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The Passport Program at Metropolitan Community College

Metropolitan Community College recently developed The Passport Program, a Learning Community, for students interested in starting at Metro and then transferring to a four-year institution. The three quarter program began this fall at Metro’s Elkhorn Valley Campus.

This community will include 25 students who will complete their first academic year of college together. The students will attend a “block” of three courses each quarter, completing a total of 40.5 (27 semester) transferable quarter hours. The curriculum includes an international theme, Global Connections, that is integrated into all courses.

Advantages of The Passport Program:

Money saved during the first year of college
Small class size
Personal career counseling
Special seminars, speakers, and tours of four-year colleges and universities
Campus close to home
Personal advising on transfer option

Metro currently has transfer agreements with 16 four-year institutions such as Bellevue University, UNO, UNL, UNK, College of St. Mary, Dana College, Doane College, Midland Lutheran College, Northwest Missouri State University, and Wayne State College.

To be eligible, students must have a high school diploma or GED, must be willing to be a full-time student during the day, and must complete the application form and meet formal application requirements.

Background

The steps outlined here reflect common ingredients in Learning Community development at many educational institutions. It should be emphasized that the process is not linear but evolutionary and recursive, and that the developmental stages may differ from institution to institution.

A Learning Community is a supportive, cooperative environment in which students complete courses together as a group. Research shows that students academically perform better when they learn together in a group. Teaching and learning also are enhanced when students, faculty, and counselors work together. The single key ingredient is the shared desire to create effective communities of teachers and learners.

We have successfully accomplished a large portion of the following steps during our planning and development stages. During the fall term, the faculty focused on the last two bullets.

Express interest in learning communities (by faculty leaders).
Promote opportunities for interdisciplinary interchanges among faculty.
Build teaching and learning community teams.
Explore Learning Community Models.
Work with the administration to develop a strategic plan for establishing learning community programs.
Identify barriers to potential success and ways to overcome them.
Design and develop methodologies for integrating disciplines into the selected learning community.
Develop and implement logistical and class scheduling plans.
Develop and implement outreach activities to promote the learning communities.
Implement the learning communities following the plans made.
Conduct reflective activities to share successes and areas for improvement.
Collect and evaluate formal and informal research outcomes and histories.

Faculty Meeting September 13th, 2002

Course theme (Global Connections) tied to some learning activities across the disciplines.
Modeled and learned about making the most out of student cohesion
Talked about methods to engage students in a recursive process of evaluation, goal setting, and planning for the program

Planned a session at the end of the term for the first three faculty to pass on what they learned and outcomes analysis to the next group of faculty to ensure continuous improvement.

COMPLETED OUTCOMES PLAN for the passport program