Dan Jenkins, Associate Professor and Director of Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE) at Mendocino College and Coordinator of the college’s Human Service Programs, is a leader in work-based learning. Dan Jenkins highlights his enhancements and marketing of Mendocino College’s Cooperative Work Experience Education program and his organization of an association for Northern California CWEE educators.

Tell us about yourself?
I direct CWE and coordinate the college’s Human Service Programs. I also teach Human Service internship courses as an overload. I've taught at the college for 12 years (the last 8 full-time), teaching internship classes. During my first 5 years of full-time employment at the college, I was the director of Health, Human Service and Public Safety Programs. During that time, I initiated a nursing program, among other vocational programs and I coordinated Work Experience Education for Human Service students.

I received my MA in Behavioral Health from CSU-Dominguez Hills and I have a Master of Addiction Counseling Certification. I have worked for over 25 years in health and human service settings before coming to the college. I recently worked as the director of clinical services for Mendocino County's division of Alcohol and Other Drug Programs. Some of my duties as the AODP clinical director included coordination of the internship program and staff development.

I've been married 29 years to my best friend, who is a clinical social worker. We have two adult children. I'm an avid gardener who enjoys traveling (when it doesn't interfere with my garden plans!) and I've maintained a dedicated meditation practice for 25 years.

What is your involvement in local and statewide committees?
I serve on various boards, including the California Community Colleges State-wide Work-Based Learning and Employment Services Advisory Committee; the California Cooperative Education and Internship Association Board of Directors; Mendocino College's Nursing Program Advisory Committee, and the Mendocino County Alcohol and Other Drug Advisory Board. I also coordinate an informal association of Northern California CWE educators, which meets once each semester. Additionally, I'm a member of our Vocational Education and Marketing committees, and I serve as the chief negotiator for our full-time faculty union, AFT local 6322.

Tell us about unique features or enhancements that you have implemented in your CWE program?
I don't know that I've done anything unique with the program. What I have done is take a program that lacked much credibility in the community and among faculty as an academic program and placed an increased emphasis on the educational aspect of work experience education. The higher level of expectation was off-putting at first, not just among students but with employers and even faculty.

What were some of your barriers for making changes?
People were used to students passing the course, if they completed all the paperwork in a timely manner, irrespective of the nature of the “learning” experience. I reviewed files of students’ who passed the course prior to my taking the position, and one student’s objective was to “smile more often”! And she received an “A”! One employer told his employee, in front of me during one of my first employer visits, that getting a good grade in CWE was a “gimme”. One instructor, who’s students relied on CWE credit to remain eligible for her program, told me “I know what you are doing is right [requiring college-level learning experiences] but I sure liked the way CWE used to be!” I came to refer to the prior approach as “academic welfare,” because students felt entitled to get an “A” grade just for showing up. As you might expect, enrollments dropped for a few semesters (although it appears that was true in other colleges, at least in Northern California at the time, so I’m not sure that increasing the rigor and accountability was the only factor in lowered enrollments).

What are some of the changes you have initiated?
Enrollments have begun picking up over the last couple of semesters, for a number of possible reasons, including the following program enhancements and marketing efforts:

• Creation of a web site that attempts to motivate student enrollment and assist them in completing CWE successfully.
• Promotion of the program more aggressively than had been done in the past, by creating a brochure, flyers and bookmarks (attached) that I’ve distributed to counselors, the financial aid department, the campus library and bookstore, employers, employment agencies, etc.
• Development of classroom presentations on our campus and in charter high schools, as well as to service clubs.
• Marketed the program through a sandwich board with marketing flyers in the lobby and in the entrance to our Admissions and Records building. Listed our occupational CWE courses by discipline, and added several discipline-specific occupational courses to our catalog, in an attempt to attract students working in disciplines not typically associated with CWE (such as Art).
• Worked with the faculty in adding CWE as a certificate requirement for vocational programs.
• Created “boiler plate” learning objectives (found on my web site). I am putting the final touches on many discipline-specific objectives, which students are free to use as their own, which makes it easier for them, as well as me to ensure that they have college-level learning experiences.
• Extended the final enrollment date to later in the semester to accommodate students withdrawing from other courses.
• Required all my students to have email, and I add them all to a CWE Listserv, which I use to stay in contact with them, reminding them when assignments are due and keeping them informed of job opportunities, scholarships, etc.
• Joined the Marketing Committee and the Vocational Education Committee in order to further promote my program among faculty and to ensure that my interests were being represented.

Finally, and not the least important, is that the increased rigor and accountability has improved the credibility of the program which, I believe, while discouraging students looking for a freebie, may be attracting students who are looking for a serious educational experience.

Employer comments like “you’ve turned this into a real educational program” and “this is a great program that I want to encourage my employees to enroll in” and students’ comments like “I’ve benefited so much from this program that I’m recommending it to all my co-workers” reinforce my belief that I’m on the right track (see students’ comments: link)

How did the development of the Northern California CWE educators meeting come about?

When I first took this position, it was clear that a CWE instructor’s position was a lonely one. Not only was I the only full-time instructor, but faculty had little understanding of the program and administrators seemed to lack a detailed understanding of the CWE regulations.

After reviewing the regulations and our District Plan for CWE, and making adjustments in our approach to ensure compliance with both the letter and spirit of those requirements, I began a web search of other CWE programs in Northern California in the interest of establishing some collegial relationships. As a result, I organized an informal association of Northern California CWE educators that has met three times so far and plans on continuing to meet once each semester. It’s not uncommon for CWE educators to feel isolated on their campuses, and the association members have greatly appreciated, as have I, the opportunity to connect with colleagues.

What is the purpose of the meetings?
The meetings have provided a venue to openly share with one another our program practices, as well as our concerns, frustrations and successes with our work. We’ve also had the opportunity to review and comment on recommendations our southern California peers are making to Title V regulations, and those comments were forwarded to the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office State-wide Work-Based Learning and Employment Services Advisory Committee.

Ron Selge, Dean of Career Technical Education for the Chancellor’s Office, attends our meetings and provides us an update on pertinent activities at the state level. At our last meeting, Susan Coleman from your very own “QT” publication, graciously joined us and provided an overview of her grant-related activities, including an overview of the “QT”.

At our next meeting, we plan on reviewing and comparing our District Plans for CWE, among other things. Any Northern California 2-year college CWE educator interested in participating in these meetings can contact me at djenkins@mendocino.edu. If you are interested in attending the Southern California Tri-Regional CWE meeting, contact Maggi Dunsmore at dunsmorem@vvc.edu

Dan Jenkins, MA
Associate Professor
Director, Cooperative Work Experience Education
Coordinator, Human Services and AOD Programs
Mendocino College
1000 Hensley Creek Rd., Ukiah, CA 95482
P: 707.468.3020; F: 707.468.3120
djenkins@mendocino.edu