El Paso Community College

Challenge

Nurturing a diverse student community

Established in 1969, El Paso Community College (EPCC) has over 50 years of experience in providing high quality, affordable education in El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas. Offering more than 130 academic programs and 350 continuing education courses to nearly 25,000 students, the college aims to be a leader in training the emerging workforce. Through its strong partnerships with K-12 and 4-year institutions, EPCC offers powerful educational pathways that improve economic mobility across the region.

EPCC also recognizes that students often face significant obstacles that can block them from attaining their academic goals. To ensure education remains accessible and achievable for all, the college maintains a holistic approach to education while championing the unique cultural diversity of the region.

“What stands out to me about EPCC is the way that the college embraces our community,” says Jaymi Wilson, technical coordinator. “We’re right on the border with Mexico, so there are a lot of resources to relate to our unique demographic and to connect with our students’ cultural experience.”

Discovering competency-based education

When Dr. Myshie Pagel, dean of education and career technical education, attended a workshop on competency-based education (CBE) at a Texas Association of College Technical Educators, she realized that it offered an approach that could work well for EPCC’s student population.

“We acknowledge the distinct experiences that our students have had in their lives prior to college,” explains Dr. Pagel. “The CBE model offers the same approach—valuing the knowledge that a student brings, instead of requiring students to start at the very beginning.”

In addition, the flexible nature of CBE courses would open more opportunities for students who may be busy with a full-time career or family responsibilities.

“As an EPCC graduate myself, I have experienced first-hand the amazing resources that the college provides,” says Fernie Mata, CBE project director at EPCC. “From support for students with food insecurity to evening and weekend classes for working students, we are always trying to give options for every circumstance. CBE is just another facet of this commitment.”

After receiving a sub-grant under a Perkins State Leadership Grant to support the development of CBE programs, EPCC established Tejano Flex Learning—a set of CBE online courses that focus on developing skills and knowledge for specific careers.

However, the college soon found that the learning management system (LMS) it initially chose to deliver Tejano Flex Learning could not meet the requirements of the upcoming Texas Risk and Authorization Management Program, which focuses on data security. To continue supporting its diverse student population with innovative educational offerings, EPCC sought out a new LMS.

Solution

Selecting a platform tailored to CBE

EPCC selected Brightspace to provide a robust platform for its CBE program while maintaining data security for its students.

“The functionality of Brightspace helps us with how we envision CBE at EPCC,” says Wilson. “For example, with the release conditions tool, we’re able to specify that the student needs a score of 70% or higher on a particular quiz before they can move on to the summative assessment. That helps us to ensure mastery of the competencies.”

To help manage the change from its previous LMS to Brightspace, EPCC prioritized training their early adopters by offering multiple sessions led by D2L’s Training team. The faculty invested significant time and effort to learning the platform’s features and tools in preparation for a quick turnaround to teach in Brightspace the following semester.

After the initial rollout, interest from other faculty grew. Faculty recognized the value of a more flexible learning environment and the college quickly saw increased adoption of Tejano Flex Learning.

“What I value about EPCC is the commitment of our faculty to serve our students well,” comments Dr. Pagel. “It’s hard for people to adapt to change, but once our faculty see that it’s a benefit to students, they embrace it.”

Encouraging teamwork across key players

Several Criminal Justice faculty members were among the early adopters who worked diligently to offer CBE as an additional option for their students. During a meeting of the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, EPCC introduced the concept of CBE to the industry professionals who help identify its curriculum and received broad backing for the project.

“The faculty already saw the value of Tejano Flex Learning, but the support from the industry affirmed those decisions and encouraged them to explore CBE course development more freely,” says Dr. Pagel. “It’s really an example of teamwork and getting buy-in not just from faculty and students, but from the people and companies who will be hiring our students.”

As a result of the success with the Advisory Committee, the Criminal Justice program became the first to offer a complete CBE pathway to associate degrees and certificates, with 14 CBE courses for students to choose from.

Receiving expert support

To help ensure the success of its transition to Brightspace, EPCC also enlisted the support of D2L’s Learning Services team. A dedicated engagement with Learning Services provided support and expertise in a multi-year engagement, acting as an extension of EPCC’s team. The Learning Services team aligned on EPCC’s goals, priorities and vision, and supported the course design process.

The partnership began with the migration of their courses from their previous learning management system. They then worked on enhancing the courses in Brightspace using Creator+.

“Our D2L senior instructional designer was so patient with us,” recalls Mata. “We weren’t just migrating the courses, we were designing a whole new process, as well as developing student and faculty orientations to deliver training and encourage more buy-in. Her commitment was monumental—we would have multiple meetings where we brainstormed together to work out the guidelines and development process.”

The Learning Services and implementation teams provided guidance on Brightspace and instructional design best practices and supported the Tejano Flex Learning team with adapting the platform to their unique needs. This included designing a template and consistency principles to provide a clear look-and-feel for all EPCC CBE courses. The consistent formatting can be found in all elements of the courses, from the formative and summative assessments, release conditions, introduction and conclusion pages, custom icons, etc.

“It was really helpful to have a consistent contact within D2L Learning Services,” says Wilson. “We were a very small team at that point, and it was like having an extra team member who really knew our project and our expectations.”

Result

Engaging faculty and students alike

Today, Tejano Flex Learning offers CBE courses across several disciplines in General Education and Career and Technical Education that are included in the Criminal Justice, IT, Teacher Preparation, and Business Management degree plans. The number of faculty members using the platform has grown significantly, from 20 initial early adopters to more than 80 faculty involved in the project, and the Tejano Flex Learning team is expecting even more to join soon.

“We consistently work with our faculty to improve the user experience and eliminate barriers,” says Mata. “We want students to focus on learning instead of being distracted by technical issues.”

At the same time, the CBE courses have been a hit with the student population. According to a feedback survey, 95% of a sampling of students participating in Tejano Flex Learning agree that the interactive nature of the courses in Brightspace makes them more engaging.

“Most of our courses utilize Creator+,” says Wilson. “I think that really sets us apart from traditional online courses. In the past, a course may have been a wall of text, but today our partners at D2L have shown us how to use design and interactivity to make the content much more engaging.”

The Criminal Justice pathway is particularly successful, with the CBE courses consistently having high enrollment and student success rates averaging 75%.

Offering new flexible learning opportunities

Significantly, Tejano Flex Learning empowers students from diverse backgrounds to pursue further education. Through its competency-based education approach, students demonstrate mastery of specific skills and knowledge rather than focusing on classroom hours. This allows learners to accelerate through familiar material or take additional time with challenging concepts, personalizing their educational journey according to their individual needs.

“We’ve had students completing these eight-week courses in as little as four days because they had prior knowledge coming into the course,” notes Mata. “They’re able to take their learning into their own hands.”

“We’re hearing from the students that the flexibility is really helping them,” adds Wilson. “They might be working long hours and can only focus on learning on the weekends, for example. CBE might not be for everybody, but it is really rewarding to know that we have achieved exactly what we set out to do with Tejano Flex Learning.”

The future of Tejano Flex Learning at EPCC is expanding rapidly, with ambitious plans to incorporate additional disciplines into the pathways. The Tejano Flex Learning team aims to enroll over 1,000 students within the next year, significantly broadening educational opportunities at EPCC.

Complementing this growth, EPCC is creating a prior learning assessment (PLA) framework that will recognize students’ relevant life and work experiences with partial credit toward course completion, further honoring the practical expertise students bring to their academic pursuits.