Author: Sean Davis

It’s Our Classroom, But Whose Culture? – A SAFE Topics Podcast

Hello campus community and happy Friday!!!

All of us on the SAFE Topics Podcast team are super excited to announce the release of our latest episode, “It’s Our Classroom, But Whose Culture?” We were left in disbelief after the recording finished because the conversation was so good!!! In this episode we delve into the idea of academics as a culture. Our hosts Sean and curry were joined by some awesome MiraCosta College faculty members that included Jade Hilde (Letters), Alexis Tucker Sade (Anthropology), Rica French (Astronomy), Karl Cleveland (Media Arts & Technology), and Rick Cassoni (Computer Science & Information Technology). This episode was so great that we had to split it into two parts! Join us and listen in to part one!

I would also like to announce and officially welcome our newest member of the SAFE Topics Podcast team! Mana Tadayon (Associated Student Government President & Chair) will be joining the team as our student co-host and we can’t be more excited! 🙂

Ways to Listen!

  1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
  2. Google Podcasts
  3. Spotify
  4. Apple Podcasts
  5. Amazon Music
  6. Audible

What to Listen For

  • Do you consider an academic discipline a culture? 
  • “Linguistic Bias” and preparing our students for upper division culture.
  • Acclimating students to a disruptive culture and experiencing resistance.
  • Academia itself is rooted in a culture that has many subcultures.
  • Teaching hegemony and the culture of dominance.
  • “Disruptive literature becomes literature.”
  • “I’m not your instructor, I’m your facilitator.”
  • Changing the language in our classrooms.
  • The importance of the first five minutes on day 1 and creating trust.
  • How we take for granted that “going to school is a good thing.” 
  • Doing nothing is problematic. 
  • Difference between classroom, discipline, and institutional culture.
  • When a student asks, “Does this count?”
  • The underlying culture of a consumer system in education.
  • The commodity of education tying back to race, ethnicity, and culture.

Mentioned in the Episode

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Mana Tadayon – Student, ASG President (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

PodBean
Safe Topics
S.A.F.E Topics logo

Stay great,
S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast Team

Misinformation Forum Series

Hello, Campus Community! 

I am excited to introduce a new forum series that will cover a range of topics pertaining to an ever-growing social problem – the spread of misinformation.  Our amazing Web Services & Emerging Technologies Librarian, Lauren McFall, has organized an interdisciplinary faculty lineup to present on intriguing and timely topics.  

Here is more from Lauren – 

Misinformation is an old problem, but technology has manifested that problem in new ways. 2020 only intensified these issues and the exposure to the public at large. From conspiracy theories to science denial to online bias, we are being impacted by a distorted information landscape like never before. In this series of four misinformation forums, we will take a deep dive into some of the recent information issues that have plagued our society alongside the problems that will permeate our future.

My neighbor is a conspiracy theorist! The psychology of misinformation and strategies to dilute the kool aid.
Do I have COVID? Health & Science Misinformation in the Wild
im.not.racist.but Bias in social media, online algorithms, and the bubbles they create
Are you a bot? The future of misinformation

Forum series details – 

We invite you to join these cross-disciplinary discussions and invite your students to participate, as well. 🙂 

Stay joyful, 

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center

C3-2-1 Newsletter #17

Hello, Faculty Community! 

***You are receiving this newsletter because you are a faculty member at MiraCosta College. I, Sean Davis, am the coordinator of our C3 Teaching and Learning Center***

Lots of local workshops being offered to help us out. People are amazing, right? We just keep going. Pretty remarkable.

3 resources related to teaching and learning, 2 online tips and tricks, and 1 question for reflection

Looking for archived resources, tips/tricks, and questions?

Revisit the past editions of the C3-2-1 Newsletter here. 

Want to share? 

If you have some resources, tips/tricks, and questions to share, please contribute to the newsletter using this C3-2-1 Form.

C321 Newsletter

(3) Resources

  1. NCHEA’s Tri Equity: Allies in Action Conference
    The North County Higher Education Alliance (NCHEA) has been a powerful collaboration between Cal State San Marcos, Palomar, and MiraCosta for many years. Our very own Dr. Rachel Hastings, aka “Doc,” is the current NCHEA director. Along with other MiraCostans, Doc has been promoting this conference for the past few weeks, and I, for one, am looking forward to this event.

    Here is a description from NCHEA:

    This collaborative conference is designed for students, faculty, staff, administrators and community members. Our live events feature expert race and equity practitioners who offer engaging and effective ways to enter and exit these critical conversations. Attendees can expect that each symposium and training will directly acknowledge and address the ways our bodies create culture and communicate difference across our multiple identities.  

    As a tri-campus consortium serving North County, collaboration is central to our mission of supporting students through the transfer process. We have woven into our programming opportunities to network with members of our sister campuses with a click of the button. Attendees can meet and greet one another with ease, connecting with individuals to discover how to they might be able to work together on a future collaboration grant. 

    Tri Equity will run on Thursday, February 11, 2021 from 3:30pm – 8:30pm PST and is free to NCHEA community members. Register here
  2. Black History Month 2021 Events 
    Many MiraCostans are invested in preserving and amplifying efforts to elevate the educational and resource-based events during Black History Month. Please visit our Student Equity Page to learn more about the fantastic offerings still to come in February. February matters. Black History matters. The tireless work of our colleagues, students, and community partners matter. 
  3.  DEI Resources For Faculty

    Our college president, Dr. Sunny Cooke sent out an email last week with a link to our Resources for Faculty page on the MiraCosta website. I am impressed with the collection of documents, campus-based professional learning opportunities, and external support resources. Dr. Cooke also let us know that there is much more to come – 

    This summer, MiraCosta College joined the University of Southern CA- Race and Equity Center’s Racial Equity Leadership Alliance under the leadership of Dr. Shaun Harper. Each month we have been able to send a team of five people to focused topic sessions where MiraCostans can learn and bring back ideas, concepts, and resources to share more broadly at our college.

    The Center will develop a portal to house materials from all the monthly sessions. The portal will also include a library of downloadable racial equity assets (readings, case studies, videos, etc.). In addition, MiraCosta employees will be able to form virtual groups with colleagues who serve in similar roles at other community colleges across our state. We will be able to pose questions; collaboratively solve problems of practice; and share effective racial equity strategies, policies, and resources with each other in these groups. This portal will be open to all employees at our college (full-time and part-time).  The portal is scheduled to be completed by May 2021.

(2) Online Tips and Tricks

  1.  Pronto – A dynamic and engaging tool for effectively communicating with students 
    This one does A LOT – you can chat with students, create groups, send out announcements, use live video, and much more. One feature I really appreciate – message translation. Users can send messages in their preferred language, and Pronto automatically translates messages into the recipient’s preferred language. Now that exemplifies equity. 
  2.  Canvas update – The New Research Content Editor
    You have probably noticed that this essential Canvas tool has changed. Some of the changes are minor but navigating an update always comes with challenges. Our instructional technologist, Karen Turpin, helps us navigate the changes and provides an overview worth watching – Using Canvas’s NEW Rich Content Editor. 

(1) Question

Are we teaching students that they need to do something to have something in order to be something? Or are we teaching them how to be something so they can do something and then have something? 

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center

What’s Going Well? – A SAFE Topics Podcast Live Show

Hello and welcome back campus community!

The SAFE Topics Podcast is back at it with our first 2021 release! In this latest episode, we aired our first live recording during the Spring 2021 flex week! Hosts Sean and curry asked a panel of MiraCosta faculty including Himgauri Kulkarni (Biology), Leila Safaralian (Math), Casey McFarland (Kinesiology), Billy Gunn (Film), and Edward Pohlert (Faculty Director, Retention Services): what’s working, what’s challenging, and what should students expect as we all prepare for another semester of remote/online teaching and learning? This is one episode you won’t want to miss!

Ways to Listen!

  1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
  2. Spotify
  3. Apple Podcasts
  4. Amazon Music
  5. Audible

What to Listen For

  • Introductions from each of our guest faculty members. 
  • What made remote learning easier for students this last semester?
  • The importance of flexibility. 
  • Asynchronous classes working well for entirely new student populations.
  • Opportunities for students to connect with one another.
  • How did the synchronous classes go?
  • Building trust with students from the get-go. 
  • Trying to humanize the online class experience.
  • What has made learning challenging during this time?
  • The lack of instant feedback.
  • Reminding one another that we are all going through this together.
  • Unforeseen challenges that come the student’s way. 
  • The importance of low-stakes meet-n-greets, chats, and online hangouts.
  • The real problem of access and knowledge of technology.
  • Student access to a safe space to learn. 
  • The importance of being more empathetic towards our students.
  • Wrapping up with a one-minute message to students that each of our guest speakers want them to know.

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

PodBean
Safe Topics
S.A.F.E Topics logo

Stay great,

S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast Team

The SAFE Topics Podcast – Two Episode Release and Semester Finale

Hello campus community!

The S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast team is wrapping up the semester with the release of two episodes! We are finishing up our series on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In the episode, “Student Voices: Climbing Uphill Both Ways,” we hear from Haillie Hill (Theater) to get another student perspective on UDL. In the semester finale, “Quality and Quantity – Student Voices as Data,” we hear from Kimberly Coutts (Research Analyst) to get their perspective on UDL (*releasing later tonight!). Listen in as we wrap up the Fall 2020 semester with two great releases.

Ways to Listen!

  1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
  2. Spotify
  3. Apple Podcasts
  4. Amazon Music
  5. Audible

What to Listen For

Student Voices: Climbing Uphill Both Ways

  • Who is Haillie and what are her educational goals?
  • The feeling of anxiousness at this point in the semester.
  • What has made learning challenging during this time?
  • Internalizing the feelings of being an online student.
  • Online group projects, good or bad?
  • What has made learning easier during this time?
  • The importance of communicative professors.
  • Getting assignments in earlier before they’re due.
  • The ability to see updated grades.
  • Recorded lectures are a huge plus to follow along with content.
  • The fear of reaching out to the DSPS office. 
  • Vibing well with professors when they are open in the beginning.
  • Students have feelings too! 

​Quality and Quantity – Student Voices as Data

  • Bias and data.
  • The importance of having an open mind when reviewing your data.
  • “Bad news bias.”
  • Quantitative vs Qualitative data.
  • The reliability of campus wide surveys. 
  • Data over the course of time and comparing it to right now.
  • Success/retention rates are skewed now because of EW’s (excused W’s)
  • Definitions between success and retention.
  • Are we collecting data of the student experience right now?
  • Asking students: what does not help with your learning and success?
  • Asking students: What advice would you give to faculty to improve our courses at this moment?
  • Qualitative feedback for a teacher may be the most important thing for teachers and students to come to an agreement.
  • The importance of maintaining communication.
  • Plug from Office of Research, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness.
  • Kim: Here to answer questions to help drive good decision making. Happy to help and eager to help any time!

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

PodBean
Safe Topics

Stay great,
S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast Team

S.A.F.E Topics logo

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