Kaua‘i community college

Library

As one of the learning support service units at Kaua‘i Community College (KCC), the library provides services to its students and faculty within the Learning Resource Center, a two-story facility. The library staff consists of four librarians and two classified staff.

Circulation, reference, and instructional services are the primary public services offered by the library. The Library also provides space for exhibits and for community programs that provide intellectual, aesthetic and cultural experiences for students, faculty, staff and the community. Along with access to a book collection of 60,000 volumes, the library also provides intrasystem loan (ISL) from the entire University of Hawai‘i Library System. It takes from 3-5 days to receive materials ordered through ISL. There are in excess of four million volumes available through this loan system. The library is currently subscribing to several full-text electronic databases for journals and magazines. These are readily accessible by students from any remote location and links to these databases are prominently displayed on the library website. The library owns over 1,000 videotapes and has recently started to collect DVDs. Faculty also have access to over 22,000 videotapes, 3,200 DVDs, and 14,500 CDs through the Wong A-V Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa through the intrasystem loan service.
The Distance Learning Librarian supports community college distance students and University Center distance students (upper division and graduate students) by providing reference services, information literacy instruction, and a distance learning library website which includes links to full-text databases, interlibrary loan services, online reference tools, online information literacy tutorials and contact information for library services at all UH campuses (Distance Learning Library website).

The Learning Center

The Learning Center (TLC) is also located in the Learning Resource Center building. The unit offers resources, including networked software, instructional software diskettes, links to online resources through TLC web page, books, and other printed learning materials, all appropriate for academic improvement. It serves as a proctoring center for onsite and distance students. TLC’s part in instruction comes in the form of in-class, small group, and individual tutoring, collaborative learning/study and test-review sessions for difficult courses, and make-up testing in TLC. In addition, TLC offers individual sessions, in-class and small group workshops to teach students word processing, Internet search strategies, electronic mail, and Excel.

One of the basic responsibilities of TLC has been to teach students life-long learning skills. TLC offers individual in-class sessions and small group workshops in learning how to learn and in acquiring specific study skills. To help prepare students for the workforce, TLC has resources and activities designed to gain or improve personal or self-management skills (Learning Center Program Review).
In December 2005, the Learning Center Coordinator retired and the role of the Learning Center in Academic Support is being redefined. Through a series of Campus Conversations, which began in April 2006 and which will continue in Fall 2006, the KCC faculty will discuss the reorganization of the Learning Center, the College Success program (which is located in the Learning Center), and other learning support services to better serve students and faculty. The College Success Program Coordinator and the Peer Assistant Program Coordinator are currently providing many of the tutoring and instructional services provided by the former TLC coordinator.

The University Center

The University Center was established by the UH Board of Regents in 1996 to support or facilitate the delivery or receipt of courses in the UH System. It does not confer credit or degrees but negotiates with other institutions to bring programs to the island of Kaua‘i. Currently there are 18 programs being offered by the University Center, including 6 Bachelor degree programs, 6 Master degree programs, 5 certificate programs and 1 post-baccalaureate degree. There have been 11 programs that have come and gone during the past 5 years. There are two upcoming Master level programs in the planning stages (University Center Program Review).

Coordinating the activities of the University Center is the University Center Director. The Educational Specialist offers information to individuals interested in pursuing baccalaureate or graduate-level degrees or certificates and also assists with advising, registration and exam proctoring. On a systemwide level, the Educational Specialist participates on a committee that coordinates distance services across the UH System; primarily the community colleges.
The Learning Center Coordinator, the Distance Learning Librarian, the Instructional Technology Coordinator, and the University Center Educational Specialist provide orientations to distance students every semester on using the UH email system, MYUH portal, WebCT, online library resources, the interlibrary loan service, proctoring services, and book ordering. There are an average of 17 students that attend these orientations every semester.

Instructional Technology

Instructional Technology’s unit objectives cover a wide base of instructional needs of students and faculty. These include: 1) To research, recommend, and deploy software to create, distribute, and receive technology-mediated instructional content and make it accessible to faculty; 2) To research, recommend, and deploy hardware to create, distribute, and receive technology-mediated instructional content, and make it accessible to students; and 3) To provide consultation to faculty and students in the development and/or use of instructional technology.

The College Success Program

The College Success Program Coordinator, a new position at the college, provides a variety of services and supports to help students succeed and persist in all phases of their college experience. The College Success Program coordinates remedial and developmental learning community cohorts; Focus Labs for challenging courses; individual tutoring for writing, reading, and English across the curriculum; and the development and delivery of first-year experience curriculum in a new course – IS 103, Introduction to College – to help new students gain valuable academic and affective skills to succeed in their college careers. College Success also will offer the Summer Bridge program in 2006, a special three-week intensive program to help new and under-prepared students make a smooth transition to post-secondary education.

Peer Assistant Program