Getting to Know the Center:
Our Work--The Center and You!
If you are a Full-Time Post-Probationary faculty, you need to complete one TAP each year. 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 Teaching Action Plan (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. The Center recognizes 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!
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 Tuesday, 4/25 from 11am-1pm. To learn more about the Virtual F2F-Flexible Workshop, visit the Flexible Modality page on the Center's website, and email us to sign up. FQAS hours apply.
HyFlex Workshop Part A and Part B:
Are you considering teaching in the HyFlex modality in the future? The next HyFlex Workshop is scheduled from 4:30 to 8pm on Tuesday, 4/23 (Part A) in M201A or Blackboard Collaborate and on Tuesday, 5/2 (Part B) F2F Only in M201A. To learn more about the HyFlex Workshop, visit the Flexible Modality page on the Center's website, and email us sign up. FQAS hours apply.FQAS hours apply.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all around us, and it continues to show us new ways it can be used. Access to AI varies for all populations, and Higher Education and K-12 educational systems continue to learn more about the potential of AI and the instructional shifts that may occur as a result of the increased use of this technology.
Join Justin Nies, from the Advancing Leadership in Learning and Service program at Cardinal Stritch University and current Principal in the Kettle Moraine School District, who was recently featured in a CBS 58 segment on AI use by students. He will provide a 60-minute collaborative learning session addressing:
- How can we deepen our understanding of AI?
- How can AI nurture our intelligence?
- How can we leverage AI in our teaching and learning?
- How can we collectively dive into A.I. in our day-to-day practices?
The video and Google Slides are now available from this Lunch and Learn!
Collaboration Connection:
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.
The Faculty Academy for Linguistic Justice (formerly known as the Center for Cultural Wealth and Social Justice Academy) will host a Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, 4/19 from noon to 1pm. Come and listen to faculty members Tom Vollman, Anna Varley, and Traci Clark as they give an overview of the Faculty Academy and how you could potentially use this model in your own department to form a community of support to innovatively address curricular, instructional, and assessment practices for current issues in your discipline related to cultural wealth and social justice, in alignment with MATC’s mission, vision, and strategic plan.
Anna Varley and Traci Clark will also give elements from their presentation, “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Writing Instruction: Reclaiming Faculty Ownership of Professional Growth and Development to Foster a Sense of Student Belonging,” which was given at the International Society for the Advancement of Writing Research’s Writing Research Across Borders Conference that took place in Trondheim, Norway in February 2023. Come hear the exciting findings of their qualitative research study that addresses the application of DEIB Professional Development in the classroom and the sustaining and sustainable ecosystem of professional development model that created a community of support for faculty renewal, innovative instruction, timely and collegial feedback, curricular outcomes, assessment best practices, and student benefits and yields.
Join us (via Zoom) on Wednesday, April 19th from noon-1pm!
MATC’s strategic plan prioritizes a goal related to Growth Mindset. A Growth Mindset is the foundation for resilience and persistence. This online course, with Nancy S. Blair, PhD, Professor Emerita at Cardinal Stritch University, will describe what a Growth Mindset is (as compared to a Fixed Mindset), the effects a Growth Mindset has on the brain and learning, application of mindset to self, and finally strategies for developing a Growth Mindset classroom.
Session Three will focus on:
Reflection on experiments with self and students from previous NSCD sessions. How to continue and sustain your efforts to shift to growth mindsets for yourself and your students. What commitment are you willing to declare and sustain?
COS Reboot Workshop:
Are you a Developer for a Course Outcome Summary (COS) that needs to be reviewed and/or edited? The Curriculum Department is 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). Upon completion, the COS Reboot workshop qualifies for 2 FQAS hours in the Student Success/Teaching Excellence category.
Join us on Wednesday, 4/26 from 11am to 1pm.
Blackboard Ultra--Coming Soon to All Courses!
As you know, in Summer of 2023, the college will update all Blackboard sections to the ULTRA COURSE VIEW. All courses offered in Summer 2023 and in the future will be run as ULTRA COURSES, offering a streamlined user interface that provides a student-centered course experience with more efficient instructor workflows.
Attend the Online Learning Department's 1-hour workshops or register for the new training course ZERD-190 "Introduction to Blackboard Ultra" to learn about Ultra Course navigation, content design, communication tools, and the Gradebook. Support resources for faculty are available at the Blackboard Faculty Support Website for Ultra. See our Understanding the Changes Guide for an annotated example of the new course layout and tools. Faculty who will be teaching in Summer 2023 can get started with their transition to Ultra by reviewing the Ultra Migration Guide and contacting the Online Learning Department to request either Ultra Course Preview Mode in a past semester course or a Ultra Personal Master Shell. Ultra Course student support resources are now available at the Student Support Website; additional training for students will be provided through our Online Readiness Module and Student Blackboard Orientations starting in late April.
Keeping You Posted:
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 unique awards for U.S. citizens to teach, research, and conduct professional projects in more than 130 countries. Explore awards available in the 2024-25 competition. You can join the more than 400,000 Fulbrighters who have come away with enhanced skills, new connections and greater mutual understanding.
We encourage you to visit our website for application resources:
- Getting Started
- Application Guidance
- Open Awards in the 2024-25 Competition, searchable by discipline, country/region, etc.
- Webinar Schedule and Archive
- Office Hours, a great way to get your questions answered live by Fulbright staff
We look forward to receiving your application by our deadline of September 15, 2023. To receive program updates and application resources, connect with Fulbright. Know someone who could benefit from a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award? Refer a colleague!
Here’s to another year of global action, opportunity, connections — and creating a brighter future!
Friendly Reminders:
Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Visit
MATC’s next regularly scheduled visit from our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), is later this month. Our accreditation gives value to the credentials our students earn and helps ensure we can offer federal financial aid. MATC has been accredited by the HLC since 1959, and each planned HLC visit helps identify strengths and opportunities.
Specifically, the college submitted its self evaluation in March. This month, a team of visitors will join us in person to review the self-evaluation and to validate the information provided as it pertains to our academic programs, internal processes such as budgeting, learning assessments and services. The resulting findings will identify ways to maintain our commitment to continuous quality improvement.
Additional Professional Development Opportunities:
Leading Through the Challenges of a post Covid Work-Life World:
WTCS welcomes Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, a behavior scientist and burnout survivor. Dr. Kerr will share behavior science tools, evidence-based frameworks, and strategies to help communities become healthy.Dr. Kerr’s work helps leaders at every level of organizations move beyond the status quo to build the thriving, diverse workforce of the future. Previously a public health professor, Dr. Kerr works with leaders on training and peer learning collaboratives around transformational organization change.
Dr. Kerr will address the following questions: What leads to burnout? Why are people not thriving? How do solutions look different for individuals, teams and organizations? What strategies support colleagues who are dealing with burnout?
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!
Looking for previous issues of Center Connections?
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Milwaukee Area Technical College
The Center for Teaching Excellence
