A weekly newsletter to build community through updates, opportunities, and celebrations | |
August 22, 2024 | Volume 11 | Issue 2 | |
Exciting Developments in Our Social and Human Services Program | |
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By Mandy Christian
We are excited to announce substantial updates and improvements to our program, including a new name! Our Social and Human Services Program, formerly known as Human Services Technology, has been revamped to serve our students and the community better. As faculty, I’m thrilled to share the positive changes and the renewed energy that has been infused into our program.
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One of the most notable changes is the implementation of a new degree program with updated standards. This inclusive overhaul reflects the latest industry trends and best practices, providing our students with a robust and relevant education. Additionally, we have introduced a new certificate called CAST (Child Advocacy Studies), designed to meet the specific needs of our community. This certificate program empowers students to confidently recognize, react to, and respond effectively to child maltreatment, equipping them with the specialized skills required to address these critical issues.
Our efforts to update and enhance the program have also led to the formation of new partnerships and connections across the state. These collaborations have been instrumental in shaping our curriculum and providing valuable resources for our students. By working closely with other community college programs and industry professionals, we've created a network of support that benefits everyone involved. These partnerships have highlighted the importance of connecting
with our colleagues statewide and fostering a collaborative environment that enhances the educational experience for our students.
The sense of connection and community we’ve built with our peers and colleagues across the state has been truly inspiring. These relationships have not only enriched our program but have also created a ripple effect of positive energy and forward momentum. By sharing ideas, resources, and support, we are collectively strengthening the foundation of social and human services education.
As we look to the future, we are excited about the ongoing developments in our program. Our website now features many of these changes, and we anticipate even more enhancements by fall 2026. These updates will continue to reflect the dynamic nature of the social and human services field, ensuring that our program remains at the forefront of education and training.
To all our faculty, I encourage you to revitalize yourselves and connect with one another. Our program’s success is a tribute to the power of collaboration and shared vision. Let’s continue to work together to make our programs the best they can be. Here’s to another successful year of growth, innovation, and positive energy! Together, we can achieve great things and make a lasting impact on our students and the communities.
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By Emily Dietrich
In July, Jasmine Hargrave, Director of Reconnect and Success, and Jenny Varner attended a convening of the NC Reconnect initiative. A focus of this convening was to celebrate the work of the third cohort of NC Reconnect, which is Davidson-Davie’s cohort. The Belk Center shared an article highlighting a Davidson-Davie student that has been served by Jasmine and Davidson-Davie as he returned to Davidson-Davie to complete his associate degree.
As we progress into the second academic year of our participation in NC Reconnect, Jasmine serves as a resource for our adult learners, as well as for faculty and staff as they consider how to best support our students 25 and older. This fall, on September 10 from 12-1:30 pm, Jasmine and Marquita Richardson, DDCC’s Success Coach, will host an adult learner panel where insights shared will help us all to better understand the mindset, purpose, and needs of our students.
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Happy first week of class for Fall 2024! It’s an exciting time at Davidson-Davie.
Every week, Institutional Research sends out a weekly update to leadership on enrollment numbers comparing that day’s enrollment to a similar day in years prior.
The graphs below depicting Fall 2024 curriculum enrollment as of August 21 are also shown as tables. You will notice that enrollment is increasing, as it has year over year.
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Enrollment Comparison: Fall 2021 to Fall 2024 | |
Enrollment Comparison: Student Academic Load | |
To note– this does not represent the enrollment at census, so if you go on the System Office dashboards (a great place to go look for DDCC data), the numbers won’t be identical. Just like in classes where the number of students in that class can change, enrollment at the college changes too. A common misconception is there is an “enrollment number”, as opposed to enrollment being a snapshot of student count in time. | |
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By Grant Jolliff
According to our college’s Institutional Effectiveness team, 3,300 students at DDCC are from Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012. That’s roughly 78% of the 4214 students taking curriculum courses. The vast majority of our students at DDCC are a part of Generation Z. Moreover, this population will continue to be the dominant college-going population through at least 2030.
To learn about how we can reach these students entrusting us with their educational goals, register for Hacking Gen Z: Who is Gen Z and How Do We Respond? on August 28, 2024 from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET. Can’t attend? Recordings will be sent to all who register.
Their future is in our hands!
Praise for Sue Drake’s Hacking Gen Z
- “Sue was knowledgeable on hacks for combating issues found when working with Gen Z but also celebrated their differences!”
- “Very helpful tips for interacting with Gen Z'ers in the classroom.”
- “This is the best training I have attended in a while. The information presented was engaging and useful.”
- “Sue did a wonderful job with this presentation and her experience with this cohort was evident.”
Sue Drake is Program Head for K-12 Education at Stanly Community College.
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International Intrigue
By Sarah Wright
We are upon the dawn of summer’s setting sun–not really–in the sense of weather. We still have many warm and sunny days ahead, but using the traditional marker of back to school as the indicator of the season’s changing, then fall is upon us. An undercurrent of everything I have written for this space recently has been reflection, and now is the perfect time to reflect upon the work, efforts, gains, and new viewpoints achieved during the summer (not just for me or international education, but for you too).
Continuing my travel schedule from the spring, I was gone almost as much as I was here this summer, so many of those administrative tasks that I kept saying I would do in the summer continued to be pushed out a bit (most things have been addressed now). There were many highlights this summer, but there was no greater highlight than reconnecting and connecting for the first time with our former French FLTAs: Louise and Marie, respectively.
I am not sure if I can truly articulate why being with them was such a highlight other than the fact that I was able to see them in their element and see such growth and leadership in both of them. They both wanted to take care of me and help me–and I definitely benefited from their French language skills. But they soon realized that I was not afraid to be in a situation in which my communication was limited. I was in France. I did not expect people to speak English to or with me. I never will.
Both Louise and Marie are brilliant. They are pursuing careers in education and were before their time as FLTAs, but they definitely have a passion for and understanding of how transformative International Education (and travel) can be. Many of our conversations were about how we could make Bordeaux into a better program (though, it is good now–but things can usually be better) and improve the experience for students. Another conversation that I enjoyed was about how they could lead programs in the future–even if small–and they could host students and provide a full but small international experience. Louise is pursuing educational policy, and I have no doubt that the future of Europe’s education policy is in strong and capable hands. Marie is pursuing a PhD in American History, and I know her research will be amazing. Academia needs people with their experiences to research, teach, and implement policies. And I have no doubt that their time at Davidson-Davie will always be part of their fond memories and part of the driving force that propels them forward.
They were a great support for me, as the leader of the program, but they were seasoned educators helping our student participants see what they could achieve. And sometimes those achievements are realized in the place of discomfort. I would like to be like Louise and Marie when I grow-up, and I know they represent endless possibilities for our students. One of the students who participated in the Bordeaux program posted about his experience on LinkedIn writing: “During my time abroad, I had the privilege of participating in engaging activities . . . and honing my French language skills through immersive classes . . . Each moment enriched my understanding of French culture and language, reinforcing my passion for education and international collaboration.” Wow! His words and understanding help me feel a great sense of ease about future leaders. And I know with Louise and Marie preparing said leaders, we are in good shape.
One of the many things we learned during the trip to Bordeaux is that we want to continue to use the program to build capacity and help students from all over the state study abroad. Another insight is that Louise and Marie are invaluable and engaging with our Fulbrights while visiting their country is an amazing opportunity for us to stay connected and for the Fulbrights to do what they do best—engage with students and serve as cultural ambassadors. And I am grateful for all I learned from them, and I hope they gained infinite knowledge during their two weeks in Bordeaux. I look forward to seeing them again in June and our efforts to bring a transformative experience to students from all directions and corners of the state. For now, we have WhatsApp, and I will remain grateful for the summer experience that I had with Louise and Marie, but more importantly, I am grateful that twenty North Carolina Community College students had two weeks in Bordeaux with them (and me too).
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Lights, Camera, Action! Explore Streaming Video! | |
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By Jason Setzer
DDCC Library offers streaming video databases with a diverse, ever-changing array of educational and entertaining content. Much of the streaming content comes with public performance rights meaning that it may be shown for college activities outside of the classroom. Below is more info on what’s available.
Films on Demand, the library’s largest streaming video database, provides educational films on a wide range of subjects from academic to life-skills content. Included are films from notable studios such as RetroFilm Archive, HBO Films, NOVA, PBS, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, and more. Public performance rights and subtitles are included for all films in this database.
Kanopy offers a regularly updated catalog of films from major and independent film studios. Public performance rights are included for some films, identifiable by a square-shaped PPR symbol. Subtitles are included for all films. Of particular note, films from the Criterion Collection and notable studios A24 and Kino Lorber are included in this collection.
Swank Digital Campus is a service that licenses individual films for instruction and research. Instructors may request that the library license any film in Swank’s online catalog so long as the film is related to coursework at the College. Once a film is licensed, it becomes available for use with coursework in any DDCC course. Subtitles are included for all films in this database. Public performance rights are not included for these films.
Contact the library if you need access to a film not currently available in our databases or if you need public performance rights for campus activities.
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