Workforce Preparation Skills Classes - Riverside

 

Program Components:

Academic/remedial support

Outreach/recruitment/marketing

Collaborative funds

 

Monica Green, Workforce Preparation

(951) 222-8966 direct line

(951) 222-8648 Workforce Preparation number

Monica.Green@rcc.edu

Target population: First-time college students, who seek to develop workplace skills,

students who are pursuing occupational training in 100+ certificates, and students seeking

a degree or transfer programs.

Goals: The Skills Classes offer fundamental building blocks for both workplace skills and

academic coursework. The Workforce Preparation Program offers Skills Classes to any

student interested in building a strong foundation of reading, writing, math, computer

keyboarding and applications, and life management skills to enhance success in the

workplace and in further college courses.

Description: The Skill-Building courses in Workforce Preparation are very innovative

and accessible to the community. The skills classes are presented in a self-paced,

instructor-led format with multiple entry dates within any given semester. Student

participating in the skills classes earn college credit. Dependent upon the class, there are

multiple course offerings per day, and class sizes are relatively small. Students may begin

Skills Classes at the beginning of every week. The Skills Classes are competency-based

which allow students to progress at their own pace while having an instructor available

during all class sessions. Each course has multiple sections in the day and evening

allowing students more flexibility in choosing what session best meets their daily

schedules.

The following page provides a sample of some of the skill competencies students can take

advantage of for college credit.

 

MATH ENGLISH COMPUTER BUSINESS ENGLISH

BASIC NUMBER IDEAS

ADDITION OF WHOLE NUMBERS

SUBTRACTION OF WHOLE NUMBERS

MULTIPLICATION OF WHOLE NUMBERS

DIVISION OF WHOLE NUMBERS

FRACTIONS

MIXED NUMBER SKILLS

DECIMALS

RATIOS,  PROPORTIONS,

PERCENTS

MEASUREMENT SKILLS

APPLIED MATH

CHARTING AND

GRAPHING

READING GRAPHICAL

DATA

COMPUTING GRAPHICAL

DATA

PRE-ALGEBRA SKILLS

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

PARTS OF SPEECH

FRAGMENTS

FUSED SENTENCES,

COMMA SPLICES

INDEPENDENT AND

DEPENDENT CLAUSES

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

COMMONLY MISSPELLED

WORDS

SUMMARIZING

SUBJECT-VERB

AGREEMENT

VERB TENSE

PRONOUN USAGE

ADVERBS

PREWRITING TECHNIQUES

INCLUDING OUTLINES

TOPIC SENTENCES AND

CONCLUDING SENTENCES

PARAGRAPH

DEVELOPMENT, SUPPORT

DETAILS, UNITY

USING THE DICTIONARY,

THESARUS

BASIC PUNCTUATION

COMPARE/ CONTRAST

COMMAS/CAPITALIZATION

SEMICOLONS/COLONS

USING THE INTERNET,

LIBRARY FOR RESEARCH

APOSTROPHES

INDIRECT AND DIRECT

QUOTES

ARGUMENT

WRITING OFFICE MEMOs

AND E-MAILs

TYPING 20 WPM @ 80%

ACCURACY

TYPING 30 WPM @ 80%

ACCURACY

TYPING 40 WPM @ 80%

ACCURACY

WINDOWS ñ BASIC

TASKS, INTERMEDIATE

AND ADVANCED

LESSONS

WINDOWS ñ TEST

WORD LAB 1

WORD LAB 2

WORD LAB 3

EXCEL LAB 1

EXCEL LAB 2

EXCEL LAB 3

REFERENCE MATERIALS

PARTS OF SPEECH

SENTENCES: ELEMENTS,

PATTERNS, TYPES

UNIT REVIEW & WRITERS

WORKSHOP

NOUNS

POSSESSIVE NOUNS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

PRONOUNS &

ANTECEDENTS

UNIT REVIEW & WRITERS

WORKSHOP

VERBS: KINDS, VOICES,

MOODS

VERB TENSES AND PARTS

VERB AND SUBJECT

AGREEMENT

VERBALS

UNIT REVIEW & WRITERS

WORKSHOP

MODIFIERS: ADJECTIVES

& ADVERBS

PREPOSITIONS

CONJUNCTIONS THAT

JOIN EQUALS

CONJUNCTIONS THAT

JOIN UNEQUALS

UNIT REVIEW & WRITERS

WORKSHOP

COMMAS

SEMICOLONS & COLONS

OTHER PUNCTUATION

UNIT REVIEW & WRITERS

WORKSHOP

CAPITALIZATION

(EXTRA)

NUMBERS (EXTRA)

Staffing: In addition to dedicated college instructors and counselors, the staff includes

specialists in financial aid, career development, job placement, and child development, as

well as a support staff that is eager to assist students. The instructors are very student

centered.

Facilities, equipment, materials: Workforce Preparation occupies one wing of a building

on the Riverside City campus. The courses are offered in a dedicated classroom and a

computer lab available to students while classes are in session and when they are not. The

vision of Workforce Preparation is to provide a one-stop resource for students to learn,

have access to numerous on-campus resources (i.e. financial aid, workshops, job

placement, career counseling, assessment, etc.), obtain life-skill resources through on- and

off-campus sources, and a caring, friendly staff to answer questions and serve as a

sounding-board.

Each skill building class provides the students with up to one unit of college credit at a

time, at $26.00 per unit. There are no required textbooks or materials to be purchased by

the student. The students have access to 25 computers in the lab. The students have

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Internet access, different software options, and a skilled computer lab technician. Both

the classroom and the lab are equipped with whiteboards, overheads, and LCD's. The

classroom is set up for teleconferencing capabilities and the lab has a printer for student

use.

Costs, funding source: The funding is varied. Instructor salaries are paid through the

general fund. Counseling and support staff are primarily paid through CalWORKs. The

computers were provided by VTEA funds.

Outreach and marketing: Prior to registering in any of the skill courses, students attend

a Workforce Preparation orientation on any Monday (excluding holidays) with a choice of

either a morning or evening session. During the orientation session the students are

provided with RCCD orientation, Workforce Preparation orientation, financial aid

orientation, an assessment test, and an individualized Skills Schedule. In addition to the

one-day orientation, students attend a four-part series of workshops designed to help

students acquire the skills necessary for success in the classes. These Secrets of Success

workshops are held on Wednesday in the morning and evening. The topics include time

management, goal setting, study skills, and life skills.

Evidence of effectiveness: There have been approximately 560 students served since the

courses became available in the early part of 2003.

Suggestions for replication: Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. The Skills

Classes would be non-existent without collaboration and partnership with matriculation,

admissions and records, financial aid, occupational education, VTEA, math, English,

computer applications and technology, reading, and community-based partners. Share

resources.

Planning starts with the vision of how the program should be provided and then enlisting

the partners in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program.

Expect the unexpected. The designers must enlist the expertise of area-experts who may

want the program vision to conform to a different model. Be assertive with program

needs. It is essential to have the right staff in place to carry the program to fruition.

Remember that any good program must include an evaluation component and a

willingness to positively impact the program.

Desert (9)

Business/Information technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

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