Action Step 1:
Establish a central contact for community education and outreach programs.

A published contact number for community education has been established. This phone number is monitored and answered by a human staff member during business hours, and is routed to voicemail during other times. The reception person is located at the Center for Workforce Education (CWE) facility in downtown Fairmont.
A new half-time staff position has been created and funded to meet this goal, and hiring is projected to be completed on 3/17/07.

A part-time central contact for community education and outreach programs has been established.  The online registration process mentioned in this section of the Implementation Committee report does not allow the user to do online registration.

The position is currently on soft money through the Gear-Up grant, and is only a half-time position.

Recommendations: 
·  That permanent funding for the position of Community Education Director be obtained, and that the position be full time. 
·  That the link to online registration be removed until and unless online registration for community education courses is available.
·  That a contact list for all community education services and personnel be compiled and made available on the Fairmont State University website and in print for distribution.

Action Step 2:
 Identify new offerings to meet community needs and interests.

The process of identification and inventory of these offerings is ongoing, but not complete. Formal surveys were distributed to Gear-UP families in the counties served by this program. Several hundred responses were received from this targeted audience throughout the service region. These responses were manually input and organized. Analysis of this information identified specific areas of topical interest by geographic region.

It is difficult to determine progress, because no list of new offerings was provided.

There is a need for better tools to survey, gather data, analyze and identify market segments.

What was already being taught and what new courses were added?  Surveys were sent to a narrow focus group, Gear-Up families.  How were the community needs and interests determined?  Was it based on who would teach a course?  What were the questions and what were the results of the survey to the Gear-Up families?  Having all of this information would help the Audit Committee to make a better assessment of progress.

Recommendation:
·  That an inventory of all current community education offerings be developed and continually maintained to show increases, changes, enrollment, etc.
·  That the project for tracking online registration and for identifying all community education inquiries be implemented.
·  That a list of community education offerings (offered before the start date of the Strategic Plan, on July 1, 2006), be compiled and that an annual compilation of all courses offered be produced.  The report should include the following:
         -number of enrollees in the course;
         -the locations where the course was offered;
         -a satisfaction survey of attendees

Action Step 3:
Support community education providers.

We have begun developing a cadre of quality community education providers for various topical areas. A growing list of instructors has been created. Dialog with these various providers has begun, and a wide variety of education programs are currently being offered. An orientation packet for instructors has been developed and disseminated to all community education instructors. Job responsibilities and work schedules have been coordinated to provide greater face-to-face interaction with instructors consistent with the times and locations of community education offerings.

The Implementation Report indicates that an orientation packet was developed for community education providers.  There is no information or data on numbers, whether these were new providers or had been offering courses before this year.  The Committee did examine the webpage of courses, but cannot determine from this information whether progress was made or not.  The only two formal arrangements appear to be with Prickett's Fort and the Marion County Adult Basic Education.  It is not clear whether these are new providers or not.  There is no indication of providers outside Marion County.

Set goals for the kind of support to be provided to these individuals/groups.  Develop a list of current and potential providers, based on surveys from potential students expressing desires for specific courses, etc.

Recommendation:
·  That a contact list for all community education services and personnel be compiled and made available on the Fairmont State University website and in print for distribution.
·  That a committee of all community education providers at Fairmont State University be appointed in order to develop a communication system and a common calendar, to avoid duplication and confusion, and to examine procedures for ticketing, etc.  
·  Establish a consortium of providers.

Action Step 4:
Increase participation in community education throughout our service region.

Information generated from surveys administered thus far has been used in the development of the current community education schedule of class offerings. This has led to a large increase in the number of offerings and participants. Additional development will flow from ongoing needs analysis and market segmentation efforts.

The only report provided was a report for 2005-2006 (before the implementation of the Strategic Plan on July 1, 2006), and the statistics also cover many courses, etc., offered through the Center For Workforce Development.  What was the participation before, what kind of increase was seen in 2006-2007, and how was progress perceived to be on target?  What has been done outside of Marion County?  What kind of increase was seen?  What kind of data exists to support this judgment?

Much of our outlying thirteen-county service region could be seen as underserved. Some counties and locations have well-developed community arts and/or education programs, where strategic partnerships could be created. Other counties have little in the way of community education programs, but have a predominately rural and dispersed population, where the physical distance from Fairmont is the main constraint for the coordination of quality programs.

Where is the needs analysis?  This would be the first step, before developing a wide range of classes. The use of the Gear-Up families is useful, but should be accepted as being a very narrow view of potential students of continuing education courses.   It would be useful to see what the needs are and what courses were offered to fulfill those needs. 

Recommendations:
·  That the Community Education program design and perform a market analysis of the service region of Fairmont State University to determine needs and desires for community education programs.
·  That outreach be expanded to a broader-based population in the thirteen-county region served by Fairmont State University

Action Step 5:
Institute a regular rotation of community education offerings.

A regular rotation of community education offerings has been established.

No data was provided to show that this has been done, although the Implementation Committee indicates that it has been achieved.  It would have been helpful to have seen this data, if it exists.

  Provide documentation of this rotation, and show how it will meet the needs of the public.  Is there data to support the rotation and the courses being offered?

Recommendation:  That a list of community education offerings (offered before the start date of the Strategic Plan, on July 1, 2006), be compiled and that an annual compilation of all courses offered be produced.  The report should include the following:
         -number of enrollees in the course;
         -the locations where the course was offered;
         -a satisfaction survey of attendees
         -a rotation cycle (if the course was successful and            rotation desired)