Volume 2, Issue 4--Published: Wednesday, October 19th, 2022

Getting to Know the Center:

We hope everyone had a wonderful MATC Day yesterday! Reconnecting with our colleagues, finding inspiration, and broadening our capacity for growth and courageous conversations is what professional development is all about. A student-centered approach to professional development provides opportunities that are responsive to the needs of today’s students. At The Center, we are dedicated to the art and craft of quality teaching, so that our students continue to receive the quality classroom experience that they deserve. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to be able to do what you love and to do it well. If you are looking for opportunities to build meaningful professional development with your colleagues, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Our Work--The Center and You!

Racking up FQAS hours? Good for you! Did you know that you don’t have to wait to update your FQAS hours in Sum Total?  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. We hope you see this as a win-win; faculty are able to easily input and keep track of their hours, and CTE has a more manageable work flow from a more even distribution of submitted hours. 

The requirements for completion and length of the cycle are dependent on your probationary or non-probationary status. For more information, please see the FQAS page on the Center’s website.

 

MATC Professional Development Opportunities:

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.  

 

Lunch and Learn Video and Resources are Available!

Encouraging Student Voice in Democracy–Raising Awareness through Classroom Engagement

 

Education’s role in passing onto the next generation the importance of voting is an essential aspect of democracy. As we approach November, faculty may be wondering how to meet this embedded aspect of our profession’s ethos while appropriately navigating today’s current climate.

If you missed last week's Learn and Learn with  President of 212, Lisa Conley,  the video recording presentation is now available.  The repository of classroom engagement activities and other resources are also available. These are designed to help you be an active part of the college’s mission of transforming lives through the act of voting. 

COS Reboot Workshop
The Curriculum Department is now offering a Course Outcome Summary (COS) Reboot Workshop. This workshop is designed for COS Developers (those who create/edit COSs) who would like a refresher in learning the current requirements of a COS and the most efficient way to create/edit them. It is also designed for newly assigned developers. This workshop is scheduled so you can attend virtually (through Zoom) or in-person at the Center for Teaching Excellence (room M201 of the Downtown Campus).

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.

Virtual F2F-Flexible Workshop!
Are you considering teaching in the new Virtual F2F-Flexible course modality in the future? The next Virtual F2F-Flexible Workshop is scheduled on October 28; 10am-12pm. To learn more about the Virtual F2F-Flexible Workshop, visit the Flexible Modality page on The Center's website. FQAS hours apply. Email to sign up!
 

 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!

21st Century Level 3 Workshop (Part 1)
The next 21st Century Classroom Level 3 Cohort Workshop is coming up in November. In two interactive sessions (November 11 & 18, 10:30am-12pm), faculty will examine and discuss advanced-level best practices that can be implemented in your courses, regardless of modality. FQAS hours apply.

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.

Collaboration Connection:

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.

MATC Open Access Team are happy to welcome new facilitators Philip Kroner and James Melville, and congratulate our 16 OER grant recipients who will be listed in our upcoming newsletter located at our MATC OER website. We also congratulate MATC student Patrick Casper and MATC faculty Dr. Elaine Strachota and Dr. Krystia Nora who will be presenting at the Annual Wisconsin Open Education Symposium 2022 (registration is FREE). Dr. Thomas Kalluvila also recently presented at the international Open Education Conference 2022 (recordings will be available). To learn more about OER around the world, check out the new CCCOER Fall Webinar series.

Center for Cultural Wealth and Social Justice Academy
The 2022 Center for Cultural Wealth and Social Justice Academy works to integrate Culturally-Responsive Teaching (CRT) theories and high-impact, student-centered classroom, curriculum, and assessment practices in order to foster and facilitate the academic application of linguistic justice across the curriculum. The Academy performs a quality review of data and outcomes of this integration in regard to: completion, overall academic experience, retention, and an increased sense of belonging.  Contact Tom Vollman to learn more about ways to integrate Culturally Responsive Teaching in your classes!

Friendly Reminders:

Final Grades Due for 8-week Sections!

Final grades for the first 8-week submission are due on Saturday, 10/29. The ILP Integration/Submit Grades tool to submit midterm or final grades from Blackboard to Self-Service is unavailable until further notice. Faculty need to  submit final grades in Self-Service directly through these instructions to ensure that grades are submitted on time and with accuracy. When you hit submit, the grade becomes final and cannot be changed in Self Service. If you notice that a correction needs to be made after you submit final grades, you need to complete a change of grade form to make the update.

Student Engagement Best Practices for new 8 week courses:
 
Some students may not remember or realize that 8 week courses started this week. A best practice is to send a friendly reminder. This email template can be used to remind students of the start date and foster their engagement in the course. Please feel free to use as much or as little of the text as you would like.
 
Syllabus submission for courses is usually required within one week of the start date; for the 2nd 8 week session, this means your syllabus will most likely need to be submitted during the week of 10/25/21. For more specific information, please contact your  Academic and Career Pathway office. 

The Census date for 8 week sections is Wednesday,  November 9th, 2022. Please make sure to enter attendance for these sections throughout the semester, but especially before this date.

Quick Access to Student Support Resources available in Blackboard!

Locating Student Support Resources is only a click away within your course Blackboard shell. Simply click on the ‘Help & Support Resources’ link in your Blackboard course shell to assist students with immediate access to resources to:

  • Child Care Services (e.g., MATC’s Children’s Centers)
  • Community Housing Resources (e.g., WESTOWN Green, WI Home Energy Assistance)
  • Counseling and Psychological Services
  • Emergency Financial Assistance (e.g., Local 212 FAST Fund, Dreamkeepers)  
  • Food Resources (e.g., MATC Food Pantries, FoodShare)
  • Health Services (e.g., FastCare Clinics)
  • Transportation (e.g., weekly bus pass)

Please remind students of the availability of these resources; the list is updated in ‘real time’ to ensure our assistance sends students to the correct resource.

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.

Mi Salgado “Resemblance in Nature” 2022, Acrylic, spray paint, and ink on panel.

Join MATC for Gallery Night MKE!

At 6 p.m Friday, October 21, in the first floor “Create Gallery” of the M building, we will unveil the second round of community art installed on our Downtown Milwaukee Campus and welcome Dasha Kelly Hamilton, MATC's Cultural Wealth and Social Justice Chair, as she brings The SoapBox Project to the broader community. The project allows students, employees — and now community members — to listen, speak and share about their lived experiences as we continue to grow equity at one of the most diverse two-year colleges in the Midwest. MATC President Dr. Vicki J. Martin will open the event with her remarks.

Issuing a Referral in EAB Navigate:

Referrals provide staff and faculty with the ability to draw attention to students who might need additional touchpoints to be successful for a variety of reasons: Technology issues, attendance, failing course, referral to coaching, etc. Alerts prompt a referral to the Retention Coach care unit (and/or another department using the platform that can assist with alert reason). Once ‘Issue a Referral’ is selected on a student's profile page, staff/faculty will be prompted to select an alert reason (for every alert reason, a new case will be generated). They can also select a course if it is associated with the alert reason (optional). Staff & faculty can also add additional comments to the referral. There is no character limit to this field. Please refer to Report on Appointment: Best Practices for the “do’s & don’ts” of free text documentation. A video on how to ‘Issue an Alert’ is also available. 

5k Candy Cane Run/Walk activities -- Please Join Us!
Please join your colleagues on the MATC Team for the 5k Candy Can Run/Walk in Germantown on Saturday, November 12, 2022. Participants can choose from the 5k run/walk or Kids Jingle Bell Dash.  All activities begin at the Germantown Police Department Visitor Parking Lot (corner of Mequon Road and Western Avenue), Germantown, WI. Employees, family, and friends are welcome to join our team.  Strollers and dogs are welcome on the course! Registration is available at 5k Candy Cane Run/Walk registration. After logging in to RunSignUp, please choose your event from the ones indicated on the Registration page.  At the bottom of the page, at the question, 'Would you like to join or create a Group/Team?', click 'Yes' and choose 'Milwaukee Area Technical College' from the dropdown menu.
We look forward to your participation in this outstanding community event! Questions?? Please contact Judy Springer. 

Additional Professional Development Opportunities:

Call for Proposals - IMPACT Conference   Feb. 23-26, 2023

The IMPACT planning committee is inviting workshop proposals for the 2023 IMPACT Conference, which will be held in-person at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, February 23-26, 2023. The IMPACT Conference brings together college students, nonprofit professionals, campus administrators, faculty, and teams of service members to share experiences, stories, and resources in their work for social change. The annual conference provides an opportunity for attendees to gather and collaborate with one another with a focus on civic engagement, service-learning, community-based research, advocacy, and other forms of social action. Being a workshop presenter is a chance for you to share your knowledge and experience with attendees. This can be done by conveying effective strategies and practices, providing resources, sharing research and stories, and inspiring attendees to be agents of social change. For more information, including past workshop topics, and to submit a proposal, visit https://www.impactconference.org/workshops/

The final proposal submission deadline is Nov. 4, 2022 (11:59P CST). If you have questions, you may contact the IMPACT Workshops Committee at workshops@impactconference.com.

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Inspiration, Research, and Best Practices

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!

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