Innovations in
Teaching, Learning & Leading
NISOD Awards for Excellence
Faculty (l to r) Adrianna Holden-Gouveia, Meredith Gunning, Jody Carson, Pamela Hallock and Mary Jo Shafer (not in the photo) are this year’s recipients of the NISOD Awards for Excellence.

Congratulations, faculty, on your achievement!
Professional Development Events
Let's Talk Tutoring Lunch and Learn
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
12:30-1:30pm       
Lawrence Campus, L-244
      
Join Jennifer Levesque and Tutoring staff to learn about what tutoring can offer students and to discuss how we can all work together to support student success.


Serving All Students Through a Culture of Equity: Full-Day Workshop
Friday, February 28, 2020
9am-4pm
Haverhill campus
(Snow date: Friday, March 13, 2020)

We are proudly a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution. While we are ahead of most other community colleges in our outcomes for Hispanic students, we can do better to close the student success gap. If you are wondering how you can contribute to the college's Equity Imperative, participating in a new equity workshop is one step you can take.

The Center for Professional Development is offering an integrated approach to professional learning to equip educators to create a culture of equity in our classrooms and across our campuses. Join us for this exciting learning opportunity!


Hot Topics in Higher Education with President Lane Glenn: How Small is Too Small? How Big is Too Big? Trends in College Closures and Mergers
Wednesday, March 4
12:30-1:30pm
Haverhill campus, C-204

Last year, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen predicted that, within a decade, around 30 to 50 percent of private colleges will close or merge with another school. The situation is not much rosier for public institutions, many of which around the country have already begun, or will soon embark on, the process of blending campuses into new colleges or entire systems.

Demography and a thriving economy, along with radical shifts in how education is being delivered and how the public perceives the value of a college degree are all driving these changes, which are expected to continue for at least the next decade, and probably beyond.

Here at NECC, we have definitely experienced these challenges, and found some solutions that have helped stabilize us—for now.

When you think about public colleges and universities here in Massachusetts, including NECC:
  • How small is too small? How big is too big? What is the “right” size of a college?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of merging colleges?
  • What steps, other than complete closures or mergers, can institutions of higher education take to strengthen their condition, weather the next several years of challenges, and fulfill their local missions?

You may find it helpful to read these resources and come prepared with your questions, comments, and ideas:



Sabbatical Series Lunch & Learn: It’s Never What You Think It’s Going To Be
Meredith Gunning, Philosophy
Wednesday, March 25 from 12:30-1:30pm
Haverhill campus, C-204

A sabbatical application with the purpose of developing OER textbooks transformed into an ongoing project to cultivate relationships with Dominican Republic philosophers, a visit to the Dominican Republic with other faculty members, and a commitment to ensuring that NECC students read thinkers from their own tradition and culture. 


Sabbatical Series Lunch & Learn
Clare Thompson-Ostrander, Academic Prep
Wednesday, April 8
12:30-1:30pm
Haverhill campus, C-204

Clare created an online resource for her college writing students while on her sabbatical. The site provides lessons and tutorial videos that help students learn and apply sentence building activities to their own writing. The site deliberately steers away from "error hunting" as the only form of editing a college essay. Instead, the lessons help students play and experiment with their sentences, which ultimately leads them to be more engaged with their own editing process. The Sentence Makers website is free to anyone who would like to use it.


Supporting Elderly Parents Lunch & Learn
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
12:30-1:30pm
Haverhill campus, C-204

Join us to discuss how to support elderly parents, especially those transitioning to nursing home care or diagnosed with dementia.  Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley will share beneficial resources.

International Women's Day
Passport to Inclusion:
A Multicultural Extravaganza
Tech Talks
A Tech Talk is an exploration of current and emerging tech trends in a low-stress, positive environment - a “sandbox” approach to learning about new technologies.

For information contact distance@necc.mass.edu

Digital Literacy, the Post-Truth Landscape, and Civic Online Reasoning
Every day we ask our students to find information on any number of topics. Every day we Google information in our own lives. But particularly online it is becoming more and more difficult to determine fact from misinformation, news from slant, expertise from opinion. Librarian Jenny Fielding will discuss strategies for engaging with digital information with a fact-checking mindset that has become more ever more urgent as technology impacts our communities, our privacy, and our democracy.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020
12:30-1:25 PM
Haverhill Campus, C-204 or virtually. If you want to join by Zoom, please indicate it in the Questions and Comment box in the registration form.


Going the Distance: Why Adult Students’ Stories May Hold the Key to Creating Online Courses That Work for Them
How can we get adult learners more engaged and more likely to complete their online classes? Better feedback and communication, more user-friendly courses, and more career-focused assignments can all help. Join NECC Adjunct Kim Lyng as she shares her research on the unique characteristics these nontraditional students bring to the online environment and why their stories and experiences matter when creating and teaching courses that best suit their needs and learning styles. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2020
12:30-1:25PM
Haverhill campus, C-208. If you want to join by Zoom, please indicate it in the Questions and Comment box in the registration form.

Professional Day on Equity and Cultural Wealth
Call for proposals
Professional Day is an opportunity for us to learn and grow together as a community. This year’s Professional Day is scheduled for Friday, March 27, on the Haverhill campus. The theme is Equity and Cultural Wealth and is aligned with the Equity Imperative. As explained by President Glenn, NECC is uniquely positioned to close the student success gap between Latino/a and White students and help prepare more citizens of Massachusetts for a prosperous future.

The keynote will be given by colleagues from the Bunker Hill Community College Center for Equity and Cultural Wealth, which draws on their nationally recognized work to design culturally inclusive learning environments that value the strengths of our diverse students, faculty, staff and local communities.

We are seeking proposals from faculty and staff for concurrent sessions. Please submit a proposal highlighting your work around equity and cultural wealth as related to best practices for culturally relevant instruction and student support services.

Sessions should be 50 minutes in length. We ask that you submit your proposal by Wednesday, February 26, 2020.

Professional Day is sponsored by the Center for Professional Development and the Leading for Change Diversity Consortium Campus Team, part of a statewide consortium, committed to enhancing our institutional infrastructures for racial equity and justice. Team members welcome conversations to brainstorm possible session topics. 
Deliberative Pedagogy
Deliberative Pedagogy is a process used in higher education to begin and facilitate difficult conversations. In a Lunch and Learn session on February 5, fifteen members of the NECC community met to learn more about how to begin and facilitate dialogue about difficult topics, generate topics that might be explored and consider ways to bring community members together who might have disparate views. 

The text Creating Space for Democracy: Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education was used as a reference for the session. Susan Redditt, an Intern in the Community Resources Department, facilitated the dialogue and provided participants with resources for teaching and learning using deliberative pedagogy. This process, including exploration of a topic, transforming conflicts in the deliberative group, decision-making and collaborative action, has the potential to transform classroom talk into progress towards meeting collective goals. Materials for teaching using this process, including research-based readings and dialogue prompts can be found on the Everyday Democracy website. For questions and interest in deliberating challenging topics at NECC contact Susan Redditt.
Call for nominations for the
Award for Leadership in the ISE (ALISE) Award
ALISE Award April 2019
As you probably know, MANY people at the college are working very hard to implement and advance the goals of the Integrated Student Experience (ISE). This is your chance to honor a colleague or a group of colleagues for their outstanding work. 

Previous years’ recipients were: The Center for Business & Accounting and the Academic Preparation Department. The ISE Steering Committee presents the Award for Leadership in the Integrated Student Experience and we would appreciate your help. 

The three goals of the ISE are: 
• Increasing the student sense of belonging and participation in the campus community
• Increasing academic structure for students
• Re-engineering our college structures and processes to be coherently linked and more easily navigable by students

Please nominate a colleague or colleagues who should be honored and celebrated for:
  1. Exhibiting leadership and innovation
  2. Taking Initiative
  3. Collaborating with others
  4. Taking a student-focused approach

The nomination form consists of three short questions and is due by Monday, April 6. The award will be presented at the ISE Steering Committee meeting on April 21. 
Call for nominations for the
2nd annual Social Justice Award
Do you know a colleague or a group of colleagues who promote equity, diversity, social justice and/or the advancement of human rights in their work at the college? 

Nominations for the Social Justice Award are currently being accepted. The award is given out at Commencement by President Lane Glenn.

Individuals or groups who meet one or more of the following criteria are considered eligible for the award:
  • Displays commitment to equity and diversity, including race, ethnicity, religion, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation and other areas of inclusion in the campus community.
  • Incorporates diverse values and perspectives in the classroom, curriculum, or co-curricular activities.
  • Advocates for change designed to improve the learning and working environments for individuals from underrepresented communities.
  • Promotes the advancement of human rights and social justice through involvement on campus and/or the external community.

Nomination Forms are due by March 1, 2020.

Please contact Janel D’Agata-Lynch or Kim Burns with questions.
Join the 2020 Election Teach-In!
As many of you remember, NECC did a teach-in in during the 2016 and 2018 elections. The teach-in was a combination of campus wide events (who can forget the Mock Presidential Debate amongst faculty?), faculty bringing the election into the classroom, voter registration, and more.

How would you like to participate this spring and fall in the 2020 Election Teach-In?  This is wide open for creativity! From lesson plans for classes to campus wide events to club activities, we hope to engage our campus community to increase knowledge and participation in the fall elections. If you are interested in participating, please fill out our form ASAP! We will be in touch shortly to discuss your idea and to move ahead. Thank you for your dedication to your students’ civic learning and engagement! For more information, contact Janel D'Agata-Lynch.

Building community in community college classrooms (opinion)

One challenge every community college instructor faces is building a sense of community for students who are all commuters. Those students frequently have jobs and other outside commitments and may only be on the campus to take their classes.

Read more
www.insidehighered.com
Fika Friday
Join us to unwind and gather with your colleagues
Friday, April 10, 2020
10-11:30am
Haverhill Campus, C-204
Center for Professional Development
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Professional Development Funds
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Are you interested in attending a conference in your discipline? Is there a workshop on student success strategies you want to attend?

Funds are available to assist faculty and staff with the cost of attending conferences to engage in scholarly exchange.

Spring 2020 application deadline:
  • April 6, 2020

Are you taking a credit course to earn a degree? Apply for reimbursement for up to $100 for books.
New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC)
Call for proposals!
New England Faculty Development Consortium 2020 Conference
Students as Partners in Learning Design
Friday, June 5, 2020
Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA

Join us at NEFDC's annual spring conference, which will be held on our campus! The keynote speaker will be Dr. Alison Cook-Sather, who is the Mary Katharine Woodworth Professor of Education and Director of the Peace, Conflict and Social Justice Studies concentration at Bryn Mawr College and Director of the Teaching and Learning Institute at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. Dr. Cook-Sather will share her important work on how student-faculty and student-staff pedagogical partnerships can support both student and faculty learning. These partnerships can be a forum for designing and redesigning classroom learning where students and faculty partners bring their different perspectives to bear on how to develop engaging, equitable, and inclusive learning opportunities for students.

The NEFDC welcomes proposals that are focused on the theme of how student-faculty and student-staff pedagogical partnerships can support both student and faculty learning. We welcome student perspectives and collaborators, as well as proposals that demonstrate:
  • Changes in teaching resulting from students as partners
  • Strategies for engaging students in co-constructing the classroom environment
  • Creating engaging, equitable and inclusive environments for learning
  • Working with teaching assistants
  • Working with students on research projects
  • Strategies for fostering student engagement and belonging
  • Research co-conducted and co-authored with under-represented and under-served students
  • Academic engagement activities by faculty to increase persistence (in or out of class)
  • Interactive multi-modal instructional technology
  • Technology-enhanced strategies for engaging students as partners in the teaching and learning process 

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: February 24, 2020. 

Conference registration will be available in March, so mark your calendars. We hope to see you at the conference!!
Conferences and Webinars
New England Educational Assessment Network (NEean) Dialogues in the Disciplines: Experiential Learning Across the Disciplines: Models and Practice for Learning Assessment
Friday, March 27, 2020
9:00AM to 3:00PM
Johnson & Wales University, Cranston, RI 02905

Our focus will be on exploring the following essential question: How do we best leverage assessment from Experiential Education, regardless of model, to assess student learning and inform continuous improvement at the course, program, and institutional level?


31st Annual Teaching Academic Survival and Success (TASS) Conference
March 29-April 1, 2020
Fort Lauderdale FL
This is a conference for the serious practitioner who is passionate about helping all students, especially those who are underprepared or underrepresented, to survive and thrive in college and beyond.  

Call for proposals!
Massachusetts Community College Teaching, Learning & Student Development Conference (TLSD)
Equity Through Innovation: Ensuring Success for All Students
Hosted by Roxbury Community College
Friday, April 3, 2020

The TLSD planning committee is now accepting presentation proposals. The proposal submission deadline is is 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, February 29, 2020.

THIS COLLEGE IS YOURS: EQUITY & EMPOWERMENT ON CAMPUS
Friday, April 3, 2020
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center

Plenary Speaker: Noemi Custodia-Lora, Ph.D., Vice President of Lawrence Campus & Community Relations, Northern Essex Community College

Public institutions belong to everyone. Yet, college campuses and classrooms can unintentionally send signals that some people belong more fully than others. And some groups of students struggle academically at disproportionate rates: male students of color, first-generation college students, refugee students and others.

This one-day conference will provide college faculty and staff with practical, specific strategies for creating equitable courses, campus spaces and interactions. Tested, evidence-based strategies will be presented in workshops by experts in the field.

Register by March 20, 2020.

4th Annual Northeast OER Summit
May 28 & 29, 2020
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Call for Proposals!
15th Annual Conference on eLearning by Mass Colleges Online (MCO)
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA

Faculty and staff are invited to submit proposals for presentations, panel discussions and brainstorming sessions. The MCO Conference is a great opportunity to explore and discuss how colleges and universities in Massachusetts are designing and delivering online and hybrid education. Get tips and ideas to:
•     engage students online
•     create an accessible learning environment
•     innovate with technology
•     manage eLearning programs

Who should attend?
• Faculty teaching (or interested to teach) online and blended courses
• Administrators
• Instructional Designers
• Librarians
• eLearning Support Staff

The deadline to submit a proposal is March 15, 2020.

August 3-6, 2020
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Workshop Applications are due March 1, 2020

The Global Studies Outreach Committee at Harvard University is now accepting applications for our 2020 summer workshop for K-14 educators.It is intended for middle, high school and community college educators, primarily focusing on those that teach humanities and social sciences but open to teachers of all subjects. 

The workshop will feature presentations by scholars and experts on global questions that surround the intersection of climate and conflict. Participating educators will have the opportunity to wrestle with these questions as a learning community and explore ways to bring these questions, conversations and newly shared resources into their classrooms.  

The cost of participating in the workshop is $75. Breakfast and lunch are served daily during the workshop. Limited funds for travel reimbursement are available to educators who reside outside of the state of Massachusetts.

Workshop Applications are due March 1, 2020. For more information on the workshop, including the workshop application, please visit our website.
The Center for Professional Development welcomes requests for sign language interpreting and other access requests (i.e. Computer Aided Real Time (CART), food allergies, etc.), including attending events remotely via video conference. 

Please contact the event organizer for requests, questions and information.