The Maricopa Community Colleges District partners with ACUE to improve support and connection for adjunct faculty members.

In colleges across the nation, adjunct faculty play a pivotal role in student success by bringing industry expertise to the classroom and bridging the gap between curriculum and practice. However, it’s no secret that many adjunct faculty feel that they lack the support and connection to community they seek as educators.

A research survey conducted by Arizona State University (ASU) in 2016 confirmed these feelings among adjunct faculty at Maricopa Community Colleges, a system of 10 community colleges in Maricopa County, Ariz. The survey revealed adjunct faculty felt dissatisfied, isolated and expendable.

“After this survey came out five years ago, things really started changing at Maricopa,” says Gail Haase, district adjunct faculty coordinator for Maricopa Community Colleges. “Though our leadership felt that they were highly supportive of our adjunct faculty, these results signaled that adjunct faculty were not convinced of that support. After we recognized this, we made a more concerted effort to improve support for adjuncts, who make up the majority of our faculty. Leadership wanted them to know they’re valued—and wanted to help them be the best they can be.”

Galvanized into action by former provost Karla Fisher, the Adjunct Faculty Association (AFA) and the Maricopa Center of Learning and Innovation (MCLI), the district made structural changes to improve communication, inclusion and morale for adjuncts—which today includes more than 4,000 faculty across the district’s 10 colleges. 

As part of these ongoing, district-wide efforts, Maricopa also began to open more intentional avenues for professional development to simultaneously meet adjunct faculty needs and tie to student success goals. The district turned to a partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) to prepare and credential faculty in research-based effective teaching practices with an online course offered specifically for adjuncts.

Maricopa notified the wider adjunct community about the opportunity to put two years of professional development funding toward ACUE. After introducing an application process for adjuncts most interested in the ACUE program, 60 applicants were selected. In August 2020, Maricopa launched its first cohort; then, in October, it launched its second.

“Whether these adjuncts want to further their career in higher education, or because they came in as adjuncts with a lot of expertise but little educational knowledge, these ACUE courses help our adjunct faculty take their content knowledge to the next level,” says Patricia Guillen, director of instructional services for the MCLI. “We’re really proud of our partnership with ACUE and we’ve received so much positive feedback. So many adjuncts have shared how eye-opening ACUE has been for them.”

One of the greatest benefits of the program, Maricopa has found, is its relevance for every classroom.

“Offering faculty professional development programs are difficult when areas of discipline can be vastly different,” Haase says. “But the way ACUE is designed is extremely helpful. Faculty will complete an online course module and then present 10 to 12 different strategies—and educators are challenged to choose one to implement that best supplements their course content. If you go through this program, you simply cannot fail as a teacher.”

For Alejandra Dashe, anthropology professor at Paradise Valley Community College, ACUE provided her with a new perspective to increase engagement in the classroom.

“Before, I was like a robot—the courses I was teaching were very two-dimensional. I needed to take it to the next level, and ACUE helped me get there by reframing how I interact with my students,” Dashe explains. “I started to provide more individualized feedback, which helps me to make sure each student feels seen and heard.”

Dashe has even received specific feedback from students highlighting how her practice has changed since participating in the ACUE program.

“One student shared that my hard work this semester has not gone unnoticed—explaining that I clearly care about the students because I provide feedback and actively participate and synthesize the material to support their learning,” Dashe says. “I’m blown away. I’m clearly doing something right and I credit my hard work with ACUE. I could not have become a better teacher without this course.”

Dr. Kimberlin Glenn, English professor at Estrella Mountain Community College, agrees, saying that ACUE has equipped her to promote student success for every student in the classroom.

“I approach education with a posture of service and it’s very important to me that I provide opportunities for each student to expand and grow,” Glenn says. “It’s easy to assume you’re meeting the needs of all your students, but ACUE helped me to take a step back and ask, ‘Do I have any bias? Do I have anything I need to improve upon?’ With some of these materials, I was able to craft a 4 Disciples of Execution assessment project plan, take a look at my online discussion boards and unpack them with a focus on diversity and equity. I went back in and revamped engagement activities and approaches for my underprepared students, thinking about how to help them be the best version of who they are.”

Maricopa has found that the ACUE experience provided support at a time faculty needed it the most. Adjuncts gained resources to help them navigate the transition to remote instruction during the pandemic last year, plus foster an environment that promotes an exchange of ideas.

“Though the discussion posts in the courses aren’t a requirement, our faculty have been so engaged in them—sharing what they’ve learned, what they’re implementing and the outcomes they’ve seen in their courses. This is where the course really comes alive,” says Hayley Steinberg, instructional design and digital learning specialist for the MCLI.

Looking ahead, Maricopa plans to develop communities of practice to provide even more opportunities for adjunct faculty to find support through collaboration with peers.

“During such a crazy year, we’ve found that ACUE cohorts have been so successful, supporting our faculty with a community of people they can lean back on,” Steinberg says. “Our faculty participants aren’t just gaining a nationally recognized certificate by the American Council on Education (ACE), they’re gaining a support system that sets the tone for what communities of practice in our district could look like.”

In January 2021, Every Learner Everywhere and Tyton Partners published a report to examine the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning in higher education. The survey focused on gathering the perspectives and experiences of faculty teaching some of the highest-impact courses in higher education: introductory and gateway courses.

In this interview, Every Learner’s Executive Director Jessica Rowland Williams shares insights from the report, her concerns about the challenges facing higher education in a post-COVID world, and why faculty resilience gives her reason to be optimistic.

What is the overall mission of Every Learner Everywhere?

Our mission is to help institutions and faculty use new technology to innovate their teaching and learning, with the ultimate goal of improving how we serve Black, Latinx, Indigenous, poverty-affected, and first-generation students.

We believe that digital courseware can be a catalyst for improving student outcomes, but technology alone is not going to do it. Courses need evidence-based teaching and digital courseware to enable faculty to adapt their instruction to meet specific students’ needs. Technology can help faculty promote active learning and provide learners with actionable, timely feedback. But how it gets implemented is so critical—and we have a holistic view in how we think about teaching and learning. It’s not enough to just focus on the technology if the ultimate goal is to improve student outcomes.

Why does Every Learner’s latest report, Time for Class: COVID-19 Edition, focus on faculty who are teaching introductory courses?

We know that student performance in gateway courses is a direct predictor of student retention. We also know that Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other minoritized groups have higher DFW rates. They earn fewer course credits and they’re less likely to graduate. So if you look at the biggest challenges when it comes to student success, and distill it down to an initial touchpoint, these gateway courses are one of those initial stumbling blocks.

Given that, understanding the faculty experience in these courses is important. They play such a critical role and with COVID, we felt it was especially imperative to know what’s happening on the ground at these critical points in the education of the most vulnerable students.

What were some of the key findings from the report?

The first thing is that faculty want more help. They are more open to online learning and trying new technologies in the classroom, and their perceptions are more positive. But it’s also still really new to them, and they need more support designing and teaching the courses.

One of the biggest challenges for faculty is student engagement. They are really struggling to keep students engaged. We hear a lot about how students are ghosting courses, where they stop showing up, stop doing work, and stop responding to emails. If they do show up, their cameras are off and they’re not participating on discussion boards or in chats.

The interesting thing is that engagement is also the number one concern for students. We’re constantly getting feedback from students around their experience with digital courseware and digital learning. Some of the things that they say are also related to engagement. They talk about how there is a need for timely feedback from faculty, where they’re submitting assignments and not hearing anything back, and how that’s a reason that they’re not feeling more engaged.

What did your report find about the role that professional development is playing in supporting faculty?

Faculty say that their colleges and universities are offering more professional development, but it’s not enough and it’s not equitable.

I think it’s important to point out that the most resourced institutions have access to faculty development. If you’re teaching at Harvard or Yale or Stanford, then you have a much greater chance of having more opportunities for professional development than if you’re teaching at a local community college. We’re working to level the playing field and provide resources to the field that are available for these faculty to use.

[Every Learner Everywhere and its network partner Achieving the Dream has partnered with ACUE to support community college systems in North Carolina and Ohio by enrolling hundreds of faculty in programs designed to equip faculty with evidence-based teaching practices for online teaching and learning.]

As colleges and universities begin to implement reopening plans, what would you like to see from leaders to support students and faculty?

First and foremost, we need to pay more attention to the mental health struggles and needs of both our faculty and students. Every survey we do, no matter what we’re talking about, that issue rises to the top. Faculty are stretched thin. They’re exhausted and worn out. We know our students are also completely worn out. We need to stop ignoring that.

[Read more: 4 Ways Faculty Can Be Allies for College Student Mental Health]

Second, I am worried about this upcoming school year. Some argue that the incoming class will be the most underprepared group of students in the history of higher education. That will be particularly true for students coming from under-resourced environments, where they really struggled with remote learning in high school and didn’t have the access and opportunities that other students did.

Knowing that student performance in gateway courses is a predictor of retention and graduation, institutions have to be prepared to serve these students. That’s a big task to take on and we need to prepare for that.

What makes you hopeful or optimistic for the future of higher education?

The disparities during COVID and the shift to emergency remote teaching has led to a lot of talk about how we just have to get back to the classroom. But we can’t forget that being in the traditional classroom has not historically served Black, Latinx, Indigenous and poverty-affected students well either. The traditional classroom is deeply embedded into how we think about education, and it will take a lot of work to change how we think about teaching and learning in the traditional classroom.

But digital learning is still relatively new, and we have an opportunity to embed equity into that type of teaching and learning in a way that will be harder in a traditional classroom setting. So I’m really excited about the conversations we’re having around what it means to have an equitable and inclusive digital learning space. I’m excited about the opportunities for professional learning in this space and the fact that people don’t have the same preconceived notions about how things have to be that they have in traditional educational settings.

As we look to the future, that’s what I’m most hopeful for. We can really shape this type of learning into something that can be meaningful and impactful and finally equitable for our students.

What’s something that made you smile recently? If you’re like faculty who took part in ACUE’s panel discussion from the California Community College Association for Occupational Education (CCCAOE) Conference, it could be the sun, cats, flowers, or maybe even a delicious donut.

This Brain Warm-Up, which kicked off the event, is just one activity ACUE-certified faculty Mari Morris Mas, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and Hollie Fortkamp, Chef Instructor, both at Santa Rosa Junior College, facilitated. ACUE’s Martha Bless also offered an overview of the program. 

The Brain Warm-Up, Fortkamp said, is a “fun moment to take a pause and reflect on something that makes you smile,” as well as a chance to connect with and learn from one another. “It creates cohesive togetherness.”

The presenters also facilitated breakout discussions about challenges faculty are currently facing, along with commentary about the nature of inclusive teaching.

“It’s the what and the why,” Bless said. “It brings a layer of intentionality to [your effective teaching practices].”

Meanwhile, Morris Mas emphasized the importance of encouraging students to engage. “They’re not going to feel that open door unless you open that door first by asking specific questions,” she said. 

Watch the video for the full conversation:

This piece is the third in a series spotlighting the impact that states, systems and higher education institutions are having when they engage faculty more fully in student success strategies, including the reform of developmental education.

In 2013, Florida became one of the first states in the country to enact legislation to take significant action on developmental education reform. Senate Bill 1720 dramatically changed the landscape for public higher education in Florida. Under the new law, placement tests no longer a requirement for college admission, allowing high school graduates to directly enroll in college-level courses for the first time. (Hu, 2019)

Implementation of the aggressive policy fell to the 28 member colleges and universities under the Florida College System (FCS). A series of system-led task forces and committees had been underway for years prior to SB 1720’s passage. The work during these early years to begin redesigning developmental course offerings and enhance student supports laid the groundwork for successful implementation (Smith, 2020). Data on enrollment and completion rates suggest that the change has had a positive impact: enrollment in and persistence through college-level coursework has increased, pass rates have improved, while Black and Hispanic students experiences larger gains (Park-Gaghan et al., 2020).

Showcasing a “Comprehensive Approach”: Indian River State College

Academic leaders of Florida’s top community colleges have successfully embraced the changes through a spirit of collaboration and friendly competition. An “unusual number” excel nationally at preparing students both for university transfer and workforce entry through strong technical programs. High performance in both areas is a big reason why Florida’s community colleges routinely finish atop national rankings and jockey for the top spot in the prestigious Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. (FL DOE, 2020).

Student-centered innovation is a pursuit shared across the FCS, an approach that has enabled them to move quickly and adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Ensuring faculty are partners in this work, they say, is crucial.

“For students to succeed, our faculty have to continually innovate every single day,” said Heather Belmont, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Indian River State College (IRSC), the 2019 Aspen winner. “You really have to change the way you’re teaching to help them succeed.”

At IRSC, that change starts with a comprehensive approach to professional development. As part of their onboarding process, a collaboration between IRSC’s Employee Development Program (EDP) and Institute for Academic Excellence (IAE), new hires are engaged in the college’s culture of teaching and learning. Over the course of their first year, new faculty are paired with veteran faculty mentors and have opportunities to attend a series of meetings focused on supporting their own growth and success at IRSC, join open discussions, and learn about the IAE’s offerings and trainings.

For Jodi Robson, director of the IAE, one of the most effective ways to build culture has been through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). These PLCs–eight in total–cover a variety of topics and interests. They review literature for evidence-based research, as well as develop support systems for faculty. Throughout the year, the PLCs share their findings with faculty through multiple approaches (Belmont & Robson, 2021)

Robson has leveraged her passion for building communities through IRSC’s partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). As IRSC has grown its partnership with ACUE to train and credential faculty in evidence-based teaching practices, she was inspired to launch a faculty learning community that extended to other Florida community colleges—and even beyond.

Robson, along with four other faculty developers across other ACUE Florida colleges, launched The Coffee Shop, a virtual professional development series through which participants share resources and showcase practical teaching techniques for continuous learning.

“It’s so affirming when participants share their enthusiasm about incorporating what they learned into their own classrooms,” Robson (2021) said. “I am excited to see how this program continues to evolve and expand to serve faculty across the country.”

Practice Spotlight: Broward College

Removing barriers to post-secondary completion is a top priority at Broward College. The Fort Lauderdale-based college, which serves more than 50,000 students, is a five-time Aspen Prize finalist.

A cornerstone of Broward’s strategic student success is the Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning (CTEL). When Broward needed to respond rapidly to Florida’s SB 1720 developmental education reforms, the CTEL helped faculty implement and scale a successful pilot using adaptive assessment software to enhance developmental math courses (Baker, 2020).

With the dramatic shift to online learning, teaching, and working, Associate Vice President and CTEL Director Julia Philyaw says “the CTEL team has been in overdrive” to ensure that the Broward community has access to, and comfort with, the new technology platforms, communication systems, and productivity tools needed to remain effective and connected. Between March 2020 and March 2021, CTEL offered a total of 970 offerings. (Philyaw, 2021)

Broward’s most comprehensive program has been an enterprising partnership with ACUE, which began with a five-year commitment to train and credential 500 faculty. After just one year, academic leaders say the impact was clear, with nearly all finalists for Broward’s Professor of the Year awards being ACUE-credentialed faculty (Broward College, 2019).

The strongest indicator that this approach to faculty development was positively impacting student success came in 2020 with the publication by of a research brief and technical report assessing the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. The report showed that course completion gaps were closed for Black students and course-passing gaps were closed for Pell-eligible students taught by ACUE-credentialed faculty at Broward (Lawner & Snow, 2020).

“The program has already shown tremendous success in achieving equity among students,” Broward College President Gregory Adam Haile wrote in a Dec. 2020 President’s Update newsletter to the campus community (Haile, 2020).

Practice Spotlight: Tallahassee Community College

Tallahassee Community College (TCC) is laying a foundation to incorporate comprehensive faculty learning opportunities into its recipe for student success.

“Ensuring that faculty have ownership in their own professional development is critical to the success of teaching and student learning,” says Calandra Stringer, TCC’s Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Aligned with the launch of a new four-year strategic plan in August 2019, academic leaders convened faculty and staff for a two-day workshop that focused on equitably advancing a student-centered environment. Stringer says that the event included an exercise in which participants were presented with data revealing a nearly 30% equity gap in student success rates between Black and students.

A focus on removing barriers to student success paved the way for the development of a Teaching and Learning Framework, in partnership with Achieving the Dream (ATD). ATD surveyed and interviewed faculty to identify key areas where they believed professional development could be improved and strengthened. This information was used to identify topics and strategies to build professional faculty engagement, including a partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE).

Through the partnership, TCC offers up to three microcredentialing tracks per semester focused on:

• Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment,
• Promoting Active Learning Online,
• Inspiring Inquiry and Lifelong Learners, and/or
• Designing Student-Centered Courses

In a matter of months, TCC completed five microcredential courses to approximately 140 faculty. During the 2020-2021 academic term, ACUE-credentialed faculty were invited to participate in an advanced professional development experience through TCC’s Center for Professional Enrichment, a community of practice that meets regularly to discuss lessons and dive deeper into specific teaching strategies.

Stringer credits the partnership with ACUE as being crucial to developing “a culture of practice that allows faculty to share with one another the teaching tools and techniques that are most efficacious for them.”

The work has paid dividends. In 2021, TCC became the latest FCS member named a top 10 Aspen Prize finalist, the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges. In addition, student success rates have steadily improved amidst unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19.

“The data is remarkable given the existing pandemic and efforts to sustain our enrollment.”

Association of College and University Educators. (2021, February 18). Coffee, community, and curriculum. ACUE Community. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://community.acue.org/blog/acue-partners-in-florida-build-community-of-professional-practice/

Baker, P. (2020, November). How partnering with the center for teaching excellence and learning helped Broward College launch an adaptive pilot. Every Learner Everywhere. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://www.everylearnereverywhere.org/blog/how-partnering-with-the-center-for-teaching-excellence-and-learning-helped-broward-college-launch-an-adaptive-pilot/

Belmont, H. and Robson, J. (2021, March 8). Personal communication

.

Broward College. (2019, May 5). Broward College offers continued education training for faculty and staff. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://news.broward.edu/2019/05/ce-training-2019.html

Florida Department of Education. (2020, July 24). Florida College System institutions stand out as our nation’s best. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from http://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/blogs/florida-college-system-institutions-stand-out-as-our-nations-best.stml#:~:text=Focused%20solely%20on%20student%20access,earnings%20rates%20after%20graduation%3B%20and

Haile, G.A. (2020, December). President’s Update. Broward College. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://www.broward.edu/about/leadership/_docs/monthly-updates/decupdatefinal2020.pdf

Hu, S. (2019, April 9). A Florida developmental education reform is leading to greater success and equity. Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://postsecondaryreadiness.org/florida-developmental-education-reform-equity

Lawner, E., & Snow, M. (2020). Advancing academic equity at Broward College: Improved course completion and passing, Particularly among Pell-eligible and Black students. Association of College and University Educators.

Park-Gaghan, T. J. , Mokher, C. G. , Spencer, H. , Hu, X. , & Hu, S. (2020). What happened when developmental education became optional in the Sunshine state? The Impact of Florida’s developmental education reform on introductory college-level course completion. Educational Researcher. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/

Philyaw, J. (2021, March 12). Personal communication [email interview].

ACUE-credentialed professor Dr. Lindsay Wright stresses the importance of self-care in order to be an effective educator.

Like in other industries, many individuals in academia discuss their all-nighters or weekend work sessions almost as if they are points-of-pride. And had it not been for a series of family circumstances in recent years, Dr. Lindsay Wright, Ph.D., ACUE-credentialed associate professor and undergraduate program coordinator in the School of Child and Family Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), might have been one of them. 

But today, Wright is passionate about setting a different example, not only for her colleagues but also her students—one of self-care. That journey began in 2017 when Wright’s young daughter, Kaitlyn, was diagnosed with leukemia at 21 months. Wright, a busy professor who was currently going through ACUE’s Effective Teaching Practices course, had to start setting boundaries for herself.

“It started shortly after my daughter’s birth. I took email off my phone so I didn’t feel pressured to respond to work emails immediately,” Wright remembers. “And then I had another wake-up call in the fall of 2017 when my daughter was undergoing treatment for leukemia. I had really let myself go—I wasn’t eating or sleeping well. I was driving 80 miles to and from the hospital a lot of weekends while I worked during the week, which is hard on a mother.”

When her daughter finished chemotherapy, Wright vowed to make a change and focus on her own health. She dubbed that time her “self-care spring,” which slowly morphed into self-care summer.

“I started a nutrition program, began exercising and lost 35 lbs,” Wright says. “But doing that meant I had to set boundaries with work. It was a real growth moment for me. I had been so focused on all the things I needed to do that I had to step back and look after myself.”

But it wasn’t until COVID hit in March 2020 that Wright started applying some of those self-care principles she was using personally on a professional level.

“I was always pretty rigid in my structure, but like with most things, COVID changed that,” Wright says. “I had an ‘a-ha’ moment during quarantine when I had to remember that not everyone is like me and tries to push through hard times. Life situations affect people differently. I changed the times of my assignment due dates to be on Fridays at noon because it works best for me, but I also tell my students that I’m happy to accept late work, as long as they communicate that to me within 24-hours of the assignment’s deadline, which they really appreciate.”

Trying new things to accommodate her students, while also prioritizing her personal time with family and friends, is important to Wright—and it’s something she tries to remind her fellow faculty members.

“Our jobs are stressful and the work is demanding, but to best serve our students, we need to set boundaries for ourselves,” she says. “As faculty, we need to be role models for our students and for one another. You don’t need to be working constantly to be successful in your career. The fact I’ve been able to earn tenure while setting personal boundaries is proof of that. At the end of the day, our jobs—while important—are replaceable. The people in our lives are not.”

Dr. Wright is featured in ACUE’s course Effective Online Teaching Practices. Watch a sampling of her contributions to our course:

This piece is the second in a series spotlighting the impact that states, systems and higher education institutions are having when they engage faculty more fully in student success strategies, including the reform of developmental education.

In Colorado, higher education leaders have been laying the foundation for developmental education reform for nearly a decade. A community college task force, established in 2011, helped put it on the agenda. The first co-requisite offerings began rolling out in 2016. Institutional leaders have made strides expanding guided pathways and models for supplemental academic instruction, but improving student persistence and completion across the state has remained a challenge.

With growing urgency, leading colleges and universities in Colorado recognized that preparing faculty to deliver quality instruction is particularly beneficial to advancing student equity. The examples highlighted in this practice profile underscore how the role of faculty and quality teaching are central to creating inclusive learning environments leading to more equitable outcomes.

Community College of Aurora

For the Community College of Aurora (CCA), becoming an equity-minded institution involves all aspects of the institution’s operations. CCA’s five-year Inclusive Excellence (IE) Strategic Plan pioneered a nationally-recognized approach that diversified its workforce and embedded equity work throughout the college that is driven by goals to improve student. “A commitment to inclusive excellence and equity is in the DNA of our college,” said Dr. Tricia Johnson, CCA’s vice president for academic affairs from 2017 to 2021

Johnson and her team in the Instructional Intervention and Support (IIS) department were charged with executing on many of CCA’s IE teaching and learning goals. In recent years, the department expanded professional development offerings and created new incentives for participation. Johnson said that CCA launched a program that offers faculty “unprecedented levels of professional development and support” to implement inclusive teaching practices.

Math Faculty and Equity Mindedness

CCA offers several professional development opportunities for faculty, including the Equity in Instruction Leadership Academy, an immersive equity-consciousness training program through which faculty cohorts meet regularly to analyze disaggregated equity data for their courses and discuss how mindset and inherent biases shape student learning experiences.

The Academy grew out of a math department initiative led by its chair, James Gray. Using the USC Rossier Center for Urban Education’s Equity Scorecard, Gray and his fellow math instructors engaged in peer-to-peer discussions that gradually led them to become “collectively conscious” of unintended biases and how their behaviors, particularly toward Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students, “conveyed indifference, lack of caring and even fear.”  They set equity goals and took steps to change their teaching practices to be more inclusive.

Pairing Practical Approaches with Mindset

As CCA’s Inclusive Excellence Strategic Planning took shape in 2017, Johnson wanted to provide faculty with professional development opportunities that prepared them to immediately implement inclusive teaching practices. In partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), CCA launched a program for faculty to address a comprehensive body of evidence-based inclusive teaching practices.

“What’s been so beautiful is faculty members’ willingness to be vulnerable and be comfortable enough to really listen, push, and grow,” Johnson said. “I have had individuals who have been teaching for 20 years say, ‘It reinvigorated my teaching. I found this passion for it again that I hadn’t felt in a while.’”

When the Covid-19 pandemic led to budget cuts, funding for professional development remained. In an updated report on CCA’s IE Strategic Plan, the IIS department made the case for a “sustainable infrastructure” for faculty development, citing “high participation and feedback received” from the ACUE course.

“We knew how critically important, especially in a time like this, that professional development would be for our faculty or instructors,” Johnson said.

University of Colorado Denver

Three years ago, the academic leaders at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) were looking for ways to engage more faculty who were teaching the university’s “influential courses,” characterized by having large enrollment of more than 75 students and historically producing high DFW rates—meaning 20% of students receive a final grade of D, F or withdraw from the course.

“If they are not successful in those courses, they’re more likely to drop out,” said Dr. Margaret Wood, CU Denver’s associate vice chancellor of academic achievement. With limited resources, Wood sought to maximize impact. To scale professional learning opportunities, she partnered with ACUE and established UC Denver’s inaugural Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

To accommodate faculty members’ demanding schedules, Wood and the Center’s director, Dr. Lindsey Hamilton, offered a series of shorter microcredential courses. Within days, CU Denver filled every open spot. It took three months to engage as many faculty that previously took three years. “In terms of scaling, shorter micro credential courses are definitely the right approach for us to get more faculty involved,” Hamilton said.

Metropolitan State University Denver

At Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), a first-of-its-kind collaboration between two university offices led to the launch of an inclusive teaching initiative with a focus on preparing faculty in effective online teaching practices.

Equity and inclusive excellence are core values at MSU Denver. Recently designated a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), MSU Denver serves a student population in which the average age of undergraduates is 25 years old, 50% are first-generation college students, and 80% work full- or part-time.

When the university’s bustling downtown campus closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, MSU Denver moved 90% of its classes online. At the same time, nationwide protests over systemic racism and injustice pushed higher education to reckon with its role in advancing equity.

“Let’s meet these two moments,” said Jeff Loats, director of MSU Denver’s Center for Teaching, Learning and Design. “We have a pandemic which is forcing instructors online, and we have a national crisis attending to inherent racism in our country.”

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion partnered with the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design—two offices that previously did not work closely together—to apply for federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The university focused the funds to develop a professional learning initiative for faculty the addresses anti-racist pedagogies, inclusive teaching practices, and equity-consciousness.