Driving Enrollment & Growth in Uncertain Times: A Provost’s Perspective

In an age where increases in student enrollment can no longer be taken for granted, Edison State Community College offers insight into how institutions can successfully serve students, employers, and the local community while driving enrollment. Located in Piqua, OH, Edison State experienced record-breaking enrollment numbers in the fall of 2024. To learn more about their success, we sat down with Dr. Melissa Wertz, Provost and Chief Academic Officer.

Dr. Wertz oversees both academic and student affairs at Edison State, giving her a unique perspective on how to serve students holistically. She shares with the AcOps Magazine her perspectives on dual enrollment, employer partnerships, successful online programs, and the power of putting feedback into action.

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Dual Enrollment with a Broader Vision Toward Student Goals

Contributing to increased enrollment at Edison State is the College Credit Plus (CCP) program, Ohio’s dual enrollment initiative. With dual enrollment surging, many colleges see this as an opportunity to recruit students to come to their institution once they’ve finished high school. While this is certainly a goal for some students, Dr. Wertz takes a more nuanced approach. For her, the ultimate goal is student success, regardless of their post-CCP path. “I am not as interested in making sure the students matriculate to Edison State. I’m more interested in: Are they meeting the goal that they had when they first started?”

This student-centered perspective acknowledges that many CCP students intend to transfer to a university. Dr. Wertz explains, “I would love to say we would bring all of our CCP students to Edison State to get a degree, but I want to be realistic with our teams to make sure that we are accomplishing the goal that the students set out to accomplish. So if it is matriculating into Edison State, let’s make sure they get on the right pathway to accomplish that goal.” If a student has a different goal, such as attending a different institution, it is equally as important to make sure that they are taking the right courses to achieve that goal.

This philosophy underscores a core belief for Dr. Wertz: “Sometimes we lose track of and don’t realize—it’s about the student. It’s not about me. It’s not about what Edison State does. It’s about what our students do and how successful they are.”

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Cultivating True Partnerships for Workforce Development

Edison State’s recent surge in enrollment is also a testament to its strategic engagement with the employer community. To achieve this, Edison State built strong employer partnerships for workforce development that provide tailored training and valuable work-based learning opportunities. Dr. Wertz describes how local companies use their facilities, such as their mechanical engineering lab and manufacturing lab. She recounts, “I see the people coming in the morning after their third shift to do training with our trainers. So they work to build those relationships with employers, to bring their employees here for training on the machinery that they need. We will also send our trainers out to the companies and work at the company if we don’t have the equipment or if they have something specific we can help with.”

Beyond training, these partnerships facilitate direct student experience. “The workforce team also works with our faculty to help our students get work-based learning opportunities so that when students are at the end of their program and want to get into industry in their last semester, they have the opportunity to actually do that.” A notable example is their relationship with Honda. Students can go work at Honda while they are taking a program at Edison State and get paid as an employee. Dr. Wertz explains: “They’re paid as an employee and working while completing their degree as they go along in that cohort.”

Building these true partnerships can be challenging, but Dr. Wertz points to Edison State’s integrated approach. “I think one of the things that truly helps Edison State with keeping them aligned is the fact that our workforce development and work-based learning department is under the academic umbrella.” This structure fosters collaboration and provides opportunities for the workforce development team to participate in academic and advisory board meetings that strengthen these ties.

The relationship between workforce development and academic affairs is also critical to evaluate how institutions can award students credit for their work experiences. Dr. Wertz walks through what this looks like in practice. “We’re looking at what they’re doing in workforce development and translating that to something that would be credit. That relationship is very important to help us have that crosswalk from workforce to academic credit.” Ultimately, she explains that success in this area hinges on being nimble, communicating effectively, and building trust between academic and workforce divisions.

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Lessons from Online Learning: Standardization, Consistency, and Connection

Outside of on-the-ground training and in-person learning, Edison State offers online and mixed programming to address student needs. Dr. Wertz observes a clear student preference for flexible learning. “Students nowadays, post-pandemic, seem to really want to have that convenient, flexible option for their classroom experience,” she explains.

Dr. Wertz has extensive experience in developing and running successful online programs, both from her work at previous institutions and her dissertation research. One of her main pieces of advice focuses on the importance of standardization. Rubrics for online learning help ensure that quality standards are being met to engage students. This is also critical when it comes to communicating with students and setting expectations. “Why do we need standardization? Well, because if I have five different faculty members and I have to go five different places in an online course, I’m confused. So looking at the student experience through the lens of this rubric that we have created, that’s helping us build our courses so that they are engaging,” she explains.

Regardless of modality, Dr. Wertz believes that essential principles of good course design still apply. For example, there are fundamentals of how a course should be organized. This includes a syllabus that students can easily find, clearly outlines the assessments, and notes when they will take place. Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to class organization and clear instructions. Her advice for faculty developing instructions? “One of the things I always used to do when training online faculty: I would tell them to have someone else read the instructions and see if they understand what you’re asking your students to do. Just one or two assignments in your class. Ask someone—your spouse, your partner, your kids. That’s really eye-opening.”

Consistency is also key for student persistence in online courses. Dr. Wertz recalls a successful strategy from one of her previous institutions—mandatory synchronous sessions each week that faculty delivered. Dr. Wertz notes that “It wasn’t required of students, but it was required of faculty. It helped the students because they could interact with them [faculty] online. But they were recorded. Students were not as thrilled about needing to be in the same place at the same time, because it takes away their flexibility. But they were so thankful that the recorded sessions were available.”

On the flip side, disorganization and poor communication are two of the biggest pitfalls for online programs. Setting clear expectations and upholding standards are paramount. Additionally, fostering connections and relationships with students is just as important online as it is in person. “When I talk to my faculty who are teaching online courses, I say: ‘Look, here are some things students want. They want a relationship with you. They do not want a correspondence course. They don’t want to just sit out there in the abyss and do nothing.’ They want to get to know their faculty. They want to get to know their fellow students and their peers.” Dr. Wertz regularly meets with her faculty to discuss what is and isn’t working to engage students, from discussion boards to video content.

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Are You Acting on the Feedback You Collect?

While institutions collect feedback in a number of different ways, putting it into practice can be challenging. Like many leaders, Dr. Wertz is focused on how she can “close the loop” on feedback, ensuring that assessment leads to tangible improvements. While she cautions against over-surveying students, she emphasizes the importance of using student data to make real changes. This involves not just providing feedback to students but acting on it. “When you get the data from either your students or your faculty, do something with it.” Dr. Wertz illustrates this with an example from their nursing program: “When they got feedback at the end of last semester, they actually discussed it with the cohort at the beginning of this semester. They said, ‘Look, we got your feedback. We listened. Here are some of the things we’re going to adjust moving forward.’”

The process extends to broader groups within the institution, beyond just working with faculty. Dr. Wertz explains that “It’s all about building the action plan to address what comes through in the feedback. Sometimes we need to broaden our group and our scope to come up with those plans to address any issues that come up.”

The final step of closing the loop involves evaluating the actions that were taken as a result of the feedback. Dr. Wertz emphasizes accountability. During her conversations, she asks questions such as “‘What are we doing? What has happened? How was this received? Has this changed the perception? Has this helped our students? Has this helped our programs? Does this impact our accreditors? Our programmatic accreditors?”

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Helping Students Stay and Thrive Within the Community

Aside from the academic side of the house, Dr. Wertz is passionate about student support and deep engagement with the community. The ultimate goal is to ensure that students don’t just complete their program, but they’re able to stay and flourish within the community. She tells us that “we want to serve our community. We want to be involved in our community in different events. But ultimately, we want to make sure our students are the ones who are being successful. Because we want them to stay.”

This vision aligns with the very foundation of community colleges. Dr. Wertz shares a poignant observation from a community group’s tagline: “Live, Play, and Work in This Community.” Dr. Wertz continues “I’m on one of their committees, and every time I hear that, I think—that’s what we want. We want our students to embrace what’s going on, do what they want to do, and stay in this community. A lot of our students are still here. That’s always great to hear.”

By embracing a holistic view of student success, forging deep community ties, and continually refining their academic and operational practices, Edison State offers a compelling model for institutions seeking to not only increase enrollment but also to genuinely empower individuals in their local communities. While each student’s path is different, Dr. Wertz explains that “Helping people do something to change the status of where they’re at—from when they first meet me to when they’re done with their program—is great. Whether it’s one class, two classes, three classes, a whole certificate, a short-term certificate, a microcredential, or a degree.”