I believe Professional Development and staying relevant on educational trends are important to my success as an instructor. As such, I make an effort to attend as many professional growth opportunities as my schedule allows. This includes programs offered by our local CTLE (Center for Teaching, Learning & Engagement), the District's MCLI (Maricopa Center for Learning & Innovation), and other local and national programs. This is not a comprehensive list and really only lists events in which I have participated in 2019(ish) forward.
CTLE Programs (Short List; Abbreviated Titles)
Using AI in Education (Sequence)
Navigating RSI (Regular & Substantive Interaction) in the Online Classroom (Spring 2024)
Canvas development - entire sequence
Developing Online Courses - Structuring courses and other improvement courses
Student Needs - DRS support, dealing with difficult situations, dealing with disruptive student behavior, etc.
Assessment - Keys to Assessment, Developing Student Learning Outcomes, Assessment Awareness Training, etc.
CTLE Days or Weeks of Learning sequences
Intro. to Accessibility
Metacognitive Approach to Reading Skills (Part 1)
THRIVE! (Preparing for Success in Higher Ed.)
Heart of Teaching (Day 2) - Reigniting the Love of Teaching
Go2Knowledge Webinar Platform - ongoing; series of webinars on assessment, teaching and learning, etc.
DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Trainings - GCC Peralta Equity Rubric Trainings 1 & 2 [Intro & Application]
Misc. Book Studies including The Spark of Learning, [more to come Summer 2022]
MCLI/District Programs (Short List; Abbreviated Titles)
Study of Brain Science & Application to Student Learning
Support Systems for Veteran's in the classroom ["GreenZone Basic Training"]
Arizona Assessment Conferences (multiple years)
Technology Conferences (multiple years)
MOSAIC - Understanding Diversity - Full six 4-hour course sequence (Spring 2023)
Local & National Programs
IUPUI Assessment Conference (Online Fall 2020 & Fall 2021) - Over 25 hours of training each year
Applying & Leading Assessment in Student Affairs]- 8 week asynchronous course [Course content developed and delivered by Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL) with proud partnership support from AEFIS Academy]
Peralta Equity Conference 2022 [Online Spring 2022] - 10+ hours of learning & application of DEI principles
Reimagine.
(GCC CTLE Special Program)
In Spring 2020, I began the semester as part of a cohort of faculty who are exploring how to best incorporate the college's HIPs (High-Impact Practices) into their own courses. The reimagine course materials allowed the cohort to read relevant educational research and ideas on their own time and apply the concepts within them during actively-engaging scheduled face-to-face meetings. The disruptions of COVID-19 to that semester and following semesters halted the program for that semester and I completed the program in Spring 2022. The information I learned in this course were EXTREMELY helpful in feeling confident about the bases for the changes I had to make to offer quality classes, even in the online environment (that was 100% new to me in Spring 2020).
A summary of this program follows:
What is the Reimagine Cohort?
The Reimagine project allows adjunct and residential faculty to re-envision their courses through a semester-based, 16-week cohort experience or an individual project. During the cohort experience, faculty explore various teaching methods, collaborate in small peer groups, and reflect on the teaching methods that best work for their discipline and personal teaching style. We will continue to explore these five teaching strategies:
Problem-Based Learning
Project-Based Learning
Community-Based Learning (including service-learning and experiential learning such as internships/clinicals)
Integrated Learning (Learning Communities, FOI instructional collaborations, shared assignments, etc.)
Flipping the Classroom