Utilizing Open Journal Systems to Serve Texas Developmental Education Professionals
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The Journal of College Academic Support Programs (J-CASP) is an open-access journal that serves the fields of developmental education, learning support, and college readiness for the state of Texas. Because of support from Texas State University’s Doctoral Program in Developmental Education, the Texas Association for Developmental Education, and the Texas Chapter of the College Reading and Learning Association—as well as through Open Journal Systems (OJS) software and Texas Digital Library (TDL) hosting—the J-CASP is has emerged as a free and valuable resource for higher education practitioners throughout and beyond Texas, with no fees required from readers or authors. In the J-CASP’s inaugural year, 2018, the journal received approximately 1,500 views/downloads collectively of the Spring and Fall issues. While the journal publishes Feature Articles based on scholarly studies vetted through the double-masked peer-review process for empirical non-bias and concision, the J-CASP also publishes non-juried articles geared toward the practitioner experience, such as Promising Practices that relate to classroom success, and Exploratory Pieces that open conversations for future studies and issues that might be well-served to address in higher education. Furthermore, the Fall 2018 issue focused largely on corequisite course models, as House Bill 2223 required statewide implementation of corequisite literacy and math classes for students in developmental education at public institutions of higher education. From this issue of the J-CASP, two Feature Articles and two Promising Practices served as examples of how three universities and a community college accommodated this legislative mandate. This presentation will include the trajectory of the J-CASP, from its prenatal stages as a WordPress blog of published “promising practices” articles from Texas practitioners for an unrelated grant funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, through the steps taken to secure support, endorsement, and funding as well as the TDL/OJS publishing platform, to the building of an editorial staff and review board, to the dissemination of free scholarship to practitioners in higher education and anyone interested in college student success and retention. The presentation will also include information to attendees interested in publishing their scholarship, practices, and interests in the credible academic journal.