SoundingsSoundings

SCCFT E-Board Meeting Monday, February 25 3:00-5:00 PM Room 9202 Faculty Senate Council Meeting Wednesday, February 27 2:30-4:00 PM Room 9201

continued on page 13

CalendarCalendar

President’s Corner 2 Step Up for Education 5

Know Your (Weingarten) Rights! 8

Students Support Sundays in

the Studio 8 Commencement Speaker

Nominations 9 All Federation Meeting Set for

March 18th 10 Unemployment Benefits 10 InfoBYTES 11 Making Waves— Online

Communication Innovation 12 SCCFT Executive Board 14

Volume 40 Issue 5 February 25, 2013Volume 40 Issue 5 February 25, 2013

Shoreline Community College is transi-

tioning to a new learning management

system - Canvas. The State Board for

Community and Technical Colleges

negotiated a statewide license with

Instructure, the company that created

Canvas. Shoreline was one of many

Washington colleges that participated

in an intensive vetting process of sev-

eral learning management systems fa-

cilitated by the

State Board.

The decision to

adopt Canvas

as a statewide

system as well

as for Shoreline

Community Col-

lege is docu-

mented

here: https://sites.google.com/site/

scccanvasdiscussion/

Adopting Canvas results in a more af-

fordable package for the College and

creates a statewide system of collabo-

ration and support with the 32 institu-

tions, including the University of

Washington, that are using Canvas.

Students will be able to focus more on

learning content rather than learning

to navigate different management sys-

tems.

The transition from the current Black-

board learning management system is

taking place this spring, with full im-

plementation by summer quarter,

2013. All Shoreline courses with

online components will be taught on

Canvas starting

Summer, 2013.

We in eLearn-

ing are very

excited about

the modernity

and intuitive-

ness of Canvas

for instructors

and students. Shoreline piloted 11

courses using Canvas this winter with

enthusiastic responses from students

and instructors and this what they had

to say about teaching and learning in

Canvas:

“I became familiar with Blackboard

after taking a couple of online classes,

continued on page 6

Welcome to Canvas!

Kathleen Chambers Institutional Designer kchambers@shoreline.edu

In This IssueIn This Issue

“All Shoreline Community College courses with online components be taught on

Canvas starting Summer 2013.”

2

President’s CornerPresident’s Corner

Online education in several guises has received a fair

amount of attention this week in the national press,

and it’s receiving additional attention in this issue of

Soundings.

Online education received negative and positive at-

tention coast to coast.

On the west coast, a University of California Irvine

professor dropped out of his own MOOC (Massively

Open Online Course), explaining that his departure

from his Coursera microeconomics offering was the

result of “disagreements over how to best conduct

this course.” Earlier in February, a different Coursera

MOOC, embarrassingly a course on “Fundamentals of

Online Education,” collapsed in complete disarray in

the face of massive technological and pedagogical

deficiencies.

On the east coast, a New York Times editorial exam-

ining “The Trouble With Online College” cited recent

MOOC disasters, along with a Columbia University

Community College Research Center (CCRC) finding

that of more than 50,000 Washington State communi-

ty college students tracked in 2011, those “who took

higher proportions of online courses were less likely

to earn degrees or transfer to four-year colleges”

than students who took more face-to-face or hybrid

courses. After somewhat disconcertingly conflating

non-credit MOOCs and for-credit online courses

taught at Washington’s colleges, the Times warned

that “the evidence shows that poorly designed

[online] courses can seriously shortchange the most

vulnerable students.” (Note: For the record, the

Times presented no evidence that Washington com-

munity college online courses are poorly designed,

although the editorial implied that all online courses

pretty much follow the massive course model that

features low levels of instructor-student interaction

and assessment through computer-graded multiple-

choice tests.)

In reaction to the Times editorial, a blogger at West-

ern Interstate Commission for Higher Education

(WICHE) Cooperative for Educational Technologies

(WCET) insisted that the CCRC findings need to be

understood in context, arguing that it is mostly un-

derprepared first-year college students that struggle

with online courses rather than all students. The

WCET researcher approvingly quoted CCRC’s framing

of its research as an inquiry into how students adapt

to the online instructional modality: “While all types

of students in the study suffered decrements in per-

formance in online courses, some struggled more

than others to adapt: males, younger students, Black

students, and students with lower grade point aver-

ages. In particular, students struggled in subject

areas such as English and social science, which was

due in part to negative peer effects in these online

courses.”

Meanwhile, a week earlier in Washington, D.C., Sena-

tor Marco Rubio of Florida, giving the official Repub-

lican response to President Barack Obama’s State of

the Union Address, touted online education as a boon

to students when he called for expanded access to

federal student aid for online education: “We need

student aid that does not discriminate against pro-

grams that non-traditional students rely on – like

online courses, or degree programs that give you

credit for work experience.”

And at Shoreline at an All-Faculty Senate Meeting the

day after Sen. Rubio spoke, Vice President for Aca-

demic and Student Affairs James Jansen proposed

two models for instructional reorganization that each

establishes a “Division of Learning Technologies,

Business & Computing” that would focus on develop-

ing and expanding Shoreline’s online programs.

The Real Question Is—What is Best for Our Students?

Amy J. Kinsel Professor of History & AFT Local 1950 President akinsel@shoreline.edu

3

Whatever faculty members think about the wisdom or

timing of instructional reorganization or the two mod-

els proposed, the creation of a division for online edu-

cation is the most striking feature of each reorganiza-

tion plan.

Given disappointing reports about the efficacy of

online instruction for many of the students who are

currently enrolling in these courses, it might be well

as we plan to develop more online courses for faculty

to think about which students our online programs are

likely to educate successfully. This may be a simplis-

tic observation, but expanding our online offerings

will bring more students and more revenue to the Col-

lege only if faculty and staff can figure out how to

help more of the students who enroll in our online

courses succeed in them.

As a College and as a faculty, we are already invested

in online education perhaps as much as any college

and any faculty in the state and many of us offer high-

quality online courses and programs of which we are

justifiably proud. Yet we are still working together

on a daily basis to discover how we as faculty can best

educate the students who learn well through online

instruction and best educate the students for whom

online instruction succeeds less well or not at all.

One difficulty stems from our doing little in advance

to figure out which students are which. It seems to

be only after students have failed miserably in online

courses that we discover that online courses were

“not for them.”

I have no comprehensive data to share about attrition

rates for online students at Shoreline, although I have

anecdotal evidence from my own years of online

teaching that confirms CCRC’s findings that online

students drop courses at higher rates than other stu-

dents. (Joe Duggan, if you are reading this, am I

right?) I also suspect that CCRC is correct that some

types of students have a harder time succeeding in

online courses than others.

Certainly in an open-enrollment community-college

setting, students in online courses, like students in

face-to-face courses, drop out of classes for all sorts

of reasons. They have heavy family responsibilities.

They run short of money. They fall ill. They find a

full-time job. They become frustrated with difficult

coursework and disappointing grades. Or maybe they

don’t know why they are in school in the first place

and simply lose interest.

While the reasons are similar, it seems that the obsta-

cles preventing students from sticking it out to the

end of the quarter are greater in online courses.

There is something about the computer interface that

in my experience makes it more challenging for me to

connect with these students. When I can’t reach

them by slow-walking through every online navigation

feature and course expectation step by step, by em-

bedding online support services in my online class-

rooms, or by pestering them with daily email remind-

ers to turn in their assignments, I wonder whether

there is a better way. Even a well-designed and well-

taught online course cannot help a student who does

not log in to class, who fails to turn in assignments, or

who can count on only intermittent computer access.

If my experience is anything like the experiences of

other online faculty, simply adding more online cours-

es will not be enough to ensure that the students who

enroll in them complete those courses or complete a

degree or certificate at Shoreline. Even without the

CCRC study, we can surmise that goal-oriented stu-

dents who select programs such as Health Informatics

and Information Management are probably more likely

to succeed in online courses than first-year first-time

continued on the next page

4

Join Us!

Even though all Shoreline faculty automatically have union fees deducted from their paychecks,

you must elect to become a member. If you work as full-time or part-time faculty at Shoreline

Community College and wish to join the union, then please contact SCCFT 1st Vice President

Kira Wennstrom or fill out the application on the following page and return it to the SCCFT

mailbox located on the top floor of the FOSS building.

college students who don’t know why they are in

school and have no degree or certificate in mind.

Unless we are expanding online offerings only in high

-demand professional-technical programs, the persis-

tence of online students has to be a major concern.

One question for faculty to consider is which kinds of

instructional reorganization might give faculty the

best opportunities to make a difference for the stu-

dents we are not now retaining in our classes, both

online and face-to-face. What might the positive

results for students be, if any, of rearranging instruc-

tional divisions?

I don’t have any answers to this question. The peri-

od for faculty feedback on the proposed instructional

reorganization models continues to the end of the

quarter. The Faculty Senate Council meeting on

February 27 will mostly be devoted to discussing in-

structional reorganization. In addition to visiting

each instructional division meeting, VP Jansen will

attend the March 5 College Council meeting to ex-

plain the reorganization models and answer ques-

tions. There is an All-Campus Meeting scheduled for

March 15. And, finally, there is an All-Federation

Meeting set for March 18.

Look for announcements on the faculty listserv about

times and locations for these meetings. Faculty may

send feedback on proposed reorganization modes, as

well as suggestions for revisions to these models or

for new models, to their division deans or to their

Faculty Senate Council representatives.

5

6

continued from page 1

but I felt comfortable with Canvas after a few days

of using it. The modules and assignments tabs are

very direct and there is no confusion with due dates

or the class timeline.” Stephen Leszkai, Student in

Introduction to Cinema History, Winter 2013

“Canvas appeals to modern sensibilities. My students

of all ages quickly pick up the nuances of the system

and are able to participate online with me, their

classmates and course content.” Kelsey Maki, Associ-

ate Faculty, Communications

“I love Canvas! This LMS is designed to be user-

friendly, intuitive and has all the modern web-based

features you should expect in a 21st century LMS to

have, including capability to add media comments

everywhere, wiki pages in every page with live links

to any content inside and outside the LMS, and social

media features. I love the speed grader and how

much more efficient (and speedy) grading is using

it. Whatever you don't know about Canvas, you can

find in the Canvas Help. I am finally really excited

about having a tool that will greatly support and en-

hance my teaching!” Emanuela Agosta, Professor of

Geology and eLearning Faculty in Residence

“I love working in Canvas. I like the intuitive feel of

it. I like the connections among the Calendar, As-

signments, Modules and Syllabus, that whatever I

enter in one place goes into those other places. And

I like the Help menu, which actually is helpful. I like

that I can see so many possibilities beyond this first

basic class I built.” Betsey Barnett, Professor of Mul-

ticultural Studies

eLearning has scheduled various modalities and pos-

sibilities for training to support the transition to

Canvas. We have scheduled daily Canvas demonstra-

tions and open labs that are flexible to meet the

needs of those that attend the sessions. Faculty can

participate in the online Shoreline Canvas Training, a

3 week course starting every 3 weeks through May,

that will give participants hands- on practice in

building courses in Canvas. Participants can work at

their own pace and choose the assignments that are

applicable for building their courses.

For details on all the training and how to sign up for

the Shoreline or the Washington Online course, visit

this document: https://sites.google.com/site/

scccanvasdiscussion/

and choose “Demonstrations and Canvas Training” or

email eLearning@shoreline.edu.

To help with Canvas training James Jensen funded 5

faculty “Canvanistas” (Canvas Ambassadors) located

in departments across campus to help with Canvas

questions and training. They are waiting to help you!

Emma Agosta—Professor of Geology & elearning

Faculty in Residence—eagosta@shoreline.edu

Debra Waddell—Associate Faculty, Communica-

tions—dwaddell@shoreline.edu

Kira Wennstrom—Professor of Biology-

kwennstrom@shoreline.edu

Shana Calaway—Mathematics Department Chair

-scalaway@shoreline.edu

Mary Burroughs—Associate Faculty, Nursing—

mbourroughs@shoreline.edu

In an effort to support the transition to Canvas, the

eLearning department at Shoreline Community Col-

lege also funded a two-day faculty Canvas retreat at

Dumas Bay in Federal Way. The goals were for facul-

ty to become familiar with our new learning man-

agement system, build at least one course in Canvas,

and feel confident about the best practices for mi-

grating content from Blackboard to Canvas. Many

participants exceeded these expectations and all

left feeling confident about their abilities in navi-

gating and creating courses in Canvas. It was a won-

derful learning experience—with great food!—in a

beautiful environment. The retreat was a great suc-

cess thanks to Ann Garnsey-Harter, Daryl Campbell,

and James Jensen who provided support and funding

and to the faculty who made the retreat a delight by

creating an energetic collaborative earning environ-

ment.

eLearning is currently planning student orientations

in Canvas and more trainings for everyone this

Spring. We welcome any ideas and thoughts you

have for training and how we can help you with this

transition. We love learning about Canvas and look

forward to helping you fall in love with Canvas too!

7

Left: S

ara

Za

le a

nd Lo

uise Lin

denm

eyer

during

the C

anva

s Retre

at.

Rig

ht: Elizab

eth H

anso

n talks w

ith She

ryl R

asm

ussen o

ver

bre

akfa

st at the

rece

nt Ca

nvas R

etre

at.

Left to Right: Rosie Bellert (Dental Hygiene), Debra Waddell (Communications), Elizabeth Hanson (ESL), Ernest Johnson (Multicultural

Studies), Amy Kinsel (History), Steve McCloskey (Business), Louise Lindenmeyer (PE), Sara Zale (English), Kathleen Chambers (eLearning),

Cliff Bergeson (Manufacturing), Betsey Barnett (Multicultural Studies), Amy Rovner (Nutrition), Sheryl Rasmussen (Nursing), Donna Linn

(ESL), Mayumi Steinmetz (Japanese), Duvalle Daniels (English), Neal Vasishth (English), and Ed Harkness (English).

8

All employees represented by SCCFT Local 1950

(which includes all full-time and associate faculty

members, not just faculty who have signed up as

members of Local 1950) should know their rights to

union representation. Among these are employees’

Weingarten rights.

Weingarten rights stem from a 1974 U.S. Supreme

Court decision (420 US 251) in which the justices

ruled that an employee has the right to bring a union

representative to any interview the employer might

hold that investigates an issue related to a possible

corrective or disciplinary action against the employ-

ee.

In the context of employment as a faculty member at

Shoreline, during any meeting between the faculty

member and a department chair, program chair,

dean, director, vice president or other administrator

at which the discussion touches on the faculty mem-

ber’s job performance, a faculty member can invoke

his or her Weingarten rights and ask that a union rep-

resentative be present.

For instance, a faculty member might ask that a un-

ion representative be present should his or her super-

visor request a meeting to discuss a student com-

plaint – whether signed or anonymous – about the fac-

ulty member’s teaching.

Why would a faculty member wish to bring a union

representative to a meeting with his or her depart-

ment or program chair or other supervisor?

A union representative, who might be an Executive

Board member from the faculty member’s division,

can act as a witness to what happens at the meeting

and take notes on any discussion about the faculty

member’s teaching or non-teaching job performance.

Ensuring that there is a witness to a discussion with a

supervisor and recording complete notes of such a

meeting is helpful should a supervisor proceed, for

example, from discussing a student complaint to of-

fering the faculty member pedagogical advice or ask-

ing the faculty member to provide additional infor-

mation or schedule additional meetings.

Weingarten rights belong to an employee by virtue of

a Supreme Court decision. These rights are not grant-

ed by the employer. The employer cannot legally

punish an employee for invoking his or her

Weingarten rights, nor can the employer legally deny

an employee’s request for union representation.

In addition, a faculty member may invoke his or her

Weingarten rights at any time. In fact, a faculty

member who finds him or herself in a meeting with a

supervisor that becomes a discussion of the faculty

member’s instructional or non-instructional perfor-

mance has the right to stop the meeting and ask that

it not continue until a union representative is pre-

sent.

Faculty members who wish to have union representa-

tion at a meeting with any college administrator (a

category that includes faculty who are acting as ad-

ministrators in the roles of department or program

chairs or assistant deans) should contact their Federa-

tion division representatives. The employer must ac-

commodate the employee’s request for union repre-

sentation even if it requires postponing a meeting to

a later date.

Thanks to SCC’s Transfer Student Tutoring Program,

funded by the SBA, The Writing & Learning Studio

(TWLS) will be open on Sundays this quarter from

Feb. 10 through March 17, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Dedi-

cated to the College’s core themes of program excel-

lence and student success, TWLS supports students

in all disciplines to become more effective, more con-

Know Your (Weingarten) Rights!

Amy J. Kinsel Professor of History & AFT Local 1950 President akinsel@shoreline.edu

Students Support Sundays in The Studio

Grace Rhodes Director, The Writing and Learning Studio grhodes@shoreline.edu

9

fident learners and writers so they may reach their ac-

ademic, professional, and/or personal goals.

On Sundays this support is provided by two learning

assistants, Melanie Childers and Eliza Bryant. Melanie

began working in the studio 13 years ago after being

recommended to me by her ENGL 101 instructor. She

enrolled in my tutor education course (EDULA 199) in

2000 and has been sharing her love of learning with us

since that time. (During her last year at SCC, she also

committed her talents to being the Literary Editor for

Spindrift.) She went on to graduate from UW-Bothell

with a B.A. in Culture, Literature, and the Arts. While

a student on the UW-Bothell campus, she worked in

the university’s writing center and provided online tu-

toring, as well as face-to-face.

After graduation, Melanie lived in Thailand a short

time, taught a community ESL class, and taught read-

ing and writing to young Korean-American students at

an after-school learning center. In her profile on the

studio website, she writes that as a fiction writer her-

self, she belongs to a writing group where she receives

input from fellow writers and knows “how invaluable

community and reader feedback is to writing.” Mela-

nie writes, “My work as a learning assistant in The

Writing & Learning Studio is the most rewarding, in-

spiring job I’ve ever had. Not only do I get to support

student learning at all levels, but I have the opportuni-

ty to facilitate students’ expression of their unique

ideas, stories, and perspectives.”

Eliza, Melanie’s cohort on Sundays, is a more recent

addition to the studio staff, joining the crew last Sep-

tember. Eliza writes of herself as a “fourth-generation

Washingtonian,” having lived in Seattle for most of her

life. Her travels include Taiwan, where she lived three

months as a fourth grader, and Florida, where she

went to college.

With a B.A. in English Literature, a B.F.A. in Painting,

and an M.A. in Art History, Eliza has worked as an art-

ist and illustrator, curator, art critic, and editor. In

her profile on the studio website, she writes, “I have

had fifteen minutes of fame for a series of funny post-

cards about slugs, moss, the Emerald City, and other

aspects of life in the Pacific Northwest.” Most recent-

ly Eliza taught art history courses at Seattle University.

Melanie and Eliza are two of the studio’s current group

of eight learning assistants, all of whom have impres-

sive backgrounds and share a love of learning and

working one-to-one with students. They have to love

it; they certainly don’t do it for the money--$9.83/

hour for a master’s degree and $9.36/hour for a bach-

elor’s degree. As faculty we are extremely fortunate

to have people like Melanie and Eliza working in The

Writing & Learning Studio to help our students become

better writers, thinkers, and learners. And I feel

blessed working with them, too.

To read other TWLS staff profiles visit http://

shoreline.edu/twls/ and click on “Staff.”

One of my many duties as Federation President in-

cludes serving on the Commencement Committee,

which plans Shoreline’s June commencement exercis-

es. In addition to reviewing safety and evacuation pro-

cedures, informing students of graduation application

deadlines, and deciding what kind of cake to order,

members of the Commencement Committee are also

responsible for selecting speakers for the event.

The Commencement Committee invites nominations

for faculty and student commencement speakers until

March 6. Criteria for selecting speakers include the

nominees’ accomplishments as Shoreline faculty or

students and, to quote from the nomination form,

their “potential to deliver meaningful, thought-

provoking messages to graduates and their guests.”

Math Professor Steven Bogart was last year’s com-

mencement speaker. He set a high standard for this

year’s speaker by adopting a conversational tone and

continued on the next page

Commencement Speaker Nominations

Amy J. Kinsel Professor of History & AFT Local 1950 President akinsel@shoreline.edu

10

continued from the previous page

delivering his address from memory without notes.

The Commencement Committee bases its decision

about the student speaker on nominations and on

interviews with all the nominated students. One im-

portant requirement is that the student speaker

must graduate from Shoreline in one of the four

quarters of the 2012-13 academic year.

Faculty, students, staff, and administrators may

nominate faculty and student speakers. Remind

your students about this opportunity. A nomination

form is available on Day at a Glance.

The SCCFT Local 1950 Executive Board has called an

All-Federation Meeting for Monday, March 18, 2013,

from 3:00-4:00 pm. This meeting will take place on

the last class day of Winter quarter in Room 2925.

Agenda items for the meeting include an update on

ongoing faculty contract negotiations; discussion of

instructional reorganization, faculty grievances,

campus safety, the state budget, improved job secu-

rity for associate faculty, and local and statewide

AFT elections; as well as a vote on a proposed local

dues increase.

All members of Shoreline Community College Feder-

ation of Teachers are invited to attend and vote on

motions considered at the meeting.

While all full-time and associate faculty members

employed at Shoreline under the faculty contract

are represented by SCCFT Local 1950, in order to

become members of the union individual faculty

must sign up to join the local by filling out the mem-

bership form printed on page 5. If you have not pre-

viously signed up as a Local-1950 member, or you

need to update your mailing or email address, please

complete the membership form and send it to 1st

Vice President Kira Wennstrom.

Did you know that associate faculty members may be

entitled to receive unemployment benefits when

they are not teaching?

AFT-Washington’s website offers information about

how to file for unemployment benefits. This infor-

mation states that associate faculty members may

be eligible to receive unemployment benefits during

quarters in which they are not employed, during the

summer if they are not employed, and during breaks

between quarters if they have no reasonable guaran-

tee of future employment.

More information about Washington State unemploy-

ment benefits is available on the AFT-Washington

website.

In addition to AFT-Washington resources, associate

faculty seeking help with unemployment benefits

can turn to the Unemployment Law Project. The

Unemployment Law Project is a statewide non-profit

organization funded by unions and friends of unions

to represent unemployed workers in Washington

State who have been denied unemployment bene-

fits. Any unemployed worker may call the Unem-

ployment Law Project at 1-888-441-9278 for free le-

gal advice or representation.

The Unemployment law project can represent or re-

fer workers for help with any of the following issues:

discharge and termination; voluntary resignation;

commissioner approved training and training bene-

fits; overpayment; garnishments; all levels of unem-

ployment compensation appeal.

The Unemployment Law Project Seattle office is lo-

cated at 1904 3rd Avenue, Suite 604, 206.441.9178,

http://www.unemploymentlawproject.org.

All-Federation Meeting Set for March 18

Amy J. Kinsel Professor of History & AFT Local 1950 President akinsel@shoreline.edu

Unemployment Benefits

Amy J. Kinsel Professor of History & AFT Local 1950 President akinsel@shoreline.edu

11

For students on the physical SCC campus, access to Information literacy (IL) instruction is fairly straightfor-

ward. Our librarians work in partnership with teaching faculty to support face-to-face instruction, as well

as fulfilling their traditional role at the library reference desk, or working with individual students in

‘roving’ reference at the PUB. In order to provide web-based help for information literacy, your librarians

have created a constantly evolving treasure trove of Learning Guides designed to support both general are-

as of study and specific classes.

In the expanding virtual learning world of fully online classes, meeting a librarian for one-on-one help isn’t

as convenient as dropping in at building 4000 to speak with a cheerful information professional at the ref-

erence desk. To address the needs of online students, the library has begun experimenting with Web En-

hanced IL Learning support. Using Blackboard Collaborate as a software platform, this quarter SCC librari-

ans have been hosting a series of web conferencing sessions as part of the online class Women in U.S. His-

tory.

Students can join web sessions to communicate from any computer by text or microphone and work with

their designated course librarian. While web conferencing headsets are inexpensive, students also have

the option of using the earbud/microphone from a cell phone, or a laptop equipped with a built in micro-

phone and speaker.

In a Collaborate session, both student and librarian enjoy a common view of the research process via voice

and screen sharing. The librarian can demonstrate how to find articles in a database, or books in the li-

brary- whatever help a student may need.

Online history students who have given Blackboard Collaborate a try report that the sessions are quite use-

ful in assisting with their research paper work. But what will happen when the campus completes the

transition from Blackboard to the new Canvas LMS? Patricia Wade in eLearning shared that access to Col-

laborate will be made possible when using Canvas, and pointed out that Canvas also offers a similar built-

in conferencing tool natively.

To explore the possibilities of web conferencing for students, contact the tech experts in elearning - or

just ask a librarian!

Collaborating on Online Information

Literacy

Michael R. Wood

Associate Faculty Librarian

mwood@shoreline.edu

InfoBYTES InfoBYTES

In the column InfoBYTES we get ongoing news about what’s going on in the Roy Howard Library.

12

Making WavesMaking Waves

If you live, I mean work, in the FOSS building you probably already know Debra Waddell, Associate Faculty

in Communication Studies. She is the one smartly dressed, impeccably put together, beaming and making

friends everywhere she goes.

Debra started teaching for us in the summer of 2003 and then more consistently in 2010. She is a rare find

in that that she can teach all of the Communications courses we have on the books. She also has extensive

experience teaching online and has developed SCC’s first fully-online CMST&101 Introduction to Communi-

cation class. Our biggest concern in the Communication Department was figuring out ways to teach com-

munication skills like listening in a virtual environment. Most online courses assess listening by asking stu-

dents to report on their own listening habits. We were nervous about this approach as it is a better meas-

ure of students’ ability to tell teachers what they want to hear rather than of their actual listening skills.

Debra came up with innovative assignments to help with these concerns. She asks students to record inter-

actions, watch the recording and analyze their own listening and the listening of their compatriots. They

have to apply course terms, critically examine the communication behavior in their lives, and examine the

course material to see how improvements can be made. Granted, this approach could still be staged or

practiced, but Debra is finding the students are enthusiastic

about these assignments and are typically taking them seriously

and learning from them. Figuring out ways to be skill-focused

and get students to practice and demonstrate skills outside of the

face-to-face environment has been challenging and yet reward-

ing. Like so many of us here at Shoreline Debra loves her work

with students!

Debra’s success as an instructor can be linked to her interesting

blend of education and professional skills. Her undergraduate

degree is in Economics from University of California at Riverside.

Debra joined the Peace Corps and flew off to Micronesia and

lived on the island of Truk immediately after graduation (think

tropical island, blue water, gently swaying palm trees, no running

water, no electricity). While Debra was in the Peace Corps she

was able to travel to Guam and Yap before returning to the U.S.

where she entered the world of business and industry. She

worked for Burroughs and then Ford Motor Company in the Sales

and Marketing division where she began to notice the need for a

Online Communication Innovation

Brooke Zimmers

Professor of Communications

bzimmers@shoreline.edu

Above: Communications Associate Faculty

member Debra Waddell

13

more competent understanding of cultural differences in day-to-day business interactions. This was the

spark that led her back to school with an emphasis on bridging research to practice. She earned her Master

of Arts in Speech Communication from California State Fullerton specializing in intercultural communica-

tion.

Debra has continued to use her diverse background skills. In fact, this past summer when she was invited

to take part in a grant from the National Science Foundation for Meeting the Challenge of Energy Manage-

ment in a Carbon-Constrained World. She also created the course design for Basic Team Communication

Skills for Project Management. In addition, Debra teaches courses in Communication and Organizations (at

Cascadia Community College) for professional students. In these courses students enjoy learning to com-

municate in the work context. By integrating interpersonal communication skills into professional course

design, students will be more fully prepared to enter the workforce as they will have skills to succeed.

These skills include collaboration for high-performance team development and leadership, conflict manage-

ment, and the ability to communicate competently in a diverse organizational culture.

Passionate about National Parks, Debra belongs to the Mountaineers, rows, and hikes, enjoying several

hikes in Mt. Rainier National Park this past summer. Next summer she is looking forward to hiking in the

Olympics and to a trip to the Narrows in Zion National Park. Debra loves wild spaces and thinks we are for-

tunate to live in such an amazingly beautiful state.

Please welcome Debra to our community and feel free to chat with her about her interesting work in and

out of the classroom!

Calendar Calendar

continued from page 1 Board of Trustees Meeting Wednesday, February 27 4:00-6:00 PM Boardroom

SCCFT E-Board Meeting Monday, March 11 3:00-5:00 PM Room 9202

All-Campus Meeting Friday, March 15 12:30-2:00 PM PUB Main Dining Room

All-Federation Meeting Monday, March 18 3:00-4:00 PM Room 2925

14

SCCFT Executive BoardSCCFT Executive Board

Office Officer Email Phone President Amy J. Kinsel akinsel@shoreline.edu 206.546-4679 1st Vice President/Parliamentarian Kira L. Wennstrom kwennstrom@shoreline.edu 206.546-4578 2nd Vice President Davis Oldham doldham@shoreline.edu 206.546.4768 3rd Vice President Bonnie Frunz bfrunz@shoreline.edu 206.546-6987 Secretary Elizabeth Hanson elhanson@shoreline.edu 206.546-4555 Treasurer Shannon Flynn sflynn@shoreline.edu 206.546-4705 Past President Gary Parks gparks@shoreline.edu 206.546-4785 COPE/Legislative Representative Leslie Potter-Henderson lhenders@shoreline.edu 206.546-4554 HO/PE/BUS Rep. 1 Alison Leahy aleahy@shoreline.edu 206.546-5891 HO/PE/BUS Rep. 2 Sueanne Seegers sseegers@shoreline.edu 206.546-4710 HO/PE/BUS Rep. 3 Dennis Chang dchang2@shoreline.edu 206.546-2336 Humanities Rep. 1 Ruthann Duffy rduffy@shoreline.edu 206.533-6766 Humanities Rep. 2 Ruth Gregory rgregory@shoreline.edu 206.546-4789 Humanities Rep. 3 Grace Rhodes grhodes@shoreline.edu 206.546-4101 x4308 Math/Science/Auto/Mfg Rep. 1 Steven Bogart sbogart@shoreline.edu 206.546-6986 Math/Science/Auto/Mfg Rep. 2 Leoned Gines lgines@shroeline.edu 206.546-4543 SS/ES/LIB/Media Rep. 1 Betsey Barnett bbarnett@shoreline.edu 206.546-4680 SS/ESJ/LIB/Media Rep. 2 Chip Dodd cdodd@shoreline.edu 206.546-4653 King County Labor Council Rep. 1 Tim Payne tpayne@shoreline.edu 206.546-4706 King County Labor Council Rep. 2 Sarah Zale szale@shoreline.edu 206.546.4655 The following positions do not include E-Board membership: King County Labor Council Rep. 3 Jonathan Betz-Zall jbetz-zall@shoreline.edu 206.546-6939 King County Labor Council Rep. 4 vacant King County Labor Council Rep. 5 vacant

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