2023 – A New Beginning
This semester has brought a world of changes for me. I returned from a long maternity leave to begin my new role as full-time Faculty Instructional Designer, a position brand new to Cañada.
My goal for this first year is to get back into the swing of things while beginning to build this position into whatever we need it to be at Cañada. I’m focused on building up a culture of teaching and learning support at Cañada by offering instructional design support where I can in the form of regular workshops, consultations and creating resources.
Projects
Next Step Identification Form
When I started offering consultations, I started receiving requests from faculty for informal, general feedback on their courses. Faculty were interested in just getting feedback on what they were doing in their courses and their course design, so they could be clear on what they should work on next to improve their courses.
I created a ‘Next Step Identification Form’ to document the faculty member’s request and my feedback for them in a manageable and easy to follow format that they could reference whenever they found time to work on their courses. I hope to continue using this format and improving it to guide faculty as they work to improve their courses.
Course Equity Audit Checklist & Flex Session
I created the Course Equity Audit Checklist to serve as one comprehensive resource that we can use as a self-assessment tool for finding the equity areas in our courses that need our attention most.
I held a Flex Day Session introducing the guide to faculty, and we discussed strategies to address the elements of the Course Equity Audit Checklist. I’m planning to offer additional sessions to support faculty in doing Equity Audits on their courses. This resource my serve as a good preparation for bigger course improvement projects like QOTL 2, POCR and OER/ZTC Adoption.
Faculty Support
Consultations
This semester, I hosted around 15 consultations with faculty from a variety of disciplines including Math, ESL, Spanish, English, CBOT, and Astronomy.
- Consultation Topics have included:
- Alternative Grading Strategies, i.e., Contract Grading and Outcomes-Based Grading
- Course Design Feedback & Guidance
- Long-Term Leave Project Support
- Assessment Improvement Brainstorming
In the future, I’d like to increase the number of consultations that faculty are booking with me and have more clear guidance for faculty who are looking for Instructional Design Support, but aren’t sure what form of support they need.
Workshops
I offered a variety of workshops this semester in the Faculty Teaching & Learning Center and Lounge, as well as the new Instructional Technology & Design Center.
Common feedback that I received was that faculty enjoyed sessions that offered many small tips and best practices because they felt like they could always walk away with at least one tip that applied to them. Faculty also appreciated sessions where they could hear from other faculty about how they do things. For next semester, I’ll need to consider offering these types of sessions more often, and also some better dates and times to offer workshops.
AI Workshop Series
- 9/13: AI Listening Session
- 10/4: All About AI – Part One
- 10/11: All About AI – Part Two (Flex Day Session)
- 10/11: Course Equity Audits – A Simple Way to Find Easy Equity Fixes in Your Course (Flex Day Session)
- 11/14: AI Strategies Share Out
Instructional Design Workshops
- 9/12: 3 Simple Online Engagement Strategies
- 9/20 2pm-3pm: What is a Cañada Instructional Designer?
- 10/10 1pm-2:30pm: 5 Tips for Equitizing Grading & Communication
- 10/18 2pm-3:30pm: What Was Your Best First Day of Class?
Peer Online Course Review (POCR) – Accessibility Reviews
I completed two POCR Accessibility Reviews for COMM 110 and LING 200. I worked on these reviews alongside our Instructure Instructional Designer to learn how we are doing our accessibility reviews in our POCR process.
Faculty have been very receptive to review feedback and grateful that we now have the Instructional Designer position for support on aligning their courses with the rubric. Next semester, I’d like to offer an accessibility series that supports faculty in making their courses more aligned with Section D of the OEI Course Design Rubric before starting the POCR process.
Campus Service
Instructional Designer Survey & Presentation
My main priority when I started in this role was to take the time to hear from our faculty on what they needed and wanted from an Instructional Designer, knowing that many people on campus were unclear on what an Instructional Designer was and how it differed from our Instructional Technologist role.
I borrowed an Instructional Design presentation from my colleagues at Skyline and altered it to fit the information that I wanted to gather and to share with our faculty at Cañada. I brought the presentation to each of our division meetings, and hosted a workshop ‘What is a Cañada Instructional Designer?’ in the Faculty Teaching & Learning Center and Lounge. I found that while most faculty (72%) weren’t familiar with the role of an Instructional Designer, the majority (75%) felt the role could help them with their courses.
Survey Trends
Faculty were most interested in Instructional Design support around equity-minded practices, pedagogy/best practices, advanced course design, and accessibility standards.
The preferred methods for instructional design support included drop-in office hours, individual consultations, small group/department consultations, online resources, and asking questions via email.
Common challenges mentioned include increasing student engagement, aligning course content with learning outcomes, and making instructional content more accessible.
DEAC & Technology Committee
I supported the work of these committees this semester while the Instructional Technologist position was being filled. Our Fall 2023 work included:
- Updating committee bylaws for PBC approval
- Drafting our Strategic Plans
- Making recommendations to PBC for how to address students needs from our last Student Technology Survey
- Putting together clear guidance for faculty online teaching certification, re-certification and equivalency
We also began to test the idea of consolidating these committees to better align the work we’re doing on each of them and to ease the burden of committee representation on campus.
My Professional Development
Instructional Design Professionals Conference
August 2023
- 2-Day Virtual Conference with on-demand access to session recordings.
- Attended a variety of sessions on Systems Design, coaching in instructional design work, visual design and equity-minded course design.
Online Assessment & Equitable Grading @One Courses
October 2023
- Completed 2 @One Trainings: Assessment in Digital Learning and Equitable Grading Strategies.
- These are two areas that many faculty shared their interest in in the Instructional Design Survey.
Peer Online Course Review Reviewer Re-Certification
November 2023
- In my role, I’ll be completing the accessibility reviews in our POCR process, so I renewed my POCR certification.
- This semester, I’ve completed 2 POCR reviews.