Book Review: Examining the impact of community colleges on the global workforce by Jones, S. J., & Smith, D. J. (Eds.):

Jones, S. J" & Smith, D. J. (Eds.). (2015). Examining the impact of community colleges on the global workforce. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. 309 pp. US$148 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-4666-8481-2.Examining the Impact of Community Colleges on the Global Workforce, edited by Stephanie J. Jones and Dimitra Jackson Smith, provides a very broad view of a range of practices at community colleges designed to prepare students for the workforce. The book brings together a compilation of 13 papers that highlight examples of innovative practices at community colleges. These practices may generate ideas for other colleges based on the research on these emerging practices. While each chapter highlights a distinctly innovative practice, insights from these chapters emerge in five broad areas related to how colleges prepare students for the workforce: advising, learning strategies, system-wide linkages, special populations of students, and industry-specific needs.Advising is an essential community college function to help guide students' selection of workforce programs and prepare for their transition to the workforce. However, as Wilson and Lowry point out, community colleges often have difficulty providing advising to all students, so their examination of strategies to provide advising on an institution-wide basis are essential to guiding students through college and into the workforce. Online education is another area where student advising is weak, and Garza Mitchell and Cano-Monreal highlight an approach to address this issue by providing students with an online learning orientation.Beyond informing students of their program and career options, utilizing the most effective learning strategies is a key to helping students attain the skills needed for the workforce. Several chapters highlight innovative strategies to make learning relevant to the workforce through more active and relevant learning experiences. Treadwell and Mitra highlight the unique approach of harnessing the experience from service-learning to provide career development. In the health care field, Frankland and Bodily describe simulation as another approach to providing more hands-on and relevant learning experiences to students. Developing "soft skills" among traditional-aged students without workplace experience is a challenge for many colleges; Vorreyer and Miller highlight how industry collaborations can assist in their development. Finally, Valle, Jacob, Torres, and Hiatt recognize the crucial role of faculty in preparing students for the workforce and discuss a process to engage faculty in improving their pedagogy to promote the success of underrepresented groups.Promoting more seamless transitions by building linkages between different systems is another essential innovation that community colleges promote to better prepare students for the workforce. In particular, the transfer transition is a foundational way that community colleges contribute to workforce preparation. Ryder and others highlight the increase in transfer to the baccalaureate from previously terminal associate in applied science (AAS) degrees, noting a "hidden transfer function of the AAS degree" (p. 1). Furthermore, Foote, Kranzow, and Hinkle highlight what is known about practices to promote the success of transfer students and provide specific recommendations to assist in the transfer process. Beyond alignment with bachelor's degree programs, the alignment of community college programs with workforce needs is a crucial strategy to promote workforce preparation. To this end, Neal discusses the ways that workforce education programs engage with advisory committees to create mutual understanding and improve the quality of community college workforce programs.Throughout the book, several chapters address the needs and concerns of specific groups of students given community colleges' role in promoting equity and access in workforce preparation. Students living in rural areas can be underserved by the educational system, and Koricich highlights the many ways that community colleges play an important role in providing economic opportunities in rural communities. …