The SAFE Topics team just released the latest episode, “Down with Spring Break!” In this episode, the team host a debate among with MiraCosta students and faculty over spring break. We ask why about the value of breaks and the costs of interruptions. We share the realities of workloads carried into breaks. And question what exactly it is we need a break from in the first place. Join hosts Sean, curry, and Mana along with Daniel Ante-Contreras (English), Carson Arias (mechanical engineering major), and Kayla Kamani (psychology & film major) in an argument over keeping or abandoning spring break!
The importance of a mental break where you can breathe.
Eliminating spring break altogether and extending our summer instead.
Catching up on work, working on mental health.
An institutional lens around spring break.
The lack of student input in talks around spring break.
“Doing the good for the most amount of people.”
The concept of spring break as a guilty pleasure.
Do we need a break from classroom culture?
Learning vs. time demand.
Admin and faculty should be more mindful of time especially during distant learning.
Working smarter and not harder.
Were any minds changed about their views on spring break?
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)
CalEndow recently hosted the venerable and iconic Angela Davis – a personal hero of mine. It was so great to attend this session live and I am happy to share this talk with you. Here is a description of the session from the hosts:
Dr. Angela Davis joined CalEndow Live on October 20 to discuss why building stronger communities is essential to the struggle for racial, economic, and gender justice. In this hour-long conversation, she described how the prison abolition movement has evolved to meet this moment in history and how art helps build People Power.
This website is based on the Five Minute Fixes workshop presented by Laura Paciorek (Child Development) and Lisa M. Lane (History) earlier this semester. Click here to view the workshop recording. They are adding more fixes all the time, so come back for more!
Do you need help with these or anything related to teaching your classes online? Contact any of our faculty helpers for free help, anytime.
Dr. Shaun Harper, the founder and executive director of USC’s Race and Equity Center, has released the resources, training material, and webinar recordings from the California Community Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance series. You can take these lessons at your own pace. This resource is the second session in the series. The first session was featured in a previous C3-2-1 Newsletter.
(2) Online Tips and Tricks
Special Note: This section of the newsletter will be featuring MiraCosta’s new (new to this role but not new to MiraCosta) full-time instructional designer, Nadia Khan! Nadia will be contributing video tips and tricks as one of many ways to introduce you to her and the awesome service she is providing to our campus community. Welcome, Nadia! 1. Converting word documents to fillable PDFs (approx. 3.5 minutes)
2. Quiz and Annotate Video on Studio (approx. 5 minutes) This video provides tips on how to embed quizzes into Canvas Studio videos. It also shows how to annotate Studio videos and add Studio quizzes to Speedgrader
(1) Question
Are we ensuring our students are learning? And, when answering the question, are we thinking about “learning” in ways beyond the discipline-specific content in our classes?
The SAFE Topics podcast is BACK! We’re now in our 4th season of the podcast and we are truly appreciative of our guests, supporters, and our listeners. This season we’re kicking things off with a bang and already pumping out some episodes for you all. Our first episode this season was entitled, “Back to Campus! Kinda…” and started with a series of interviews with some folks around the MiraCosta College campus. The team interviewed students, staff, and faculty about their experiences about what’s making them happy to be on campus and some of the realities we’re still dealing with.
Along with that, we’ve also started a “Hyflex” mini-series where Sean and curry try to figure out this new HyFlex teaching thing. Check out the episodes on Hyflexing, Designing a New Course, and the COR of Your Class. Truly helpful and informative dialogue between Sean and curry about all things Hyflex!
And finally, our most recent release is now available to all! In this episode, the SAFE Topics team has a conversation with faculty leaders at MiraCosta who are charged with developing an Ethnic Studies program. We ask why about the political context, the timing, and the salient characteristics of Ethnic Studies, and how an Ethnic Studies department will benefit students and faculty campus wide. Join hosts Sean, curry, and Mana along with Maria Figueroa (English), JahB Prescott (English), Tyrone Nagai (English), Alicia Lopez (Sociology), and Steven Moreno-Terrill (Sociology) as we get into this topic!
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)
We are fortunate to have a new offering joining our robust family of ally training – the MiraCosta APIDA Ally Training. I am signed up for the first cohort and I hope to see you there! 🙂
Here is a description of the training from the organizers –
The APIDA Ally Training is a FLEX-eligible six-week asynchronous Canvas course that asks for a one- to two-hour commitment each week. Through a collection of videos, articles, images, and interactive discussion board forums, this training is designed to enhance participants’ awareness of diverse APIDA histories, cultures, identities, and responses to recent influxes of anti-APIDA hate crimes. The training culminates with lessons and activities that will generate ideas for strengthening allyship and advocacy for MiraCosta’s–students, faculty, and staff–who identify as APIDA.
October 18-22 is Undocumented Student Action Week and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office is hosting a series of events and webinars celebrating progress, recognizing current efforts, and looking forward to the challenges ahead. Plan on attending these events to learn more about the history of landmark legislation, significant data, and use, and how to better serve our students.
For local resources, training, and information pertaining to our undocumented and mixed-status population, please visit our UPRISE Program
Our homegrown podcast is back for a 3rd season. To kick things off, we interview MiraCosta employees about being back on campus. Additionally, we have a mini-series on a much-discussed teaching modality – HyFlex. Other episodes coming soon will include discussions on Ethnic Studies, the Transitions Program, Ungrading, and much more.
If you’d like to use features of Studio with a YouTube video, such as adding quiz questions or discussion onto the video, you probably know it’s easy to add a YouTube video into Studio. Unfortunately, if the YouTube video has captions, they aren’t retained in Studio. However, you can use the free website downsub.com to download a caption file from the YouTube video and then upload that file back onto the Studio video you’ve created by uploading the YouTube video, and voila! Captions have returned.
You can easily embed Google Docs into your Canvas course to provide students with documents, assignments, and activities that can change in real-time without unnecessary uploads and downloads. Doing this can help with changing class schedules, syllabus addendums, and collaborative assignments.
(1) Question
How can we focus on process over outcomes? Ultimately, which one is more important?
Many wonderful professional learning opportunities to enhance your online instructional skills and knowledge are coming up! Please see below, and let me know if you are looking for something beyond what’s listed here!
Five Minute Fixes to Simplify Online Teaching – Tues. Oct. 5, 8 pm in Zoom (no registration needed) Want to make a quick fix that makes a difference? We’ll share ideas for how to prevent students getting lost, liven up discussion, stop spending so much time grading, and answer fewer student questions. See how you can simplify your online teaching. Presented by Laura Paciorek and Lisa M. Lane, sponsored by MiraCosta Online Mentors.
Faculty Show & Tell – Tues. Oct. 12 & 26, Nov. 9 & 30, 2-3 pm in Zoom (no registration needed) Join me, Lauren McFall, and Sean Davis for open discussion allowing us to connect with colleagues, consider new possibilities, and potentially find our next collaboration.
ASCCC OER INITIATIVE WEBINARS (Click links to register)
OER for Administrators – Fri., Oct. 8, 10:30-11:30 am What should administrators know about OER? What do administrators want to know about OER? How do faculty advocate for OER with their administrators? Join us to discuss approaches to turning your administrators into OER supporters – and fellow advocates.
OER Basics for the Less Familiar – Fri., Oct. 15, 10:30-11:30 am Are you interested in OER but not quite sure where to start? We can help! Join us to learn more about what OER is and what it allows you to do as well as compelling reasons to consider using OER in your teaching.
Remixing Spanish OER – Fri., Oct. 15, 1-2:00 pm Are you interested in searching for Spanish OER? What about remixing OERs? Come and learn about search options and how Spanish instructors have remixed different Spanish OERs for their courses.
Saddleback College: Building Zero Textbook Cost Momentum Over 5 Years – Fri., Oct. 22, 10:30-11:30 am The OER/ZTC movement has grown exponentially at Saddleback College. Join us for a presentation on how we started with only six OER faculty and advanced OER/ZTC on our campus to now offer 26 ZTC Degree/Certificate Pathways. Topics include: beginning stages, building relationships around campus, stipends, marketing, and data.
Equity from the Start, Utilizing HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds) for OER – Fri., Oct. 29, 10:30-11:30 am Looking to leverage HEERF funds to support OER at your college? Then this webinar is for you! Join faculty and staff from Contra Costa Community College District as they describe how they joined forces to transform small, independent OER efforts into a $500,000 districtwide program for student equity that is supported throughout the district. The presentation includes the program description, evolution, funding, success data, student comments, and take-aways for other colleges.
Reimagining your Video Content with PlayPosit – Fri., Oct. 8, 12 pm – from CCC TechConnect and PlayPosit staff PlayPosit gives faculty the ability to add interactivity to their videos for class assignments, lectures and more. Use interactivity in videos to assess student learning by using in-video quizzes. Instructors can add a variety of questions and activities to videos that go well beyond Canvas Studio’s capabilities.
Happy learning!
Jim Julius, Ed.D. Faculty Director, Online Education
