This presentation delves into the unique journey of Pellissippi students as they navigate the transition to college. Drawing upon data insights and research findings, this session uncovers the diverse challenges they face and the impact these challenges have on their academic success and sense of belonging. Participants will examine case studies and problem-solve effective strategies for supporting Pellissippi students through their college journey. Join us as we empower ourselves to empower our students for success.

Presenter: Keri Withington, Associate Professor & Career Community Coordinator

The syllabus is often the first meaningful experience that students have with a class. As instructors, we know that our syllabi contain a wealth of information. Students, though, are often put off by the formal language and boring presentation of syllabi. This session will provide specific examples and techniques for creating new types of syllabi that students will actually use. For example, participants will learn how to create website syllabi, video highlights, and more visually appealing syllabi. The session will provide easy to implement tips and strategies, as well as providing participants with the opportunity to brainstorm their own ideas.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the potential of syllabi to create social belonging.
  
• Consider the potential of syllabi to be a semester-long class tool.
  

Presenter: Tracy Rees, Associate Professor of Psychology

This presentation will focus on key aspects essential to delivering a compelling lecture, including honing into the applicability of the content, developing student engagement techniques, fostering ownership of the course material, the importance of authenticity. Participants will practice these techniques with either content they bring to the session or misc. content provided by the presenter.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify and incorporate engaging techniques into their lectures.
• Participants will demonstrate an understanding of the importance and value of communicating relevant connections between lecture and students' diverse lives.

Presenter: Charity Davenport, Instructional Technology Specialist (Accessibility)

In this session, participants will learn about TILT (Transparency in Learning and Teaching), an easy to implement strategy that has shown evidence to improve student engagement and success. TILT involves transparency in assignments, spelling out the purpose of the assignment, the tasks involved in completing the assignment, and the criteria for a high-quality product. We will explore how this strategy improves teaching practices and student outcomes, with a hands-on workshop for “TILT”ing an assignment. Please bring an assignment that some students struggle with that we can TILT during the session. Example assignments for the workshop will be provided as well.

Learning Objectives:

• Recall the three parts of “TILT”ing assignments and evidence for how TILT can improve student success.
  
• Apply the three parts of TILT using one of their own assignments.
  

Presenter: Stephanie Markowitz, Ed. D., Instructional Technology Specialist (Distance Education)

This hands-on workshop will equip faculty with the skills to craft robust rubrics that promote student success. Through practical activities, participants will explore the nuances of rubric design, focusing on aligning criteria with learning objectives and providing actionable feedback. Attendees will engage in collaborative exercises to create customized rubrics tailored to their specific courses, enhancing assessment practices, and fostering student learning.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles underlying effective rubric design, including criteria, levels of performance, and feedback mechanisms. understanding of the fundamental principles underlying effective rubric design, including criteria, levels of performance, and feedback mechanisms.
• Apply the principles of effective rubric design to construct or revise clear, concise, and actionable rubrics aligned with specific learning objectives and assessment criteria in higher education settings.

Presenter: Robyn James, Adjunct Instructor

The session will contain two parts: First, participants will create a simple document using a Google Docs template of their choice. Second, participants will share their document with a partner; the partner will then add to the document to test its usability. The goal is to create accessible documents that others can edit or add to easily.

Learning Objectives:

• Create a collaborative, accessible document.
• Navigate and edit a document created by someone else.

day 1

Presenter: Laura Lawson, Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Teacher Education

Have you ever wanted to strengthen student relationships in your classes but run out of time because you are so busy trying to get important content taught before the semester ends? Join me to find out the “secret sauce” to our Pellissippi State Teacher Education Program … building student relationships outside of class while simultaneously enriching their knowledge of some of the most current professional development topics and service projects which all correlate to their major of study! Come and learn ways you can incorporate this same strategy into the specific courses you teach.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will gain ideas on how to plan outside-of-class events that will build student relationships and keep them up-to-date on the most current topics in their major of study.
• The participant will learn the organizational steps involved of planning professional development sessions and how to tie the opportunity back into class grade points for students.

Presenter: Kate O’Meara, Associate Professor and ESL Program Coordinator

All the best teachers claim that they are just lucky with the students they get, and that’s why their classes run smoothly, their students are engaged, and there are no incidents of an unhelpful nature. They may not be lying, but it’s not the whole truth. There are specific strategies they follow, whether intentionally or through a quirk of personality, that create this kind of luck. In this session, we can look at a few such strategies and ask ourselves how to apply them to our own classrooms.

Learning Objective:

• Session participants will review several classroom management strategies and modify one or more for use in their own classroom.
• Session participants will identify strategies they are already using and share them with group mates.

Presenter: Kate O’Meara, Associate Professor and ESL Program Coordinator

As a student, I have often struggled to know what I was supposed to be doing in class and why. I knew I was supposed to be quiet and paying attention some of the time, and answering the teacher some of the time, but there were a lot of times where I had the nagging feeling that I was not using my time effectively. In this session, we will talk about structuring classroom sessions in a way that helps students to know the best way to be learning and engaging at any given moment. Be prepared to share your best experiences and strategies.

Learning Objective:

• Participants will participate in an overview of engaged activity options and consider these for application in their own courses.
• Participants will work together to analyze one of their own lesson plans from the perspective of student activity and engagement. Participants will then make modifications to this and other lesson plans as they see fit to maximize student learning.

Presenter: Amber Derksen, Assistant Professor

Discussions in a course can be a learning experience for both students and faculty. In this hands-on session, participants will reflect on how using discussions in their courses can be a meaningful practice. Strategies for engaging students through discussion in both in-person and online classes will be explored.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the benefits of classroom discussion.
• Develop engaging discussion activities.
• Engage students online and face to face through discussion.

Presenter: Rachel Glazener, Associate Professor

Join Rachel Glazener for an interactive session on active learning in the classroom! Bring your device and get ready to discover how to empower your students to take control of their own learning and knowledge. This session will cover the basics of active learning, including a focus on metacognition, and demonstrate a range of technology tools that can be used to facilitate active learning. Participants can expect to gain a solid understanding of the principles of active learning and leave with practical strategies and tools that they can implement in their own classrooms.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify at least one active learning strategy that can be applied in their specific discipline and describe how this strategy enhances student engagement.
  
• Participants will be able to define metacognition and explain how metacognition can be used to support students in taking ownership of their learning.
  
• Participants will be able to evaluate at least two technology tools that support active learning and describe how these tools can be used to promote active learning in the classroom.
  

day 2

Presenter: Lora Bagwell, Assistant Dean, English

Participants will explore activities and routines to increase engagement with the underprepared learner. Areas of focus include engaging students with text, with the instructor and classmates, as well as engagement outside the classroom.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify one or more in class engagement strategies to add to their course.
  
• Identify one or more outside the classroom engagement strategies/routines to add to their courses.
  

Presenters: Antija Allen, Ed.D., Director of the Pellissippi Academic Center for Excellence (PACE)

An interactive discussion of practices and methods for facilitating adult learning. Theory will be considered in relationship to practice. Methods will be identified that are suitable to adult learning in the college classroom, but also could be used in other settings where adult learning takes place.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply adult learning principles to teaching and learning.
• Examine both traditional and newer adult learning theories.

Presenter: Court Lewis, QEP Director/Associate Professor

To promote the success of all students, we must create a culture of understanding and proactive improvement. Creating such a culture is a circular process that begins with reflecting on what we know about ourselves, exploring our communities and our students’ communities, examining what we are doing and what can be done better, and ends with implementing effective strategies for how to address what we have learned. The process begins again by reflecting on the success and challenges of our efforts.

This workshop will walk participants through the process of creating a culture of understanding and proactive improvement, giving them hands-on experience working with several strategies for how to accomplish each aspect of the process. Participants will begin with a guided reflection activity to help them know themselves better. Next, participants will explore their own communities and how to better understand their students’ communities. Finally, participants will complete several activities designed to help them review and improve assignments and other course materials in ways that promote student engagement and success.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply the process of creating a culture of understanding and proactive improvement to their classes.
• Demonstrate proficiency in at least two strategies for exploring different communities and/or implementing changes to lesson plans.

Presenter: Donna Trogdon, Assistant Professor

What is Dual Enrollment? Who qualifies? What does this mean for our college classes? What should instructors take into account when teaching dual enrollment students? What opportunities are available for dual enrollment students? What other factors should we take into account for dual enrollment students? What are advantages vs disadvantages?

This presentation will answer these questions and many others. I will also highlight some lessons learned from teaching several dual enrollment classes and many, many dual enrollment students. I will also highlight some lesser-known issues one should take into account when teaching these students/classes.

In this presentation, we’ll discuss strategies for best practices when teaching dual enrollment classes and how to overcome the various hurdles that may present themselves in this new and growing environment.

Learning Objectives:

• Define and understand the difference between dual enrollment and dual credit classes/opportunities.
  
• Understand the advantages and disadvantages of having a dual enrollment class and/or students.
  

day 3

Lora Bagwell, Assistant Dean

Lora is in her eleventh year as reading faculty at Pellissippi State Community College where she serves as the assistant dean of the English department and teaches READ 0900 and COLL 1500. Lora is also a member of the ATD Gen-Ed Strategy (GEST) team, the Low-Income Student Services Task Force, and the University Parallel Assessment committee. She is a certified Reading Apprenticeship trainer and serves as the chair of the National Organization for Student Success (NOSS) Literacy Network. Lora has spent the majority of her career working with the underprepared student, but she believes in the importance of developing the social dimension of the classroom with all students.

Engaging the Underprepared Learner

Charity Davenport, Instructional Technology Specialist

Charity Davenport (MS in TESOL; MS in Instructional Technology) is an instructional technology specialist for accessibility at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee. She is the author of an OER textbook for advanced ESL students called “It’s All Greek to Me!” Before coming to Pellissippi State, she was an ESL instructor for 13 years at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her areas of interest are open educational resources, open pedagogy, accessibility, UDL, and best practices in online teaching and learning.

Demystifying the College Experience: TILT-ing Towards Student Success

Amber Derksen, Assistant Professor

As an educator, Dr Derksen brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Pellissippi State Community College Department of Nursing faculty with three decades of nursing experience and two decades of collegiate teaching. Dr Derksen’s academic background includes a PhD in Nursing from Hampton University with my MSN and BSN degrees from Armstrong State University. Her passion for nursing education has taken her all over the world. Her research into intellectual curiosity has sparked interprofessional discussions of student performance, as well, she has presented her research on grief and bereavement. She continues to investigate issues in student learning as well as strategies to implement hospice and palliative care into nursing curricula.

Dr Derksen has served in various capacities, with a primary focus in oncology and hospice care. She is deeply invested in nurturing the next generation of nurses through leadership and mentorship. She has dedicated her teaching to fostering critical thinking and professional behaviors in students on their own academic journey. She strives to inspire future nurses to embrace lifelong learning and compassionate care, ensuring they are well-prepared to meet the evolving challenges of healthcare.

Planning and Facilitating Class Discussions

Rachel Glazener, Associate Professor

Rachel Glazener is an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry, who is passionate about creating innovative and engaging learning experiences for her students. As an early adopter of mobile technology in the classroom, Rachel has served as a faculty fellow for technology-enhanced learning and is currently the faculty liaison for implementing High Impact Practices on campus. Rachel is committed to exploring the intersection of technology, study skills, and metacognition to help students become more effective learners. With her love for talking “nerdy” about Organic Chemistry, Rachel brings a wealth of expertise to her teaching and is dedicated to supporting student success in her courses.

Empowering Students through Active Learning in the Classroom

Robyn James, Adjunct Instructor

Robyn James has worked in both education and the music industry for over twenty years, gaining experience in teaching privately and in the classroom, performing, arranging, and transcribing. As an adjunct instructor at Pellissippi State Community College, she is passionate about accessibility and equity for all students as well as for her colleagues. Since Fall 2007 Robyn's course load has included Introduction to Music (formerly known as Music Appreciation), Fundamentals of Music, and Applied Strings (viola and violin lessons). She was accepted as a participant in the first Teaching Full Circle Cohort titled “Creating Inclusive and Responsive Classrooms for Learning Equity” for the Spring 2022 and Fall 2022 semesters, and as a co-facilitator/facilitator for Cohorts 3 and 4.

Robyn was given the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty award for the 2015-16 school year and given the Adjunct Appreciation Award for the 2020-21 school year. She currently serves as Pellissippi’s Caucus Chair for United Campus Workers (a higher education union) and often sings in the Faculty/Staff Choir. When not working, Robyn enjoys amateur graphic design, listening to her favorite bands and composers, and going down YouTube or Wikipedia rabbit holes.

Collaborative Document Design

Laura Lawson, Associate Professor

Laura Lawson is an Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Teacher Education at Pellissippi State Community. She has been active in the field of education for 21 years and served as an elementary teacher and instructional coach with Knox County Schools from 2003-2017 before making the transition to a college instructor of pre-teachers. Whether it is the age groups of K-12 or higher education, her philosophy in the classroom centers around the importance of student engagement in every lesson. Mrs. Lawson was a 2022-2023 top finalist for the Roger Crowe Excellence in Teaching Award at Pellissippi State and the winner of the WBIR Educator of the Week in 2016. She has served as the Student Tennessee Education Association Club Advisor for the past seven years where she gets to work with Teacher Education students outside of class and build relationships at numerous professional development events and service projects. Mrs. Lawson collaborates with local community partners on a regular basis in our surrounding school districts and has coordinated Field Experiences for over 760 Teacher Education students during her time at Pellissippi State. Throughout her years at the institution, she has developed and refined an Educator’s Professionalism Seminar which is a required training for all students in the Teacher Education Program and it has recently been recognized as a workforce credential by Pellissippi State’s Community & Workforce Development department.

Building Student Relationships Outside of Class: Professional Development & Service Project Opportunities that Tie-In to Class Grade Points

Court Lewis, QEP Director/Associate Professor

Court Lewis is Associate Professor of Philosophy and QEP Director at Pellissippi State Community College, in Knoxville, TN. Court’s most recent edited collection is Forgiveness Confronts Race, Relationships, and the Social (Vernon Press), and he is the author of The Real Meaning of Doctor Who, Who Cares?: My Life with Tom Baker, and Repentance and the Right to Forgiveness. Court is president of the Tennessee Philosophical Association and co-editor (with Gregory L. Bock) of The Ethics of Anger (Lexington) and Righteous Indignation: Christianity and Anger (Fortress Press). Court is the Newsletter Editor and interim Executive Director of Concerned Philosophers for Peace, proud father and husband, volunteer, and musician.

Creating a Culture of Belonging for All Students in the Classroom

Stephanie Markowitz, Ed.D., Instructional Technology Specialist

Dr. Stephanie Markowitz is an Instructional Technology Specialist in Distance Education with a passion for enhancing teaching and learning through the use of technology. She has dedicated her career to helping educators adopt and integrate technology into their curriculum to improve educational outcomes and engage students.

Stephanie specializes in online learning and distance education and serves as a Brightspace Administrator/Trainer. In this role, she guides faculty in instructional strategies that align with their specific learning objectives. She is committed to creating positive and inclusive online communities where students can thrive.

Stephanie holds a doctorate degree in education with a concentration in instructional design and technology from the University of Memphis. Her dissertation focused on improving adjunct facilitation of online courses through a community of inquiry professional development course.

When not working, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her husband and one year old daughter, Madi. She is also an active member of the Rotary of Farragut and recently established a Pellissippi Rotaract Club for students.

Designing Effective Rubrics for Student Success

Kate O’Meara, Associate Professor and ESL Program Coordinator

Kate O’Meara has been working at Pellissippi State for over 10 years, almost 8 of them full time. In the last few years, she has been lucky enough to get to learn from a lot of colleagues during her time with Teaching Full Circle and the Pellissippi Academy, and she hopes to share some of what she’s gleaned so it keeps building.

Planning Productive Class Sessions

Classroom Management

Tracy Rees, Associate Professor

Tracy Rees is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Pellissippi State Community College. Having served numerous positions within higher education throughout the past two decades, teaching was never on her radar. However, one day, everything changed when she was approached about being an adjunct instructor. Rees fell in love with teaching and eventually joined Pellissippi State fulltime in 2015. Rees has presented on TILT assignment formatting, generational student trends in higher education, OER, effective reading strategies, discovering one’s purpose, suicide awareness and prevention, storytelling, and more.

Delivering a Compelling Lecture

Donna Trogdon, Assistant Professor

Donna Trogdon earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice/Homeland Security from Austin Peay State University, an M.S. in Criminal Justice/Homeland Security from Tiffin University, an M.P. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University and is working toward her Ph.D. in Homeland Security Policy and Coordination at Walden University. She has worked as a Senior Intelligence Instructor and as a Special Investigator. Currently, Mrs. Trogdon serves as Program Coordinator and full time Professor for the Criminal Justice program and has taught criminal justice, homeland security, intelligence, domestic violence and emergency management courses in higher education for over ten years. Lastly, Mrs. Trogdon serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Criminal Justice Club.

Navigating Dual Enrollment

Keri Withington, Associate Professor & Career Community Coordinator

Keri Withington (she/her) is an associate professor of English and exploratory career community coordinator at Pellissippi State Community College. Her educational background includes time as a community college student, a BA in English, MA in Writing, and graduate certificate in Women’s Studies. She has been involved with professional development related to student success and equity, including presenting at conferences and publishing. She is currently the secretary for the Tennessee Association for Student Success and Retention.

Preparing an Effective Syllabus