Keynotes & Session Abstracts

Becoming a HIPster (High Impact Practitioner): Integrating AI with UDL Principles 

Weaver Shaw, UBC

In the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education, the fusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles offers unprecedented opportunities to become a High Impact Practitioner. This workshop is designed for post-secondary instructors across disciplines seeking practical, low-barrier strategies to integrate AI tools into their teaching practices, aligning with the core principles of UDL. Participants will be introduced to

the foundational concepts of UDL and how AI technologies can be harnessed to support diverse learning needs, including adaptations for representation, engagement, and expression. A critical focus will be on the ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI in education. This includes addressing: equity issues, biases in AI technologies, and safeguarding student privacy in digital learning environments. Through practical examples, instructors will explore accessible AI tools that enhance High Impact teaching practices while adhering to ethical standards. The workshop will conclude with actionable takeaways and a curated list of resources, enabling participants to immediately apply these insights to create more inclusive, effective, and ethically responsible learning experiences. By enhancing UDL principles with ethical AI use, educators can better navigate the complexities of digital-age teaching while exploring High Impact Practices of the future. 

Weaver Shaw, I am humbled and honoured for the opportunity to live and be on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. As a UDL (Universal Design for Learning) Faculty Fellow at UBC, I specialize in language and communication within STEM. My teaching and research interests include Universal Design for Learning, Ethical AI Educational Applications, Curriculum and Materials Design, Inclusion and Equity, Decolonizing the Curriculum.

I identify as: Teacher, Writer, Advocate, Indigenous Ally, AI Enthusiast, Mum, Volunteer, Vegan Foodie, Lover of Local Farms, Fair Wages, Pride, and Science (Fiction). 

Nursing theorist Collaboration: creating bonds with peers in other years utilizing mentorship, lived experience and opportunity to bring theory to practice

Shannon Shah, Candace Smalldon, Selkirk College

BSN students are introduced to Nursing Theories in 1st year. They again review the theorists and look at the application of theory in practice and build ethical, critical thinking skills in the 3rd year. Our High Impact Practice is bringing these two cohorts of BSN students together and have them work in peer relationships to better understand the theories and create assignments which are levelled to build knowledge and application. Senior BSN students select a new theorist and provide a sign up list with a brief over view for the year ones, creating the mentorship partners. The first year students explore the theorist in depth and build a poster about the theory.  The third years construct a script “Lets do Lunch”, exploring a current issue with two theorists and themselves. Students provide feedback, encouragement and share T&L skills. Senior students enjoy the role of peer mentor and take the responsibility seriously. First year nursing students are able to ask a variety of questions and bring happy memories with them as senior students.  Students create assignments and journal their experience. The enhanced connections for students in practice and future roles as nursing preceptors are a part of the HIP process. 

Shannon Lanctot-Shah RN_C, MSN, DHSc, PhD (c)

I have been an RN for many years, I have been at Selkirk since 2004 teaching across the BSN program. I

have always enjoyed the many aspects to quality course construction and building the skills to facilitate

learning associated with Teaching & Learning. Being able to share nursing knowledge and our

commitment to quality nursing care is an honour, seeing our Selkirk Graduates in the community sharing

their tremendous skill in a safe caring, holistic way is my greatest reward.

Candace Smalldon RN BSN

Since 2019, I've had the privilege of teaching in the BSN program at Selkirk College, where I contribute to

shaping the future of nursing. In the first-year nursing program, I serve as an instructor in practice, skills

lab, and theory. As a practicing nurse since 2006, I've worked in various acute care and community settings. I value the

importance of relational practice and fostering meaningful connections with both patients and students.

My goal is to instil confidence in our future nurses, empowering them to navigate the complexities of

healthcare with empathy and proficiency.

Student Panel on ePortfolios as a High Impact Practice
Tyler Ballam, Kristin Murrell, Selkirk College

E-portfolios have been identified by the AAC&U as a High Impact Practice, "ePortfolios enable students to electronically collect their work over time, reflect upon their personal and academic growth, and then share selected items with others, including professors, advisors, and potential employers." This session will be a panel of students from Selkirk College's Hospitality program. They will discuss  how building their  ePortfilios was a way to reflect on their two-year diploma.

Collaborative Assignments: The Hospitality Restaurant Case Study
Anna-Marie Rautenbach

Collaborative assignments are widely acknowledged as effective pedagogical tools to promote active learning and enhance students' engagement, critical thinking skills as well as providing a platform for interdisciplinary learning. By embracing collaboration, educators can empower students to become agile, creative, and entrepreneurial leaders in the ever-evolving world of food and hospitality. Effective implementation of collaborative assignments requires careful planning and assessment. Assignments should be aligned with course objectives, promote active participation, and provide opportunities for both formative and summative feedback. Through real-world projects such as designing pop-up restaurant concepts, creating menus, and developing a business plan, COTR Hospitality students gain practical insights and preparation for professional practice in the industry.

The Impact of International Micro-Experiences in Health Sciences’ Curricula

Shawna Ryan, Jenn Girven, College of the Rockies

College of the Rockies offers unique short-term global health programs in Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Kenya, and Andorra. These diverse, but more economically accessible, experiences build students’ intercultural and international skills within their disciplinary knowledge. Faculty engage in student-centered experiential learning to prepare “globalized” professionals, which enhances international learning. This session discusses how international experiences affect curricula and how international context and disciplinary subject matter reinforce each other in our teaching. We share how we situate students throughout the program year to maximize their study abroad experiences' learning potential.

Students leading Students in Community Outreach Practicum Experiences
Candice Estrela, Sarah McArthur, Stephanie Obara, Norma Sherret, College of the Rockies Faculty
Rob Tanner, Selkirk College Faculty
Ali Savinoff and Aman Sidhu, BSN Students, College of the Rockies

In Winter 2022, Year 3 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students at College of the Rockies and Selkirk College came together with their practicum instructors to develop a sustainable, student-led practicum experience. The learning framework reflects a community development process as Community and Societal Health is a focus of the sixth semester in the program. This presentation will provide an overview of the process, the partnerships and the evolution of a student-led, high impact, and sustainable community outreach practicum experience.

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement

Welcome from CCS Chancellor, Dr. Kevin Brockbank, and Provost, Dr. Lori Hunt.

Building a Peace Program: Infusing High Impact Practices into Higher Education Curriculum on a Budget
Angela Davis Wizner and Angela Smith, Spokane Community College

In this session, we will explore innovative strategies to enrich higher education experiences. Specifically, we will delve into the core principles and practical methodologies of our Peace Studies Program, highlighting how it can be seamlessly integrated into diverse academic settings without imposing significant financial burdens. By infusing our Pillars of Peace into everyday curriculum, we empower students to grasp the complexities of peacebuilding and cultivate the skills necessary for constructive engagement in a globalized world.

Angela Davis Wizner, M.A., an educator and senior faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies at Spokane Community College, has authored several texts on Intercultural Communication and History and has established the Peace Program for the Community Colleges of Spokane (Peace Studies and the Peace Institute).

Angela Smith is a Communication Studies Instructor at Spokane Community College. She is dedicated to fostering empathy and understanding among students. Through high-impact teaching methods, Angela works to inspire students to cultivate self-worth, embrace diversity, and build meaningful connections cross-culturally. 

International Student Connections through Global Connect 

Majda Ritchie, Angela Smith, Christina Momono, Spokane Community College

Global Connect is an innovative program designed to foster intercultural communication among students. Through weekly discussions over a four-week period, domestic students are paired with international students, facilitating cultural exchange and understanding. Our research demonstrates that this immersive experience not only enhances communication skills but also cultivates a more global perspective. By engaging in meaningful dialogues with peers from diverse backgrounds, students develop a deeper appreciation for cultural differences and learn to navigate intercultural encounters with sensitivity and confidence. Join us in this session as we discuss our experience designing and incorporating Global Connect.

Majda Ritchie Global Education Manager at the community Colleges of Spokane. Passionate advocate of immigrant, refugee, and international student services. Deeply committed to fostering inclusive communities and supporting individuals through the challenges of relocation and cultural adjustment. With over 10 Years of background in Immigration and multicultural education, in her current role, Majda focuses on aiding international students as they navigate their academic journeys in a new country, offering guidance on cultural adaptation, academic success, and Navigating Cultural barriers.

Angela Smith is a Communication Studies Instructor at Spokane Community College. She is dedicated to fostering empathy and understanding among students. Through high-impact teaching methods, Angela works to inspire students to cultivate self-worth, embrace diversity, and build meaningful connections cross-culturally. 

Christina Mitma Momono has been teaching at the Community Colleges of Spokane, Green River College, and Gonzaga University for 20 years working with, undergraduate, and graduate students, international students,  immigrant, and refugee students. She is currently full time in the ABE ESL Division at Spokane Community College.  She loves to explore areas where communities can grow in cultural competence, passion and compassion. Her email is Christina.Momono@scc.spokane.edu.

Collaborative Assignments and Projects

Amy Anderson, Spokane Community College

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a simulated global exchange experience that utilizes technology to bridge the gap between classrooms worldwide. As a high-impact practice, COIL has many benefits for students, such as increased intercultural effectiveness and cultural humility. Furthermore, COIL can help foster creativity and critical thinking skills in students as they work on interdisciplinary projects with diverse student groups. This session will highlight a recent COIL project connecting students in the United States and Brazil. Using the Problem-Based Learning model, students worked to combat unkindness, hate, and a lack of inclusion by creating a global kindness campaign. Students used various communication strategies to spread kindness, in big and small ways, within their local and global communities. Ultimately, the goal was to create positive ripple effects that could improve well-being, strengthen communities, and promote a culture of compassion, empathy, and inclusion.

Dr. Amy Anderson teaches in the Communication Studies Department at Spokane Community College. She is also an advocate for improving equity, diversity, and inclusion in and out of higher education institutions.

Nontraditional Grading: High-Impact Practice of the Future

Angela Bonilla Rasmussen, Spokane Community College

This session shares out the purpose of nontraditional grading, along with its impact on faculty and students. There are so many different ways that instructors can assess student learning apart from high-stakes tests and papers, including ungrading, specifications grading, standards-based grading, portfolios, self- and peer-assessment, labor or contract grading, and many more. This session will not endorse any specific system; instead, it will discuss the shared principles behind nontraditional grading and how faculty part of a Washington state curriculum initiative reported out the changes to classrooms, their students, and their personal mindsets about grading. 

Angela Bonilla Rasmussen directs the Teaching and Learning Center at Spokane Community College. While educational development is her dream job, she also loves teaching English Literature, Composition, and College Success Courses. Her twenty-five year career at Spokane CC has included team teaching, designing interdisciplinary courses focused on race and gender, and incorporating pop culture into academic conversations.

Enhancing Student Learning through Undergraduate Research at Spokane Community College

Andy Buddington and Andy Schmidt, Spokane Community College

Student engagement in content heavy science courses can be a challenge, and one approach to powerful learning is using High-Impact Practices (HIPs).  Faculty in the Science Department at Spokane Community College utilize various HIPs both within and outside of the classroom to facilitate greater student learning.  Examples of HIPs that are used include robust opportunities to conduct traditional undergraduate research coupled with service learning in our Geology program and systematically directed undergraduate research within the Transfer Biology course series. Through these opportunities and projects, students develop tangible end products including posters, platform presentations, and community resources that not only advance their educational experience, but provide resources to the local Spokane community and information to the greater scientific community. 

Andy Buddington, M.S. is the Geology/Earth Science instructor at Spokane Community College. He began teaching at SCC in 1993 and does active research involving students in local and regional geology projects.

Dr. Andy Schmidt is an Anatomy & Physiology instructor at Spokane Community College.  He began teaching at SCC in 2009 and is an adjunct member of the Washington State University Center for Reproductive Biology.  Andy had participated in undergraduate research both in and outside of the classroom.

Writing-Intensive Precalculus

Jessica Hoppe, Spokane Falls Community College

Writing-Intensive courses encourage students to produce and revise various forms of writing. At Spokane Falls Community College Writing-Intensive courses require an emphasis on revision and for at least one-third of students’ grades to come from writing assignments. In this session I will describe how writing was integrated into a Writing-Intensive Precalculus course in alignment with Writing-Intensive course requirements. The structure of various writing-to-learn activities will be shared as well as course structure elements, including outcomes-based grading which helped emphasize revision and supported the one-third grading requirement. Successes and challenges with teaching a Writing-Intensive Precalculus course will be provided, as well as implications for instructors interested in teaching Writing-Intensive courses, particularly in STEM disciplines.

Dr. Jessica Hoppe is a mathematics instructor at Spokane Falls CC and recent graduate of the Math and Science Education PhD program at Washington State University. Jessica is a passionate life-long learner who strives to continually improve her teaching and the teaching of others by immersing herself in education research, supporting reflective practices, and engaging in professional conversations about teaching and learning. Jessica has infused student-centered teaching techniques in her practice, leveraging inquiry-based learning, outcomes-based assessment, principles of the universal design for learning, and understanding by design. Further she has designed, taught, and studied a Writing-Intensive Precalculus course utilizing writing-to-learn techniques.

Belonging, Succeeding, and Planning: The Advent and Impacts of a First-year Seminar Course at Spokane Falls Community College 

Jared Anthony, Eddy Cuisinier, Michele Moore, Craig Rickett, Spokane Falls Community College 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of faculty at SFCC designed a new course, Guidance 105, intended to be a central aspect of Guided Pathways implementation at the college. The collaborative effort led to a new degree requirement, a community of practice through which course instructors are supported, and the adoption of learning outcomes for a new faculty onboarding experience that are based on the Guidance 105 learning outcomes. Early data analysis indicates the course is functioning more or less as intended. The course continues to evolve, the community continues to thrive, and the new faculty continue to engage with this opportunity to teach something outside their disciplinary fields as members of a vibrant instructional cohort. A panel of instructors and community leaders will share highlights, lessons learned, and next steps, while also fielding questions from attendees to help them explore possibilities for related endeavors on their own campuses. Please join us for this discussion of how the design and implementation of a new first-year experience for students can end up being a rich and dynamic faculty professional development experience, as well.

Dr. Jared Anthony is an English professor at Spokane Falls Community College currently serving as the founding director of its teaching and learning center. He was a member of the course design team for Guidance 105 and now hosts the New Faculty Academy, which joins the Guidance 105 Community of Practice each Monday afternoon.

Eddy Cuisinier, M.A. is a French language professor at SFCC, Guidance 105 instructor, and incoming community of practice facilitator. He has been a major contributor to ongoing revisions of the course.

Dr. Michele Moore is an Astronomy professor at SFCC who also coordinates the Guidance 105 Community of Practice, the basic training course for Guidance 105 instructors, and the Advising 101 course that ensures faculty advising capacity grows apace with the advising pipeline function that Guidance 105 has evolved to fulfill.

Craig Rickett, M.A., is a Communication Arts professor and department chair at SFCC who also coordinates the Guidance 105 Community of Practice. He was a member of the course design and implementation team and continues to be a participatory leader within the Guidance 105 teaching cadre.