Main Conference

Session 2A: An Introduction to On Course (MS, RF, AE, CO)
Presenter: Deb Poese, Director, Teacher Education Partnerships/Faculty, Mathematics, Montgomery College, MD
Summary: New to On Course? Wondering what it’s all about? This session will provide an overview of the On Course approach to student success. Participants will learn 1) the success principles that are the foundation of On Course, 2) how On Course is different from most student success approaches, 3) data demonstrating the success of this method, and 4) On Course resources available to support your students’ academic success and retention.

Session 2B: Don’t Put Away That Phone! Creating Technology Enhanced Learner-Centered Classrooms (AE, TD)
Presenter: April Holland, On Course Coordinator/English Faculty, Arkansas State University Mid-South
Summary: Competing with devices for students’ attention proves challenging for most faculty. The students of this generation rely on technology and are accustomed to having information at their fingertips. Instead of fighting a no-win battle, why not integrate technology into your classroom and create a technology enhanced learner-centered classroom? This presentation will engage faculty in a discussion of practical and useful ways to utilize student devices while enhancing the classroom learning experience and keeping students engaged.

Session 2C: Healthy Choices for Academic Success (CA, RF, CO, PC, SL, MH)
Presenter: Robin Middleton, Faculty Emerita, Student Development, Jamestown Community College, NY
Summary: Research confirms what we’ve intuited for years: how you treat your body affects your brain’s ability to function. Lack of sleep, poor nutrition and limited physical activity self-sabotage students’ academic success, yet many students are unaware that their choices have such negative consequences. This session will provide you with an engaging learning experience you can use with your students, complete with directions and handouts, to help your students become more empowered to make small changes that will have big implications.

Session 2D: Building New Neural Pathways in Your Brain (RM, CA, AE EQ, SL)
Presenter: Pat Vos, CEO, Intercon Messaging, Alberta, Canada
Summary: Building new neural pathways in your brain is possible; in fact, we are doing it every day. Raising awareness and educating ourselves gives us the opportunity to consciously practice building new healthier neural pathways. Benefits of new neural pathways include more clarity, solution focused thinking and often a suitable response rather than an uncontrolled reaction. You will leave this fun and very interactive session with a plan of action to help you consciously and consistently choose new, more empowering thoughts and create more of your desired outcomes.

Session 2E: An Introduction to Courageous Conversation (CA, CO, DS)
Presenter: Lori Watson, Equity Transformation Specialist (former Principal, Teacher, & Coach)
Summary: Exploring racial inequity requires methods and strategies for effective communication. This breakout session is an introduction to Courageous Conversation, a powerful, personally transforming, one-day seminar that helps leaders, employees, and organizations understand the impact of race on their lives, their work, and their overall growth and development. Interactive and stirring exercises strengthen participants’ critical consciousness of race and lead them to investigate the role that racism plays in institutionalizing achievement disparities. Most importantly, it models and teaches a protocol for discussing race in ways that are productive, insightful, and generative. We cannot solve the problems created by systemic racism without discussing race. Introduction to Courageous Conversation enables individuals to deepen their understanding of racial equity by imparting a method for connecting and communicating.

Session 2F: Hope Theory: Growing Hope in Students (CA, CO, EQ, GG)
Presenter: Mark McBride, Faculty, Communications/College Success, Eastern Florida State College
Summary: Sixteen-percent higher graduation rates. Improved retention. A better predictor of success than standardized tests (Williams and Butler, 2010). These are the outcomes found in Hope Theory research conducted by C. R. Snyder and colleagues. According to Snyder, hopeful students have set goals, recognize different pathways to attain them, are able to see their way past obstacles, and sincerely believe their goals will be met. This session will focus on strategies to grow hope in our students, thus improving their motivation to succeed.

Session 2G: Reducing Test Stress Using Growth Mindset and Self-Awareness (CA, EQ, GG, MH)
Presenter: Amy Munson-Pawlik, Dean, Student Support Services, Heartland Community College, IL
Summary: Do you suspect testing stress is impacting your students’ ability to be successful on exams? This session will let you try some test stress reduction techniques, including an emphasis on how to leverage growth mindset and self-awareness. Participants will complete a self-assessment on their own testing stress, learn about stress reduction strategies, and hear about how this approach has been used at both the United States Air Force Academy and Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs.

Session 2H: Personality Analysis and Communicating With Diverse Styles (CA, DS, IN)
Presenter: Traci Holler, Faculty, Business Education, Cuesta College, CA
Summary: Steven Covey stated, “Strength lies in differences, not similarities.” In this interactive session, participates will learn how to recognize various personality styles within a minute, examine verbal and non-verbal communication cues, adapt to diverse styles, develop effective strategies to minimize conflict, and also gain an appreciation for each style’s strengths and differences. By the end of this session, each participate will learn immediate strategies to enhance team performance and improve communication with students, staff, friends, and family.  If your motto is,” It’s my way or the highway,” “Let’s do it the right way,” ”Let’s do it the fun way,” or “Let’s practice being peaceful” then this session is for you.

Session 3A: The Power of Poetry and Music in the Classroom: How to Utilize Both to Create True Connection with Your Students (RM, CO, RW, DS)
Presenter: Donnelle McGee, Faculty, English, Mission College, CA
Summary: Come hear how the words of Kendrick Lamar, Pink Floyd, Sylvia Plath, Gnarls Barkley, and others can create a classroom where you and your students are connected for success.  This will be an interactive session where you will experience high impact practices that infuse poetry and music into the classroom environment. You will be able to take these practices back to your classroom with the aim of empowering your students and setting them up for success.

Session 3B: The Power of Retrieval Practice (CA, MS, CO, EQ, MH)
Presenter: Deb Poese, Director, Teacher Education Partnerships/Faculty, Mathematics, Montgomery College, MD
Summary: Students often share, “Professor, it always seems so easy when you are explaining it, but when I get to the quiz/test, I just can’t do it.” As we learn more about the cognitive science behind learning and retention, we can come to understand the pain, but also the potential, behind such a statement. Extensive research has emerged that retrieval of information (whether in tests or through other experiences) actually leads to more enduring memory for the material when compared with restudying. The act of retrieving information to improve long-term retention is known as retrieval practice. As a collateral benefit for many students—research has shown that test anxiety was reduced for 72% of students in classrooms where retrieval practice was implemented! This session will explore research and strategies for retrieval practice across disciplines.

Session 3C: Social Identity, Stereotypes, and Success: Is There a Link? (RM, CA, DS)
Presenter: Eileen Zamora, Faculty Emerita, English & Learning Skills, Southwestern College, CA
Summary: Gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, and political affiliation are just a handful of ways in which each of us identifies ourselves. What makes these identities important or unimportant to us? What impact do our social identities have on our success, academically and otherwise? In this interactive session, you will determine the various social identities by which you and others may define yourselves, as well as analyzing some of the stereotypes associated with those identities. You will discover that how we define ourselves can create an obstacle to academic success of which many students and educators are unaware: stereotype threat. You will learn the conditions under which stereotype threat exists and its effect on academic performance based on research by Dr. Claude Steele and others. You will leave this session with proven strategies to minimize this threat to your students and yourself. This session is appropriate for all educators, counselors, and administrators. Handouts and links to online resources will be provided.

Session 3D: The Emotional Cost of Teaching (CA, EQ, SL)
Presenter: David Betancourt, Faculty/Director of Bands, Cerritos College, CA
Summary: So what is this thing: Emotional Cost? It sounds a little bit like it might be some sort of blackmailing technique that we can acquire once we are in a meaningful relationship. Emotional costs encompass joys, victories, success, and other positive life experiences in equal measure as that cost is for challenges, conflicts, and struggles. In fact, there are many instances when the cost can be greater. This workshop will focus on identifying the emotional cost of teaching and targeting strategies that can be implemented to decrease and recoup the emotional cost.

Session 3E: Leveraging Your LMS for Student Success (AE, TD)
Presenter: Amy Munson-Pawlik, Dean, Student Support Services, Heartland Community College, IL
Summary: Whether you teach online, face-to-face, or hybrid, this session will highlight effective online learning strategies which are based on the On Course principles for student success. Participants will have the opportunity to practice some of these strategies and see how they can be incorporated in several different LMS platforms. This session will also offer a sneak peek at the new “On Course Online” two-day workshop. Please plan to bring a laptop or tablet to this session for hands-on activities.

Session 3F: Mindfulness and Learning: What’s the Connection? (CA, EQ, SL, MH)
Presenter: Sally Sharbaugh, Faculty, Human Development/Counselor, South Puget Sound Community College, WA
Summary: Learn how the “skillful means” of mindfulness can enhance learning. Participants will briefly explore the origins of mindfulness, its modern day expressions in our culture, and its benefits. You will experience three types of guided mindfulness exercises, including a concentration practice and a compassion practice. Learn how to use mindfulness practices in your own classes and how mindful awareness can help your students strengthen their skills in the On Course principles of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and life-long learning. You will leave with resources for further exploration and practical tools for mindfulness practice in your classroom.

Session 3G: Motivation: How Much Choice Do We Really Give? (RM, AE, DS)
Presenter: LuAnn Wood, Student Success Coordinator/Faculty, Reading, Century College, MN
Summary: Motivating students is often a great challenge for educators.  Research supports that there are multiple ways that students are motivated, both intrinsically and extrinsically.  One of the intrinsic strategies for motivating students is to give students ‘choice’, which relies on a powerful motivator, learner autonomy. In this session, we will explore what ‘choice’ looks like in our curriculum and assessment by asking questions such as: “Do we really give students ‘choice’ that encourages self-motivation? Why is it hard to give students real ‘choice’ over their learning?  We will also share strategies that participants have incorporated in their classroom or work area to encourage student ‘choice.’

Session 5A: Tips and Tricks to Engage Your Students Online and Face to Face (RM, CA, TD)
Presenter: Tamar Andrews, Faculty/Program Director, Early Childhood Education, American Jewish University, CA
Summary: Educators have rarely been taught how to teach in a way that motivates students beyond a student’s own intrinsic motivations. In this workshop, you will learn how the brain wants to be taught and how to motivate students to attend classes and view online content–even when there is no associated quiz! By gaining an understanding of what motivates students intrinsically, you will once again enjoy teaching and your students will love learning.

Session 5B: Invisible Man: Understanding the Complexities of Mental Illness in the Classroom (CA, DS, MH)
Presenter: Kamara Taylor, Faculty, Psychology, South Puget Sound Community College, WA
Summary: In this session, find out more about the keys to students’ psychological well-being and how to effectively deal with crisis in the classroom. Through this discussion, participants will learn to identify “triggers” for students and understand how to use healthy de-escalation models. Come to gain knowledge that can be used to provide support and aid in removing the stigma of mental illness in the classroom.

Session 5C: Assessment is FUN: Foundational, Unifying, and Necessary (CA, CO, PC)
Presenter: Michelle Francis, Faculty, Reading/Professional Development Chair, West Valley College, CA
Summary: We all know that assessment is a critical part of the learning process, but it is often the thing most dreaded by our students. Come to this interactive workshop to discuss why we want students to be more metacognitive and engage in assessment methods that use the On Course Principles to make assessment FUN (Foundational, Unifying, and Necessary). Content area teachers will especially gain from this opportunity to identify assessment strategies to fit into their course goals.

Session 5D: On Course Goes to High School: Choosing a Good Road (RF, PC, DS)
Presenter: Jonathan Brennan, Faculty, English, Mission College, CA
Summary: How might we improve the excellent results from using On Course with college students? Introduce high school students to a basic set of success principles so that these students can practice life skills before they arrive at college. This session will explore developing college/career readiness in middle/high school students, the latest research on non-cognitive competencies, and how to develop a success pipeline that improves both high school and college retention, persistence and graduation. Educators from all disciplines are encouraged to attend, especially those that are interested in developing partnerships between high schools and colleges.

Session 5E: Self-Care and Success in College and Beyond (RF, AE, CO, MH)
Presenters: Jimma Cortes-Smith, Educational Counseling Coordinator; Scheanelle Green, Educational Counselor, San Jose State University, CA
Summary: College life can both be awesome and exhausting. Learning to juggle school, work, and life for some begins in college. One way to balance the constant challenges of college life is to practice self-care. This session will provide FYE instructors, counselors, EOP counselors, student success center counselors and peer connection program coordinators with an engaging learning experience that you can teach to your students. We will focus on what is self-care and why it is essential to student success and retention. Participants will complete a self-assessment on their own self-care practices and will leave the presentation with tips, strategies, and practical tools.

Session 6A: Getting On Course Behind Prison Walls (DS, GG)
Presenters: Bernadette Johnson, Faculty Counselor/Faculty, Business; Erica Silver, Associate Faculty Counselor, College of the Redwoods, CA
Summary: On Course is transforming the lives of incarcerated students at Pelican Bay State Prison, behind the redwood curtain. Learn how to implement this powerful course behind prison walls. Hear feedback from our scholars and consider strategies to adapt the curriculum for students who have no access to internet, cell phones or a physical college campus. Join us in a conversation about equity, human potential and the value of education for some of the most underserved students in the nation. Listen to heartwarming and inspiring stories of students taking control of their futures and consider ways your school may be able to expand your reach to more students like these.

Session 6B: Engaging Online Assignments: Beg, Borrow, Steal (AE, TD)
Presenters: Melanee Grondahl, Student Development Instructor/Coordinator; Leslie Ellingson, Student Development Instructor, Shasta College, CA
Summary: Learn how to incorporate new technologies into your online courses that increase student-teacher interaction. Refresh your online modules with new engaging assignments. Come to this session and walk away with ready-to-use examples of creative and pedagogically-sound lessons that you can use next week! Bring your computers and be ready to “steal” our best work.

Session 6C: Communication Café: Changing ESL College Student Learning Outcomes (RW, CO, DS)
Presenter: Lori Travis, Faculty, Speech Communications, Taft College, CA
Summary: Communication Café is an ESL workshop designed to promote English fluency. It provides an on campus out-of-the-classroom learning environment (café) and interactive format designed to help ESL students improve the communication skills necessary for their educational success. Data is collected to analyze specific impacts of Communication Cafe upon ESL students in a process that allows the college to track student success and retention rates in ESL courses. In this session, learn more about the Café, experience some of the prompt questions and discussion models, and hear about their results!

Session 6D: Being Mindful of Student Success: Why Mental Health First Aid Matters (CO, MH)
Presenters: Darci Strother, Faculty, Spanish, California State University, San Marcos, CA; Bonnie Gasior, Interim Director of University Honors Program and Faculty, Spanish, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Summary: College students today find themselves navigating through a sea of new opportunities, while at the same time facing challenges that can impact their learning and success. Students’ rates of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder (among others) require universities to address student mental health in significant ways. Mental Health First Aid is a groundbreaking, public education program that helps the public identify, understand, and respond to individuals showing signs of a mental illness or substance use disorder. This session will introduce participants to the concept of MHFA training and engage them in several interactive activities. Those who attend will come away with new information as well as ideas for next steps, as we work toward improving the college experience for all our students.

Session 6E: Adventures in Teaching Techniques (AE)
Presenter: Phil Parker, Faculty, Criminal Justice, College of the Desert, CA
Summary: Ever wonder about some of those innovative teaching techniques you have read about, but just aren’t sure they will pay off? In this session, the presenter will share his experiences with a variety of techniques—flipped classroom, the ACUE frameworks, gamification, and more—and how they worked for him (or didn’t). Engage in the adventures of using these techniques and have an opportunity to share some of your own. Have fun, build relationships and possibly learn something. How cool is that?

Session 6F: Strategies to Engage Students in the Learning Process (AE, CO, IN, PC)
Presenter: Tonya Greene, Administrative Department Head, First Year Academy, Wake Technical Community College, NC
Summary: While many faculty have a desire to become more learner centered, it can be overwhelming finding effective strategies that will increase student engagement in the classroom. With the use of the Jigsaw, participants will exchange simple, easy to use strategies that can be implemented before, during, and after class, to invite greater student participation and involvement. Anyone involved with training, presentations, or workshops will also find these techniques valuable. Each participant will leave with multiple ideas for immediate implementation.

Session 7A: Infusing Equity Practices at Your College (MS, DS)
Presenter: Kenneth Songco, Director, Student Equity and Success, Mission College, CA
Summary: Do you want to improve the transition, progression, transfer and graduation rates of historically underrepresented and under prepared students at your college? Attend this lively session to learn more about high impact practices we have engaged at Mission College that are moving the needle on equity! These will include STEM innovations. Take away ideas and strategies to deeply address equity at your own institution.

Session 7B: Let’s Play Together (RF, AE, PC)
Presenter: Solange Wasef, Faculty, Nutrition, Palomar College, CA
Summary: Have you ever wondered how to transform group activities into fun learning experiences? Do you want to make homework assignments educational while enjoyable? Are you interested in flipping your classroom? If so, attend this session and you will play a board game, solve puzzles, and much more. We will also explore how to adapt these techniques into your own classroom for a variety of disciplines and content types.

Session 7C: No More Procrastinating! Self Management Strategies (CO, SL)
Presenter: Jonathan Brennan, Faculty, English, Mission College, CA
Summary: Students often face challenges in achieving their goals because they struggle with managing their time effectively. They may procrastinate, focus on lower priorities, lose important assignments and fail to stay on track. There are numerous apps and tools for self-management, as well as important research on setting and achieving goals and staying focused and organized. This session is designed for educators teaching any discipline, and will present research, resources, and self-management strategies to
bring back to the classroom or a student success program.

Session 7D: Expansive Education: Thinking Outside the Block (CA, PC, SL)
Presenter: David Betancourt, Faculty/Director of Bands, Cerritos College, CA
Summary: Is there more to education than content delivery, test results, and degrees? Expansive education champions pedagogy that embraces the concepts of learning dispositions, habits of mind, and expandable intelligence as central to the success of students in and beyond their formal educational years. This workshop will focus on unpacking Expansive Education into practical and useful teaching practices by exploring ten choices expansive educators consider.

Session 7E: Overcoming the Educator’s Limiting Psychological Script (CA, RW, PC, EQ)
Presenter: Mark McBride, Faculty, Communications/College Success, Eastern Florida State College
Summary: What’s your trigger? We all have them. Students’ attitudes and behaviors come at us at light speed, and once our button is pushed, forget about it. In this workshop, we’ll examine the psychological scripts that hinder our relationships with students. We will become aware of scripts that exist, techniques to disengage them, and strategies to erase them altogether. Once free from our auto-pilot reactions, we can stay focused on what we truly value: helping our students grow as successful learners.

Session 7F: Don’t Forget Your IOE’s: Using Icebreakers, Openers and Energizers to Revive Classroom Conversation (RF, AE, CO, EQ, IN)
Presenter: Robin Middleton, Faculty Emerita, Student Development, Jamestown Community College, NY
Summary: In her book, Reclaiming Conversation, Sherry Terkle notes, “Face-to-face conversation is the most human — and humanizing — thing we do. It’s where we develop the capacity for empathy.” Yet her research and experience suggests that students are losing the skills and interest in conversation, developing an ‘I’d rather text than talk” attitude. Icebreakers, Openers and Energizers help students overcome their resistance to conversation and discussion by breaking down the “walls” and opening up pathways to communication. Leave the workshop with at least nine IOE strategies to use in the classroom and/or workshops.

Session 7G: On Course in Every Class: Infusing the Eight Principles into the Content Areas (RM, AE, RW)
Presenter: Michelle Francis, Faculty, Reading/Professional Development Chair, West Valley College, CA
Summary: Infusing the Eight On Course Principles in a college success class is seemingly easy, but it is more challenging to infuse them into a content area course. Participants in this session will engage in various strategies and activities that can be used in content area courses to increase student success and completion rates. Participants will also share their own strategies for how they have implemented the On Course Principles in their classrooms. At the completion of this highly interactive session, participants will leave with ideas to immediately implement in their courses.

Session 7H: A Learner-Centered Class from Day 1: Syllabus Station-to-Station (RM, MS, AE)
Presenter: Al Trujillo, Faculty, Earth Sciences, Palomar College, CA
Summary: Do you dread the stares of your students on the first day of class, when you go over the syllabus with them in painstaking detail, and they just sit there, looking at you expectantly (and perhaps trying to do some sneaky texting under their desks)? The first day of class sets the tone for the semester, and in this session you’ll experience a fun, active, On Course learning activity called station-to-station, which is a strategy that you can use not only to cover your syllabus, but also a wide variety of other course materials. Learn how to set the right tone for your class, starting on day one!

Session 8: Closing Session with Dr. Jonathan Brennan
Summary: In this closing session, we will explore some of the challenges faced by online learners, which include the need for: a) instructor-student connection, b) an experience of community with classmates, and c) greater awareness of their online learning habits. This session will provide you with proven approaches for increasing engagement, interdependence and self-awareness for online learners. Also, as is our tradition, this session will end with a raffle of some great prizes, including one $595 scholarship to the 2021 On Course National Conference and two $500 scholarships to any 2020 On Course National Workshop. JONATHAN BRENNAN has facilitated student success workshops for faculty from colleges and universities across North America for the last two decades. Dr. Brennan is a researcher in best practices in student success, holds a BA and an MA in English, an MA in Counseling Psychology, a PhD in Ethnic Studies (UC Berkeley), an EdD in Educational Leadership and Change (Fielding Graduate University), and also consults as an Effectiveness and Leadership Coach. Since 2006, he has served as Chair of the On Course National Conference.

Dr. Brennan is a faculty member (and former department and division chair) of the English Department at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. He designed and coordinated an On Course Program at Mission College that significantly improved the retention and academic success rate of students in developmental English, Mathematics, Reading, and ESL. He has chaired the Student Success Committee as well as the Accreditation Committee, served as Vice President of the Academic Senate, and teaches composition, African American and Native American literature, and life skills classes. He has served as director of an academic mentoring program for basic skills students, developed the first year seminar Learning Communities project, and directed research grants for the state of California’s Fund for Student Success and Fund for Instructional Improvement programs.

He was voted Faculty of the Year at Mission College in 1999-2000, and was awarded a NISOD Teaching Excellence Award. In April, 2005, he was awarded the Stanback-Stroud Diversity award from the California State Academic Senate, and in 2008 was awarded the California State Hayward Award for Excellence in Education. His publications include two books on Mixed Race and Black Indian Literature from Stanford Press and University of Illinois Press, and a student success textbook for high school students, Choosing a Good Road.