iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (4/4/2016)

Welcome to iDevelop, a weekly eNewsletter providing faculty with information about professional development opportunities at NSCC. The intent of this eNewsletter is to spotlight the various professional development events for faculty in one convenient location as well as share best practices, resources and tips related to the teaching practice. iDevelop is being brought to you by Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CTLA).  

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Do I Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication?
The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the spring semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets. The topic for the week of April 4th is How Do I Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication? The presentation is available Monday at 10:00am and is accessible through Sunday of that week. For information on accessing the presentation and supplemental materials, please view the Bulletin or the email version of iDevelop.

More information about this session (including description, topics, and learning goals) is available at
http://www.magnapubs.com/online/mentor/how-do-i-prepare-a-sotl-article-for-publication-3174-1.html. The complete spring schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2015/12/20-minute-mentor-online-faculty.html.

Other Professional Development Opportunities

• Paws For a Cause. A First Year Experience course is participating in a service-learning project where they are hosting a fundraiser for Operation Delta Dog, a local nonprofit whose mission is to rescue homeless dogs and train them to work as service dogs for veterans with PTSD and TBI. The event will be held on April 24th from 11-2 at Ipswich River Park in North Reading. There will be music, food, vendors, activities for kids and dogs, a raffle, etc. Please come and support a small group of 7 students in their undertaking of a tremendous task (and cross your fingers for good weather)! If you would like to donate but cannot make the event, there is a GoFundMe link: http://gofundme.com/hqtkdp38.
• Forum on Tolerance: Thinking Outside the Gender Box: Insights into Being Transgender. This year, the Forum on Tolerance will be April 14th and April 15th. The April 14th event will take place in the Lynn Gym from 6:15pm to 8:45pm and the April 15th event will take place in Danvers DS119 from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The Danvers event features training in how to be a good ally to the LGBTQ community and is designed to take up two classroom periods, so please bring your class. Each segment is aligned with the 50 minutes class period. The Lynn Event features, Alishia Ouellette, the First Massachusetts Firefighter to Transition while on the job, as well as our very own faculty, Tiffany Magnolia and Kara Kaufman, and NSCC student, Gianni Lara. Both events will have refreshments and resource tables!

Call for Mentors
Interested in supporting new part-time faculty during the Fall 2016 semester? The CTLA is collaborating with Lance Eaton in Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and Danielle Santos in Communications Skills to create a new mentoring program that will better acclimate new part-time faculty to NSCC. The program will be structured to offer discipline-specific mentoring, where new part-time faculty are matched with a mentor within their discipline. Mentors will receive college service for their participation.

Recommended meeting topics and schedule:

• Initial meeting: sharing of instructional materials, digital resources, and location of other key resources at NSCC (e.g., photocopiers and mail boxes).
• Week 1: General overview of Blackboard and sharing of ITD contact information. Sharing of syllabi.
• Week 2: Assignment/assessment design
• Week 3: Early Alerts 
• Week 4: Discussion of library resources and tutoring support
• Week 5: Mid-term Alerts
• Week 6: Discussion of registration for courses and student scholarships
• Week 7: Discussion of disability services, counseling, and classroom management
• Week 8–13: Two “open check-ins” for support
• Week 14: Final grades

The success of the program depends in large part on the mentor’s willingness to adapt, extend, and revise the above recommended schedule according to the needs of the faculty members. Please consider offering your experience to this important initiative. For more information, contact Chris Bednar.

Share your Teaching Strategies
Send an email with your teaching strategies, best practices, or resources to itd@northshore.edu and we will share them in the next few issues of iDevelop.

We hope you have enjoyed this weekly eNewsletter and would love your input. Please let us know if you have any feedback on the format, content, and resources or if there is anything else you would like to see in the eNewsletter.

Thank you,
Instructional Technology and Design and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment