The Critical Moments Case Study Approach, if used with integrity in an institutional context, involves people who are mo
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS May 2, 2018 1:30pm – 5:00pm
CRITICAL MOMENTS: A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO CREATING EQUITABLE INSTITUTIONS The Critical Moments Case Study Approach, if used with integrity in an institutional context, involves people who are most affected by conditions of inequity. Critical moments are those times when systemically non-dominant members of the institution (students, faculty, staff, administrators) perceived that their differences set them apart and made them vulnerable to dropping out. Feeling silenced, misunderstood, or unable to negotiate articulately, they lived through these critical moments in isolation. Their experiences remain unavailable for personal and institutional learning. Critical Moments team members conduct interviews with students, faculty, staff and administrators who, although otherwise successful, describe a challenging event that almost led them to withdraw from the institution. Their stories can make those experiences available in ways that foster transformational change. This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to the seven stages of the Critical Moments Case Study Approach: forming a multicultural team within the institution, selecting people to be interviewed, interviewing and transcripting, analyzing interviews for generative themes, writing cases, teaching cases, and evaluating. Diane Gillespie,
[email protected] Debi Jenkins, Clark College,
[email protected]
WHAT IS ‘AUTHENTIC’ PROGRAM ASSESSMENT AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE? This workshop will re-examine the perennial issue of “program assessment” in the new era of “guided pathways,” challenging participants to explore in some depth a series of key questions, including: What is the rationale for doing program assessment? What does it mean to do “authentic” program assessment, and how, if at all, is that focus shifting as a result of guided pathways? What are the critical opportunities and challenges in implementing an “authentic” approach to program assessment? Through a series of focused discussions and institutional examples, participants will first consider the implications of these issues for their college-level assessment efforts. Next, they will address the ways in which classroom, program, and institutional assessment can and should connect in the context of a coherent overall approach to outcomes assessment at a college. Bill Moore, State Board for Community & Technical Colleges,
[email protected] Andrea Reid, Spokane Community College,
[email protected]
THE PLASTIC BRAIN: USING GROWTH MINDSET TO CHANGE YOUR MIND Growth mindset offers you and your students a shared language and tools to make a series of small but powerful shifts that create a learning environment of possibility, rather than limitations. Due to prior life experiences and some genetics, many of your students have a “fixed” mindset about their capacity to actually learn the material you teach—that is, they’ve made up their minds that they will fail. Because their mental maps create their practices as students, intentionally helping students to shift away from thoughts like, “I’ll never learn this” and towards “I haven’t learned this yet” can create an almost immediate and transformative impact on their ability to fully engage in the rigorous activities of your course. Science shows us that while the brain’s foundation is formed by age 8, it is possible, in adult life, for your students to not only change their minds, their new thoughts will literally reshape their brains in ways that increase their capacity for learning. Whether you are entirely new to the science and psychology underlying this theory, or you’ve been working with growth mindset for years, this workshop offers you a chance to learn about growth mindset practices in an entirely new way. Not only will you experience, hands-on, the hard science that supports this theory from positive psychology using “The Brain Architecture Game,” you’ll use your own mind as a lab. Because this session explicitly links your learning with the learning of your students, you will have the opportunity to intentionally shift from an area where you currently have a “fixed” mindset, and your new mental map will give you an opportunity to make shifts in your teaching processes that deeply impact student learning. Peg Balachowski, Everett Community College,
[email protected] Gregg Brazell, Pierce College,
[email protected] Melana Yanos, Seattle Central College,
[email protected]
THE ETHICS AND PRACTICES OF SELF-CARE As a busy practitioner who supports a variety of students and colleagues to achieve their goals, you don’t need to be told that good self-care is vital to your own personal and professional success. However, much of the advice floating around our institutions seems to come from a popular magazine, or be too generic to really be of practical use. During this workshop, facilitated by a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in health and industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology, you will learn research-based techniques and practices to nurture resilience and avoid burnout. After exploring how your brain functions in the grip of stress and how this informs your behavior, you will collaboratively identify indicators of well-being and burnout. Next, you’ll be challenged to identify the nexus (aka the sweet spot) of your capacity, ethical obligation, and self-care practices. Finally, after you create a personalized list of sustainable self-care behaviors, you will design your own 7 Day Challenge-- a week’s worth of self-care practices. Bevyn Rowland, Clark College,
[email protected] 