Hello again! In this issue, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) would like to highlight the atmosphere of meaningful professional development that we are creating. As teachers, we have a built in love of learning. Professional development can renew our sense of purpose and build a community of support, especially when we feel vulnerable as we ask ourselves hard questions about our career, our skill set, and our profession. 

 

CTE offers non-punitive support in a wide range of modalities--from traditional classes to virtual offerings, from one-on-one support to Faculty Learning Communities. We want you to feel supported and hope that you will get excited about the possibilities that meaningful professional development has to ffer. We are a team of your colleagues, and we welcome your feedback and input. If you have any ideas that you want to share, please let us know.

There will be two TAP workshop times that faculty are welcome to attend; the same information will be shared at both workshops, so please choose the time that is most convenient for you.

Tuesday, September 28th 6 - 7 pm
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86137215565?pwd=UlNBUGE1WE9SNkJvSUxlOVdDejdGUT09
Thursday, September 30th 12 - 1 pm
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87028050154?pwd=d2p0RDR3V3F3bHJJUllpWlB5Z1VZdz09
For call-in information for either Zoom meeting, please see the Teaching Action Plan (TAP) Workshop Zoom Meeting Info

Student-Centered Syllabus Design FLC

The Center for Teaching Excellence has started a Faculty Learning Community focused on student-centered syllabus design. The Student-Centered Syllabus Design FLC will focus on how to create a syllabus that supports student growth and success.  Rather than explaining penalties and policies, the syllabus can help students develop a relationship with their instructor and understand the ways in which the institution wants to support their success.  

The first meeting of the FLC will be the week of October 12.  After a two-week independent research period, participants will meet weekly for 2 hours until the week of December 6.  During those meetings participants will apply the principles of student-centered syllabus design to create a revised syllabus template for spring 2022 courses. If you are interested in participating in this important work, please contact CTE.

MATC Professional Development (ZERD) Courses 
It’s not too late to sign up for professional development courses! Many courses start in October. The list of Fall 2021 Professional Development (ZERD) courses can be found here. All ZERD courses are free to MATC instructors!

WTCS FQAS Competency Courses
If MATC’s ZERD courses do not fit your schedule, the WTCS System office also provides the previous FQAS Competency Courses during the transition to the new competencies. You can find more information and the full 2021-22 schedule at: https://mywtcs.wtcsystem.edu/educational-services/fqas/fqas-course-offerings/.  
All syllabi are available on the registration pages.
Assessment – October 4 – November 14 (w/ Nancy Woodward)
Course Design – October 4 – November 14 (w/ Therese Nemec)
Class size is limited to 24 students with a minimum of 15 students. Course fees are $125 per course.  Registration closes the Friday prior to the start of each course.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities:
One of the great things about working at MATC is access to a wide range of resources through the college’s networks and connections. Below are some links to upcoming Professional Development opportunities.
Webinars:
Achieving the Dream’s It Starts Here: Centering Our Student Success Agenda on Racial Equity : September 28, 2021, 12:00 p.m. CST
Achieving the Dream’s Understanding Prospective Students for Recruitment and Enrollment (In-Network webinar): October 5, 2021, 1:00 p.m. CST

Grant opportunities: The Center for International Education at UW-Milwaukee facilitates the use of federal NRC funds to support faculty and lecturers from the Wisconsin Technical College System in internationalizing curriculum. Grants of up to $1000 will be awarded to a single faculty/instructor or a group of faculty/instructors to develop a new course or enhance an existing course. Calls for proposals typically begin in September of the grant year. Interested instructors can learn more and submit an application via the following link:
https://uwm.edu/iwa/grant-funding/community-colleges/

Conferences and Institutes:

The Assessment Institute, hosted by IUPUI and usually held in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the oldest and largest higher education event in the United States focused on assessment and improvement.  In 2021, the Assessment Institute will once again offer a virtual conference and provide complimentary registration to members of the higher education community as our way of supporting colleagues facing travel restrictions and resource constraints associated with these challenging times.  To register for this free event, please go to: https://assessmentinstitute.iupui.edu

Equity in the College Classroom: Educating Ourselves as Educators is a free, online Professional Development conference for Wisconsin Faculty & Instructors.  There are two dates:

Friday, October 1:  Making a Difference as Educators

Friday, October 15:  Creating Community in the College Classroom

To register, please go to: https://uwmadison.eventsair.com/eicc21/ 

CTE Connections is designed to keep you informed, not only about CTE’s work, but also regarding other college-wide initiatives. We hope that the information below will help you to navigate the current updates from the college that directly impact faculty.

Stormer Connect Faculty Mentoring Sum Total Training will begin October 1, 2021:
Because faculty play a key role in student engagement, retention and satisfaction, a new program called Stormer Connect Faculty Mentoring will be available to students this fall.  With this in mind, faculty will have an opportunity to serve as a mentor should they be approached by a student, to acquire FQAS hours and fulfill TAP requirements. 

All full-time faculty are designated as mentors, and part-time faculty can choose to mentor as well.  Faculty can designate their availability using the feature in EAB Navigate.  Next steps, faculty will complete the Stormer Connect Faculty Mentoring Sum Total Training.  For more information, please visit Stormer Connect Faculty Mentoring webpage.

Do you know about the international OER movement?

Open education resources (OER) save students money, improve DEI, and increase retention. Learn more about this, the virtual OE Global Conference (Sept. 27 - Oct. 1), and the Wisconsin Technical College System OER Symposium (Oct. 29, still accepting proposals) in the MATC OER  Monthly Newsletter.

Career Essential Update:

In Spring 2021 a group of faculty was asked by the Assessment Department to look at the current state of Career Essentials rubrics and indicators. This team conducted a survey about the present implementation of Career Essentials, and looked at what works, what doesn't work, and what needs to be changed. 53 MATC programs participated! The results of the survey and team's discussion led to a proposal for changes in our Career Essentials requirements and process. 
In the recent Online News You Can Use newsletter from our Online Learning Department it was announced that, "Per the feedback from faculty and the faculty-driven Student Learning Assessment Task Force, MATC’s Career Essentials rubrics have been updated to reflect a 100% grading scale with a “Not Demonstrated” level. This change is intended to improve the consistency of scoring student performance with the rubric. To use a new rubric in your Career Essential Assessments, see these instructions. Only the rubrics have been updated; the overall Career Essentials Assessment setup process and procedure have not changed.”
In addition, the Student Learning Assessment task force proposed to change the number of required Career Essentials, as well as the process of collecting artifacts. This Fall the task force would like to meet with as many MATC faculty as possible to present the proposed changes and to gather faculty's feedback before finalizing them and reviewing/revising rubrics and indicators in the Spring 2022. The anticipated date for launching Career Essentials changes is Fall 2022 (the next academic year). Stay tuned for the invitations to attend these discussions later this semester.

Attendance Update
Last week, MATC announced an adjustment to the instructions for the Attendance Policy:
1. Please continue to take attendance in Self Service. If you have taken attendance in Blackboard, please manually transfer that information into Self Service. 
2. If a student enrolls late for a Present/Absent course - enter "Absent - excused" for them.
3. Update: ABE/ELL/ Adult HS are excluded from Attendance Based Withdrawal.
4. Update: For Online, Virtual, Hybid, Blended, and Hyflex courses -  attendance is required to be submitted by the end of the week (rather than 24 hours after a course).

If you need help, inputting attendance into Self-Service, please see Entering Present/Absent Attendance Hours in Self-Service for Faculty.

CTE’s mission is rooted in current best practices and pedagogical approaches. Each week we will provide information that is meant to be engaging, thought-provoking, and applicable to various classroom environments. Enjoy!

Milwaukee Area Technical College
The Center for Teaching Excellence

cte@matc.edu

CTE Website