Strengthen Student Community Building in Digital Spaces

As you reflect on this fall and prepare for another partially or fully remote semester, you may have found some successful strategies that have helped students build community online and others that have fallen flat. As students return after an unorthodox fall term, it will be more important than ever to strengthen online community building. Join us to learn how to build digital communities that foster meaningful engagement and connection in co-curricular spaces. In this hands-on training, our expert instructor will walk you through four principles for building community online — inclusivity, impact, intentionality, and interactivity — and teach you how to create, measure, and sustain your community throughout the year. You will leave with an individualized plan for your digital community regardless of the co-curricular initiative you are focused on.

Understanding and Interrupting Privileged Classroom Practices

Historically, classrooms in higher ed have been molded by implicit cultural norms such as competition, lecture, and perfectionism. When we investigate the hidden values and practices we have inherited, we discover how we can unintentionally contradict our students’ cultural identities and hinder their learning. By noticing, interrogating, and interrupting the patterns that have shaped both your own education and your pedagogy, you can take steps toward creating more equitable learning experiences. In this virtual workshop, Dr. Amer F. Ahmed will share strategies to create dynamic learning environments that elevate the strengths, identities, and values of historically oppressed students. He will draw from his own expertise in intercultural teaching and introduce Dr. Laura Rendón’s framework on “new agreements” for higher ed classrooms. He will share strategies for how to: Develop intercultural skills to navigate complexities in the classroom Investigate the unexamined norms that have shaped teaching and learning in higher ed Interrupt privileged practices and explore more equitable alternatives Intentionally create new norms for the classroom

Mitigating and Responding to Bias in Your Title IX Process

To ensure confidence in the fair and equitable grievance process, the new 2020 Title IX regulations require bias reduction training for all members of your Title IX team. Implicit bias is inevitable; we all have them. Even with awareness and regular training, bias may sneak into your process. What can you do to prevent it and how should you respond when it does present itself? Join us online to get tips and strategies from our expert faculty on how to recognize and mitigate bias during your grievance process. This training is designed to help you evaluate how bias shows up within your team and at various stages of your grievance process (e.g. during your line of questioning or when preparing reports), so that you can reduce the impact of bias in the final outcome of the case. Through discussions and scenario-based learning, you will identify ways you and your team can work together to encourage peer-to-peer accountability and reduce the impact of implicit bias during your Title IX process.

Preparing Doctoral Students for Careers in Academia and Beyond

Historically, institutions have worked to prepare doctoral students for careers in academia. As the higher education landscape has shifted in recent years, the number of PhD recipients has outpaced the number of available faculty positions in many sectors, resulting in a major increase in academic job seekers finding roles outside of the academe. To better serve doctoral students, graduate education leaders must strive to ensure that their offerings – curricular and co-curricular – support the development of skills that will serve PhD students in careers both inside and outside of the professoriate. Join us online as Dr. Karen P. DePauw, Vice President and Dean for Graduate Education at Virginia Tech, shares how the development and implementation of the Transformative Graduate Education (TGE) initiative has reshaped the graduate experience at her institution. You will learn how the TGE model prepares graduate students to become the next generation of scholars and career professionals in an ever-evolving global context through a variety of both scholarly and co-curricular programming. At Virginia Tech, this includes offerings around: Preparing Future Professoriate (PFP) Career Professional (PFPro) Teaching and Learning (Academy for Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence) Citizen Scholar Engagement Communication Science and Public Engagement Along the way, you […]

Working with Institutional Data for Student Retention

Instructor Bernadette JungblutAssoc. Provost for Accreditation, AcademicPlanning, and AssessmentCentral Washington University   Margot SaltonstallAssoc. Vice President for Enrollment Managementand Student Affairs, Northern Arizona University Course Highlights 2hr 30m of video instruction Downloadable resources Course Details Released 11/13/2020 Institutional Research (IR) data is a powerful tool for understanding attrition, planning programs, and predicting enrollment. Student affairs and enrollment professionals often yearn for access to data, but when they do have access, they may struggle with distilling the information they need, using data effectively, and working with IR departments to ask the right questions. After participating in this workshop, you will be able to: Define factors associated with retention Recognize patterns and correlations Communicate with IR teams to effectively examine data We Want to Hear From You! Please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey letting us know about your experience with this course.

Transitioning Leadership Annual Donors into Major Donors

To shift the mindset of a leadership annual donor into that of a major donor requires you to go beyond just knowing their capacity; you must also understand what the donor wants to see their gift accomplish, and how to align that specific desire with your institutional needs. This requires knowing how effective each component of your leadership giving program is and how to best manage and develop your leadership annual donors. Join us in this interactive virtual training to learn portfolio management and stewardship techniques to successfully transition leadership donors into major gift prospects. In this program, you will: Assess your leadership giving portfolio by evaluating the effectiveness of your donor strategies Identify high impact stewardship to build an authentic relationship with your leadership donors Practice productive donor conversations and key talking points, so you’re prepared for your next upgrade ask

Creating Agile Courses for an Uncertain Year

To plan for shifts in an uncertain year, many institutions are planning courses that are adaptable to online, hybrid, and face-to-face learning environments. Dr. Elizabeth Barrie from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has led an effort to pivot existing courses using Kaufman’s notion of agile learning. The agile model enables faculty to proactively design courses that are adaptable to any scenario. This model allows students to choose their own course path by using the combination of formats that works best for their lives, whether they are working full time, parenting, or pursuing double and triple majors. The framework gives students more control of their educational pace and experience while also allowing institutions to offer quality instruction and readiness for the unforeseen pivots like those we have experienced this year. Join us for a practical and interactive virtual workshop to learn how to prepare faculty to offer every course in face-to-face, hybrid, and online formats. In this two-hour workshop, you will: Learn the benefits of agile courses for the student, faculty, and institution Identify ideal courses for agile development by using a simple rubric Distinguish between HyFlex and agile course design Learn strategies and tips to develop and implement agile […]

Advocating for Yourself in Personal and Professional Relationships

Time and again we have heard the message that the impacts of working from home, homeschooling, childcare, and managing your new normal have created new areas of stress for women. Whether trying to juggle a full-time job with being a teacher to their children or finding that publishing and other career-advancement endeavors have fallen in priority, women in particular have felt the emotional, personal, and professional costs of the pandemic. Join us for this virtual training focused on how you can advocate for yourself in your personal and professional life.

Deans Summit: Maintaining Strategic Focus Through Financial Challenges

While higher ed is facing waning enrollments and funding paired with increasing expenses and demands, deans must lead the charge in making their colleges, schools, or units more financially viable while remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape. Deans who are best prepared to meet these demands are creating a culture of creative problem-solving, efficiency, and innovation, and we have partnered with three of them to provide a collaborative space where deans can come together and strategize around their toughest challenges. Join your peers in this four-hour summit to: Think creatively about sources of funding Align programs to market demand and workforce changes Better leverage your existing resources and stakeholders Find innovative opportunities for growth Create the conditions for a more sustainable future You will hear from leading experts and explore new approaches to the crises your school or unit is facing. Infused with small group sessions and solutions-focused brainstorming throughout, you will leave this virtual training with short term strategies to survive and long-term strategies to thrive.

An Intersectional Approach to Supporting Neurodiverse Learners Online

Neurodiverse students are often disadvantaged in the classroom by deficit thinking, a learned mindset that defines learners by their perceived problems and can limit the success of disabled students. For learners who have other marginalized aspects of their identities, disadvantages in the classroom are compounded, and the implicit biases we hold can unintentionally disempower them and curb their academic progress. Without special care and preparation, these hindrances are further exacerbated in an online learning environment. By approaching neurodiversity from an intersectional lens and implementing strength-based practices, we can begin to promote equity, inclusion, and diversity in the classroom. Join us online and hear from Dr. Gloria Niles, Director of Distance Education at the University of Hawai’i West O’ahu. With a background in neurology and special education, she will provide practices that will help you: