Issue 14

Issue 14--Published: Wednesday, April 6th, 2022

Getting to Know the Center for Teaching Excellence:

No place impacts students more than the classroom. The Center recognizes that quality teaching requires space for self-reflection and adjustment as well as time to recharge and renew. At the Center, we understand how important it is for teachers to help and support each other as we work together to help our students become who they want to be. In April, we are reminded how growth springs to life from the gray areas. We hope you have a wonderful spring break and come back recharged and ready for the final push to the finish line!

Our Work--The Center and You!

Finishing Up Your TAP? Ready to Submit?

If you are a Full-Time Post-Probationary faculty, you need to complete one Teaching Action Plan (TAP) each year. To help you stay on target, your suggested timeline for Spring is:

List any additional actions you’ve taken towards your goals. If the actions are also FQAS activities then submit them into SumTotal as well.
Arrange for your final meeting with your Peer Coach, share your results and get written feedback and a signature from your Coach on your TAP form.
Save the completed form and submit it to SumTotal under “TAP: Teaching Action Plan.”
You are required to submit your completed form every year prior to June 30.

If you are a Part-Time Post-Probationary, Part-Time Probationary, or Full-Time Probationary faculty, you only need to complete one TAP each FQAS cycle. Please see The Center’s website for your suggested timeline.

The goals that you set at the beginning of the cycle may have grown and adapted as you started to implement your newly acquired professional development skills into the classroom. The redesigned TAP allows you to capture the full process of professional development from skills development and renewal to classroom application, so that you can reflect on what worked well, what didn’t work, what no longer works, and what could work with some adjustments. We recognize that effective teaching involves a quality review process that embraces all of these levels of self-reflection and feedback. The Center provides a safe and welcoming environment for you to receive support at any part of this process. For more information on creating, updating, or submitting your TAP, please see our website or feel free to contact us. We’re here to help!

CTE Sponsored Universal Design for Learning Workshops

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based framework and way of approaching lesson design and delivery that proactively eliminates barriers to learning for all students. UDL is based on scientific insights into how humans learn; it identifies three main guidelines that provide inclusive education experiences and learning environments.

The final two professional development sessions with True North are coming up. Our facilitator will be Nichole North Hester, Ed. D., who has over 18 years of experience in education, as a teacher, instructional coach, and professional development creator. Each session is eligible for FQAS hours.

Session 3, Friday, 4/22/2022 12 - 1 pm

Cultivating Resourceful and Knowledgeable Learners: Understanding Representation in the UDL Framework–The What of Learning

Missed the earlier workshops? No problem!
You can get ready for the upcoming seminars by watching the session recordings.
Session 1: An Introduction to the Universal Design for Learning Framework
Session 2: Harnessing the Power of WHY: Understanding Engagement in the UDL Framework

Save the Date! Upcoming Universal Design for Learning sessions:

Session 4: Friday, 4/22/2022, Varying the HOW of Learning: Understanding Action and Expression in the UDL Framework

MATC Professional Development Opportunities:

CTE offers a wide-range of professional development courses in a variety of delivery modes and durations as part of our efforts to design meaningful professional development that provides just-in-time training opportunities for you to explore what you need when you need it. All of these courses are free to MATC faculty and eligible for FQAS hours, so that you can plan and develop your own professional development goals and outcomes.

The Center’s Virtual Lunch and Learn Series

"Activities and Assignments that Promote Critical Thinking"

BYOLunch and join us at CTE's Virtual Lunch and Learn on Monday, April 20th noon-1pm. The session will include a viewing of a 20-Minute Mentor Commons presentation followed by a guided discussion There is no deadline to register, so feel free to pop in when you are hungry! FQAS hours are available for this session (and each session in the Lunch and Learn series).

Feeling a little unsure of all the different course modalities MATC offers? The newly developed Modality Matrix provides the definitions of each course modality, including the newest modality called "Real Time." CTE has scheduled two Course Modality Information Sessions to take a deeper dive into each course modality. The sessions are for all faculty and staff who would like to learn more about each course modality. Topics will include attendance, technology, scheduling, training, etc., with a focus on quality course delivery for our students.
Join us for a Course Modality Information Session!
April 22, 2022, 1:30pm-2:30pm, Register on Zoom
May 6, 2022, 10am-11am, Register on Zoom

Upcoming Workshops and Events:

The DEI Committee’s Events Calendar has several opportunities for professional development posted for the remainder of the semester. For more information and links to register, please see the DEI Committee’s website.

HyFlex Workshop Update:
The April HyFlex Workshops are now full! If you are considering teaching in the new HyFlex modality in the future, the next HyFlex workshop is June 9, 8:30am-3:30pm at the Milwaukee campus in room M201A. More information can be found on the HyFlex Modality page on the CTE website. Please email John Futterer, CTE's Instructional Designer, to sign-up.

CTE Collaboration Connection:

Learn Pillar Integration Committee:

The Learn Pillar Integration Committee is continuing to make progress in our inaugural semester. Many of your colleagues are engaging in important work for the college on Work Teams that address: COS Process Review, Career Essentials, Course Modality, Bilingual Faculty Classroom Support/ Program Development, 21st Century Classroom, Cultural Competency in the Classroom, Professional Development (FQAS) .

The Course Modality Work Team met its goal to create a Modality Matrix in time for it to be used for Fall 2022 registration. This Modality Matrix will be useful for faculty to understand the different modalities that MATC offers, as well as for any MATC employee who assists or advises students in the registration process. A student-facing version of the Modality Matrix will be available a little later this term, including a webpage on MATC.edu. If you are interested in learning more about the Modality Matrix, please join CTE for a Course Modality Information Session (sign up information can be found above).

The Learn Pillar Integration Committee continues to identify opportunities for collaboration between the work teams–as well as other initiatives at the college, to create transparent processes to ensure a clear pathway to implementation, and to communicate our progress as we go. We’ll continue to keep you posted with our progress.

Collaborating with our peers is a wonderful experience! For more information, please view the Learn Pillar Integration Committee’s Website.

Achieving the Dream’s “2022 Operationalizing Equity, Social Justice, and Inclusion to Transform Teaching and Learning Webinar Series” and CTE's Chat with Colleagues Series

Designing Assessments through a Culturally Responsive Lens:

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 2:00pm - 3:00pm
This workshop will provide examples of successful innovative and digital assessment approaches that center students and allow for authentic and culturally responsive measurement of student learning.

Democratizing Learning Environments:

Wednesday, May 4, 2022 12:00pm - 2:00pm
In this webinar, participants will engage in dialogue and discourse with panelists as it relates to co-creating environments that support and humanize students’ academic experiences while affirming their strengths and potential in the classroom.

Registration is free--you can attend as few or as many sessions as you would like!

To make these webinars even more applicable, CTE will have follow-up sessions for each event. In a facilitated discussion, faculty will be encouraged to self-reflect after each webinar, to consider how they might apply the knowledge that was discussed, and to share out their responses, ideas, or questions that were generated based upon the webinar.

Chats with Colleagues: Designing Assessments through a Culturally Responsive Lens (New Date!)& Democratizing Learning Environments

Friday, May 6, 2022 · 12:00 – 1:00pm

Join Us!

Friendly Reminders:

Holistic Student Health and Wellness

Update of the Month: Help students find meaningful summer employment!

The MATC CareerHub assists students with all things related to career and employment. The MATC CareerHub offers students assistance with:

Discovering individual interests and how those relate to MATC programs and careers via career coaching appointments.
Exploring job and internship opportunities via our online career platform, Handshake.
Securing on-campus employment opportunities.
Evaluating prior experience, both work and academic experience, with the potential to earn college credit.
Career readiness activities such as resume reviews, mock interviews and job fairs.
Serving non-traditional occupation students to get more girls in STEM and Trades and more young men in Healthcare fields.

For more information visit the MATC CareerHub or call us at 414-297-6244. Students can register for directly for CareerHub events!

Thank you for your work in providing resources to students to improve their quality of life through meaningful employment while at MATC and for their future!

MATC’s PACE survey is open until Friday, April 15th:

The PACE survey is an opportunity for faculty to give honest and constructive feedback in the PACE Climate Survey for Community Colleges. This time, the PACE survey includes questions regarding the campus racial climate. Answers are completely confidential and will be released only as summaries in which no individual’s answers can be identified. Any variable with a response rate of less than seven respondents will be excluded from the data provided. Information such as IP addresses and email are not shared with the college, and text in the open-ended responses that name an individual or may reveal the respondent’s identity will be removed by the Belk Center, the external administrators of the survey. For more information about confidentiality, please see the PACE Survey FAQs page or contact research@matc.edu. The survey takes approximately 40 minutes to finish, but dedicating your time to completing this survey helps to provide the college with accurate measures and promotes data-informed decision making.

Keeping You Posted:

Our goal with CTE Connections is to keep you informed, not only about CTE’s work, but to help you navigate other college-wide initiatives that directly impact faculty.

Priority Registration Started on April 4th--Help Current Students Take Advantage of this Window!

Students can now view Summer and Fall 2022 class options in the Self-Service catalog. Check out these important dates for advising and registration:

Monday, April 4 – Priority Registration starts for current degree/diploma program students who are military veterans
Tuesday, April 5 – Priority Registration starts for all current degree/diploma program students
Monday, April 18 – Open Registration starts for students who are military veterans
Tuesday, April 19 – Open Registration starts for all students
Students should meet with an advisor to get ready to register. Students can connect with us in-person at any campus or go to matc.edu/gethelp.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities:

2022 WTCS Learning & Teaching Labs webinar series focused on Equity & Inclusion in the Classroom. The series will include keynote speakers, presentations from WTCS faculty and staff, and “Learning Labs” (an opportunity for facilitated discussions, college collaboration, and integrating strategies into practice).

Sessions will be held each Friday in April from 9:00 – 11:00am.
April 8: Creating Inclusive Syllabi
April 15: Strategies for Building Culturally Inclusive Learning Activities
April 22: Implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the Classroom
April 29: Equitable Assessments & Grading

For more information about the series, check out the new WTCS Learning & Teaching Labs site!

Webinars | Achieving the Dream

MATC’s partnership with Achieving the Dream (ATD) provides many opportunities for faculty to participate in outstanding professional development opportunities.

achievingthedream...

Spring 2022 Conference for Wisconsin Educators:
The UW System’s Office of Professional & Instructional Development Spring 2022 Conference for Wisconsin Educators: The Joys of Teaching and Learning is on Friday, April 22 and Friday, April 29. Gather with faculty, instructors, and lecturers from UW System’s 14 universities to share experiences, knowledge, and innovative teaching and learning practices.

More Details

Inspiration, Research, and Best Practices

Part of CTE’s mission is to keep you informed about current best practices and pedagogical approaches. Each issue of CTE Connections includes links that are meant to be engaging, thought-provoking, and applicable to various classroom environments. For information on MATC's free access to Magna Commons publications, please see CTE's website. Below are three resources to get you started. Enjoy the rabbit hole!