Mark your calendars! On Thursday, January 13 from 8:00AM-10:40AM colleagues will share High Impact Practices that are making a difference in their work with students. In these brief, 30-minute sessions, MCC employees will share what they are doing, describe the impact to teaching and learning, and invite feedback from peers. Virtual and in-person sessions will be available.
There is a body of research published by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) that offers a roadmap to evidence-based high impact practices that elevate academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, and a supportive campus environment. These practices include:
First-Year Seminars and Experiences
Common Intellectual Experiences
Learning Communities
Writing and Inquiry-Intensive Courses
Collaborative Assignemnts and Projects
Undergraduate Research
Diversity/Global Learning
Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
Internships
Capstone Courses and Projects
ePortfolios
Accelerated Developmental Education
Tutoring
Orientation
And, according to the AACU (2017):
Student participation in one or more of the 10 original HIPs is associated with a range of positive outcomes, especially for those historically underrepresented in postsecondary education.
HIPs are developmentally powerful because they require applied, hands-on, integrative, and often collaborative learning experiences.
Sadly, HIPs participation is inequitable, with first generation, transfer students, and African-American and Latino students least likely to have such experiences.
Among the challenges to institutionalizing HIPs are demonstrating the fiscal benefit of increased graduation rates, changing academic reward systems to support faculty and staff involvement in HIPs, and acknowledging HIPs in the institutional data system.
However, “simply offering and labeling an activity an HIP does not necessarily guarantee that students who participate in it will benefit in the ways much of the extant literature claims” (Inside Higher Ed, 2018). The quality, scale, and intensity by which we enact high impact practices at will have a significant impact on the student expreience and student outcomes which are quantified by our wildly important college goals.
To our teaching and learning community who have stuck with the online assessment process:
You may have had students in the past who purchased their own Chromebook in lieu of a traditional Windows PC Laptop or macOS laptop simply because of the cost savings when being told that online learning at MCC was a requirement due to the campus being shut down in March 2020. When it came time for them to take a high-stakes exam, you may have elected to use Respondus Lockdown Browser + Monitor in Canvas.
In the past, personally owned Chromebooks were not supported, so your students would have had to borrow a device that Respondus Lockdown Browser officially supported or come to campus to use a computer that was supported.
We are pleased to announce that after a relatively short beta testing period, that personally-owned Chromebooks are now natively supported for Respondus Lockdown Browser + Monitor. There is nothing you need to do to specifically enter the Chromebook setting in the Lockdown Browser Canvas interface. Chromebooks just work now. Hooray!
The MCC instance of WebEx is being consolidated to the District instance. What that means is the @MCC version will no longer be available after this semester. Most everyone is already in the Maricopa instance but if you are not, you will need to convert your log in to the @Maricopa log in and reschedule future (winter intersession or spring semester) so they are on the Maricopa instance. ALSO, its important to note, that if you have recordings on the @MCC instance you will need to download those to your computer. Beginning December 18 at 5:00 pm you will not be able to access them any longer.
Uncertain which one you are on? Open up your gmail or google calendar, click the WebEx icon on the right side of the screen and check the “Webex site” location – it should read: maricopa.webex.com and your account should be meid@maricopa.edu. If it does not say maricopa.webex.com and instead it says mesacc.webex.com you will need to change the site. To do that follow these instructions.
Now that Fall Semester 2020 is over, you may have some questions about how the Canvas Grade Book is organized. Importing assignments and adding new assignments ad hoc may have you and your students scratching their heads on what grade they are going to be awarded in their transcripts. Let the CTL experts show you how to organize everything for the optimal student experience. There will be a total of 4 sessions on these dates and times:
Monday Dec 7, 2020 at 10:30am Monday Dec 7, 2020 at 2:30pm
Wednesday Dec 9, 2020 at 10:30am Wednesday Dec 9, 2020 at 2:30pm
Hosted by James Bowles and Jeffrey Anderson
All sessions will be conducted via Webex via this link: https://maricopa.webex.com/meet/jbowles1. Just pick a session from those listed above and click on the Webex link to join.
Webex has introduced breakout rooms! This workshop will cover the basics of setting up breakout rooms, leveraging new features for hosting, and more! The first sessions will be held:
Tuesday, September 29, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Wednesday, September 30, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
See the CTL Calendar for meeting details and future sessions!
At MCC, the CTL and eLearning stand with #blacklives matter. We believe in a country that embraces diversity where everyone belongs. We reject racism in all its forms.
Are you teaching an online course this summer? Complete the eLearning at MCC Canvas course! This brief course will expose you to the MCC eLearning expectations, online syllabus requirements, communication strategies, and more! Apply new knowledge to your online teaching practice.
Help us reach our goal of 100% completion for summer instructors!
In spring 2020, many instructors transformed their instructional practice to emergency remote teaching. Well-planned online learning experiences are meaningfully different from courses offered online in response to a crisis or disaster. MCC will continue to expand online course offerings. All instructors teaching online or hybrid courses are invited to participate in this 2-part professional development series and plan or refine their courses.
Attend both sessions and schedule a 1:1 consultation with a CTL/eLearning designer to show how you are applying the online course templates to your practice. You may attend the sessions in person (virtually) or watch each recorded session.
Explore the CTL calendar for additional trainings.
Online Course Planning, Part 1
Each semester, instructors make decisions about their instructional practice. Course duration, modality, instructional materials, trends in the field, and more influence course planning. During this session, faculty will explore a three-pronged approach to course planning: What do you teach? Which instructional materials will you use? How will you evaluate student learning? These fundamental principles of course design should be applied to each new semester, especially when there is a change in the course modality (e.g. in person to online). Engage with a process to plan your summer online courses.
Effective online learning is relative to these seven dimensions: pacing, pedagogy, instructor role online, student role online, online communication synchrony, role of online assessments, and source of feedback. Leveraging tools in the college learning management system is also a key to success. During this session, faculty will explore a Canvas course template to inspire online course design. All participants will have access to use and adapt the template to their summer online course design.
Live Online Sessions: Most Wednesdays and Thursdays
