Sign up for Spring 2025 Mini Workshops, Book Study, and Cohorts
Sponsored by CCA’s Teaching and Learning Transformation Hub, this comprehensive resource is designed to support our learning a community in developing effective, innovative, and inclusive teaching practices.
This digital hub offers a wealth of resources to aid in your ongoing professional development, including:
Sign up for Spring 2025 Mini Workshops, Book Study, and Cohorts: Sign up for the Hub's professional development activities. Please register by January 30.
Teaching & Learning Strategies: We've included information about High Impact Practices and other Teaching and Learning Strategies that are aligned with educational initiatives at CCA.
Resource Libraries: Explore our curated collections of articles, videos, tutorials, and other tools covering a wide range of topics relevant to academic professionals.
Event Calendar: Stay up-to-date with upcoming academic professional development opportunities, including workshops, seminars, and institutes.
We are committed to fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth at CCA. Whether you're looking to enhance your teaching skills, explore new pedagogical approaches, or stay current with the latest in your field, the Academic Professional Development Hub is here to support you on your journey.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we continue to develop and improve this resource. For questions or comments, please contact TheHub.CCA@ccaurora.edu.
Download the Spring Semester Academic Professional Development Calendar
Join us for a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Summit led by Molly McKeon of Access Coaching Collaborative. Universal Design for Learning is an educational framework that aims to create inclusive learning environments by supporting the needs and abilities of all learners. UDL promotes flexibility in how information is presented, how students engage with the material, and how they demonstrate their understanding. By removing barriers to the curriculum, UDL fosters expert learners who can thrive in various educational contexts. Sign up to join the UDL Summit.
Faculty and instructors who attend the Universal Design for Learning Summit will receive a stipend per session attended at the rates reflected below. Full participation in this event qualifies for 2 professional development units counted toward instructor pay advancement. To receive 2 PDUs, you must attend at least two sessions.
| Time | Session Name |
|---|---|
|
10:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. |
Implementing Universal Design for Learning to Meet Your Students' Needs, Develop Expert Learners & Remove Barriers to the Curriculum (1.5 hrs) |
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12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
Design for All: CCA Perspectives on Creating Learning Communities Where All Students Excel (1hr) |
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2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. |
Scaling Universal Design for Learning: Developing a Climate for Instructional Improvement in your Department (1 hr) |
Molly McKeon is an experienced administrative leader, educator, and lifelong learner. She holds a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) certification from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and is a doctoral candidate in Leadership for Educational Equity at the University of Colorado Denver, where she is researching the institutional adoption of Universal Design for Learning pedagogy in higher education. Currently, Molly serves as the Director of the Center for Disability Access and ADA/504 Coordinator at Rhode Island College, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) with over 6,000 students. In this role, she fosters a climate of equity and ensures compliance with accessibility regulations. Additionally, she teaches in the Master’s in Higher Education program at Providence College. She has presented at numerous national and regional conferences, including the Postsecondary Disability Training Institute, the National Academic Advising Association, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, and she was recently honored with the 2024 ACPA Coalition for Disability’s Alice A. Mitchell Ally Award.
In 2023, Molly founded Access Coaching Collaborative (ACC), LLC, to address significant gaps she has identified in the higher education disability and accommodation space over the past decade. ACC provides consultation, workshops, and training on topics such as inclusive pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, neurodiversity, executive function, and disability transition.
Join our workshop to learn how to better support and include neurodiverse and autistic students in higher education. We will explore two primary frameworks for understanding autism - the medical model and the neurodiversity perspective - and discuss how these approaches impact teaching practices. Gain practical strategies for creating inclusive classroom environments while challenging deficit-based views of autism.
This workshop is facilitated by Assistant Director of the Office of Disability and Equity, Reem Hamodi. Reem became interested in the disability services field upon arriving in the United States. As a person who is totally blind, Reem did not have access to reading materials as a young student due to the lack of services in their country, and her mother used to record all the books for them. Reem started herr journey by attending the Colorado Center for the Blind, where she learned how to be independent and use assistive technology. Reem received an Associate of Arts in Psychology from the Community College of Aurora and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Colorado Denver. In 2018, Reem began working as a Disability Coordinator at the Community College of Aurora, and in 2020, they received an MS in Disability Services in Higher Education from Cuny School of Professional Studies. In 2022, Reem accepted a part-time position as a Senior Accessibility Tester at the University of Colorado Boulder. Last year, Reem was promoted to Assistant Director of the Office of Disability and Equity. Currently, Reem is pursuing certificates from Landmark College in Learning Differences and Neurodiversity and Empowering Students Through Coaching at JST Coaching & Training.
Learning Outcomes
Faculty, Staff, and Students are invited to Slice Into AI: AI Sandbox and Pizza Party on Friday, April 4, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. 🤖🍕
During this hands-on sandbox session, participants will actively explore BoodleBox, an AI platform that combines generative AI tools for convenience and ease of use. Featuring:
🖥️ Direct hands-on experience with BoodleBox
✨ Interactive demonstrations
👥 Collaborative learning opportunities
🍕 Pizza and drinks provided
This session is open to students, faculty, instructors, and staff, and is appropriate for all generative AI skill levels.
Space is limited, and registration is required to attend this event.
As artificial intelligence continues to develop, many of us are navigating new questions about teaching, learning, and assessment. To support student learning in the age of AI, instructors need to address AI proactively in helping students to navigate these tools and know when and how to use these tools ethically, and when and how to skip AI tools altogether. This workshop explores practical strategies for incorporating AI into course design while maintaining academic integrity.
In this workshop you will:
Evaluate AI tools' capabilities and limitations for educational use
Create clear, discipline-specific AI policies for your courses
Design effective AI-friendly and AI-resistant assignments
Implement strategies to maintain academic integrity with AI
CCohorts are special learning and working groups that focus on special topics related to trends in higher education, directions in CCA's strategic plan, and the needs of our teaching and learning community. Cohorts meet once a month and may required up 2-3 hours of work outside of the cohort meeting.
This year, the Hub is sponsoring a Service-Learning Cohort. This group is laying a foundation to support current and future service-learning courses. This group is led by Hub Scholar Tanya Cook.
Join us for an engaging book study group focused on James Lang's influential work Small Teaching led by Hub Scholar Art Vaughn. The book study group will explore Lang's practical strategies for implementing small but powerful changes in teaching methods. The book study club will meet monthly February - April to unpack Lang's evidence-based approaches, share experiences, and develop actionable plans for incorporating these techniques into their own classrooms.
OER (Open Educational Resources) are teaching and learning materials (such as textbooks, slideshow presentations, readings, videos, etc.) available for educators and students to use and reuse for free. This is possible because OER have open licenses, which specifically state how the material may be used, adapted, and shared. More information about OER.
Open Pedagogy is a strategy to empower students in creating open-access textbooks, contributing to public research projects, or designing resources like lesson plans that future students can use and refine. This is a new branch of Open Education work that is showing great promise for student success. More information about Open Education and Open Pedagogy.
The CCA Library is offering OER mini-grant awards from Spring 2025 – Summer 2026 to support faculty and instructors in adopting, adapting, and creating OER materials. We're also here to support you in developing Open Pedagogy approaches to your course.
This level focuses on the adoption and integration of OER into courses. Participants will locate an OER to use in their course and redesign their courses to fully implement the OER.
This level focuses on the adaptation and integration of OER into courses, with an emphasis on redesigning courses with the resources. Participants will locate OER materials and edit or curate them as needed to fit their course(s).
This level focuses on the creation of an OER and restructuring of related courses using backward design methods.
All OER mini-grant participants will be enrolled in the D2L module “Open Education Workshop” to receive training on OER, open pedagogy, open licenses, the levels of OER work, and accessibility. The Open Education Workshop prepares faculty and instructors to adopt, adapt, or create Open Education Resources (OER) with culturally responsive, open pedagogy learning activities. Participants will create and share a plan for adopting, adapting, or creating OER that is culturally responsive and includes students in the process.
Sign up with proposal by January 25: Pitch your project level and idea!
The Hub's Open Education Projects Team invites you to participate in an exciting initiative that will help shape the future of learning materials at CCA. Through our Title V grant-funded program, we're launching a comprehensive review process to ensure our Open Educational Resources (OER) truly reflect and serve our diverse student community.
This innovative process brings together faculty teams to evaluate and enhance the open textbooks and resources currently used in their departments. Working alongside our expert editor and OER support team, you'll help ensure our educational materials incorporate evidence-based practices and reflect the diverse perspectives of our student population.
We've designed a straightforward, supported process to make your participation both meaningful and manageable:
This initiative is supported by a Title V grant as part of CCA's broader commitment to accessible and inclusive education. Stipends associated with this program are funded by the Title V grant.
Academic professional development workshops are typically not compensated with a stipend. For instructors, participation in academic professional development workshops may count toward instructor pay advancement. For faculty members, participation may count toward institutional service. We encourage you to chat with your department chair to explore how these benefits apply to you. We can't wait to see you there and grow together!
In rare cases, a stipend may be available for mandatory training and workshops or for grant-supported professional development. If a stipend is available, we'll provide an explicit statement indicating the amount of the stipend and what you'll need to do to receive it. The Hub's PD calendar flags professional development opportunities that are compensated with a green dollar sign.
If you have any questions about our professional development opportunities or this compensation policy, please don't hesitate to reach out to The Hub at TheHub.CCA@ccaurora.edu. We're always happy to help you navigate your professional development journey at CCA.
If you made it to the bottom of this page, please contact Heather Lang (heather.lang@ccaurora.edu) and let her know. Your tenacity has earned you a free prize!