Breakout Sessions | Friday, October 7 | Session 1

High Impact Practices Workshop and Culturally Relevant HIPs | Zoom Link

Robin Schofield, Jo Ellen Becco, Lorraine Coke-Clark, Sylva Miller, and Bruce McCluggage, Pikes Peak State College; Abby Crew, Colorado Mountain College; Tanya Cook, Community College of Aurora; Desi Maxwell, Trinidad State College

Learn about High Impact Equity Practices and our professional development tool–The HIPs Workshop. You are probably closer than you think to designing a deeply engaging project for your students. As recipients of the CCCS Multi-Institutional Teaching Excellence Grant for 2022, we will report on our product, process, and lessons learned.

Associate Professor Robin Schofield has been teaching English for 25+ years in higher education and is currently the Director of High Impact Practices at Pikes Peak State College. Nationally recognized for her work in High Impact Practices, Robin Schofield serves on the organizing board for the national association for High Impact Practices, HIPs in the States, and has contributed to numerous national discussions about HIPs, to include a Leading Improvements in Higher Education podcast. Schofield was the keynote at IUPUI’s National Assessment Conference in 2020, where she spoke on High Impact Practices implementation and assessment.

Professor JoEllen Becco is an expert in High Impact Practices, with a passion for the teaching and learning process, and she has 20 years of higher education experience. Serving as the Director of High Impact Practices at Pikes Peak for the last five years has been a rich learning experience and the students and faculty of PPSC have benefited from the programming and opportunities. A few of the HIPs team’s accomplishments include the development of  a Service Learning program, Diversity Global Learning program, The Community Table (food pantry) , Undergraduate Research, and a Study Abroad program, and many others. Working with college leaders and strategic-planning to create opportunities for faculty to learn and implement quality HIPs has been an enriching and joyful experience.

Dr. Abby Crew is the Assistant Dean of Academic Planning, Assessment, and Improvement: Curriculum Review and Innovation at Colorado Mountain College. She also served as a Department Chair for Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Humanities for nine years while an adjunct instructor. She earned the distinguished honor of adjunct faculty of the year in 2021. She has an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Humanities from New York University.

Tanya Cook is a sociology professor at the Community College of Aurora. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2019, Cook was one of 26 community college faculty awarded a research grant from Mellon/ACLS to support sociological research on fandom. Her current project, Always Keep Nerd Fighting: Fandoms as Social Movements, investigates how and why fans are becoming more charitable and politically engaged. Cook’s forthcoming book, Fandom Acts of Kindness (January 2023), co-authored with Kaela Joseph, draws on this research to provide a guide for fans who want to engage in activism. Her research and writing interests include social movements, innovative pedagogy, sociological theory, and popular culture. When she’s not trying to find new ways to use popular culture and fandom to democratize the classroom, you can probably find her at comic con.

Raine Coke-Clark has a B.S. in English, a M.Ed. in Adult Education and a M.Ed in Educating the Diverse Learner. She is Advanced Academic Achievement Faculty, and the AAA Assessment Lead at Pikes Peak State College. With a focus on equity in education, and Diversity Global Learning Raine is also the part of the Higher Impact Learning (HIPs) team and the Cultural Relevancy lead.

Professor Sylva Miller has taught English Composition at Pikes Peak State College for 20 years. Currently she is on the college’s HIPs leadership team with a focus on Writing Intensive Courses and Undergraduate Research. Sylva has created engaging classroom experiences including sustainability-themed courses, collaborative projects, and opportunities for students to publish their work in the college student newspaper.

Bruce McCluggage has taught philosophy courses for 17 years at Pikes Peak State College, leading his students into out-of-classroom ventures including collaborative educational experiences with Art, History, English, PoliSci, and Communication classes to dive into Service-learning projects spanning the political, religious and cultural issues of the day. He motivates his students to ‘take over’ Open Mic nights at coffee venues to grab patrons’ attention to philosophical/ethical issues spanning from the current local political ballot to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and our moral obligation (or not) to support them, or to act out vaudeville renditions of a past philosopher’s take on the modern-day news cycle.

Desi Maxwell, is a lifelong resident of Trinidad Colorado and started working at TSC in 2005 as an adjunct developmental math instructor and tutor. Throughout his time there, he has progressed to being a full-time faculty member, assessment coordinator, and is currently the Division Chair over Arts and Humanities.

Building an Inclusive Teaching Mindset: Foundations for Equity | Zoom Link

Toni Nicholas, Amy Buckingham, Jenna Alzona, and Jodi Holzman, Red Rocks Community College

Faculty members from Red Rocks Community College will discuss how they used the Teaching Excellence Grant funds to create an Inclusive Teaching Council. As part of their work they developed an online training for all faculty and instructors in Spring 2022 and launched that training in summer 2022 with great success. Gain a blueprint for success in engaging faculty & instructors in equity work in ways that translate directly into the classroom.

Toni Nicholas is the Chair of the History Department at Red Rocks Community College where she is entering her 11th year as a faculty member. Toni has been invested in teaching “the other side of the story” since she began teaching and strives to create an inclusive and culturally relevant environment for all students in her courses. She creates student-centered environments where all students feel supported in the learning process and is passionate about creating equitable outcomes for all learner as is evident by her being voted the 2021-2022 Faculty of the Year by the students at Red Rocks.

Jodi Holzman (she/her) is an experienced full-time mathematics faculty at Red Rocks Community College and part-time instructor at CCCOnline. Passionate about equity-minded and inclusive teaching practices, she takes pride in designing humanized math classes for students who have historically struggled with math. As a math teacher, her goals include creating welcoming, inclusive environments where mistakes are valued and learning is collaborative. Jodi has been recognized by her students for her commitment to student-centered teaching and leadership, and includes being voted the Faculty of the Year by students in 2018-19. 

Amy Buckingham (She/Her) is the psychology and social work department chair and full-time faculty member entering her 13th year at Red Rocks Community College. With a Master of Counseling degree from the University of Denver, she welcomes teaching psychology to people of diverse backgrounds, working and listening to others with empathy, while creating relationships both in and out of the classroom. This foundation has led to participation and leadership in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion in college classrooms, with a focus on creating equitable learning environments in which all students are supported to succeed, regardless of age, background, gender, or belief system.

Jenna Alzona (she/her) is a full-time English faculty and adjunct coordinator at Red Rocks Community. Jenna has been focused on DEI work throughout her teaching career for six years teaching in San Diego before joining RRCC one year ago. In particular, she is passionate about how instructors can mentor and support student agency by reframing language to be more inclusive and equity-minded. Jenna believes that identity and introspection are at the center for creating transformative, institutional change to address social inequities.

Low-Cost, Affordable Courseware Solutions Designed to Fully Support Students and Faculty | Zoom Link

Paul Golisch, VP, Customer Experience, Lumen Learning

Come learn from the Lumen Learning Team about our evidence-based courseware for both qualitative and quantitative courses.

Designed by educators, Lumen’s Online Homework Manager (OHM) draws from thousands of interactive assessment questions to help students master math and other quantitative skills. Lumen’s Waymaker courseware (aka WM) provides personalized learning tools and resources to strengthen the student to faculty connection, all aimed at improving learning. WM is designed for qualitative subjects.

Both WM and OHM are mobile-friendly, focused on providing as much accessibility as possible, are low cost and integrate seamlessly intoLearning Management Systems.

Paul Golisch is the Vice President of Customer Experience for Lumen Learning, focused on helping institutions with affordable, effective, and well-supported adoption of low-cost, student-focused courseware. Prior to joining Lumen, Paul served in IT leadership positions for more than 20 years, with the last nine as a Dean and Chief Information Officer at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix. He also served as a tri-chair of the Maricopa Millions OER Project. He has presented at local, national, and international educational conferences on topics such as Open Educational Resources, Flipping the Classroom and Integrating Technology into Instruction. Golisch also taught community college math courses for five years using OHM both online and in person. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from Valparaiso University and an M. Ed. in Instructional Technology from National-Louis University in Evanston, IL. Paul lives in Phoenix, AZ.

Going SCI-Flex (Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) with Online Science Courses) | Zoom Link

Shannon McGurk and Carrie Blum, Carolina

Let’s talk about HyFlex Science Courses. Going Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) is a great choice, offering students the flexibility of attending class in person, synchronously online, or asynchronously online; and institutions the opportunity to increase enrollment, revenue, and the number of courses they can offer.

Shannon McGurk, Director

With Master’s degrees in both Biology and Education, Shannon joined Carolina Biological Supply Company in 2015 as the Director of Distance Learning with more than 15 years of higher education experience. She has been active in the online learning community for more than 10 years. Her experience includes curriculum development, instructional design, teaching, and compliance and accreditation.

Carrie Blum, Business Development Manager

After working with Carolina Biological Supply Company during her 18 years in public education, Carrie feels like her current role is a perfect fit. As a Business Development Manager on the Distance Learning team, she gets to use both her education and sales & marketing experience to build relationships and help educators find the right science materials for their courses.

Student Equity and Achievement (SEA) through Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Different not Deficient | Zoom Link

Kimberly Munro, Emily Litle, and Warren McClure, Otero College

UDL is traditionally viewed as serving those with disabilities; however, it addresses equity needs for all student populations. Research shows that engaged students typically improve their persistence rates and subject matter understanding. The goal of UDL is to remove learning barriers in the classroom and create equitable learning opportunities for all students: by implementing UDL we aim to create positive trends of persistence for our target groups. By creating responsive learning environments and inclusive learning, we reach students historically underserved by traditional pedagogy. This presentation is meant to introduce UDL to our CCCS colleagues and how we have implemented UDL teaching methods and updated classroom designs to provide tangible outcomes across disciplines. 

Dr. Kimberly Munro is a first generation graduate, the daughter of two South American immigrants. She earned a dual B.A. degree in Anthropology and Religious Studies in 2007 from Florida State University and also holds a M.S. in Geography (Geographic Information Sciences) from FSU. She received her PhD in Anthropology from Louisiana State University in 2018. Kimberly started at Otero College in August of 2018, and currently teaches Cultural Anthropology, and Anthropology of Religion, as well as co-directs the summer Archaeological Field Course, and oversees Undergraduate Research projects and Experiential Learning opportunities as part of the AIM Grant.

Emily Litle is a first-generation graduate from a farming family in west-central IL. She graduated with her M.A in English in 2012 and directly benefitted from the types of adaptive learning environments that UDL supports. She currently teaches English and Film courses at Otero and serves as the Arts Department Chair. Emily’s professional interests involve flexible teaching strategies which help students develop critical thinking skills as they navigate a media saturated world outside the classroom. UDL training has provided new perspective for Emily to consider innovative ways to serve disengaged students and increase their persistence in the classroom.

Warren McClure was raised Olney Springs, CO (SE Corner) and graduated from Crowley County High School.   After high school, he earned a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.  Warren then attended The University of Texas: Houston, where he earned a MS in integrative biology.  In 2000, he returned to CO and worked in Duchenne MD research. Thirteen years ago, Warren moved back to Southeast Colorado to teach at Otero College. Teaching became his passion during that time. Utilizing UDL to better serve students is his current area of interest.