racial equity in education through evidence-based strategies that focus on the outcomes of Black, Latin* and American Indian students.
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