Innovation Connections is a monthly newsletter that features Instructional Innovation Division updates and college-wide innovation and collaboration. Contact Luann Crosby, Director of Library Services, if you wish to contribute to the content.

I was struggling with finding a topic for our May newsletter, until our librarians reminded me that this month is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time to celebrate AAPI communities’ historical and cultural influence. The theme for this year's AAPI Heritage Month is "Advancing Leaders Through Opportunities." The Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) defines opportunity as “a set of circumstances that make it possible to do something”, and it can be built, accessed, achieved, or given. The theme highlights the foundation of our great nation, and encourages us to continue to work towards equity and inclusion for all...  

The Early College team hosted the first Bi-Annual HS Partners’ Convocation Day on 4/12/23 at SCC. There were over 40 attendees including HS and NPC faculty and staff members. Overall, the team received positive feedback from attendees and plan to host another one in the fall. More details to come soon.

The next full team meeting is scheduled for 6/7/23, which includes various internal stakeholders who are focused on increasing communication, transparency, and consistency within the college community related to the department and the college's strategic plan. 

Currently, the team is finalizing the TALON course scheduling for next academic year with the Records and Registration Office and Arts and Sciences Division. The team is also working on summer and fall registration tasks in addition to pre-session course scheduling. 

Here are some other upcoming meetings, activities, and/or events for May that the Early College team plans to participate in – 

• Registration Day (in person at WMC) – 5/3/23 2-7 pm 

• Shonto Prep HS College Fair (in person) – 5/4/23 from 1 to 2:45 pm 

• Red Mesa HS and MVHS Visits (in person) – 5/10 to 5/11

• NPC Spring 2023 Commencement (in person at HHS) – 5/13 at 10 am 

• Various high school events/visits/tours in college service areas (on-going) including DualEnroll demos, where possible 

Note: The Early College team is currently looking for a full-time Early College Office Assistant. In addition, the team plans to fill the position by July 1st, if the search is successful. 

Thank you and enjoy the end of the spring semester! 

The May Library newsletter highlights a couple of the reading-related events in May. Get Caught Reading and celebrate Children's Book Week by reading a book with a child in your life to spark change for the future! Also, celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May with books from the NPC Library.

For library events, May 10 will be the last chance this semester to discuss whatever you are reading at the Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them book club. Upcoming activities for Discovery Nest will be Monday, June 5 and Monday, June 12. Click the links for details!

We are excited to elaborate further this month on Rocketbook tools.  Our hope is you will find them as amazing as we do and that you would find a way to start incorporating them into your classrooms.  In last month’s Newsletter we shared an instructor’s experience with using Rocketbook Beacons in their classroom and the benefits they felt had come out of using this device.  This month we thought it would be good to share a bit more information about Rocketbook and the different devices they have available to you and to your students.

The following are the different devices available from Rocketbook that can increase your connectivity with your students, and your co-workers.  We will start of with the Beacons since we mentioned them already and then move into the other devices created by Rocketbook.

           Beacons: this device is a game changer as your read in last month’s Newsletter.  The four reusable Beacons will shift your old whiteboards into the digital future because they turn it into a portable surface and integrate it with cloud services via the free Rocketbook app. The term whiteboard is used often when discussing the Beacons, but I have recently learned that any flat surface can be used.  Sharing documents can also be done, just place the Beacons around whatever you wish to share, scan it and share.  You get real-time collaboration and insight into how your students are doing.

           Cloud Cards: a new twist on an old tool, regardless of the purpose for the notecards preparing for a presentation or the ever-famous last-minute cramming for a test, these reusable cards are a game changer.  The Cloud Cards once scanned into the cloud can improve organization and even create a digital pop quiz.

           Notebooks: Rocketbook has a number of different styles of notebooks, not only do they continue to offer the digital cloud connection, but they are designed to support organization with classwork, and career depending on your need.  You might ask what is so unique about the notebooks here, well they are reusable, once the student or you the instructor has uploaded to the cloud the notebooks can be cleaned and are ready to be used again, so this will cut down on paper consumption.  

Planners: Just like the notebooks, there are also a number of different layouts for the planner created by Rocketbook.  They are also reusable as needed, so this could be the last planner you ever purchase.  They assist with organizing your daily life, lesson planning and such, but they again have a digital connection making it easy to save and share what you need.

We are so excited to share these wonderful devices/tools with you this month.  Rocketbook shares that with their products you can save money and trees and your time.  So why not give them a look and see if they can expand on what you already use every day.  Just in case you are thinking you might want to take that look here is the link to their webpage: (getrocketbook.com)

The Moodle course shells for Summer 2023 are available to assigned faculty.  Instructors who need assistance with Moodle or support with course design or instructional technology during the summer semester, should contact LaTonya or Andi in the ITCS Department.