Teaching & Learning at ��

Spring 2025 Workshop Opportunity!

Creating Space for Cultural Capital Connections (C3) within the Classroom

Facilitators: Shellye Sledge, LCSW – PhD, LCSW, CEAP – Assistant Professor (��) & Terrell Sledge, MFA – SMI, LLC / TD Sledge Empowerment

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Training workshop in-person at �� Faculty Center (KEL 2413) on Friday 3/28 12:00-2:30 (lunch provided)

$100 training stipend (salary) for eligible faculty

Application open to faculty of all ranks and colleges with current faculty appointments in Spring 2025

Deadline Extended! Please apply by: March 24, 2025

Description  

This workshop helps faculty enhance the student learning experience by fostering stronger connections between students and faculty, and among students themselves using the Cultural Capital Connections (C3) conceptual model.

The Cultural Capital Connections (C3) Conceptual Model is a strengths-based paradigm designed to explore the human, cultural, and social capital that serve as a strengths-based framework to support the resiliency of marginalized students who navigate myriad challenges, both individually and collectively, on their academic journey

This workshop will facilitate an appreciation for cultural strengths and diversity in an interactive/experiential format with exercises that include the use of artistic expressions, thought-provoking explorations, and mindful engagement strategies.

Part 1: Cultural Capital Exploration focuses on the exploration of the diverse types of human, cultural, and social capital that exist within ��’s campus community. Participants are invited to self-identify their strengths as it relates to the roles on campus, thus creating a space of awareness, mutual respect, and acceptance of diverse contributions.

Part 2: Creating Cultural Capital Strategies incorporates SMI PlayLab exercises to structure the participants' journey through experiential opportunities that encourage the practice of inclusive and strength-based perspectives and strategies that honor individual and group diversity.

Training Objectives: 

Identify the diverse types of human, cultural, and social capital that exist within ��’s campus community with special focus on �� student populations

Identify and describe your individual strengths as a faculty member and the role(s) of your work on campus

Develop a strengths-based curricular modification inspired by the structured exercises from this training

Time Commitment and Compensation  

This training session will meet in-person on Friday 3/28/2025 from 12:00-2:30 in KEL 2413. Faculty will receive $100 training stipend for attending the training and submitting a one-page action plan of their newly developed strengths-based curriculum modification using the template provided at the workshop no later than April 15, 2025. The one-page action plan will be sent by email to Dr. Ruoxi Li, Faculty Center Assoc Director of Teaching & Learning (rli@csusm.edu).

Who Should Apply?  

Faculty of all ranks from all colleges with faculty appointments in Spring 2025 are welcome to apply!  

Priority consideration will be given to faculty who are working towards tenure and promotion. 

For questions about the training or application, please contact Faculty Center Director, Dr. Rebecca Lush at rlush@csusm.edu

How will faculty be selected?  

Expressed interest in re-evaluating the intersection of your curriculum design and classroom practices to center a strengths-based approach to student success and academic support
Space will be limited to 18 participants

Only Unit 3 faculty members who will be on contract with an existing Unit 3 appointment during the entire time frame of the training or professional development opportunity are eligible to be considered for a stipend. Faculty may not request or accept professional development and/or training under this program unless they are on active pay status as a faculty bargaining unit employee. Summer stipends can only be offered to faculty who will be employed the preceding spring and subsequent fall semesters.  

Faculty are limited to a maximum of $10,000 in stipends for faculty training and professional development per fiscal year. Faculty cannot accept an offer for a stipend that will cause them to exceed this $10,000 annual limit. All faculty members accepting a stipend must fulfill all of the stated terms and expectations that constitute completion of the training or development activity to receive the stipend.  

The Four Key Goals

In answering the question, "What is it that you hope every �� college student experiences as a learner on this campus?" the Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Faculty Center, identified the following four key goals:

Inspires educational experiences that develop every student’s intrinsic desire to learn.
Helps students develop skills to facilitate their own learning process so that they become agents of their own learning.
Fosters real-world application of knowledge to local and global societal and economic challenges.
Recognizes the academic and personal struggles associated with learning and provides a network of resources to address those struggles as students work toward academic success

Generative AI and Teaching

To support faculty education about Generative AI, the Faculty Center directors have developed a resource to introduce some basic information relevant for teaching. This is a "living document" that the center directors will update as needed as campus policies develop and new technologies become available.

The Chancellor's Office for the CSU offers a course on “Artificial Intelligence Tools for Teaching & Learning" enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis;

Additionally, is now available to all CSU faculty no matter campus affiliation. AAAI prepares you to apply generative AI (gAI) technology efficiently, effectively, and ethically to level up learning in the classes you teach.

Support at the Faculty Center

To support teaching and learning at ��, the Faculty Center provides a variety of resources:

Classroom Management

Our handbook curates information from across campus into a single one-stop resource on a range of services, policies, and supports on working with students and classroom management. We cover academic integrity resources, classroom conduct, and classroom climate.

Our colleagues at CSUN have recently developed some materials for difficult classroom dynamics in a post-election context that can benefit faculty at any campus. See their for more details.

Additionally, the Faculty Center recommends using community agreements to set expectations for students about the class and how everyone will participate and engage. Doing this early in the semester is recommended (i.e., week one).

Community Agreements allow you to:

Co-create content with your students on classroom behavior expectations
Collaborate and build community by identifing how to respectfully engage, participate, and include with goal of cultivating a learning space for all your students
Redirect challenging moments by referring to class community agreements
Give students specific and clear direction on their responsibilities to themselves, their instructor, and their peers

Some prompts you can use/modify to start a community agreements discussion with your class include:

What kinds of classroom conversations do you find most enjoyable and why?
What types of peer-to-peer interactions do you find supportive and why?
What's your ideal classroom environment and why?
What classroom dynamics do you least enjoy and why?
What kinds of conversations and classroom interactions best support your learning and why?

Consider having the class vote on a short list of 2-3 classroom conduct expectations that they most value (this is where you can curate and edit to prepare the co-created options)

Post the final community agreements in a space easily navigated by students such as the Canvas course page and consider including a syllabus statement if you will be using community agreements.

The Faculty Center Associate Director of Teaching and Learning

In addition to organzing the Faculty Center's programming on teaching and learning, the Faculty Center Associate Director of Teaching and Learning also provides one-on-one appointments with faculty members to discuss issues regarding teaching and learning on campus.

Faculty Center Events

Annual Teaching & Learning Expo

A Celebration of Teaching Excellence at ��

Save the date May 2, 2025

Celebrate your teaching successes with your faculty colleagues at the annual Faculty Center Teaching & Learning Expo. This year we are expanding our usual programming to include submissions for faculty presentations from the entire �� faculty community!

We are currently seeking submissions for the "Teaching Innovations Poster Session” and "Joy of Teaching and Learning” Keynote Address.

Applications are due by March 21, 2025 and will be reviewed by the Faculty Center Advisory Council.

"Teaching Innovations Poster Session" Call

The Faculty Center invites faculty self-nominations for the "Teaching Innovations Poster Session” at the Faculty Center’s Teaching and Learning Expo on May 2nd, 2025.

The “Teaching Innovations Poster Session” is the opening event of the day long Teaching Expo, celebrating innovative and engaging teaching practices at ��. This is an excellent opportunity to highlight your exceptional teaching skills, inspire your fellow educators, and gain professional recognition in the �� community.

Eligibility:

Open to current �� faculty from all colleges, including tenure-track and lecturer faculty.

Ability to engage a broad audience, including those outside their discipline. Attendees will include faculty members from various academic disciplines and colleges as well as academic administrators.

Poster Presentation Criteria:

Poster should provide a clear suggestion or innovation about teaching and learning that will be of interest to a wide range of �� faculty members

Sample topics for posters could include but are not limited to: classroom management, cultivating belonging, mentoring student researchers, student engagement, inclusive classroom practices, career readiness/curriculum to career, high-impact practices, online pedagogy, and more.

Application Process: Please complete the by March 21, 2025.

Selection Criteria: Applications will be evaluated based on innovation, engagement, and relevance for a wide range of �� faculty. The Faculty Center Advisory Council will review all submissions and share feedback to the Center directors.

Presentation Expectations:

Finalized poster file should be submitted to Faculty Center no later than April 15 so that office staff can print materials and work with you if we encounter any formatting issues

We understand if you cannot be present for the entirety of the poster session, thus posters should be self-explanatory for attendees for when the presenter is not on site for further engagement.

We look forward to your application and the opportunity to celebrate teaching and learning together!