Unlocking Opportunity Progress Updates

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• In the past month, planning began for a Spring 2026 Student Summit focused on a selected psychosocial measure, with a $10K budget and components such as speakers, goat therapy, peer engagement, and a mini career fair. The Learning Loss working group expanded to include representatives from Faculty Senate, Chairs, Student Senate, and CTL. The team also began exploring psychosocial content to embed in the new Canvas LMS, with a pilot course identified and existing eLearn and Student Development materials reviewed.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Distributed a promotional survey to key internal stakeholders (faculty, advisors, program leads, and support staff) to identify shared messaging priorities and program-specific outreach needs for Sinclair’s bachelor's degrees.
• Coordinated with the Provost’s Office to formally establish a Bachelor’s Degree Community of Practice, which will convene for the first time in September. This group will sustain and institutionalize the collaborative infrastructure developed under UO, ensuring continued cross-functional coordination around bachelor’s program visibility, support, and strategic growth.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Disbursed stipend checks to students that completed an unpaid internship.
• WBL office hosted Creating Pathways event for employers to learn more about hosting interns, apprentices and pre-apprentices with Sinclair faculty and staff representation.

Leverage and Build Custom Training Programs to Fill Workforce Demand

• New certification and exam preparation programs are underway across several priority industries. In Information Technology, Cohort 9 of the IT Fundamentals program (in partnership with Montgomery County) launched in May with 9 participants; Cohort 10 is planned for September. So far, 50 participants have completed the program, with 15 continuing at Sinclair. The team is collaborating with Montgomery County and Technology First to expand employment pathways, and is also working to launch the first Fortinet Cybersecurity Certification soon.
• The next Automotive Electrical Bootcamp is targeted for fall.
• In Healthcare, a CT Certification Exam Prep Workshop is set for August 15–16 with 17 registrants, and development is underway for both MR and Neuro Diagnostic workshops in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s and others.
• In Manufacturing, a second Soldering Certification Workshop is being scheduled for late July with Aviation Ground Equipment and Dare Electronics.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Completed ROI Analysis for Sinclair's PLA Program, with the following outcomes: 1. PLA credit earners earn 30% more FTE credit hours than non-PLA students, 13% more degrees, and 4% more certificates. 2. Positively, the net return for Sinclair's PLA students is higher than the cost to run the PLA program.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• The Navigate.Sinclair tile was developed and posted on student's Sinclair accounts to make it easier for student to self-schedule advising appointments and any other department who allows students to self-schedule. There is a second Navigate.Sinclair tile for faculty/staff. Pending the creation of the microsite, a second button on each title will be added for "Get Help".
• The final content of the Navigate.Sinclair (Get Started/Get Help) website for both faculty/staff and employees was submitted to IT. IT will develop the site and then it will be linked to the Navigate.Sinclair tile.
• The Navigate Care Unit Lead committee learned about ways to track students in Navigate to help meet the needs of each department's reporting and purposes. This included the Transfer Center presenting on "Tags" as the highlight and included explanations of "Student List", "Categories", and "Custom Attributes".
• The Navigate Care Unit Lead committee began to have discussion about universal student history access across departments and there seemed to be a strong interest. Additionally, there was interest in partnering with "alerts" where a student who was given an "alert" would potentially go to the department with that specific support service. The committee determined that more discussion and exploration would be needed to determine if this was a viable path for the future.
• The "Alert" pilot went live for B-term. Academic Advisors were trained on the system, and resources and instructional information was communicated to the Provost Office to connect with faculty.
• The EAB implementation team met with marketing and has the "Sinclarified" marketing logos for Navigate.Sinclair. Thesse resources were distributed to all Care Unite leads across the college to market the student app. This included: slide decks, QR codes, and graphics.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Sinclair is now the #2 feeder of transfer students to the University of Cincinnati.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Data Dissemination on Priority Programs: Finalized agreement for a faculty member to review five priority living-wage programs to identify enrollment, retention, and completion trends; pinpoint student barriers; assess scheduling and modality impacts; and surface opportunities for improvement. The goal is to equip departments with data to support targeted reforms aligned with career pathways and student success.
• A project tracking document was shared with Learning Loss stakeholders to guide planning and define early milestones. Initial focus areas have been identified, including gateway course barriers, psycho-social supports, advising innovations, expanded boot camps, work-based learning, and partnerships with ESC and Urban Zone Schools.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Ended Spring 2025 with +9% headcount enrollment in our four active programs compared to prior spring term.
• 12 students completed bachelor's degrees between Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 and were honored at they May Commencement Ceremony.
• Developed survey to gather input on branding and outreach strategies for Sinclair’s bachelor’s degree programs, ensuring alignment with program strengths and student needs.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Began working with political science department to develop an internship course.
• Approval of Sinclair Pre-Apprenticeship Summer Camp Model which will allow students successfully completing summer camps aligned to a MFG career cluster to be awarded pre-apprenticeship designation by the State.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Successfully expanded PLA operations from a single-role model to a dedicated team by reclassifying Arian Adducchio’s role to Assistant Director of Academic Credentialing and creating a new part-time Learning Design Specialist position, with a July 1 effective date.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• The enhanced Coaching to Complete (C2C) model concluded its pilot in the Spring 2025 semester. Data has been collected and is currently under review. Key takeaways and accomplishments include:
  • The tiered student support approach has had a positive impact on the C2C program, leading to continued growth.
  • Student appointments with a Coach have increased by 215% compared to the previous year.
  • Course completion rates have improved since the previous year — see chart on the right for details.
  • C2C courses also increased with PSY 2200, PTA 1000, and PTA 2297 launching 25/SU term.
  The C2C team will continue to monitor course completion outcomes and explore new strategies to further enhance student engagement within this tiered cohort model.
• The Academic Advising tile on student's Sinclair accounts has been connected and made easier for student to self-schedule advising appointments.
• Navigate implementation continues with the college's Early Alert system being developed into Navigate.
• Milestones and progress of Navigate implentation:
  • 17 Care Units created and configured
  • 25+ Departments are using Navigate
  • ~26,000 appointments schedules across 128 services
  • Care Unit Lead and User Group revived
  • Connection to the Academic Advising Tile
  • Colleague Caseload Transition

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• The Transfer Center provided support services to over 1,600 bachelor bound students during their first year of operation.
• The Transfer Center hosted the spring University Transfer Fair on 04/15/25 with a record number of 32 partners in attendance.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• We have landed on using the afternoon of the FFPDD as the Sinclair Promise Day. Agenda has been developed and approved.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Spring 2025 Bachelor Bound series complete. 47 students registered for sessions to learn more about Nursing, Health Sciences, and Integrated Systems Technician programs.
• External marketing campaing completed. Promotional items will be developed for summer/fall outreach efforts.
• Sinclair Bachelor's Degrees represented at the annual Spring Transfer Fair. Students stopped by the table to tell us what excited them most about bachelor's degrees at Sinclair - most students shared excitement about the affordability, familiarity, and faculty at Sinclair.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Stipend applications for unpaid internships are being received. Promotion of FWS dollars to be used by NPOs and encouraging on-campus departments to host an intern and use FWS dollars.
• Sinclair expected to by approved by state to offer PA programming in certain living wage programs. Embedding PA into summer camps offered by Sinclair. Ideal model: Natural pathway for high school seniors to PA, Camp, then enroll Sinclair B-term, then remain employed while a Sinclair students.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Completed 4 of 5 videos in PLA video series. Newest "Turn your Credential into Credit" video for articulated credit can be viewed here.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• Navigate360's scheduling system was fully launched in the 25/SP semester. To further support its implementation, the NavigateCare Lead Council was established to address college-wide topics, answer questions, and explore new features—including the use of data and reporting tools.
• A Navigate.Sinclair 101 session was offered campus-wide, targeting faculty and staff who previously used SSP for student journal notes, with an emphasis on enhancing student support and Early Alerts. Academic Advising is currently developing a transition plan for Early Alert processes.
• Academic Advising joined the Navigate360 Program Advising Cohort as an initial step toward migrating academic planning into the platform.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• The Transfer Center provided support services to over 1,600 bachelor bound students during their first year of operation.
• The Transfer Center hosted the spring University Transfer Fair on 04/15/25 with a record number of 32 partners in attendance.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Promise Day proposal shared with both DCC and Faculty Senate. Opposition from faculty on requiring a Jan 8 date of attendance. Compromise: Leadership will be required for Jan 8 date; Employee Recognition still after Fall Conference; FFPDD will be held with 1/2 day PD and 1/2 day division and dept meetings. PC is in agreement.
• Multi-semester viewable schedule will launch May 9; undergoing testing at the moment in preparation. Asking to incorporate drop-downs on courses students preferred, but didn't find.
• Deans asked to address capacity in living-wage programs shared by Julie; deadline is next week. Additionally, after programs are addressed, Doug Hampton has been identified as a candidate to track student progress in enrollment in these programs. Summer SSA.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Programs will host Sinclair Bachelor Bound sessions in April 2025 and attend the Spring Transfer Fair to connect with current Sinclair bachelor-seeking students.
• Marketing campaign underway for external awareness. Sinclair Bachelor's Degrees being promoted on TV, digital boards, social media, and radio.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Met with the ECMC Project Officer to propose a budget revision that reallocates unused funds toward initiatives that reduce barriers to work-based learning such as stipends for unpaid internships, transportation assistance, and support in acquiring industry-specific equipment or attire.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Completed cataloguing all PLA opportunities on a PLA Master List for better tracking and goal setting.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• The Student Message Survey received responses from 26 non-faculty departments/offices. Key takeaways indentified by the TASS team include: Reviewing current communication processes unique to each department/office, understanding system capabilities and limitations, developing a decision tree to guide communication platform selection, implementing Navigate360 features in phases, and Setting realistic expectations for measuring communication effectiveness. This was shared with the Navigate360 Care Lead group. No further developments have been determined.
• The new Choosing My Major: What Matters to Me online tool launched on the Sinclair Career Advising website this springh semester, helping students reflect on lifestyle goals, values, and strengths as a first step before deeper career exploration.
• The Academic Advising Center delivered advanced career focused training to better support undecided and major-changing students, aligning with Sinclair’s Unlocking Opportunity initiative by promoting informed decision-making and advancing goals in credential completion, career awareness, and student support.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Full-year academic schedule can now be viewed and students can put those courses into shopping carts for future semesters. Meeting 1/15 to discuss how to message and roll this out.
• Pilot of SmartBlocks is being refined. Returning to the fall model with some tweaks per the student survey results and difficulty with registration this term.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Spring term enrollment in Sinclair’s four bachelor’s degree programs is up 7% from prior spring.
• A bachelor’s degree campaign is set for late spring to promote all five programs for fall enrollment cycle.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• EL Hub with Resources and Best Practices now accessible for faculty and staff in eLearn. EL Advisory Committee formed to address service learning.
• EL and WBL faculty professional development tracks in development for February and March 2025 roll out as part of CTL Student Development Certification track.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Completed video number 2 of 5: Show What You Know: Create a Portfolio
• Benchmarked 2023 and 2024 PLA student utilization data (5% increase) to create goal for 2025 (15% increase.)

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Transfer Center Team hosted Equity Summit 2024 (Economic Equity: Journey to a Living Wage) Participants included 40+university partners and resulted in a dedicated commitment to enhance transfer processes/academic pathways
• Preliminary meetings are underway with School Partnerships and WSU to develop guided academic pathways for CCP and Tech Prep students.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• SmartBlock students have been surveyed. Survey reveals that they didn't understand they could register early. Students report that the most attractive parts of the Smartblocks are the times of day of the courses, ability to plan ahead, and fit with work schedule.
• ESC YouScience partnership continues to progress; IT was the first and awaiting report. Viewable acacdemic year schedule with wishlist functionality is in progress. Two meetings with IT and a third is coming up. Concierge approach to in-demand program advising is being led by Jarratt Dickey, and preliminary meetings have been held. Need to find funding for tablets for students.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Fall enrollment in bachelor degree programs is up over 30% since prior fall term.
• Work is underway to prepare for launch of BAS Health Sciences degree, which is set to enroll students for Fall 2025.

Prior Learning Assessment

• New goal created for Phase II/Year 2: Target existing pathways for a PLA cohort model, where we would work with departments to proactively inform and batch process PLA credit for cohorts of students each semester, greatly increasing the number of students receiving PLA credit over the academic year. Target pathways include: SkillsTrac, FlexFactor, Manufacturing Bootcamp, and BSN.
• Established baseline for increasing PLA Utilization in 2025. From 2023 to 2024, the number of students earning PLA credit increased 5%, from 580 to 607. Additionally, credits earned increased 4%, from 2027 to 2100. In 2025, the PLA Workteam aims to increase PLA utilization by another 15%.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• In December, the Welcome Center and Academic Advising are piloting Navigate360’s drop-in functionality which includes UO TASS team members. This live testing of walk-in service operations will provide insights into the tool and help refine workflow processes. Meanwhile, other campus departments and offices are collaborating with the EAB Implementation team to finalize care unit configurations in preparation for the launch of the appointment functionality in January and February.
• A Student Message Survey is being distributed to departments and offices across campus to gather insights into non-faculty communication practices with students during the academic year and within individual semesters.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Revitalizing transfer partnerships with Wright State University and Central State University. Key administrators and transfer staff from both institutions are engaged in the discussions and planning.
• Successful promotion of National Transfer Student Week (October 21-25). Offered students several opportunities to engage with University Partners and the Transfer Center team.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• To encourage students to register for multiple courses within SmartBlock. In collaboration Registration and Advising designed a strategy to promote multi-course registration among students. By grouping four specific courses for each priority program, the system encourages students to register for multiple courses within the block. Through Colleague, corequisites and cross-listing features have been implemented, requiring students to enroll in at least two courses from that block. This creates a structured pathway for students to ensure they take key courses together while simplifying their registration process.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• There are many steps that must happen for a bachelor’s degree program to fully launch and successfully enroll students. We documented steps to get the new Bachelor’s of Health Sciences ready for students to start class in Fall 2025. Those action items are underway with a variety of groups spanning several divisions. After nearly one-year of launching, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program evaluated their first year and made some recommendations to improve enrollment and student success for future terms. These insights are being collecting and will serve as a program checklist or handbook for faculty wishing to develop new programs in the future.

Prior Learning Assessment

• "How to Get Credit For What You Already Know" Video is complete; marketing plan for the video is in planning phase.
• New "Credit for Training and Credentials" website is published.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• Finalized version of "Roadmap to Major Selection & Career Planning"
• TASS team members are supporting the launch of EAB Navigate360. Data validation and workflow development are currently underway. The team is collaborating with various departments to establish a 'super-user' group to spearhead the introduction of EAB Navigate360. This group will engage with the test site and pilot the Appointment Center’s queuing system, a feature designed to replace Sinclair’s current scheduling tools for the Welcome Center, on-site registration events, and on-demand advising periods. This is the first phase of the full-scale implementation of the Navigate 360 tool.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Hosted 8 Bachelor Bound Workshop Series. (~150 students) and Hosted Transfer 101 Workshop Series. (~50 students to date).

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Through her work with School Partnerships, Dr. Cicchetti has identified three UO career pathways (IT, ADV MAN, HS) in 7 districts. Each of these districts already has a career navigator through a Learn 2 Earn Grant. Leveraging the Learn 2 Earn PACE grant and Perkins funding, an ESC career navigator will visit high schools, pull students, and talk about their aptitude per the YouScience test. Estimated cost is $5K per program, and we thought we'd start the pilot with IT and HS.
• Compression planning session to discuss Full Year Registration took place on October 14 with Academic Affairs leadership. A "viewable schedule" will be piloted by ENG, AUT, CAD starting in SU25.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• The BSN and IST programs will host Sinclair Bachelor Bound Workshops this fall to generate interest among current Sinclair students in related associate degree programs.
• Bachelor's degrees will be included in the 2025 scholarship portfolio under the In Demand Jobs scholarship program.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Experiential Learning Coordinator is working on an EL track intended to train and inform faculty on how they can incorporate EL into their curriculum.
• Grouptrail, an experiential learning tracking software, is slated to be operational by October 31, 2024.

Leverage and Build Custom Training Programs to Fill Workforce Demand

• 9 Westown IT Fundamentals Class students completed the summer cohort; 8 plan to continue at Sinclair; 9 started the Fall cohort on September 30, 2024; working with Technology First to expand IT apprenticeship opportunities beyond MCOhio.
• 5 students approved for 5G/Broadband Fiber Optic Certification Training by QUEST, the program funder, to begin on October 21, 2024.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Worked with faculty to develop proficiency exams for VIS1100, BIS1230, BIS 1260 and BIS 1221.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• EAB Data Validation is ongoing; We have reached Care Unit scheduling functionality testing phase.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• UD Sinclair Academy (UDSA) Orientation for Fall 24 Co-hort; 125 students/parents

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Confirmed funding and next steps to partner with ESC Career Navigator who will work with high school districts, identifying students who show aptitude through youscience in specific programs, allowing Sinclair to host events and create marketing materials to target these groups of students for recruitment post high school.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Created solid drafts of bachelor degree program student profiles: planning tool, mindful tracking

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Survey distribution
• Identifying 1-2 Living Wage programs in each division to increase EL participation

Leverage and Build Custom Training Programs to Fill Workforce Demand

• Both the OSHA 10 Hour and OSHA 30 Hour courses will be offered as non-credit to any industry that may desire. The time of when that will begin depends on getting the new instructor up-to-speed.
• Three new IT certification training programs launch in the Fall: 5G/Broadband Fiber Optic, Fortinet, and AWS Cloud.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Draft webpage is live, with about 15 CRG links as of August 2nd.
• Draft Script created for PLA Video Series.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• Delivered first draft of Road Map to Major Selection & Career Planning document

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Outreach: Framework for Bachelor Bound Workshops with university partners finalized and several sessions are scheduled for fall semester.
• Tracking: Plans are underway to develop an integrated referral and tracking process for transfer students with Academic Advising, ISSC staff and Transfer Specialists.

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Career Connection: Progress made on establishing connection with ESC to leverage YouScience results to target students.
• Smart Block: SmartBlock assessment of fall courses continues.
• UO Partnerships: Program Review Rubric shared with San Antonio College.

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Process Improvement: Next steps in place to evaluate and refine current process by which students enroll in bachelor’s degree programs - from initial inquiry (RFI) to application, to registration, and scholarship opportunities - to make sure our processes are at parity with other 4 year competitors.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• WBL: Generating Living Wage WBL baseline data and exploring the use of WBL tool for student dashboard.
• Experiential Learning: Survey Distribution; Identifying 1-2 Living Wage programs in each division to increase EL participation.

Leverage and Build Custom Training Programs to Fill Workforce Demand

• Plan Development: Team working to define next steps, including resource needs, to expand the existing programs and launch the new programs identified as part of the Custom Training program portfolio to fill workforce demand.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Employer Connection: Template for PLA Agreements finalized and piloted successfully with local employer.
• Marketing/Communication: Framework for PLA Video Series finalized. Series to cover: military, proficiency, portfolio, and articulated credit with lengths not to exceed 60 seconds.

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• Student Support: Road Map to Major Selection & Career Planning document.
• Data: Report on "Changing a major" and the impact to student completion/retention.

Earning a Credential Prior to Transferring

• Toolkits: Created University Partner Toolkits
• Data: Obtained metrics needed to obtain transfer info from university partners. https://www.sinclair.edu/admissions/modalities/block-scheduling/

In-Demand Living-Wage Credential Completion

• Smart Block Scheduling: Student Promotional Videos and landing page for Smart Block scheduling. 

Increase Number of Students Completing Sinclair's Bachelor Degree Programs

• Benchmarking: Per Site Visit and debriefs, formed consensus on next steps regarding Connect with other community colleges who have more experience with bachelor’s degrees - what are some of their key insights or lessons learned? What did they find most helpful? How did their standard business processes or campus culture change? What advice do they have for us as we expand our bachelor offerings? We have a short list of schools with similar type programs who have been operating bachelor’s degrees for 5-10 years. We'll connect in June/July as schedules permit.

Experiential Learning in Living-Wage Programs

• Partnership: WPAFB Follow-up to match Living Wage programs with opportunities at the base

Leverage and Build Custom Training Programs to Fill Workforce Demand

• Prior Learning: Working with PLA Work Team to incorporate, without duplicating efforts, PLA opportunities into workforce pathways.

Prior Learning Assessment

• Tech Prep: Identified 15+ potential PLA Proficiencies and 30+ potential Tech Prep proficiencies that could be of interest to post-secondary CTE students.
• Mission: Created Theory of Change Document for PLA

Technology, Advising, and Student Supports

• Student Support: Implemented Coaching to Complete new cohort-based model for summer.
• Career Planning: Created first draft of "Road Map to Major Selection & Career Planning" a one-page workflow resource to help students and staff/faculty know the workflow for undecided students or student major selection conversations to better serve students.

Aspen visits all 10 institutions within the Unlocking Opportunity Network, and the most recent visit to Sinclair was May 15-16, 2024. The purpose of this visit was to assist their research by having focused conversations in key areas in order to better understand our institution. This research will help them evaluate, rethink and strengthen our existing programs and develop new program models that expand career and educational opportunity for all students.

What We Have Accomplished

• Built framework for Smart Block scheduling for top 5 completed programs with priority registration and 3 semester scheduling options – Fall 2024 start.
• Completed environmental scan of career assessment and current services and financial literacy resources to inform co-work team collaboration intent on unifying institutional career exploration opportunities and efforts.
• Official opening of Transfer Center.
• Career Exploration embedded into New Student Orientation.
• Submitted student Application revision to better identify and serve undecided students.
• Secured partnership with eLearn to use Articulate Rise to clarify and inform students about their majors.
• Created Living Wage Resource to guide Work Team efforts

In Progress Work Team Tasks

• Creating Value Propositions for each Sinclair BAS Degree.
• Developing processes to capture and respond to all BAS degree RFIs.
• Enrollment trend tracking within living-wage programs.
• Expanding PLA options; organizing existing options; communicating and informing students “How To” video.
• Identifying how to address in-demand programs that are not at capacity.
• Ensuring in-demand pathways are seamless for students.
• Identifying potential for-credit courses for consideration as complementary non-credit programs within Manufacturing, Healthcare, IT Unlocking Opportunity/Aspen.