Session Info

ET Bld Rm 160

Introduction and Welcome: Dr. Williams, Odessa College President and Dr. Tramaine Anderson-Silvas, Odessa College Vice President for Instruction

Concurrent Sessions (Group 1)

ET Bld Rm 160

Cultivating Educator Agency:  The What and Why (Dr. Betty Krohn,  AVID Center)

Examine the power that an educator's agency has in fostering students who have student agency and the academic skills needed to meaningfully engage in the college classroom. Grounded in AVID's College and Career Readiness Framework, participants will reflect on their personal "why" they teach, define educator agency, and explore how exercising agency supports students to develop personal agency that empowers their ownership of learning. 

Wood Bld Rm 119

Advancing a Student-Centered Approach to Teaching and Learning (Dr. Trent Mohrbutter, AVID Program Specialist, Special Projects, LPPS)

This session focuses on student-centered instruction and how instructor assumptions, expectations, and relational capacity impact student academic success. This session is designed for educators who want to provide a brave and positive learning environment for all students, and intentionally create instructional practices to close opportunity gaps, increasing access and academic success for all students. 

Greg Williams Lecture Hall Rm 128  (C/E Building)

Empowering Rural Futures: A P-20 Edu-REACH Journey (Brittany Williams, Director of Strategic Partnerships)

Join us on a transformative journey as we delve into the heart of rural education and unveil the strategies that empower the future of our communities. In this session, titled "Empowering Rural Futures: A P-20 Edu-REACH Journey," Collegiate Edu-Nation will guide you through an immersive exploration of our comprehensive approach to education.

Discover how we seamlessly integrate AVID strategies, technological innovation, and the groundbreaking Edu-REACH initiative into our P-20 System Model. Learn firsthand about our commitment to nurturing talent within rural communities, ensuring that local, adult students have the opportunities to pursue degrees and certifications without the need for relocation.

Through captivating insights and real-world examples, we will showcase the tangible impact of our initiatives in breaking generational poverty, elevating student achievements, and fostering leadership within rural America. This session promises to be an engaging experience, featuring interactive discussions, case studies, and an opportunity for you to ask questions. 

Concurrent Sessions (Group 2)

Wood Bld Rm 119

Fostering Self-Regulation via AVID Strategies for Dual Enrollment and Young Adults (Dr. Lane Freeman, Director of Online Learning, NC Colleges and AVID Staff Developer) 

This presentation delves into fostering self-regulation among dual enrollment students and young adults in community colleges, which is crucial for academic and career success. It outlines the faculty’s role in developing these skills, identifying challenges, and providing AVID strategies for enhancing self-regulation, ensuring lifelong success and workforce readiness. 

Greg Williams Lecture Hall RM 128  (C/E Building)

Writing in the Margins with Large Language Models: ChatGPT and Social Annotation Practices in the History Classroom (Dr. Jeffrey Washburn, Assistant Professor of History, University of Texas Permian Basin)

The focus of this presentation is the use of AVID Writing in the Margins pedagogical practices – particularly the strategies of Clarify, Respond, and Question – to introduce students to the benefits, limits, and pitfalls of new Large Language Models (LLMs) in the history classroom. Over the past two semesters, I have introduced ChatGPT-generated summaries of assigned readings in survey and upper-level American history courses. With the social annotation platform Perusall, students then interacted directly with their assigned reading materials in conjunction with these ChatGPT-generated summaries to better understand the author’s arguments, question the goals of the assigned materials, and to better define key terms and sections of the text. As students gained new skills and knowledge in historical methodologies over the course of the semester, these summaries served almost as a punching bag- a safe environment where students confidently engaged with complicated topics and assessed what ChatGPT highlighted, what it missed, and what perspectives it prioritized within their assigned readings. 

This presentation also contributes to work by academics like Meredith Broussard and Safiya Umoja Noble that challenges the implicit biases within new algorithmic tools. Use of Perusall and AVID Writing in the Margins strategies created an opportunity for students to confront similar biases within the history classroom. Rather than shy away, this presentation illustrates how educators can demonstrate ways in which students can engage with LLMs in an ethical fashion that supplements rather than subverts the learning process.

 C/E Building RM 129

Organization of Thoughts, Time, and Materials *Students* (Kristi Gerdes, Southwest Texas Junior College, Amarillo College & AVID Consultant)

This session builds on what was introduced in the “Success Skills for College and Careers (Success Skills for Life)” by exploring how to organize thoughts, time, and materials for effective learning and retention of information.  This session will build on focused note-taking and collaborative study groups introduced in the Success Skills for College & Career (Success Skills for Life) and Focused Note-Taking for College & Career Success sessions. 

Lunch

Concurrent Sessions (Group 4)

ET Bld Rm 160

Using AI to promote Higher Order thinking (Allystair Jones, Odessa College Biology Faculty)

In a technology driven world our students need to learn how to use software to model everything from ecosystems to business application. Come join me as we use AI to write the code for software programs that will promote higher order thinking.  

Wood Bld Rm 119

Integrating Best Practices in Lesson Design  (Dr. Trent Mohrbutter, AVID Program Specialist, Special Projects, LPPS)

These sessions explore metacognition and how the WICOR strategies (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) can be integrated with intentional opportunities for reflection and connection in instructional design.  

Greg Williams Lecture Hall RM 128  (C/E Building)

A Work in Progress (Karen White, Professor of Mathematics, and Gale Brewer, Instructor of Mathematics, Amarillo College)

In our rapidly changing world, educators must be futurists.  We must work to all become critical and contextual thinkers and well as adaptive and innovative. Come join us for a highly interactive session which will blend various opportunities to integrate AI, technology, and AVID learning strategies in the classroom. Participants will learn practical AI resources and tools along with the importance of implementing an AI use policy to make expectations clear and guide students toward ethical use of AI. 

Concurrent Session (Group 5)

ET Bld Rm 160

Interpersonal Skills from College to Careers  (Dr. Betty Krohn, AVID Center)

Research tells us that social and interpersonal skill growth is important to student academic career success.   Come explore what this looks like in the classroom, and how to intentionally develop networking and teamwork skills that will transfer to the work environment.  

Wood Bld Rm 119

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: What does it mean for learning? (Dr. Sebahattin Gultekin, Professor of Criminal Justice)

Herzberg's two-factor theory has brought unique insights to various fields including management and leadership. It can be very essential for instructors as well. It is needed to have effective teaching/learning experience in classrooms. In this session we will discuss the theory and what it implies in terms of teaching and learning in classrooms. 

Greg Williams Lecture Hall RM 128  (C/E Building)

Drink from the Mystical Fountain of Active Learning (Dr. Dan Keast, Rochester Professor and Chair of Music, University of Texas Permian Basin)

In this session, Dr. Keast shares amazing examples for active learning in a virtual environment that could be adapted for various content areas. Session attendees will experience how these active learning strategies were deployed in the virtual classroom and then discuss how the examples could then be transformed for other disciplines to use. 

Globe Theatre

Closing Plenary Session
Transformative Tech in Higher Education: A Blend of AVID Strategies and Artificial Intelligence (Dr. Lane Freeman, Director of Online Learning, NC Colleges and AVID Staff Developer)

In this keynote session, Dr. Lane Freeman explores the revolutionary intersection of AVID High-Engagement strategies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education, with a focus on college faculty and staff. Emphasizing faculty efficiency and individualized instruction, the session blends AVID strategies such as KWLA, Socratic Seminars, Relational Capacity, Focused Note Taking, and Quickwrites with AI capabilities, such as Large Language Models (LLMs). There will be an emphasis on the role of metacognition in amplifying these strategies. Through real-world examples and interactive discussions, participants will gain the skills needed to synergize traditional AVID approaches with AI, unlocking unparalleled educational opportunities.