TeachECC 2025
Event Details
TeachECC 2025 Program
Tuesday, February 18
10:00am- 11:00am in E100.01 or Zoom
Student Resources
Presenters: Elissa Kojzarek (WDCE)
Participants will learn about what experiential learning looks like at ECC. We currently offer internships, apprenticeships, job shadow, and even virtual reality career exploration opportunities. Learn about resources available to help your students explore careers and prepare for employment. Presenters will share success stories and examples of ways they have connected with faculty in the past to continue holistically supporting students’ employment goals.
1:00- 2:00pm in E100.01 or Zoom
Engagement High-Impact Practices
Presenters: Louise Kirkman (ABEC)
Discover how a Level 5 ESL night class turned their ideas into meaningful change on campus by advocating for better dining options in their building. This session shares how students collaborated to design a survey, analyze data, and present their findings to college leadership, ultimately leading to changes on campus. Learn how this student-led project fostered community, amplified student voices, and demonstrated the power of thoughtful advocacy supported by strong data. Gain insights into creating impactful, real-world learning opportunities that empower students and highlight the importance of listening to their concerns.
3:00- 4:00pm in E100.01 or Zoom
High-Impact Practices Teaching Techniques
Presenters: Alison Douglas (English) and Tina Ballard (English)
Are you looking for strategies to help your students excel in academic writing? Do you want to support your students in creating more polished, discipline-appropriate writing assignments? Academic writing is a vital skill that allows students to demonstrate their understanding and synthesize their learning. By fostering growth in their writing abilities, you can help students reach their potential and find value in the writing process.
In this session, we will share practical tips for guiding students toward stronger academic writing. You’ll have the opportunity to apply these strategies to your own teaching context and receive feedback to refine your approach.
Wednesday, February 19
10:00- 11:00am in E100.01 or Zoom
Engagement Teaching Techniques
Presenters: Mark Krukowski (CIS)
Come learn about enhancing student engagement and critical thinking through a blended approach. I combine pre-quiz assessment with inquiry-based learning to create a dynamic learning experience. The benefits of this approach include increased student engagement and motivation, enhanced critical thinking and problem-solving skills, deeper understanding of the content, and improved student outcomes.
1:00- 2:00pm in E100.01 or Zoom
Accessibility Technology
Presenters: Eric Jones (Student Access and Disability Services) and Pietrina Probst (Student Access and Disability Services)
Students with disabilities use various assistive technologies to access their courses and complete homework. Did you know that you also likely use assistive technology on a daily basis? To find out which assistive technologies are available, join us in this workshop. The Assistive Technology & Testing Accommodations Coordinator will showcase some of the assistive technology students at ECC utilize each day. Students will also share their experiences with using assistive technology.
3:00- 4:00pm on Zoom
Engagement Technology Asynch Tools
Presenters: Maureen Gray (Psychology)
Discord is an organized, community-focused instant messaging platform that allows private and public communication through text and voice and video calling. In the world outside of education, it is most famously used by people that play video games. It is, however, a powerful and flexible tool to improve communication and to build a feeling of community in an academic setting. I have been using Discord as a hub for course communication for over three years and I would like to share information about how I utilize the application and present some data on students' perceptions of Discord.
Thursday, February 20
10:00- 11:00am in F125 or Zoom
Accessibility Technology
Presenters: Kyle Ahlmann (Distance Learning), Ryan Karp (Distance Learning), and Jerrick Boun (YuJa)
Discover how YuJa Panorama can transform D2L course content into a more accessible and inclusive learning experience for all students. This session will introduce you to key features of Panorama including its ability to generate accessibility scores and reports, seamlessly provide documents in alternative formats, and easily adjust webpage elements for various user preferences.
1:00- 2:00pm in E100.01 or Zoom
Engagement Technology Asynch Tools
Presenters: Kellen Bolt (English)
Reading motivation and comprehension have been declining nationally. Anecdotally, fewer and fewer students seem to do the reading, and fewer still seem to grasp what it means. How do we change how we think about reading practices in our classrooms? How do we turn reading into an interactive and collaborative practice that helps foster student learning before class?
This presentation will explore my use of Perusall (a collaborative reading and annotation platform that integrates into D2L) in my English 101 online and hybrid classes to introduce faculty, staff, and administrators to strategies for integrating reading in more meaningful ways (whether in-person or online). I will illustrate how features of Perusall can more effectively help instructors recognize and assess reading comprehension and practices than quizzes. Perusall allows instructors to measure students’ progress through annotations of the reading and discussions with classmates’ and my posts. Students highlight key passages and explain their thoughts, ask questions about places where they are confused, and respond to their classmates’ observations directly within the text, which can help to foster deeper, student-led engagements with the material. These interactions not only encourage thorough reading but also help us identify areas where students may struggle with their comprehension of course content. Ultimately, the goal of this presentation is to illustrate how more interactive, collaborative approaches using Perusall to read and respond to readings can improve engagement with course material.
Friday, February 21
10:00am- 11:00am in E100.01 or Zoom
Engagement
Presenters: Scott Piner (Marketing and Communications) and Mark Carriveau (Marketing and Communications)
Humor can have a remarkable impact on communication, learning, and relationship building. Humor can be a teaching tool in the college classroom. College educators are often seeking innovative ways to of encouraging class attendance and participation. Humor as a teaching tool can create a positive, fun, and interesting environment that promotes student learning and overall engagement.
1:00- 2:00pm in E100.01 or Zoom
Student Resources
Presenters: Mary Spevacek (Library)
Library Research has changed, including our new I-Share search platform. If you have not had time to study this tool, you are not alone. Want to learn the Top 5 hacks to help you (and your students) navigate over 150 databases of academic resources available in just one search? Then this is the workshop for you! You will learn how to find resources citing a work, find related articles, create folders, save research, and request items from other Illinois libraries. We will also answer any questions you have about the system and our services.