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Prelude to a Dream2020: Ready to talk dreams, mobile apps and student.

By: Cora-Lee Conway on Feb 14, 2020 5:56:48 PM
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Prelude to a Dream2020: Ready to talk dreams, mobile apps and student success. 


 

Are you ready?

Talk about a loaded question. I mean, preparedness is a genre unto itself; and in the world of higher education, being ready is the name of the game. Now the intrinsic value of education is not to be diminished. As a society we hold the value of education in high esteem, although at times it’s hard to believe with low teacher salaries, budget cuts, and lack of overall investment; all seem to contravene this value we purport to have. But despite that, education continues to present a critical element to the essence of preparedness. 

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As Ready Education prepares to head to Dream2020 for Achieving the Dream’s (ATDs) annual congress of community colleges, I find myself fixated on this notion of dreams and what it means in relation to the concept of preparedness, and frankly the connection isn’t obvious… at first. We see dreams as whimsical, firmly posited in the realm of the imagination, and to the extreme, downright delusional. On the contrary, the concept of being ready feels concrete and tangible. So what’s the connection? Well, perhaps dreams are the spark, the ignition, the audacious sentiment that creeps into our “too real” realities to plant a seed that the process of readiness cultivates. Forgive the mixing of the metaphors, but you get what I mean. Dreams are the compelling beginning, and readiness, as both process and destination, is an indicator of a dream fulfilled. 

Five students walking in a horizontal line, all looking down at their phones and tablets

 

Ready Education provides innovative mobile solutions that help students succeed. Providing way more than a campus App, the entire infrastructure of Ready Education is geared towards student success.  We build strategic partnerships with our campuses and on Wednesday February 19th we’ll be collaborating with ATD members, Kennebec Valley Community College and North Central Texas College on an interactive conference session entitled, Dreams no longer deferred: Community Colleges reimagining student success with mobile technology. It’s a mouthful, I know. And while our campus partners will showcase how innovative collaborations can support leveraging the potential of mobile technologies to effectively centralize campus resources, build community, and to collect and analyze data to help students succeed - the takeaway from the session isn’t merely about running out and purchasing a campus App - although if you want to, Ready’s mobile solutions are awesome, as you’ll hear and see. #Ad. The real objective is to encourage campuses to imagine better and dream bigger because that is the ignition for innovation. And truly, innovative solutions are needed to address some of the difficulties community colleges are facing today: declining enrolment, coupled with rising rates of attrition… preparing students for the future has never seemed more challenging. The irony is that something we do in our literal subconscious, something we’re never taught and do without effort, seems to be so hard during our waking hours. 

 

Coworkers at a table. One of them points over the shoulder at a coworker's tablet

 

Lastly, and certainly not an afterthought but a parting one: Achieving the Dream's focus on equity and diversity undoubtedly is an intentional one. Community colleges have been at the forefront of democratizing access to education and advocating for education for all. The excellence in this is not only about providing pathways to education for everyone, but in the learning that comes from seeing everyone strive to achieve their dreams. And by everyone I mean to include the students who don’t see themselves in the portraits that grace the hallways of our Ivy Leagues, the students who are parenting and supporting young learners of their own, the students who are not past their prime, but redefining prime, and the students who continue to dream and pursue higher education despite considerable odds. 

 

Two college students conversing outside, holding laptops and notebooks

 

In much the same way that community colleges are democratizing access to education, mobile is democratizing access to knowledge; it's available on the go and in real time; it’s revolutionized the way we work, study, communicate and connect with each other. It takes audacious dreams to consider the unthinkable and the never-been-done-before and so the alliance between mobile and the community college seems to be an intuitive one. And I for one, am feeling very ready for what’s next. 

 

Join us at Achieving the Dream’s Dream 2020 on Wednesday February 19th at 10am or continue the conversation with us on all the socials. 

Prelude to a Dream2020: Ready to talk dreams, mobile apps and student success.

 

Two students in graduation gowns taking a selfie

 

Cora-Lee Conway is a Campus Success Consult with Ready Education with over ten years of experience as an educator. She comes to Ready with a background in student affairs and a keen and personal interest in matters related to equity and diversity. She originally hails from Toronto and in her spare time enjoying singing, extreme list-making and her work as a Board member at a local community organization that supports young moms.