Teaching, Learning, &

Global Engagement

Weekly News & Updates

February 22, 2024 | Volume 10 | Issue 24

By Kelly Young, Davie Academic and Student Life Advisor

I am originally from southwest Virginia but moved to North Carolina after college. I hold a bachelor's degree in history and master’s degree in higher education both from App State. I’ve worked in higher education for 15 years primarily at the community college level in various roles including as an academic coach with TRIO programs and as a sociology instructor. April 2024 will mark my one year anniversary at DDCC as the Academic and Student Life Advisor at the Davie campus.

Five Things to Know

1. Travel: One of my favorite trips was a visit to NYC with my best friends. Another favorite trip was a visit last year to Yellowstone National Park. 
2. Podcast: Buried Bones, a historical true crime podcast. This podcast examines historical true crime cases through a 21st century lens. 
3. Food: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern. Some favorites are falafel and stuffed grape leaves.
4. TV: The fourth season of the True Detective series, True Detective: Night Country
5. Joyful experience: This is an impossible question. There are many involving friends and family over the years, but my favorite experiences include my two best friends from childhood, my four favorite nieces, and some very special folks I met during my time in Boone.

Upcoming Events

• Setting the Stage for Student Group Autonomy in Online Classes - February 27 from 2:00-3:00 pm. Register through the Piedmont Hub
• Migration in the EU - February 27 from 11:00-noon at Davie Admin 110/111 or on Zoom
• World Wednesday - February 28 from 10:00-10:50 am on Zoom

By Grant Jolliff

The Piedmont Teaching and Learning Hub is considering hosting a series on ways to reach students of various population groups. For instance, some instructors struggle with reaching students who have ADHD, students who are under the age of 18, or students who are returning to school after a long gap in education. We are asking for your feedback. If the Hub does go this direction, which groups of students do you wish you could understand and serve better? Please fill out the survey.

By Trudy Brown

Zoom has had a number of updates lately that can be used to engage your audience when you are presenting. My favorite of those updates is the new Layouts feature for sharing your screen. Think about what usually happens when you share your screen. Your screen share takes up most of the screen and you are relegated to a tiny little screen. Most of us probably like that our video is really tiny and people can’t see us as well, but imagine the impact it would have on your audience if you were still very visibly present and engaged as you share. Zoom now has Sharing Layouts that let you do exactly that. There are three new layouts that let you be more visible as you share by overlaying your video over or beside your screen share. For examples and specific directions about using the new sharing layouts or other Zoom features that encourage engagement, reach out to me or read one of our tutorials:

• Layouts
• Polls & Quizzes
• Breakout Rooms
• Notes
• Whiteboard
• Annotations

You will also need to update your Zoom software to the latest version to get access to some of these features. Visit our tutorial on manually updating Zoom for instructions. 

By Gloria Johnson

NC Campus Engagement is partnering with the Constructive Dialogue Institute to provide a space for North Carolina faculty to learn about constructive dialogue along with their peers. During these sessions, faculty will have the opportunity to network with their peers from other institutions, learn best practices from experts in the field, and practice protocols to help one another constructively solve dialogue problems in their classrooms. The cohort is a one-year (August 2024-May 2025) commitment.  

This cohort is open to all North Carolina faculty, staff, and administrators whose institutions are members of NC Campus Engagement. (DDCC is a member.) While this opportunity is available to staff and administrators, the content will be specifically directed toward the faculty context.

There will be an information session on Wednesday, February 28th at 2:00pm. For more information, a detailed timeline, and an information session registration link, visit the DDCC CTL Professional Learning website. 

Deadline Reminders - Friday, February 23rd

• 2024 Summer Institute Application Deadline
• CTL Spring Celebration Mocktail RSVP Deadline
• First round of approvals for ACUE AI Quick Study Series Applications

Information about these opportunities is available on the DDCC CTL Professional Learning website.

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