Center for Teaching and Learning
Spring 2016 Newsletter
SCC's Center for Teaching and Learning Mission
We are kicking off 2016 with a full calendar of events, from online sessions to in-person trainings, and as always we offer the resources and one-on-one consultations to meet your needs. We urge you to visit the training calendar, and select one or two events this semester to participate in.
Student Success
Recruitment and Retention
by Gia Taylor
There are many opportunities for faculty to participate in activities that drive enrollment. Here are just a few that the SEM Committee has developed for spring. The SCC Open House will include juniors and well as seniors this year. This is our big yield event for high school students and will be held on February 26. Departments have been asked to promote their programs to prospective students through workshops describing our academic programs.
As part of the SCC Completion Project, we can send dashboards to departments so that faculty can contact students who are close to completion. All too often, students are unaware that they are only a course or two away from earning their degree and sometimes an encouraging word can make a difference.
Engaging students in discussion of the value of a college degree, encouraging them to persist and meet with instructors before problems become insurmountable, utilize academic resources, meet with advisors to create an Education Plan, and participate in Service Learning are some of the ways in which faculty can help students develop a sense of purpose regarding their education.
We want to make a concerted effort to reach adult learners and are planning an information session in the evening just for them. This will likely resemble our previous open house format, but we want to focus on conversations with faculty about programs, certificates and career pathways. Please stay tuned as we develop this program for next fall.
Thank you for your willingness to assist in our enrollment efforts. It takes a village to recruit, retain and graduate an Artichoke!
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT: A NEW ONLINE REPOSITORY
Welcome back! Now that 2016 is upon us, we are ramping up the important work as we near the HLC Accreditation visit in January 2017. One of the main areas to focus on as we strive for reaffirmation of accreditation is the assessment of student learning.
Through collaborative efforts we have created a shared repository for assessments, which is open to all faculty and employees as a Canvas course that you can join at this link. The purpose of this repository is to become a sharing space for SCC faculty to showcase assessment best practices, as well as resources and discussion on what impact assessment can have on instruction. This type of repository is becoming increasingly common at colleges and universities nationwide. We invite you to join the course and see the wide array of tools already available for assessment, as well as exploring the ebooks, discussions, and true stories about using assessment toward learning goals.
The hope is that this can become an ongoing project for years to come, in which your input is welcome and encouraged.
Disability Resources and Services Moves to a Paperless Process
By Phyllis Jones
The Disability Resources and Services (DRS) offices district-wide are pleased to announce that a new and very comprehensive database system has been purchased for providing federally mandated accommodations to qualified DRS students. The system is fully compliant with ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation ACT and is accessible to all disabilities, making the DRS process district wide federally compliant.
The system is a move towards sustainability, a one DRS student account for a "One Maricopa" approach and will automate several processes for the DRS departments at all MCCCD campuses including:
· Instructor Notification Letters - letters to instructors that state student accommodations will be sent via email
· Instructors will have the option to upload tests and receive tests back via email through the database for students that are taking exams in the DRS office. Students taking their exam in the SCC Testing Center will still follow the same procedures for submitting exams.
· Note taking accommodations for students will be communicated via email and note-takers will sign up online and submit notes to DRS students via the new database system (Coming soon)
The system has just gone online and Instructor Notification Letters will now be emailed directly to the instructor from the DRS. Instructors are encouraged to contact the DRS office with any questions about the students accommodations, however, they are notrequired to verify the receipt of each email with the DRS office.
The DRS website (http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/student-life/disability-services) provides a step by step process for students to register and/or request services. If you have questions please direct them to the DRS Director, Phyllis Jones.
This is a very exciting time for the DRS office and for Maricopa as we work to bring compliant, sustainable, streamlined and quality services to our students and faculty. We look forward to working with all of you.
Online Support
UPDATE YOUR PROFILE AND FACULTY PAGE WITH THE ROSTER TOOL
Scottsdale Community College website has added to the Class Roster https://weba.scottsdalecc.edu/ClassRoster/ allowing your department's authorized administrator to update your bio, professional photo and syllabi. Once updated, your information will automatically update your faculty page on the scottsdalecc.edu website.
Here is a Using Roster Tool for Faculty Web Page guide with information on how to update with the roster tool.
For any questions, please contact the Institutional Advancement and Community Engagement Department (IACE): marketing-pr@scottsdalecc.edu.
Quality Matters News and Events
By Pat Serrano
What is Quality Matters? Quality Matters (QM) is a nationally recognized, research-based, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to acknowledge the quality of online/hybrid courses. The QM framework, implemented through a rubric, is about course design and making your course navigation and structure intuitive, so that students' questions will be more focused on the content of your course. QM recognized courses improve student learning outcomes, student success, and retention.
Congratulations to Mary O’Brien, CIS adjunct faculty, on the recent QM certification of her CIS120DB (Adobe Illustrator) class.
Are you interested in becoming more deeply involved in Quality Matters, perhaps as a Peer Reviewer? Attend the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric Workshop (APPQMR) on Friday, February 19th at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. This Quality Matters course is designed to help you prepare your course for QM certification and is a prerequisite for the QM Peer Reviewer Certification (PRC) Course. This in-depth workshop explains each of the QM Rubric Standards through interactive activities and assignments. Participants will complete the training with tools and ideas to design your course to meet QM and skills to become a QM peer reviewer. For more information, contact Pat Serrano at pat.serrano@scottsdalecc.edu.
Tech Tips
Artie's Awesome App - piktochart
Piktochart is a free, easy-to-use app that provides a platform for instructors and students to create content for digital learning. Using Piktochart, it is easy for you or your students to create infographics for visual storytelling, distilling and presenting data, and much more. Piktochart's editor helps you easily create graphics, from choosing background colors and images to inserting text and banners. It also includes pre-made graphics to enhance the visual impact of your chart. See below for a partial image of a student-created Piktochart.
Looking for ideas about how you might use Piktochart? Check out this blog entitled, "Infographics in Education" in which educators describe how they use infographics for everything from teacher training to presenting complex social issues to summarizing topics visually.
For more information on how to get started with Piktochart, check out this resource site.
Do you use an awesome app? If so, let us know at SCC-CTL@scottsdalecc.edu
Resources (click images below to learn more)
Services
- Workshops
- Individual training
- Troubleshooting
The CTL Team
Sarah Risi is the Learning Facilitator of the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Pat Serrano is the Quality Matters Project Manager.
Facilities and Tools Available
- The Technology Learning Center (IT110)
- Computers with Specialized Software
- The Audio Booth (IT116)
- iPad Classroom Cart
- Short-term iPad Checkout
- Livescribe Pens
- Personal Response Systems/Clickers
SCC's Center for Teaching & Learning
Email: SCC-CTL@scottsdalecc.edu
Website: www.scottsdalecc.edu
Location: Scottsdale Community College, East Chaparral Road, Scottsdale, AZ, United States
Phone: (480)423-6222
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScottsdaleccCTL