I receive the ACUE newsletter and often find interesting articles or links to talks. The email this week included a session entitled “Success for Every Student Through Effective Teaching” that is part of ACUE’s panel discussion from the California Community College Association for Occupational Education (CCCAOE) Conference. I watched it tonight after getting my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine!
Martha Bless, Mari Morris, and Hollie Fortkamp were all panelists and involved with ACUE. They started with a slide labeled Brain Warm-up. Fortkamp explained the Zoom annotation tools in Zoom and introduced an activity. I’ve seen this before at several workshops and the Lilly conference last year. Fortkamp did an excellent job describing the activity. The prompt was to draw something that makes you smile. I honestly expected chaos on the screen and was surprised by how organized it was. I wonder how many participants were on this webinar/panel? Fortkamp then requested volunteers to explain their drawings. Several participants shared about their suns and weather, pets, and spring! Fortkamp debriefed by explaining how this activity helps put participants in a headspace ready to learn and engage. Bless then talked about creating inclusive learning environments to support student success through teaching practices that support equity. They created a document entitled “Inclusive and Equitable Teaching: A Curriculum Crosswalk” that is available online through the link provided. Bless talked about providing opportunities to students with opportunities to interact and improve. The evaluation that ACUE uses is the “Connecting the Dots” evaluation framework that is a six-level evaluation procedure that includes faculty engagement all the way up to institutional outcomes. The full and micro-credential courses offered by ACUE include both face-to-face as well as online teaching courses. Taking the four micro-credentials is a goal I have for the next couple of years. This year I want to focus on the NC State DELTA Teaching Online Certificate to design a solid online component for a blended (intentionally!) BIT 295 Biotechnology and Sustainability course. However, I do want to continue developing as an educator and believe the ACUE framework would help me improve as a teacher. I am intimidated by the workload, yet feel I can do it (maybe not this year!) soon.
Bless, Fortkamp, and Morris discussed the impact of the courses on their teaching. I liked how they talked about the evidence-based strategies they learned and how they implemented, reflected, and discussed with their ACUE community. I like the cohort and facilitator model. Fortkamp mentioned how invigorating it was having colleagues to be honest and “there” to help during a pandemic. Interestingly, the facilitators (Morris, for example) talked about how they learned and felt like they were empowered to learn through the program. Morris used quotes from the courses to highlight the practices learned and implemented. I thought it was fascinating to hear how Morris and Fortkamp both stated several times phrases like “permission to learn” and “confidence to try” for both instructors and students! Fortkamp said modeling learning and inclusive practices is critical. During the session, they did several breakout room activities and ended with a Chatter Fall Exit ticket. I had not heard this! Chatter Fall is a technique that Carly has been using this semester with fantastic results. Participants respond to a prompt but do not hit enter until told. The prompt was displayed on the screen and then time was given to all attendees to think, type, and wait for a signal to hit enter. This does give everyone time to think and an opportunity to share and learn from others without having to speak over peers or wait to be called on, for example. Several examples of techniques and tools were shared. They mentioned an Inclusive Teaching Practices Toolkit available on the ACUE website that I have accessed a couple times and found useful tips. Morris and Fortkamp were very honest and also motivating to listen to: they both stated several times how the ACUE courses helped them be human, model learning, and feel confident being transparent with other educators and students.
