Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success

May 2019 Education Design Lab Recognizing that many discrete interventions had been tested and validated over the past decade, the Lab set out to consider Introduction The students’ needs from end to end, with two- and four-year institutions and their students working together to define the problems, the barriers, the opportunity spaces and the solutions. Seamless We considered proven interventions as well as new concepts. The How might community colleges and four-year lens would be ground level, from the point of view of the student, Transfer every step of the way, but our responses could not be what many universities dramatically improve transfer and often call “point solutions.” How would we push ourselves to be baccalaureate attainment rates by reframing the Pathways transformational? While with some of the Lab’s design challenges, the institutions form their own design question, the north star for end-to-end experience from the student’s point of view? the scope of the challenge, for this one, the Lab and the funder, Design MSDF, set the bar high in hopes of attracting a coalition of teams that felt a similar moral imperative, a similar urgency. We set In Fall 2017, the Education Design Lab (Lab), with an overall goal to improve the transfer and graduation rates for funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Challenge community college students aspiring to earn a Bachelor’s degree (MSDF), launched Seamless Transfer Pathways. by 30% over six years. This two-year design challenge, funded with four

years of evaluation, seeks solutions to address the In summer 2017, the Lab issued a call for community colleges staggeringly low transfer and completion rates and four-year institutions to join together to respond as a team. among community college students. Prospective partners were encouraged to submit proposals Watch our challenge brief video on Seamless Transfer Pathways on YouTube. highlighting how they would work together to create and test For 80% of students who enroll each year in a student-centered solutions that would move the needle on community college, the postsecondary journey transfer student degree attainment and could be easily replicated begins with the aspiration to earn a bachelor’s across the higher education landscape. Over 100 institutions from degree. But only 25% make the leap to a four-year across 25 states stepped up to the challenge. They competed for institution within five years. And another 20% the opportunity to participate in a design year experience and choose to complete a community college credential receive dedicated coaching from education instead, according to NCES and National Student We set an overall goal to improve designers to build and launch a new Clearinghouse. the transfer and graduation rates seamless transfer pathway. Most of them

Watch our gallery walk and ideation process told us that this was the first time they had These statistics point to the moral imperative and video on YouTube. for community college students opened up this channel of communication the urgency to redesign pathways for non-elite aspiring to earn a Bachelor’s degree with their partner schools to discuss students with the institutions that serve most by 30% over six years. solutions beyond articulation agreements. of them: large public community colleges and

universities. The Education Design Lab is grateful In the end, the Lab selected four teams (including one that to the 100 institutions that applied for this design brought a high school district to the table) to participate in the challenge. We hope that the work we were able to design challenge: Miami Dade College and Florida International fund with the selected cohort will be helpful to the University;Township High School District 211, Harper College, efforts of all transfer partnerships to dramatically Watch how the STP teams formed pilots on YouTube. and Northern Illinois University; Collin College and University improve outcomes. of North Texas; and Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University.

2 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 3 Begin with Data: Big Data and Small Data “We began with the data. This was the time to bring in students. The Having the Education Design big data informed an ethnographic research Designing Right from the start, we realized that requiring the plan to get at students’ needs, behaviors and institutional teams to bring the data to the table that Lab convene us with our data motivations. We did this in a variety of ways: & Building tells the whole student journey was going to produce played an important role in journey maps, empathy maps and regular a gold mine of information, but a very difficult one to getting us to share our data interviews with students, and observations get to. The schools were asked to come to the opening honestly and openly. Their at orientation events. We also engaged Seamless design session in Washington, DC, with their aggregate administrators and faculty. The highlights of student data, and together we graphically mapped the independence and neutrality this research were displayed as a gallery walk Transfer story of each team’s Leaky Pipeline. “One of the biggest created a space for us to be that became a focal point for design sessions ah-has is trying to figure out where some of these transparent and explore the held at each host campus. While the core students were going,” said one vice provost for design teams were made up of no more than problem together. Seeing the Pathways Academic Affairs. “We were pretty surprised when we 10 staff from the partner institutions, the actually put all the numbers up and then you saw them.” raw data was uncomfortable gallery walk invited up to 100 stakeholders, at times, but sometimes it’s the including students, from across the partner What did this combination of data tell us that the teams hard truths that lead you to campuses to draw insights from the “small “The design process didn’t already know? Each team found different points data” and shape the themes from which the the best solutions.” really affords in the student journey that were ripe for redesign, just pilot concepts would be drawn. based on the raw numbers of where students were Dr. Mark Mrozinski, Assistant Vice President participants the falling out of their system. For most, it was somewhere of Workforce Development and Executive Dean opportunity to think just before or just after the transfer point. Looking at of Community Education about things critically, specific sub-groups was also insightful. The Texas team Harper College learned that they needed a solution for undecided but also provides them students as they were having the worst outcomes and the boundlessness to accumulating the most excess credits if they did make come up with some it through the Bachelor’s degree. The Illinois team things that they wouldn’t recognized the need to consider Latino families in their solution. have otherwise. It really challenges them to think differently. And higher education needs that.”

Janet Marling, Executive Director National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students

Miami Dade College and Florida International University administrators, faculty, Staff and faculty review student insights as part of the gallery walk process. and transfer student develop student personas.

4 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 5 Students Want to Belong “True partnerships Figure 1. Emerging Themes Across Campuses are being formed Seven themes emerged across all the campuses (see Figure 1). Two themes, belonging and trust, stood out as umbrella themes ... So often we tend that informed everything else, e.g., why students stopped out, to compete for the why they found the transfer experience difficult or struggled same population of Belonging Trust even if they achieved their goals. The five circles illustrate the students. Under this, five most compelling design opportunity spaces. The stars depict where the final pilots landed for each team and which we’re really creating themes became primary drivers for the next phase: concepts. a true partnership so that all our students

Engaging Stakeholders Across Silos have an opportunity to succeed.” The phrase “not invented here” may have originated at an Heather Belmont, Former Dean, institution of higher education. It’s not the result of hubris, Flexible School of Science Early Career rather a side effect of the funding structures, governance Modalities Miami Dade College Exposure and initiative fatigue that color operations at most colleges. to Consume is Essential We found that once we engaged a broad array of stakeholders Information on campus at the gallery walk and insight stage, they were TX hooked into wanting to be part of the co-design of concepts VA FL and prototypes. Co-creation really does serve as an antidote Think Personalize for “not invented here.” Beyond & Engage IL Pathways with Purpose In the concept phase, each team developed initial concepts hackathon-style, and then held a series of sessions around Primary campus with faculty, students and administrators to pressure Relationships test those concepts. The Lab’s job was to keep the process Matter disciplined, based on the insights and data, as well as pushing for ideas that were “transformational.” We used that term, but broke it down by helping each team create a logic model that we used to test different concepts against the 30% increase in attainment goals we had set. One of the participants described the process at this point: “We all left ... hopeful, excited ... and with real viability of what we were going to do, and that things were possible. They weren’t just out there in the cloud, now they were really possible ... We had reached where we wanted to be. It was magical.” As we conducted our deep dive with each campus, two major umbrella themes emerged: belonging and trust. The five circles illustrate the five most compelling design opportunity spaces. The stars depict where the final pilots landed for each team and which themes became primary drivers for the next phase: concepts.

6 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 7 Prototypes Developed

This version has short descriptions + Curriculum Pathway Transfer New Business Degree One Stop team/school Navigator College Fair labels New The Seamless Faculty-driven Business High-touch, high-tech curriculum Team Degree for college fair focused on alignment for Co-Collaborative the newly streamlining lower division communication decided communication and courses. dedicated for Collin/UNT student. information needed Transfer Students for transfer students. Transfer Pathways Business Marketing Pathway Social Hub What You Need to Know Low Cost Bachelor’s Degree Career-focused, HS to Bachelor pathway to maximize Leveraging dual-credit credit transfer and shorten time to completion. Cross-institutional Just-in-time coordinated and Harper Promise to virtual network for information delivery simplify course selection, student supports and system and support Pilots reduce swirl and increase peer-to-peer services that leverages graduation. engagement. peers and cross-campus supports. D211/Haper/NIU Guided STEM-Based Math Counselors STEM Pathways Connect AA Degree

Co-branded Cross-trained Specifically tailored STEM term-by-term STEM counselors with degree to streamline guide with embedded shared vision for coursework and reduce academic and transfer student excess credit

MDC/FIU The Disappearing STEM Student: students supports. success. accumulation. Contextualized Math learnings for STEM students . How to Save STEM Majors at Scale? Student My Virtual Coach Nighthawk Patriot TRANSFERmation, Miami Dade College Assist 24/7 Virtual Success Coaches Community event tailored towards prospective with flexible real time transfer students and their families seeking Real-time & on demand information on college through career navigation. information for students (synchronous) and and Florida International University that integrates support non-real time services & academic/ (asynchronous) interaction to provide supports. course information. A virtual + physical authoritative source for NOVA/GMU information for transfer students.

Prototypes developed and brought by each institution to a design session in 2018. A Fast-Track Business Major for Undecided and Newly Decided Students B.S Degree in General Business, Collin College “We all left ... hopeful, Each team was asked to bring a “final four” of and the University of North Texas excited ... and with real pressure-tested prototypes to a spring 2018 design session. There was structured time to flesh viability of what we out the concepts, a ‘shark tank’ style pitch session were going to do, and with detailed constructive feedback, and finally, a Co-designing a New Degree with that things were possible. selection of one pilot for each team. There would Parents and High School Students still be an implementation and evaluation plan to They weren’t just out there Degree in Three, Township High School develop and funding strategies in some cases. But, District 211, Harper College and Northern in the cloud, now they were as the institutions are testing pieces of their pilots Illinois University (Illinois) really possible ... We had this academic year (2018-2019), they are set to reached where we wanted launch their efforts more broadly in the fall of 2019. In the meantime, the pilot plans themselves to be. It was magical.” are instructive for other institutions, and we are A Third Way: Using AI to Connect Janie Valdes, Assistant Vice President, committed to sharing them as many of the design Transfer Students to Their Cohort Undergraduate Education opportunities to fix the leaky pipelines are similar and Both Institutions Florida International University across institutions. VANCE, Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University

8 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 9 The Disappearing STEM Student: How to Save STEM Majors at Scale? Less Time, Less Credits: TRANSFERmation, Miami Dade College and Florida International University Designing a Seamless STEM Degree

To build a new Biology course framework for transfer students, MDC and FIU need to overcome a major From the beginning, Miami Dade College design hurdle: how to reduce both the time to complete (MDC) and Florida International University the degree and the number of excess credits. The state (FIU) knew they would focus on STEM. The of Florida charges students a penalty for excess credits. institutions share a large transfer student The Excess Credit Hour Surcharge, which is meant to population – 80 percent of MDC students that incentivize students to complete their bachelor’s degree transfer to Florida public institutions enroll quickly, charges a 100% surcharge of the tuition rate at FIU – and many of those students choose a for every credit hour taken in excess of 110% of their STEM pathway. Over 8,000 students entering program requirements. their first semester at MDC say they are

interested in pursuing a degree in STEM. STEM transfer students from MDC can pursue eight After three years, about 2,100 of those different curriculum paths toward a Biology major students earn an AA, while most transfer to successful STEM pathway for transfer at FIU, where the credit limit is 120 credits. These FIU. Of those, 53% graduate within four years. students would require the team to validate paths vary anywhere from 125 to 136 credit hours for

the role of students as peer advisors and completion. No matter which path a student takes, they Working with the Lab, MDC and FIU rebuild trust overall. will be over the FIU credit limit, and some paths will discovered that a seamless transfer pathway put them over the 110% threshold. The longest path in STEM would require more than new course Enter TRANSFERmation, an interactive online includes 72 hours at MDC, 12 of which will not count sequencing. While many STEM transfer roadmap for STEM transfer student success. towards FIU’s degree requirement. Getting to 120 students graduate from MDC underprepared The interactive tool will guide students on credits will require full academic approval. to successfully complete FIU’s rigorous course their journey, starting on the day they begin at structure, a closer look at the data revealed MDC and charting all the major milestones to Unlocking this problem has the potential to solve for other challenges such as length of time to the day they graduate from FIU. Peers would multiple challenges, including other STEM degree completion, excess credits upon completion, serve as student ambassadors of the tool. If pathways and systemic barriers affecting transfer inconsistent advising and monitoring, and successful, the app could be scaled to other student success. For MDC and FIU, this is now their task: profound student distrust of information. transfer partnerships in Florida. Bringing How can the institutions reduce time to degree through

TRANSFERmation to life will require external TRANSFERmation, and use these pathways to engage Interviews with both successful and resources. The team reached out to a private faculty and advocate for systemic change? unsuccessful students revealed that the STEM foundation, leveraging learnings from the transfer path is confusing not only for students, design year to make the case for investment, but also for the advisors, faculty and staff and has been awarded funding whose job it is to guide them. MDC students to build the interactive tool. reported relying on peers or Google to support them in their transfer experience. Designing a

10 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 11 A Fast-Track Business Major for Co-Designing a New Degree with Undecided and Newly Decided Students Parents and High School Students B.S Degree in General Business, Collin College and the University of North Texas Degree in Three, Township High School District 211, Harper College and Northern Illinois University (Illinois)

The North Texas region is growing rapidly, and experts predict the region will surpass Chicago to The Illinois team set out to create a seamless The team is preparing to launch their pilot become the country’s third largest metropolitan business transfer pathway for a growing in fall 2019. Outreach to prospective high region. As the region expands, so will job population of first-generation and underserved school juniors (the target cohort) and seniors opportunities with increasing demands for students, including a large number of Latinos. at District 211, along with some entering first- postsecondary education. Collin College (Collin) Working with these students and their parents year students at Harper College, is already and the University of North Texas (UNT) want to as co-designers helped the team recognize that underway. Over time, the team hopes to scale fast-track transfer students seeking bachelor’s The new program is geared to accelerate providing greater transparency around time to the degree model to more districts and expand degrees and provide accessible pathways for the students with an AA or AS from Collin toward earn a degree and total college costs to families it to more career pathways. With this new expected pipeline of students, 31% of whom are a UNT degree within two years and a job post- would help to both improve and accelerate degree, high school students will become aware black and Latinx. graduation. The pathway will guarantee transfer degree completion. The NIU Business Degree in of affordable undergraduate options early on

to UNT and redesign the course structure to Three will fast-track high school students from in their journey and be eligible to receive a Students transferring from Collin are seeking a support flexibility in the application of non- District 211 to Harper College and NIU toward Bachelor’s degree within three years of earning flexible education close to home that will allow business coursework toward a business degree, a Bachelor’s degree. Degree in Three students a high school diploma, a key outcome for them to complete a high quality undergraduate thus reducing excess credits. The newly designed will create a personalized pathway and receive students and families weighing the costs and degree in a timely manner without excess debt. degree will provide students the opportunity early exposure to careers, seamless academic benefits of postsecondary education. Students who come in undecided or pick a major to combine outside areas of interest with a advising and coordinated courses across the late in their two-year college journey may face broad-based knowledge of business functions. three institutions. completion barriers such as time-to-degree The curriculum will be informed by business and Texas’s Excess Credit Hour Surcharge. partnerships and employer demand and students Candidates for the new program will be While this experience is true across programs, will receive placements for career exposure. identified in high school, positioning them to the Texas team chose to focus on the business take advantage of as much as $20,000 in savings program first. Many students transferring from The new degree has received accreditation toward their degree. Students will leverage dual Collin to UNT identify Business as an interest, approval by the Texas State Board of Higher credit, AP courses, and a scholarship program but most are missing the prerequisites needed Education and is seeking regional and discipline at Harper College, Harper Promise, that offers to begin upper-level Business courses and they accreditations. Prior to obtaining the approval, eligible students the opportunity to earn their automatically incur an additional 18 credit hours. the partners focused on training advisors and associate’s degree for free. Degree in Three

administered a survey to students that were or students would spend one year at Harper to The team knew there had to be a better option. will be eligible for the degree. With approval in complete their AA as well as prerequisites They decided to create a General Business hand, the team will soon be ready to market this for NIU’s School of Business. They would be Degree for undecided and newly decided innovative opportunity to over 90 Collin College guaranteed admission at NIU, where they would students, an entirely new curriculum. And they students who indicated an interest in learning choose from eight tracks in business to complete worked with faculty across both institutions to more. The pilot will launch in fall 2019 at the UNT their degree over two years. design it with input from students and advisors. New College at Frisco.

12 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 13 A Third Way: Using AI to NOVA and Mason, as well as to their fellow to help transfer students achieve greater Connect Transfer Students to ADVANCE cohort members. That relationship connectedness and to promote their success on begins in the very first semester, and student any moment of any given day throughout their Their Cohort and Both Institutions success coaches support them continuously time at NOVA and Mason. until they graduate from Mason. VANCE VANCE, Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University promises a more personalized experience

George Mason University (Mason), Virginia’s largest public university, graduates more transfer students than first-time freshmen. Conclusion Every year, over 3,000 students transfer to Mason from Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the second largest community Seamless Transfer Pathways builds on the The invitation to take part in a structured design college in the country. Mason and NOVA important movement of Guided Pathways. year with the support of education design aim to increase that number by harnessing For the 80% of community college students coaches and minimal resources was enough the opportunity created by comprehensive who aspire to a Bachelor’s degree, institutions of a draw. Every team came forward driven by general education offerings at community information to students with the goal of heading should be able to present the path from a commitment to solve for an urgent problem colleges to open more doors to undergraduate off misinformation and confusion, which can lead beginning to end, with considerable optionality, that has immediate implications for their local degrees. ADVANCE, a program launched in transfer students to slow down or stop their transparency and affordability. But improving community. 2017, seeks to clarify and streamline transfer pursuit of a degree. Research into the right transfer student success requires more than paths between the two institutions, solving for curriculum platform is currently happeningin guided pathways. We need new models that Transfer partnerships matter. They are barriers to completion, such as loss of credit development, and AI faculty from the transfer reimagine higher education and take into a gateway to economic opportunity for hours, additional financial burden and longer partnership have been involved in its design with account the experiences and real needs of underserved students. As local economies and time to a degree. full implementation of the AI solution a few years students and their communities. workforce needs change, these partnerships off. In the pilot phase and early iterations, VANCE find themselves on the front lines. True to their While ADVANCE solves for a smoother transfer will enable Mason and NOVA to communicate to The Seamless Transfer Pathways pilots mission, community colleges, have evolved experience with a single point of admission, transfer students in one voice, pairing commonly represent the efforts of forward-leaning considerably over the last decade to provide aligned curricula, coordinated student services, asked student questions with standard answers. transfer partnerships willing to do exactly that. accessible education-to-employment options guided pathways, co-curricular engagement Providing consistent communications is key to Each embraces a student-centered approach to students, especially in the wake of the and personalized success coaching, Mason efforts to scale student success coaching support. and looks beyond the traditional model to solve Great Recession and as higher education costs and NOVA determined the need for a VANCE will support this goal by reducing the for the future. Each brings a systemic analysis, continue to rise. They are producing results. digital solution to maximize results. They number of repeated questions fielded live by informed by data and a regard for the broader Recently, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation envision VANCE as a mobile app that will coaches and thereby improving efficiencies. ecosystem. Together, they are a window into reported transfer students are more likely to connect students across both institutions to what is possible at scale. Forty-six more transfer graduate than traditional students at selective “just in time” information that will support Student focus groups have identified a clear partnerships stood ready to undertake the institutions. Four-year institutions should be their transfer success. Over time, the team expectation among transfers that community design challenge, a remarkably strong response racing to capture that talent. Those institutions will develop VANCE as a 24/7 AI coach. is important. Transfer students don’t define to our call for proposals, signaling both a need that are able to look out on the horizon and Programmed to address common pain points, themselves by which institution they’re attending, for greater supply of transfer models that work design well for the opportunity of transfer VANCE will provide actionable and reliable but rather, they claim a sense of belonging to both and a potential pipeline of promising strategies. students will be rewarded. And we all stand to Not one partnership was motivated by dollars. benefit.

14 Seamless Transfer Pathways: Student-Centered Solutions to Improve Transfer Student Success 15 Education Design Lab

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