Hello Loudoun campus colleagues,

The time is approaching for our fall 2014 Adjunct Professional Development Day, scheduled for Saturday, August 16, from 8:30 – 1:30. This day is dedicated to adjunct faculty, but is designed to help all faculty preparefor the upcoming semester in a variety of ways:

  • Enjoy some personal meet and greet time with your colleagues
  • Get a warm welcome from our provost, Dr. Julie Leidig, along with our academic division deans
  • Participate in your choice of three professional development workshops designed to help you pick up some new “tips and tricks” you might like to make use of in your teaching.
  • Have lunch with your discipline head and colleagues where you will be brought up to date on any discipline/program changes and get your discipline specific questions answered.
  • Or if your discipline/program is not meeting, you have the opportunity to have lunch with the provost.

Also, a stipend of $50.00 will be given to each participant.

Event Schedule:

8:30 – 8:50 Sign-In, meet and greet over breakfast munchies and coffee (Waddell lobby)

8:50 – 9:20 Provost’s welcome and opening remarks (Waddell Theatre)

9:30 – 10:20 Session 1 of concurrent workshops (various classrooms)

10:30 – 11:20 Session 2 of concurrent workshops (various classrooms)

11:30 – 12:20 Session 3 of concurrent workshops (various classrooms)

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch with discipline/program meetings (served in Waddell lobby)

Because we do anticipate a large turn-out, we ask that you please register online, indicating your workshop choices no later than Monday, August 11. Please take the time to review the description of each of the workshops on the following pages, decide which workshops you would like to register for, then to register, go online to:

And click on “Do Survey” to get to the registration.

While we will try to honor your first choices, in the event that a workshop becomes filled to capacity, admittance to workshops will be based on your registration date, so it is recommended to register early. Occasionally a workshop is cancelled because of low enrollment but you will have an opportunity to select an alternative workshop.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on August 16!

Questions? Contact Sandi Nicholson or Susan Johnson

Workshops for August 16,2014 APDD

Session 1 from9:30 – 10:20

Tier Two Project – Susan Johnson - Adjuncts who have already taught for NOVA for at least one semester are welcome to come learn more about participating in the Tier Two Project, involving the creation of their professional development portfolio designed to encourage adjunct professional development, to formally recognize adjuncts efforts in professional development, and to establish eligibility for future participation in Adjunct Leadership opportunities. $500 stipend is paid upon successful completion of the entire project

Beginning Blackboard - Tierney Pitzer and Carolyn Davis –This workshop is intended for novice Blackboard users and will help you start using Blackboard as an extension of your traditional, face-to-face class. Because you will bring an electronic copy of your course syllabus and some specific assignments, you will leave the workshop with a functional Blackboard course that is ready to use with your current class. Topics include managing course settings, managing the course menu and the course tools, adding content to your course, using the announcements and course calendar, enrolling, listing, and modifying users

Brain Research and Learning: What We Know and What We Don’t - Johanna Debrecht - Research on student learning and motivation can really help you reach your students and improve your own teaching! What are the latest results from research and how can I apply them to the classroom? What does the latest brain research have to say about thinking and learning, and about disabilities?

Red Pen, Blue Pen, Green Pen--No Pen? - Meena Nayak and Bridget Robin Pool - Join us for a discussion about the mysteries of grading essays. Should our comments be handwritten or online? Is it more effective for students to receive in-depth feedback on their work or just a few specific remarks? Dostudents learn from line editing or not? Come hear some ideas on the topic and share your own!

Community Colleges 101 - Eddie Perry - My session will focus on the history of community colleges and where we are today. I intend to talk about how we fit into the American higher education puzzle, our mission(s), and accountability (why do we have to do program reviews?).

Integrating Learning Strategies into our Teaching – Nelson Kofie - For some students, learning can be overwhelming because they lack learning skills. This engaging and interactive workshop will enable us to discuss and to share learning strategies we can integrate into our teaching to help students retain and recall lessons learned. Not only will this help students improve their grades but it will boost the retention of students in school.

Get Real - Steve Clarke – Each Honors class at NOVA emphasizes the R.E.A.L. components: (1) research, (2) enrichment outside of class, (3) academic rigor, and (4) leadership. We will discuss how including these components on a syllabus helps establish a sense of community in the classroom, and focuses students on interdisciplinary concepts, strategies, and skills that help them develop an integrated approach to their education while also helping them tear down the wall between "student" and "scholar".

Dual Enrollment Organizational Meeting - Ruthe Brown, Debbie Naquin and Michael Wallace - What expectations and recommendations does NOVA have for its DE instructors? Come meet your administrators and DE colleagues and get your year off to a good start.

Session 2 from 10:30 – 11:20

Success Strategy Groups: a sampler – Rachel Sweeney –Are you curious to find out what goes on with our monthly Success Strategy Groups? Without any commitment to continuing on, come join us for a short introduction, followed by a chance to experience the dynamics of a small Success Strategy group discussion.

Intermediate Blackboard -Robert Dusek and Chola Chhetri –For experienced Blackboard users, this will be a chance to direct your specific questions to the presenter about use of the course management system beyond the basics andalso learn about new aspects of Blackboard

English Adjunct Faculty Inquiry Group--A Collaborative Approach to Gaining Hybrid Certification - Laura Young& Nikkia Anderson - Loudoun English adjuncts are invited to participate in a Faculty Inquiry Group (FIG) during fall semester. This collaborative group will achieve their TAC Hybrid Certification and will create a hybrid version for the ENG 111/ENF 3 and ENG 111 courses as part of the hybrid certification requirement. Up to 10 adjunct members will receive a stipend for their dedicated participation.

How do Instructor Communication Behaviors Impact Student Engagement?- Susan Idziak - This workshop explores some of the latest research of various instructor communication behaviors and their impact on student engagement in the classroom. Aspects, such as nonverbal immediacy, confirmation, clarity, and community building, will be discussed, and attendees will be invited to reflect on and share their own experiences.

Learning: What is Different but Still the Same - Jim Nevins - The purpose of this session is to explore structured approaches to learning across a continuum with respect to different outcomes, goals, and objectives . Comparing the similarities and differences, we will discuss what approaches or tools have changed or evolved over the years, creating a paradigm change or is it an illusion of change?

Student Writings in your Course – Let’s Talk Strategies & Challenges -Panel by Frank Carbo, Steve Clarke -Join a discussion group where we share the strategies, successes, and challenges of student writing across the disciplines. Everyday classroom issues and practices (and frustrations) will be shared by a panel from across the disciplines. Please join us and be a part of this session…

“Will this be on the test?”- Fred Terranova and Scott Matthews - Without proper guidance, students may be confused about what material they are required to learn. In order toprovide some clarity on the matter—as well as to manage course content, evaluate student performance, and reduce assessment anxiety—teaching faculty may elect to create detailed learning objectives.

McGraw Hill Fit and Well LearnSmart - Sean Williams – PED 116 instructors are invited to learn about the possibility of integrating Fit & Well LearnSmartonline components into the online portion of their course.

Promoting Dual Enrollment Student Success - Larry Ward, Tamatha Lambert, and Kellee Laliberty - Teaching dual enrollment students in the high schools presents numerous challenges. Learn about DE best practices from a seasoned DE instructor, a research librarian, and a DE counselor.

Session 3 from 11:30 – 12:20

Forecast: Sunny Due to Cloud! - Tom Gutnick - Students have access to great collaboration tools through Google Drive, included with all student e-mail accounts. Get an overview of cloud storage, then look at how to harness the tools, including add-ons for research. Likely to be of interest to English teachers and those whose students write, research, or collaborate.

Responding to Student Writers: Insights Gained from The Conference on College Composition and Communication- Mary Masi -This session will share information about how to encourage Habits of Mind when responding to student writers and will befollowed bya discussion withparticipantsabouttheir methods and goals when responding to student writing.

Using Principles of Museum, Library, and Zoo Education to Enrich Your Courses - Diane Stepro Participants will learn about recent research into free-choice learning and through workshop activities, discover how free-choice learning theory can inform and enliven their classrooms.

“Does what you has assign make senses to a ESL students?" Making Assignments, Expectations and Feedback More Constructive for Non-Native English Speakers- Zaimah Khan and Robyn Russo - We will go over strategies for writing clear directions for assignments. In particular we will focus on how to make things clearer for ESL students. We will be presenting samples of "before and after" writing assignments across disciplines. Information will be based on language acquisition and visual literacy principles.

FERPA and You – Beth Harper - If a parent asks you how his son is doing in your class, can you respond? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is NOT always “no.” In this dynamic discussion, Dr. Beth Harper, Associate VP of Student Services, reviews the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and its implications for instructors.

Snowball Fights, Music, Puzzles, and Pictures…Every Class - Alan Hughes - Start the fall semester with a snowball fight to create a narrative for student introductions. A 50¢ puzzle will have every student participating in any class discussion. Photos and music can equal great descriptives. There’s lots more in this interactive student development workshop that will leave no one in their seat.

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say (and make sure your students know it too!) - Lisa Stelle - Not only is it important for you to write a strong syllabus for your class, but it's just as important for your students to know what's in your syllabus and to be aware of your class policies from day one. This workshop will focus on making sure instructors know their own syllabus, and it will also present several fun ways for instructors to help their students learn the information as well.

Sliding Assessment: Assigning Points to What’s Being Taught” - Chris Soholt - This workshop will introduce the notion of adjusting the number of points awarded for core skills over time. Once a skill or element has been introduced and mastered, the total points awarded for that skill is reduced, with more points being awarded for successful mastery of the proximate skill.