Volume 4, Issue 1, August 20, 2020
A weekly newsletter from the Office of Learning Design.
Our Mission
We champion excellent teaching and build connected community to promote meaningful learning.
New Furniture in the Center for Teaching and Learning
Two large blue chairs separated by a tan loveseat and a coffee table in the center.
New Furniture: Center for Teaching and Learning
New furniture has arrived for your Center for Teaching and Learning! This furniture will allow for a more relaxed area where faculty can interact.
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New Faculty Orientation
On Tuesday and Wednesday nights of last week, new faculty met in a virtual environment for orientation. Listed below are the new faculty for fall, 2020:

Jennifer Doyle (FT) CHM
Amber Lennon-Harmon (PT) PSY
Christin McMasters (PT) POL
Courtney Tomaselli (PT) ART
Emma Rogers (PT) ENG
Brodrick Johnson Jr (PT) LOG
Cynthia Grove (PT) COM
Julie Gunshenan (PT) COM
Corey Roman (FT) NUR
Serena Duncan (FT) NUR
Windy Nash (FT) COS

We extend a warm welcome to our new faculty!
Accessibility Immersion Activity
Students with low mobility may not be able to use a computer mouse. Instead, some students will use assistive technology that enables their keyboard to act as a mouse. Students will memorize and use shortcuts to navigate around the screen. For optimal usage, we recommend using the Google Chrome browser type. Below are some steps to introduce you to using the computer without your mouse. 

Note that your mouse will keep its full functionality even when Mouse Keys is turned on. Your challenge is to not use your mouse so to fully immerse yourself and begin to understand what it may be like to not have access to your mouse. 

  • In your computer’s search bar, search for: Ease of Access Keyboard Settings

  • Select the Mouse tab under the Interaction list on the left of the screen

  • Turn on Mouse Keys by clicking the toggle button

  • Select Left Ctrl + T on your keyboard at the same time. Your keyboard features two Ctrl keys located along the same row as the space bar. Left Ctrl refers to the key in the bottom corner on the left hand side and T refers to the T key on the traditional keyboard. This will bring up a new tab for you.


  • Navigate through our website only using the tab key. Select enter to view the links listed on the page.

  • If you are tabbing through a page and would like to return to the homepage, continue to tab until you land on the DCCC logo and select enter 

  • When you are finished, select at the same time Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Num Lock to turn off mouse keys. You will hear a beep once finished.Your keyboard features two Ctrl and two Alt keys located along the same row as the space bar. Left Ctrl refers to the key in the bottom corner on the left hand side and Left Alt refers to the key just left of the spacebar. 

  • If you find that your keyboard functions are not operating properly, you can manually turn off Mouse Keys by repeating steps 1 - 3 turning the toggle to OFF rather than ON. 


Questions can be addressed to either Kate Moss (katelin_moss@davidsonccc.edu) or Christie Bundy (christie_bundy@davidsonccc.edu) within the Office of Learning Design. 
Orientation Session Leaders Needed
Lead Orientation Sessions
The Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of Learning Design are looking for three veteran educators to assist with the orientation of new faculty. Our new faculty will be getting together three times this fall to discuss Felicia Darling's book Teachin' It: Breakout Moves that Break Down Barriers for Community College Students. For each session we would like to have a different faculty member lead the discussion. If this is of interest to you, please contact Julie Dillon or Nathanael Gough.
CTL Summer Institute
During the first week of August, the CTL held our first (of at least 5) Summer Institutes. This project stems from the Title III grant we received last year. The theme of this year’s Summer Institute was “Growth Mindset and Resilience.” We had 17 faculty members (listed below) from a variety of disciplines, both full-time and part-time. participate in the four-day virtual event. Additionally, we had 3 full-time faculty members (Lucas Bruff, Kendra Guffey, and Londa Pickett), who served as peer coaches facilitatating discussions during our breakout sessions and assisted our faculty participants during their designated work time.


We were pleased to bring David Katz, retired Executive Director of Organizational Development at Mohawk Valley Community College, to our Summer Institute. Mr. Katz, a national speaker on fostering a growth mindset and increasing self-efficacy, provided a dynamic first day. Dr. Ruanda Garth-McCullough, Associate Director for Teaching and Learning at Achieving the Dream, presented on Culturally Responsive Teaching and offered specific strategies for equitizing the syllabus. In addition to folks from outside the college, we were pleased to have several of DCCC’s own faculty members presenting. Debra Ford presented on how to build resilience; Kendra Guffey demonstrated how faculty can employ the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework; and Antonio Jordan and Londa Pickett let everyone in on the great work they are doing in the College Transition Center as a result of implementing growth mindset strategies.


The Summer Institute ended on Thursday with participating faculty members presenting some or all of the changes they made to an assignment or syllabus as a consequence of the information and discussions held earlier in the week. It was striking to see how quickly they internalized the information and were able to implement it seamlessly. This group of faculty will form a Faculty Learning Community, which will meet a few more times this fall to support each other as they continue the work of implementing the strategies featured in the Institute.


Participating faculty: Megan Bruff (Biology), Paul Campbell (Networking and Cyber Security), Mandy Christian (Psychology), Brie Elking (Biology), Chris Gage (EMS), Brittany Howell (Biology), Grant Joliff (English), Amanda Klinger (Math), Alan Newton (Biology), Leigh Ann Norris (Pharmacy Technology), Aaron Prillaman (Music), Stephanie Pruitt (Sociology), Danielle Richardson (Spanish), Cassandra Sanders (Communications), Melissa Souther (Transition English), Sylvia Waters (Communications), Katrena Wells (PE).
Book Club
Reading glasses in the foreground, a stack of books in the background.
Looking for Book Suggestions and People to Lead Discussions
Are you interested in a book club for Fall 2020? If so, please let either Nathanael Gough or Julie Dillon know. We are looking for members, faculty discussion leaders, and book titles. Please let us know soon so we can get things set up.
Resources
Got a great teaching idea, tip/trick or tool you use?
Please share it with us and we'll feature it in the newsletter!
Office of Learning Design staff members
The Office of Learning Design Team pictured above (from left to right): Dori Lloyd, Christie Bundy, Nathanael Gough, Kate Moss, Chad Skudlarick
We Want To Hear From You!
If you have ideas for our next issue, please contact anyone from our team.

  • Suggest faculty to spotlight
  • Share a favorite course design or teaching technique
  • Showcase a favorite instructional strategy/tool
Office of Learning Design, Located in Briggs 225