Your College Experience, Two-Year College Edition, by John N. Gardner and Betsy O. Barefoot

In spring 2011, the faculty at City Colleges of Chicago were looking for a college success text to use throughout their seven-college system. They chose Gardner's Your College Experience, Ninth Edition, and our team helped them come up with a plan to customize the book by adding helpful content specific to their school---a letter from the Chancellor, information about courses, financial aid, and careers, and tips to help students succeed. The Bedford custom team produced a handsome text for fall 2011, with plans to move forward with a deeper customization, as the school was undergoing curriculum changes. In the following year, when the school decided to switch to the new Two-Year College Edition, our editorial team worked with their administration and faculty to adapt the book for their changing course, which included adding profiles of City Colleges of Chicago students in place of those used in the national edition. Now, each year, we meet with their team in the fall, taking an active role in helping them revise and add content---in the most recent 2015 edition, overseeing the creation of a brand new chapter on transferring to a four-year college or university. The quality of the Gardner content helped us win, and our outstanding service helped us keep, this important adoption.

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Success by Design, by Gabby McCutchen and Erin Riney

The first edition of Success by Design was published in Fall 2103.  Authors Gabby McCutchen and Erin Riney developed this College Success textbook specifically for North Carolina Community College FYE, developmental and college success programs.  Gabby and Erin are both experienced ACA faculty with Durham Technical Community College in Durham, North Carolina.  Success by Design is in its 4th edition and is a classroom tested text that serves as an excellent alternative to generic college transfer or study skills books.  It features three comprehensive units devoted to goal discernment, learning strategies and college culture.  It contains North Carolina specific career and college planning tools and transfer information, including up-to-date information about the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement.  Success by Design has been adopted by over 30 NC Community Colleges.  There are customization options available of Success by Design for interested instructors.

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Connections, by Paul A. Gore, Wade Leuwerke, and A. J. Metz

An Eastern Michigan University Edition of Step by Step was first published in 2013 for the fall  UNIV 101L, Introduction to the University, skill-development course, and included an "Insider's Guide" of academic resources, as well as student objectives and assignments. Their attractive text, a shade of EMU green, also featured faces of the student community. Supplemental coverage in the custom, a collaboration between faculty and administration who worked closely with the Bedford/St. Martin's custom team, reinforced course goals to help first-time and transfer students develop skills necessary to study at the university level, navigate their financial and academic situations, and engage in a multicultural community. Eastern Michigan University continued using Step by Step through 2015, investing time each year to reassess objectives and update assignments. In 2016, however, impressed with Connections, and especially ACES, the powerful student self-assessment tool contained within LaunchPad for Connections, the school shifted to align their orientation course with a new custom text, and the Bedford team worked closely with the director of academic support programs in this transition. Thanks to the support of their sales representative team, UNIV 101L faculty and students now benefit from Macmillan media resources successfully integrated with their Canvas learning management system.

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Understanding Your College Experience Houston Community College

For Fall 2017, Houston Community College worked with Macmillan Learning Curriculum Solutions to create a customized version of Understanding Your College Experience by John Gardner and Betsy Barefoot.  This new text in the Gardner franchise is specially designed for students who need the most help transitioning to college.  It is has been crafted to to reach the widest range of students possible which suited Houston Community College's program.  To truly make the text even more most relevant for their school, HCC added specific resource information for their campus including maps.

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Your LSC Experience, by John N. Gardner and Betsy O. Barefoot

In spring 2013, Lone Star College was ready for a change to their student success courses. By listening and paying attention to the needs of the school, and by partnering with academic leadership to help build support for their program system-wide, the Bedford team found a solution in custom. In the fall of 2013 we published an attractive edition of Your College Experience, branded for Lone Star College, which included a personal letter addressed to students from the vice chancellor and a section of tips and tools for degree planning and academic advising. Using this customized course is central for faculty teaching and students striving for their "BEST START" at Lone Star, and the school revises annually. For each revision, our editorial team works closely with administration and faculty to adapt the core text and supplements, including our Insider's Guides to College Success, to their ever-changing course needs. Our goodwill and service, connecting administrators and instructors directly with our authors and cooperative sales, marketing, and editorial teams, has secured our strong relationship with the program, even through three administrative turnovers.

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Step by Step,by John N. Gardner and Betsy O. Barefoot

In December 2011, Saint Louis University joined the Bedford/St. Martin's custom family, with our editorial team working closely with the Director of Academic Support in the Student Success Center (SSC) to create a tailored version of Step by Step, then in its fourth national edition, for the following fall semester. Important to SSC faculty in building their customized course text were both the core values and beliefs of the Jesuit institution and the resources and opportunities available to students as members of the larger Saint Louis community. To make a robust tool of their text, to bolster a sense of belonging, and to facilitate student engagement in the community, the faculty opted for a thorough customization, including:

• two new opening chapters welcoming students to the University and exploring its mission
• supplementary materials covering specific chapter topics to further emphasize and explore ideals
• a glossary of language of diversity and inclusion and an accompanying self-assessment.

This cover-to-cover retooling of Step by Step also allowed for removal of content not taught by instructors in the program, so that students had a thoroughly customized text with exactly the materials and tools they need to succeed at Saint Louis U. Through two subsequent national editions and changes in administration of the Student Success Center at Saint Louis, the Bedford custom team has continued to work to ensure a successful book through careful attention and mindful conversations with faculty regarding specific classroom needs and institutional principles.

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