Program Descriptions
Community education. Providing community education opportunities to citizens of all ages living in northeast Nevada—from senior citizens to children— characterizes GBC’s community education mission. Community services classes and workshops are non-credit and self-supporting and are often only a few hours in length. These offerings reflect a variety of topics from computer boot camp to personal enrichment courses. Lectures and forums play a key role in recreational, intellectual, and cultural enhancement. Horsemanship clinics at GBC have attracted students from all over the U.S. and Canada. (Four students flew from Germany to Elko for the sole purpose of attending Tom Dorrance’s last horsemanship clinic at GBC.) Great Basin College’s Kids’ College summer program brings youngsters on campus to improve their basic skills or stretch their academic talents in a collegial environment. Many students decide to enroll in credit courses and, eventually, degree programs after taking non-credit courses at GBC.

In 2000 and 2001, Great Basin College sponsored the Great Basin Festival, Celebrating Our Cultural Heritage, where the community became the classroom. Workshops, lectures, story telling, concerts, folk dance performances, Chautauqua events, plays, and exhibits were held at the local museum, convention center, school district gymnasiums, and the new College amphitheatre. In addition to raising the cultural awareness for members of the community, the event welcomed a very culturally diverse group to GBC’s campus.

Community Education has sponsored several public forums during the past six years at which conflicting groups meeting on neutral ground were able to open lines of communication involving difficult social, political, and economic changes faced by citizens of the Great Basin. For example, the Northeast Nevada Stewardship Group evolved from two community education forums: Change on the Range: For Better or Worse? and Beyond Rangeland Conflict. Hostilities among ranchers, environmentalists, and government agencies were dissipated, enabling groups to work toward solutions together.

Workforce training. It is the mission of Great Basin College and the Continuing Education Department to provide short term customized contract training to meet the needs of employers in the community. Continuing education collaborates with business and industry to respond quickly to the rapidly changing needs of local employers and to assist in the economic development efforts of the region and state. Continuing education plays an important role toward attaining academic goal number six by contributing to the economic development and diversification of central and northeastern Nevada with short term training and professional development.

Continuing education has also become a venue for retraining the local workforce with six to fifteen week programs designed to help workers affected by a decline in mining. Working closely with Nevada Employment Security, Job Opportunities in Nevada (JOIN), Nevada Works, GBC’s Reentry Center, and academic departments, the short term Employability Skills Training Program (ESP) was developed by continuing education to enable laid off or underemployed workers to gain employment. In 1997 Great Basin College’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment conducted a needs assessment of regional health care providers to determine the demand for trained medical assistants. Since federal and state funding was restricted to short term training and would not be able to support students working toward an AAS in Medical Assisting, a Physician’s Front Office Certificate Program was developed that could be completed in one semester. This program has provided local health care facilities with prospective employees who have the required medical coding, bookkeeping, insurance billing, and receptionist skills. In addition, many employees already working in physicians’ offices, clinics, and hospitals attended specific classes in the program to upgrade their skills. The Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is currently sponsoring 13 students in rural critical care access hospitals in order for these hospitals to retain Medicare funding.

Goal 8 in the Academic Master Plan, which stresses the expansion of educational opportunities through grant funded and innovative collaborative partnerships, has been realized in several areas through the leadership of the continuing education department. Collaborating with AHEC on an emergency medical services program has allowed GBC to meet the objective of expanding existing allied health programs. The EMS coordinator for AHEC teaches one EMS course per semester using distance education to reach rural isolated sites throughout Nevada. Great Basin College and AHEC formed a partnership to apply for a large federal grant to improve EMS services in rural Nevada by funding additional training and the purchase of training equipment. The $560,000 grant was awarded and will begin a three year cycle in 2002. Students (and residents) in rural areas throughout the entire state will benefit from the leadership GBC has provided to establish critical workforce training in a rapidly growing field.

New programs have been developed through continuing education in both fire science and criminal justice. GBC has taken a leadership role in the state to develop a program for law enforcement personnel to complete their intermediate, advanced, management, and professional development certificates with courses, mandated by Nevada statute, through distance education. Scheduling staff to attend training sessions in Reno or Las Vegas while still providing service to the community is difficult in small rural departments. GBC has put together a program that allows officers to take many of the required courses through interactive video in their own communities or on the internet.

GBC has collaborated with Nevada Peace Officer Standards Training (POST) to meet specific guidelines for developing curriculum and criteria for learning outcomes. GBC’s online courses that help officers meet POST professional certificate programs are also very appealing to law enforcement personnel working rotating shifts who serve in the two urban centers in Nevada because they can complete required courses without scheduling conflicts.

Training personnel to fight devastating wildland fires in the Great Basin is a challenge. Many local seasonal and volunteer firefighters must be adequately trained to ensure their own safety and the safety of the crew. Great Basin College has facilitated a collaboration between the Nevada Fire Marshall’s Office, Nevada Division of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, Elko City Fire Department and several local volunteer fire departments to share qualified instructors and costly, expensive equipment to train firefighters throughout the service area.

Continuing Education Administration
Continuing education courses are designed, approved and administered with periodic program reviews to ensure that they are compatible with Great Basin College’s mission and Goal 5 of the Academic Master Plan, which affirms GBC’s commitment to life-long learning programs. All continuing education course submission forms are submitted to the director of continuing education for approval and are signed by the executive dean of extended studies. All continuing education courses offered for credit are reviewed and approved by the appropriate academic department chair. Non-credit courses in the area of workforce development or professional development are also reviewed by the academic department chair. Course and instructor evaluations are completed by students in every continuing education class and are reviewed by the director of continuing education with summaries returned to each instructor.

Academic and fiscal elements of all continuing education courses are the sole responsibility of Great Basin College. Although partnerships with business and industry and governmental agencies are highly valued, all tuition, fees, and instructor travel expenses conform strictly to UCCSN policies. Fees for self-supporting, non-credit courses follow established Great Basin College guidelines, which are in compliance with the other community colleges in UCCSN. Faculty who teach customized contract training request input from employers as to their specific needs. However, curriculum design and the measurement and evaluation of learning outcomes are the sole responsibility of GBC faculty and administration. GBC does not have contractual arrangements with other institutions but does have on-going contracts with travel agencies. (Exhibit 2.41)

Faculty involvement. Full-time faculty representing the appropriate disciplines are involved in the planning and evaluation of Great Basin College’s continuing education courses. Full-time faculty teach continuing education courses whenever possible, and academic department chairs recommend or approve adjunct faculty. Particularly active departments include COT, business, mathematics, English, and ESP.

Administrative responsibilities. The majority of continuing education activities are coordinated by the director of continuing education; however, responsibility for administration of continuing education and special learning activities is not always clearly defined at Great Basin College. For example, the art department offers short credit courses through the department taught by adjunct faculty that may be considered as continuing education. Continuing education on-site classes in mining technology are administered by the director of occupational programs with the support of the occupational faculty. Since directors and coordinators of branch campuses and educational centers are far more familiar with the needs and interests in their own communities, they offer non-credit community service classes within the policy guidelines of the department.

Fees. The fee structure and refund policy for all credit courses follows UCCSN policy. Non-state supported non-credit courses must include direct expenses incurred in offering the course. Instructors are paid on a 70/30 split for community services classes. There is a no refund policy for community service classes.

Credit. Granting of credit for continuing education courses is based upon UCCSN policy. For example, 15 hours of instruction equals one credit. Continuing education courses offered for academic credit are approved in advance by the appropriate department chair and signed by the executive dean or vice-president of academic affairs. Continuing education courses for academic credit are monitored as is any academic course by established procedures.

Credit for experiential learning. The GBC General Catalog 2002-2003 (p.18) outlines the procedure for obtaining credit for knowledge and experience. Up to 15 credits can be granted and applied to AAS or AGS degrees on the Certificate of Achievement. In the calendar year 2000, six students were granted a total of 41 credits (ranging from 1 credit to 15), and in 2001, six students received 24 credits, again ranging from 1 credit to 15.

External degrees. GBC does not offer external degree programs.

Non-traditional measures of credit. Although online courses don’t measure student seat time, it is expected that they will have the same student outcomes as traditional courses. The other example is the hybrid course, which reduces the seat time for students, but adds an online component. Again the College expects the same student outcomes as a traditional course, but there is no formal measurement of competencies for either traditional live classes or any other type of class. The College expects faculty to teach to the same standard for a distance education course as they would for a traditional course.

Travel study programs. The only travel programs sponsored by the College are through the fine arts department, offered as art appreciation for three credits. A pre-trip orientation (with lectures and video) is required for students or community people to attend these educational tours. In order to receive final credits, travelers/students are required to complete a major project, and the focus is always studying a culture through the eyes of art.

Non-credit programs and courses. Non-credit programs and courses are administered under institutional polices, regulations, and procedures. Faculty are involved in planning and evaluating non-credit programs when appropriate. The Department of Continuing Education maintains records for audit purposes for each non-credit course or workshop with student course and instructor evaluation summaries and related financial information. Great Basin College does not track CEUs for students. However, certificates are awarded for professional development non-credit courses with the number of hours students attended class, so that the student is responsible for submitting the information to the appropriate licensing or certification board or agency.

Significant Changes
• As Great Basin College was striving to obtain a critical mass of students to support baccalaureate programs, the objectives of continuing education shifted from revenue generating non-credit classes and contract training to college credit programs that would contribute to the growth of FTE at the College.
• In 1997, the EMS Department was moved from the Nursing Department to Continuing Education. An Emergency Medical Response Training consortium was formed with Nevada EMS and local gold mines (Barrick Goldstrike, Newmont Gold Corporation, Cortez, and AngloGold) under the leadership of Great Basin College.
• The Employment Skills Preparation program was developed in Spring 1997 for low income single mothers to improve their job skills and enable them to return to the workforce as an administrative assistant.
• During the first round of gold mining layoffs in 1999, the State of Nevada received federal funding to retrain employees to return to the workforce. Since employment in the health services industry was expanding in Nevada due to a growing and aging population, the need for employees with medical coding, insurance claim processing, bookkeeping, and medical reception, customer service, and billing skills was in high demand.
• Fire Science was added to the Continuing Education Department in Fall 2001, in partnership with UNR.

Analysis
Providing community services and lifelong learning opportunities to residents of our service area is an important mission of Great Basin College. Although the Continuing Education Department is responsible, in part, for achieving this mission, the goal is embraced and supported by college-wide participation. Great Basin College is viewed by the community as a center for life long learning and culture.

The quality of teaching in continuing education has been strengthened over the last six years by a closer affiliation with the academic departments at GBC. Course goals, objectives, and student learning outcomes are regulated by individual academic departments. Both full time and adjunct faculty have had the opportunity to participate in a variety of excellent faculty development programs.

Instructors in non-credit community service courses and workshops are invited to attend part-time faculty orientation and are welcome to participate in faculty development activities. In continuing education, students’ goals and objectives are very specific and, for the most part, very shortterm, and the need for advising is not a priority.

The department is concerned about more effectively assessing student learning outcomes in customized contract training workshops. Data obtained from these assessments would help the department resist employers’ requests that the instructor cram as much material as possible into the training session, which can overwhelm their employees and result in less real learning. Data from employee learning outcome assessments may serve as an excellent marketing tool for customized contract training at Great Basin College.

STRENGTHS
• Successful collaboration with many agencies outside of GBC.
• Flexibility and innovation in meeting the needs of a wide array of organizations, companies, and individuals.
• Improved technology allowing continuing education to be offered throughout the service area.

CHALLENGES
• Insufficient staff to meet the mission for continuing education.
• Difficulty of providing workforce training when companies’ budgets have been reduced.
• Need for better strategic planning.
• Enduring image of continuing education in the college and community as arts/crafts and leisure activities only.

RECOMMENDATIONS/ACTION ITEMS
• Employ additional continuing education staff.
• Investigate better ways to assess learning gained in customized workshops.
• Develop strategic long-term plans for continuing education.