Getting to Know the Center for Teaching Excellence:
It’s that time of year again--the final push before the end of the semester, where the grading pile can seem insurmountable and the finish line can feel like a paradox; somehow it’s both far away and yet coming up more quickly than we can imagine. It’s a time when teachers commiserate with other teachers--because, really, who else understands what these weeks are like?
So the Center would like to offer a sense of hope and a reminder of how important and high impact your efforts are at this time of year for our students. Many of our students may feel like they have fallen down or may not even be aware of how close they are to completing. In the Friendly Reminders section below, we’ve included some quick email templates that you can choose to use or modify to connect with your students to encourage their completion. In a class of 20, helping one student cross the finish line is a 5% increase in completion; getting 2 students across is a 10% increase. Collectively, in our final push, we can make a huge difference for our students.
CTE is here to help you finish strong. Please don’t hesitate to contact us or stop by our downtown location in M201--our pep talks are free...and we are really good at them!
Our Work--CTE and You!
The Center for Teaching Excellence is leading work within the college to create a toolkit that faculty can use to create a student-centered syllabus. A small-scale implementation is planned for Spring 2022, with a full release in Fall 2022.In preparation for that work, please remember that, “Our syllabi have the potential to set the tone for our classes for the entire semester. They have the potential to excite our students—about the topics we will discover together during the course, with our teaching philosophies and practices, and about how they will learn and be able to do so by the end of the course. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true—our syllabi have the potential to overwhelm our students with legalistic detail and academic jargon. It’s enough to make them question why they enrolled in the class" (Saucier and Jones).
- A student-centered syllabus makes a great first impression on your students by communicating your teaching philosophy.
- A student-centered teaching philosophy includes supportive language and promotes confidence while engaging in rigor.
- A student-centered teaching philosophy :
- includes a student-centered tone by avoiding academic language/jargon;
- conveys high expectations while incorporating information about your support toward promoting confidence and success;
- describes high-impact pedagogical practices while articulating how you will meet them where they are at;
- exemplifies an overall tone advocating a meaningful learning experience versus a scary, unwelcoming, and punitive experience.
8-Week Course Conversion Workshops:
Have you been considering converting your 16-week course to an 8-week format, but don't know where to begin? CTE has two 8-Week Course Conversion Workshops (virtual) scheduled in January (5th-1pm-4pm & 13th-9am-12pm). More will be scheduled for February and throughout the Spring term.
The 8-Week Course Conversion Workshop will be provided by a team of Faculty Coaches and an Instructional Designer; it focuses on hands-on instruction and guidance to convert your course and prepare you to teach in an accelerated format. Helpful hint: In order to ensure a smooth transition, it is best if you collaborate with your Department/Lead Faculty in deciding which course you would like to convert prior to attending this workshop.
Also, CTE and the Curriculum department would like to clarify concern that the Course Outcome Summary (COS) needs to be "cut-down" or "shaved" in an accelerated course format. This is not true. The COS is used as a foundational tool to ensure all course competencies and learning objectives in an active COS are still taught and assessed in an accelerated format. Attend the workshop to learn how this is done!
Please contact John Futterer at futterja@matc.edu to sign-up.
TAP Reminder
The Teaching Action Plan (TAP) is a living document that provides guidance and direction for the professional development activities that you choose to participate in throughout your Faculty Quality Assurance System (FQAS) cycle. It is designed to help you organize your goals, identify a peer coach, and chart your progress. Think of the TAP as a framework to build your professional development structure, so you can meet your own goals for fostering student success.
All faculty use the same TAP form and upload it into SumTotal based upon their cycle. For more information, please refer to the FQAS page on the CTE website.
CTE Collaboration Connection:
The Learn Pillar Integration Committee needs your involvement!
We want you to be on the team! Do you like finding innovative solutions? Do you like working with a diverse and inclusive group of peers? Are you looking for inspiration and motivation within your role at the college? Then consider raising your hand to be a part of the Learn Pillar Integration team.
The Lean Pillar Integration Committee provides a structure for faculty involvement and collaborative decision-making across all Academic and Career Pathways within the college. The Committee performs this work by initiating and coordinating aspects of curriculum, instruction, and assessment using a collaborative and student-centered approach. The Committee seeks to increase the student-centered vision of the college; it focuses on the benefits of increased coordination and the direct impact on students; it models an updated concept of Shared Governance, so student-centered approaches and criteria guide each initiative and work team, it provides a diverse, equitable, and inclusive opportunity for front-line employees to give feedback based upon their direct interaction with students. All colleagues, with a special emphasis on the Learn Pillar, are invited to complete a brief survey of interest for consideration.
For more information, please view the Google Slides shared during the Learn Pillar Integration Committee Feedback sessions.
Teams will be formed in early 2022 so don’t delay in confirming your interest!
Student Assessment - Career Essentials (On behalf of the Student Learning Assessment Taskforce)
Dear Faculty,
The Student Learning Assessment Taskforce, comprised of faculty, was created to review the current Career Essentials process. A survey was sent out last semester requesting input from all faculty regarding their experiences with Career Essentials. From that survey, a proposal of improvements has been drafted and the taskforce would like your timely feedback on the suggested changes.
If you are interested in helping us improve the Career Essentials process, please complete the following brief survey by December 6, 2021. The new Career Essentials process is slated to be implemented college-wide in Fall 2022, and we would really like it to be faculty-driven!
We look forward to hearing from you.
The Student Learning Assessment Taskforce:
Yvette Ardis - Serve faculty; Dina Borysenko - STEM faculty; Lisa Hugdahl - Gen Ed faculty; Cynthia Steffen - Health faculty; Christopher Terry - MCT faculty; Marlena Ward Dodds - Business faculty; with significant contributions from Brian Mennenoh (Create faculty), Diane Jefferson (Gen Ed faculty), Erich Zeimantz (Director of Student Life), Megan Hamilton (Online Learning specialist), and now retired Glen Rogers (IR specialist). Special thank you to the Math department faculty, Dave Gebhard and Tom Gail, and the Director of Assessment, Jennifer Mikulay, for their feedback.
Friendly Reminders:
Supporting students for a strong finish:
We know how challenging this time of year can be, so CTE is providing the following email templates that you can use to connect with your students. The highlighted areas need to be modified to match the course’s requirements.
Example for smaller assignments:
Email Subject: Checking in...
Hello (insert student’s name here),
I just wanted to send a quick note to let you know that I am here to support a strong finish in our class! I noticed that you have been logging into the class, but you did not turn in your assignments last week. The weekly assignments are available until one week prior to close of the unit's major assignment. Please see the syllabus for the exact date as well as information on late work submissions.The finish line is just ahead--let's finish strong! As always, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Example for major assignments:
Email Subject: It's Not Too Late! You can still turn in(insert name of the assignment here)!
I just wanted to touch base with you to let you know that it is not too late to turn in (insert name of the assignment here); in order to be successful in the class, you will need to turn this in. Please contact me about this. The finish line is just ahead--let's finish strong! As always, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
MATC Professional Development Opportunities:
Looking for DEI Professional Development opportunities? The DEI Committee’s Calendar of Events is a great resource!
Additional Professional Development Opportunities:
MATC’s partnership with Achieving the Dream (ATD) provides many opportunities for faculty to participate in outstanding professional development opportunities.
- The Evolving Classroom: How Faculty Roles Have Altered through the Pandemic (webinar): January 25, 2022
- DREAM 2022 (virtual conference): February 14-17, 2022
- Lessons from the Best: Learning from the 2022 LMA Winner(s) (webinar): March 16
- Building a Culture of Teaching & Learning through High-Impact Professional Learning (webinar): March 29
Hosted by the System Office and the WTCS Student Success Center, the C3 Conference is an exciting opportunity for college leaders from across the System to present best practices, network, and expand collaborative efforts.
This two-day event (February 3, 2022—February 4, 2022 8:00 AM-3:00 PM) is open to any WTCS personnel (such as executive leadership, deans, program chairs, managers, directors, faculty and staff).
Focus: C3 will offer the opportunity to learn from your peers within the following areas of strategic importance to the System:
- Guided Career Pathways
- Actions in Equity and Inclusion
- What's new and exciting in our virtual world?
Keeping You Posted:
MATC Open Educational Resources
The first session of the OER Series was recorded and is now available for viewing. Please provide your valuable feedback before Dec. 17, 2021, and the OER Open Access Team will send you a certificate of participation. Also, check out the MATC OER November Newsletter for more OER news, events, and our first faculty feature. Save the date for MATC OER Fest on the non-student contact day, March 17, 2022.
Inspiration, Research, and Best Practices
Looking for previous issues of CTE Connections?
Milwaukee Area Technical College
The Center for Teaching Excellence
