Volume 2, Issue 5--Published: Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022

At the Center, we understand that no place impacts students more than the classroom. We also know that faculty are asked to do a lot to support our students. We do so because we love our students, and it shows! We use this to grow our capacity for being uncomfortable and to step into the spaces our students need us to go–whether that’s pushing ourselves to be innovative, encouraging ourselves and each other, or advocating for much needed change. All of us at the Center have classroom experience, so 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.  We have some good news to share in this issue–enjoy!

Congratulations Faculty–Your Hard Work is Paying Off for Our Students!  

Every two years, MATC directly surveys our students to get direct feedback on their experience at the college using the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). The 2022 SSI shows increases across all categories listed, especially in the use of technology and media in the classroom, practical experiences and applications, timely feedback on academic progress, quality instruction and fair and unbiased treatment of individuals.

 

MATC is not only above our previous indicators, but we exceed the national and peer-institution benchmarks as well. This is a direct result of the hard work you are putting in to create the educational experience that our students need and deserve–thank you!

Let’s Keep Up the Good Work--Friendly TAP Reminder!

The Teaching Action Plan (TAP) is designed to afford you the professional respect that you deserve. As you work to incorporate your goals into the classroom, we know the importance of an embedded growth mindset in successful professional development. The goals that you set at the beginning of the cycle may grow and adapt as you start to implement your newly acquired professional development skill set into the classroom. The 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.  At the Center, 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, so please do not hesitate to contact us!

Part-time faculty, if you attended MATC Day (or other Non-Student Contact Days), you are able to count up 10 hours towards your FQAS hours.  The suggested best practice is for you to keep track of your Professional Development activities by submitting your hours in SumTotal as you complete them throughout the cycle. For more information, please see the FQAS page on the Center’s website. Full-time Faculty should not submit these hours, as it is a requirement.

 

MATC 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 our offerings are free to MATC faculty and eligible for FQAS hours, so that you can plan and develop your own professional development goals and outcomes.  

 HyFlex Workshop (Parts A & B in 1 day)Workshop

Are you considering teaching in the HyFlex modality in the future? The next HyFlex Workshop is scheduled on November 4 (Part A & B in one day); 8:30am-3:30pm. To learn more about the HyFlex Workshop, visit the Flexible Modality page on The Center's website. FQAS hours apply. Email to sign up!

Faculty, Developers, Department Chairs, and Instructional Chairs involved in the COS development process are highly encouraged to attend this workshop within the next two months. Workshops have been scheduled during a wide variety of days and times each week, and faculty can attend virtually or in-person at the Milwaukee campus, to allow for faculty teaching schedules. Upon completion, the COS Reboot workshop qualifies for 2 FQAS hours in the Student Success/Teaching Excellence category.

Upcoming Yuja and SmarterProctoring Workshops

Yuja is MATC's video creation and editing tool. It allows users to create video within the software, or import videos. There's a quiz feature to embed questions within your videos. Best of all, it will auto-caption videos saving you time and effort. SmarterProctoring allows you to proctor online exams to reduce the likelihood students may look up answers on exams when taking them through Blackboard at home.

Part of The Center’s core purpose is to help faculty navigate MATC initiatives from a faculty perspective. A lot of positive changes have occurred at the college, and we want you to not only feel like a part of the process but to also have a sense of accomplishment in knowing that your participation has a high impact on the success of our students.

Learn Pillar Integration Committee Update

A big thank you to the 72 volunteers who have raised their hands to be a part of LPIC’s 2022-2023 Work Teams. LPIC’s approach to student-centered shared governance is centering the work and participation of faculty. As the below graph shows, nearly 75% of the volunteers are faculty.

LPIC Work Teams are starting up, but it’s not too late to raise your hand! Volunteers received an email notification of their work team last week, and work team co-facilitators will be sending out Google Meet invites soon.  If you'd like more information, please see our presentation from this week’s Pillars Chat with the Exec VP. 

 

Tuesday, November 8th is election day! Encouraging Student Voice in Democracy–Raising Awareness through Classroom Engagement exercises and resources are still available! 

Education’s role in passing onto the next generation the importance of voting is an essential aspect of democracy. It’s not too late for  faculty to utilize classroom engagement exercises to promote  this embedded aspect of our profession’s ethos while appropriately navigating today’s current climate. Practical classroom applications that will enable you to be an active part of the college’s mission of transforming lives through the act of voting can be found in the resource repository that was created during Lisa Conley’s October Lunch and Learn. Many of your colleagues have generously shared their classroom exercises for you to use or adapt.

Priority registration starts next week for the Spring 2023 and Winter 2022-2023 

Students can get a jumpstart on registering by connecting with their advisor now to make a plan for next semester. Advising Student Support hours are available if you need additional help. Students can view the Winter 2022-23 and Spring 2023 class options through the Self-Service catalog. 

Important dates:

• Monday, November 7 – Priority Registration starts for current degree/diploma program students who are military veterans 
• Tuesday, November 8 – Priority Registration starts for all current degree/diploma program students
• Monday, November 14 – Open Registration starts for students who are military veterans
• Tuesday, November 15 – Open Registration starts for all students

When students register in advance, they set themselves up to succeed. Please consider using the Priority Registration Reminder Template to send students an email / post an announcement.  This can take 5 minutes or less if you use the email function in Blackboard or post an announcement!

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.

FAST Fund Launches 2022 GIVING TUESDAY Campaign! The FAST Fund helps students when they most need it. Last school year, the FAST Fund helped 765 students with almost $220,000 in aid. As COVID relief funds dwindle, our students continue to struggle. Please consider contributing to the FAST Fund 2022 Giving Tuesday Campaign. The official day of giving is on November 29th, but the FAST Fund is launching their campaign early with the hope that faculty and staff will consider helping our students on Giving Tuesday.

Part of The Center’s mission is to keep you informed about current best practices and pedagogical approaches. Each issue of Center 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 The Center's website.   Enjoy the rabbit hole!

"The enrollment drop is a byproduct of
a broader crisis in relevancy, says Karen A. Stout, CEO of Achieving the Dream, which supports a network of more than 300 community colleges to close achievement gaps. Stout says that broader skepticism about the value of a postsecondary degree is trickling down to community colleges."

Looking for previous issues of Center Connections?

Milwaukee Area Technical College
The Center for Teaching Excellence

cte@matc.edu