Faculty Leadership, Shared Governance, and Current Issues in Higher Education
Facilitated by CJ Dosch and David Hyde
This Community of Practice will cultivate faculty leadership skills while familiarizing participants with college structures and examining current issues in higher education. It supports the range of college core themes by providing participants with the skills and knowledge to engage with various higher educational issues while learning the processes particular to South Puget Sound Community College.
The CoP will address three primary areas:
Leadership skills development—Includes techniques and practices (facilitation, communication, research, using your voice, committee participation, starting campus initiatives, funding, etc.) for faculty to fully participate in and contribute to shared governance activities.
College organization—Explores and reviews college and inter-collegiate structures and processes including campus organization, strategic planning, collective bargaining, shared governance, faculty organizations, and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
Current issues—Examines “hot topics” in higher education practice and policy (DEI, federal policy, pathways, student financial aid, funding, etc.) Participants will examine multiple “sides” and stakeholders on these issues, with an emphasis on how faculty leadership can be applied to engage with these topics.
Who is it for: Any and all faculty who would like to be more involved in college governance, planning, and decision-making; would like to learn more about college structures, systems, and organization; would like to improve their leadership skills; or would like to discuss “hot topics” and current events in higher education practice and policy.
The CoP will meet 6 times over the year for an hour each time, near the beginning and end of each quarter.
As a textual resource for this CoP, we’ll seek to obtain a college library subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education for participant use.
Alternative Grading Strategies – AKA Ungrading
Facilitated by Heather Maye
This CoP will start out with learning alternative grading strategies and techniques, then will be guided by the group's interest in discussing, planning, and possibly implementing alternative grading in their own courses. Discussions will be around how alternative grading could work in a class, support on creating a plan, and how to implement alternative grading.
Yearlong, 5 to 6 meetings total, 1 – 2 meetings each quarter with in-person meetings for 1 – 2 hours each. Will meet at least 6 hours per year.
Art and STEM Integrated Assignments
Facilitated by John Schaub and Joe Batt
Get outside your comfort zone by collaborating on unique assignments with someone outside your discipline. Learn new and unexpected ways of connecting with students about your subject area....
Will be in-person, at least mostly, but can be flexible. Will meet at least twice quarterly for an hour equaling at least 6 hours per year.
Building Equitable Classrooms: Reading and Application Group
Facilitated by Patti Poblete
This CoP will be reading Diana Ma’s “Anti-Oppressive Universal Design for Teachers: Building Equitable Classrooms” and discussing ways to implement the ideas in the classroom. The idea behind Ma’s text is not to build a “one size fits all” pedagogy (which is impossible), but rather to structure the classroom to seek student input and tailor things in accessible but manageable ways. In the first half of the year, we will read and discuss the concepts of the book. In the second half of the year, we will attempt to implement small changes and discuss how things work out as they go.
Will have two one-hour meetings per quarter for a total of 6 hours per year. Meetings will be in-person with a hybrid option if needed.
Decolonial Ecologies: Pedagogies of Attunement and Reciprocity
Facilitated by Kathleen Byrd and Matt Ito
This Community of Practice is a continuation of last year’s reading and discussion of Daniel Heath Justice’s Why Indigenous Literatures Matter. In the thread of thinking ecologically, we invite participants to bring their own experiences, texts, ways of thinking, and ways of being to attune to the ever-shifting currents of our classrooms.
Teaching, like so many other practices that underscore our daily lives, is about building relationships. How do we build relationships with our students? How do we attune to their needs, their learning styles, their communities, their literacies? How might our classrooms be a space to invite and integrate these lived experiences, literacies, and knowledges? How might we practice reciprocity in lieu of these attunements—in the classroom and beyond?
In the scope of this Community of Practice, we will continue turning to relationality as understood by Justice and alongside other Indigenous scholars from the North American continent and the Pacific as a way to think through our own ecologies, as well as those brought into our classrooms. In doing so, we hope to empower fellow faculty members to visualize and work toward their own specific acts of care in their classrooms, communities, and beyond informed by the literacies and relationalities of our students.
Texts (or excerpts from texts) for consideration include but are not limited to: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Truth About Stories by Thomas King, As We Have Always Done by Leanne Simpson, The Seeds We Planted by Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, and Kaiāulu by Mehana Blaich Vaughan.
Meetings: In Person, 1-2x/quarter, 1-2hr/meeting (depending on member's schedules, availability, etc.). Will meet at least 6 hours per year.
Developing Trends in Generative A.I. in the Workforce
Facilitated by Jennifer Wortman and Ryer Banta
In this CoP we will review and discuss developing news surrounding generative A.I. with a specific focus on how it is being integrated into different industries and work environments. The intent of this ongoing conversation is to help us as instructors and facilitators be more strategic in how we incorporate AI in our classrooms to best prepare our students for life beyond SPSCC. There are required article reading before the meetings. Information sharing and collaboration between meeting times will take place in Teams. This is in direct support of the Strategic Plan Core Theme One of Student Achievement, Goal 3: increase job placement for workforce education students.
Will meet for 2 hours per quarter for a total of 6 hours per year. Meetings will be in-person with a hybrid option if needed.
Latest Research in STEM Pedagogy
Facilitated by James Chen
Focusing on current science pedagogy and open to all faculty interested in this conversation. Will include search and review of recent science-focused peer-reviewed educational literature and related media, with discussion of evidence promoting ongoing science educational and collaborative efforts.
Yearlong, 5 to 6 meetings total, in-person (virtual option only as needed). Will meet at least 6 hours per year.
Service Learning (SL) CoP
Facilitated by Sanjay Lanka and Parakh Hoon
The SL CoP aims to promote experiential service learning opportunities for both faculty and students at SPSCC through mutual engagement in teaching, learning, and service. Social justice is the guiding principle with a focus on real-world education for future community leaders strengthening SPSCC’s role as an engaged community member while providing our students an educational experience that integrates service, reflection, and academic learning.
One of the focus areas for the CoP is a discussion of existing and potential community partnerships including the identification of local organizations that would be good partners for existing courses and look at ways to establish mutually beneficial relationships with these organizations.
The focus in the first quarter will be on a discussion of these existing relationships with a focus on ways to incorporate these into existing classes at SPSCC. This reflection and assessment of existing community engagement is aimed to provide an opportunity for effective transparent evaluation of program impact with regards to social justice. One of the key outcomes of the CoP at this stage will be resource sharing and sharing of best practices.
In the second quarter, the CoP will focus on discussion of the program structure and curriculum for the participating faculty members looking at ways to integrate into the existing curriculum service-learning components. This will build on the existing community partnerships that we discussed in the 1st quarter and look for ways to integrate them better into existing courses.
In the final quarter, we will focus our discussion on interest in developing new service-learning specific courses. This will build on discussion of current student learning objectives and ways in which we can improve existing courses to develop our students as "Multicultural Community Builders". The goal of this process will be to update our courses to enable our students to acquire enhanced knowledge, skills, and attitudes for diverse society engagement that will foster a commitment to public and community service among our students.
The CoP will meet for one two-hour session each quarter, yearlong, in-person. Will meet at least 6 hours per year.
