Accreditation
Strategic Focus 3: Sustainability, Stewardship, and Growth – We pursue market-driven growth initiatives to achieve financial sustainability and independence, and we consider public benefits and the environment in our decisions.
Strategic Focus 5: Partnerships – We form meaningful and productive partnerships with employers, schools, military, and communities.
Collaborated on the establishment of partnerships with national and state Teacher Education organizations, State of Arizona, and additional school districts, charter schools and k-12 organizations.
Responded to the needs of the community in creating accredited programs that support the needs of the market and the community. This includes greater use of online technologies that we currently have available.
Collaborated with supervisor on the research, writing and accreditation presentation for Arizona which took over a year.
Continuously providing leadership, guidance and information to all stakeholders on the CTC’s program standards including ensuring that data for next accreditation visit is being collected in more effective and efficient ways.
Continuously collaborate and communicate with CTC on the accreditation standards and expectations, as well as serve as a volunteer for several of the CTC’s accreditation duties in order to inform my adherence to the roles and responsibilities of a Program Director.
Researched and attended conferences, month long trainings, meetings, etc. on edTPA and CalTPA to ensure these key components would be seamlessly integrated into the curricular program and clinical practice.
Governance & Planning
Mission: Alliant International University prepares students for professional careers of service and leadership and promotes the discovery and application of knowledge to improve the lives of people in diverse cultures and communities around the world.
Vision: An inclusive world empowered by Alliant alumni.
Four Pillars of Excellence: Education for Professional Practice, Scholarship, Multicultural and International Competence, and Community Engagement
Values: Inclusion, Mentorship, Passion, Accountability, Communication, Teamwork
CSOE LEAD Conceptual Framework: Leadership, Engagement, Application, Dedication
Developed and continuously reinforced the need to follow Alliant and CTC policies, procedures, standards and guidelines amongst key stakeholders.
Continuously focused on the four pillars of excellence to guide decision making and leadership in all areas of the program, especially related to moving forward in providing the highest quality of professional practice and scholarship amongst faculty and students as seen in the specific examples provided in this document.
Provided direction on greater inclusion of multicultural and international competence within the university, program, and student learning experiences and outcomes.
Established innovative approaches using new and currently available technologies to support more transparent and thoughtful oversight and management of Teacher Education, MAE and soon to include Special Education programs.
Persisted with patience and certainty as student numbers reached all time high and stretched the faculty and staff to a new level.
Reached out to other Program Directors as needed to ensure consistency, collegiality, and guidance.
Served by example as the only faculty member and program director to participate in first Alliant year long PRIME Leadership training.
Personnel & Program Management
Strategic Focus 2: Faculty, staff, and administrators create an empowering, trusting, and inclusive environment with a culture that incorporates measurable outcomes.
Strategic Focus 3: Sustainability, Stewardship, and Growth – We pursue market-driven growth initiatives to achieve financial sustainability and independence, and we consider public benefits and the environment in our decisions.
Established regular in person and online meeting and committee times to ensure engagement and transparency of information related to adoption of new policies, processes, and technology of faculty, staff and key stakeholders, as well as to ensure faculty involvement, decision making, accountability and collaboration – essentially the IMPACT values in action.
Created opportunities for faculty to engage in professional development activities by providing funding to participate in conferences, as well as have invited faculty to participate in scholarship opportunities in professional organizations, within the university and program, as well as the community.
Provided feedback and evaluation consistent with the needs of the program’s mission, vision, accreditation standards and sustainability, including providing my supervisors with areas of concern related to compliance and seeking guidance on my roles and responsibilities in addressing these issues.
Curriculum & Program Responsibilities
Strategic Focus 1: Students are our passion. Professional practice education is our #1 purpose. We provide an impactful student experience with excellent learning outcomes that lead to a meaningful career.
Strategic Focus 4: We embrace innovation to enhance student learning, faculty engagement, and staff efficiency.
Through the revision of the Teacher Education program, have kept the need to create a supportive climate of inclusion, professional training, and meaningful academic experiences in mind while also incorporating required national, state and university standards and guidelines, as well as a national assessment and innovative observation platform for supporting students throughout California and Arizona.
Created a clear scope and sequence for the curricular framework to ensure that students are taking coursework in a spiraled fashion in which the courses are purposefully sequenced to build upon one another in order to better provide the student learning experiences necessary to bridge the pedagogy coursework with the clinical practice, as well as purposefully prepare the students for the edTPA which is based on best practices in planning, teaching, assessment and professional responsibilities.
Aligned the coursework in the three tracks and in the process of also incorporating the Special Education program so that they are in greater alignment with national and state standards and future mandates, as well as disposition, technology, and 21st century standards.
Professional Training Responsibilities
Strategic Focus 2: Faculty, staff, and administrators create an empowering, trusting, and inclusive environment with a culture that incorporates measurable outcomes.
Strategic Focus 4: We embrace innovation to enhance student learning, faculty engagement, and staff efficiency.
Independently researched, proposed, implemented and in discussion about future innovative uses of the Insight Advance observation platform.
Implemented the use of effective and efficient use of technological tools available, such as the Canvas teaching platform, Taskstream assessment platform, Insight Advance observation platform, and Starfish student communication platform.
Incorporated the use of the Online PD’s online teaching rubric as a guide to support inclusion of best practices in faculty and adjunct’s planning, teaching, learning and assessment within the Canvas platform. In process of collaborating on specific practices that will be required to be applied in order to create greater consistency and student satisfaction.
Developed several initiatives to greater involve faculty and staff in ongoing collaboration and greater support student satisfaction. These include regular online focus groups with students, online professional development webinars by faculty each term to support students understanding of the various job opportunities available within education field and invitation to faculty to participate in book club on online and clinical practice teaching pedagogy with opportunities to collaboratively present at conferences.
Research Responsibilities
Strategic Focus 2: Faculty, staff, and administrators create an empowering, trusting, and inclusive environment with a culture that incorporates measurable outcomes.
Participated in two dissertation committees. They were for Drs. Walbero Diaz, An Analysis: Strategies to Create Successful Online Spanish Instructors, and Elizabeth Kruth, Why Females are Outpacing Males in Higher Education Graduation Rates. Yet the bulk of my work is related to research within Teacher Education which includes the pedagogy, clinical practice and the MAE program. There has been explicit steps that I have taken to ensure that the program is aligned with the best practices in research including the InTASC standards and edTPA.
Established solid collaborations with the online platforms of Insight Advance and Taskstream as a result of my leadership in implementing both platforms. I have been invited to attend Taskstream’s annual conferences since I am listed as Knowledge Ambassador within their organization, as well as to co-present with Insight Advance at International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) this summer.
Established greater footprint of the institution as invited speaker and strand leader at several prominent international and national conferences.
Incorporated the use of the Online PD’s online teaching rubric as a guide to support inclusion of best practices in faculty and adjuncts’ planning, teaching, learning and assessment within the Canvas platform. In the process of collaborating on specific practices that will be required to be applied in order to create greater consistency and student satisfaction.
Developed several initiatives to greater involve faculty and staff in ongoing collaboration and greater support student satisfaction. These include regular online focus groups with students, online professional development webinars by faculty each term to support students’ understanding of the various job opportunities available within the education field and invitation to faculty to participate in book club on online and clinical practice teaching pedagogy with opportunities to collaboratively present at conferences. Under my tenure the expectation for research has been an area of focus. As we have examined the Teacher Education and MAE program there were a few gaps that needed to be addressed. For the Teacher Education program the need to review the program as a whole yet specifically the clinical practice portion was needed. Efforts in this area can be seen in the following initiatives, two of which I developed:
T519 – CSOE In-Service Academy – Inspiring Ideas for the 21st Century Classroom – Presenter and organizer of Teacher Ed faculty presentations
T119 – Teacher Education Faculty Professional Development Spotlight – International Schools and International Curricula Opportunities – Creator, presenter and organizer of Teacher Education faculty Zoom presentations
T219 – T619 – Teacher Education Faculty Book Club & Self Study – Clinical Practice from the Fringes to the Forefront – Creator, organizer and facilitator of Teacher Education monthly virtual meetings and conference presentation submissions
Fiscal Responsibilities
Strategic Focus 3: Sustainability, Stewardship, and Growth – We pursue market-driven growth initiatives to achieve financial sustainability and independence, and we consider public benefits and the environment in our decisions.
Worked collaboratively with supervisor last year and this year worked on it independently on explicit strategies to reduce exorbitant costs within the Teacher Education program. Due to the two States, elementary/secondary tracks, student teacher/standard intern/early completer option and addition of a Masters, the Teacher Education budget and operating plan is quite complex. Our work on the budget with guided by the need to think strategically about our spending as there were three costs that needed to be reined in.
The first area we needed to do triage on was the Clinical Practice courses. As they required a university mentor to visit the classroom of each student three times to observation lessons. The costs not only included the university mentor pay but often times additional costs for mileage, parking and toll roads. Through the implementation of an online observation platform in January 2019, we were able to substantially reduce the clinical practice costs which had reached a record high in 2018 while at the same time, have a further student each across the state.
The second area in need of attention was the MAE courses. In the past there were six courses available for the students to choose between to complete the MAE portion of the program. As students were able to select, there were often MAE courses being run that had under 10 students. Through setting the specific three courses to be completed by all MAE students, this issue was resolved. And through having the ECO track students complete two of the required courses using the TESOL program courses, we were also able to guide our students into a program that is currently struggling.
The third area is currently underway as we examine the Teacher Education and Special Education programs to see where we could offer the same courses especially as the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (CTC) standards have become more aligned. This is the current work of the Teacher Education team as we examine where courses could be dovetailed. I foresee the reduction of several Special Education specific courses which will again lead to fewer courses with fuller sections.