Faculty Professional Development Opportunities for Fall 2025 are listed below. We are offering a limited number of on campus/Zoom options.
In Person/Zoom Trainings
Faculty have a lot on their
plates such as delivering content, grading, and supporting students. Adding
accessibility can feel like just one more thing. But what if it’s the key to
better learning and navigating for everyone? Join us for a practical and eye-opening
session that shows how accessible course design goes beyond compliance. We’ll
explore how small changes can make a big difference, walk through an
easy-to-follow accessibility workflow, and share real examples of how inclusive
design supports all students. Whether you’re just getting started or leading
accessibility efforts, you’ll leave with ideas and tools to make accessibility
doable, easy and efficient in Talon! (1 hour)
In this slightly more advanced Panopto session, our focus will be engagement. Learn ways to move your video materials beyond a passive, sit & get approach. Use the quizzing function to gather responses from students. Add a video with quiz to your Talon course to use as a low-stakes graded activity. Gather questions and feedback from students using the comments feature on the video player. Explore ways to keep your learners active while watching your video content - help them to practice, review and even submit their own video assignments. (1 hour)
In this hands-on session, faculty will explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can work alongside Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to create more inclusive and effective learning experiences. We’ll discuss practical strategies for designing assessments that reduce barriers, building rubrics that promote clarity and fairness, and developing course materials that meet diverse learner needs. Participants will leave with ready-to-use ideas, examples, and AI-assisted workflows to support their teaching. (1 hour)
Join our comprehensive PDF Remediation session designed to empower you with the knowledge and skills needed to make your PDF documents accessible to all. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn the ins and outs of PDF accessibility and how to tagged scanned PDFs. (1 hour)
Have you been struggling to justify writing assignments now that AI can do students' writing for them? Come dive into this issue in conversation with John Warner's book More than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI (2025). In this book group, we'll divide the chapters up over four Zoom sessions in October.
Must register by Sept. 5, so we have time to set our schedule and order the books. The meeting day and time will be decided on based on participant availability. Faculty from all disciplines are invited. (4 hours)
Using AI in education is no longer a choice. In this hands-on and helpful session, you'll learn how to use popular AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Claude to make your work easier and more efficient. We'll show you how AI can help you write clear measurable learning outcomes, create rubrics, design quizzes and other course content, and improve accessibility. You'll also see how AI tools made for specific teaching tasks can support your work. We'll show real examples like the "scenario crafter" and "image descriptor" and how they were created without needing any programming skills. By the end, you'll leave with simple, ready-to-use tools that save time and support your teaching goals. No tech experience needed - just bring your curiosity! (1 hour)
This Community of Practice will meet throughout the Fall semester 2025 and to research and discuss best practices in teaching hybrid communication (oral and written) courses. This community of practice is open to ALL faculty. At the end of the semester, the group will have an action plan and/or deliverable to help improve their teaching.
Meeting times to be determined by participants. Groups must meet a minimum of 5 times. This course is considered "complete" if participants attend at least 80% of the meetings AND submit the final deliverable. (15 hours)
Registration ends Friday, September 12.
All faculty and staff are invited to come and share their creative writing in any genre. We meet six times a semester over Zoom. Everyone posts their submission on Talon ahead of the meeting, and then we spend the meeting workshopping each other's pieces. There's always an interesting discussion to be had! (9 hours)
We invite faculty and staff to join our "Fix Accessibility Issues" Open Lab Session, where you can get hands-on support to address accessibility challenges in your course materials. This session is designed to help you enhance the accessibility of your content for all students, including those with disabilities. Whether you need assistance with adding alternative text to images, creating accessible documents, or ensuring your videos are captioned, our team is here to guide you. Bring your course materials and accessibility questions, and we’ll work together to implement improvements to make your course more inclusive. (1 hour)
Want to make your course materials more accessible without extra downloads, uploads, or tech headaches?
YuJa Panorama is a powerful new tool built right into Talon. It replaces Ally and makes it super simple to improve accessibility, right where you’re already working. It even creates alternative formats for your files automatically, like audio, ePub, and tagged PDFs, so your students can choose what works best for them.
Join this training to learn how to save time, meet accessibility standards, and support every student with just a few clicks! (1 hour)
Health & Safety Workshop offers opportunities to learn about the best practice to prevent and manage challenging situations that could occur during study abroad programs.
This session will help participants understand the importance of early identification and prompt response to community concerns. Attendees will learn to recognize signs of distress, such as mental health, changes in academic performance, and disruptive behaviors. Participants will discuss strategies for responding to individuals who display concerning or disruptive behaviors in the classroom and other settings. Additionally, college policies regarding disruptive behaviors and resources available to support faculty and students will be reviewed. (1 hour)
*Required of all full-time faculty before the end of the probationary period for Competency #4 Learning Environment/Classroom Management.
When we fly, we are reminded
that we can't help others if we don't put our own oxygen mask on first. How can
we be present for our students if we haven't 'put on our oxygen masks' in daily
life? We will use Thich Nhat Hanh's short book of readings, "How to
Listen," to practice listening to ourselves first. Thay (teacher in
Vietnamese) will guide us as we pay attention to our needs and learn to extend
that kindness to our students and beyond. Each session will include a short,
centering meditation and discussion of successes and challenges. (6 hours)
Participants in this workshop will share strategies for meeting essential Quality Matters standards in their online or hybrid courses and also complete a self review of their course applying these standards.
Participants MUST have taught a hybrid or online course in the past 18 months. Workshop materials are provided. This is an official Quality Matters workshop. Please note this course is offered asynchronous online. Please disregard the posted meeting times. (1 hour)
Why do students disengage, miss deadlines, or seem distracted? This workshop introduces the Empathy Map, a tool to help faculty better understand students’ perspectives. Using case studies and real examples, participants will explore how students’ experiences, challenges, and motivations shape classroom behavior. Through guided activities, you’ll learn to apply empathy mapping to uncover causes of student actions and design more supportive, effective responses. You’ll leave with a practical template, concrete strategies, and a deeper understanding of how to see your course through your students’ eyes.
Feedback is an essential component for learning. It’s no wonder there are so many ways in Talon to share feedback with students: Grades, Assignment Annotations, Quiz Feedback, Awards, Private Discussions, and more. How we provide feedback is just the start of the conversation. We will begin by talking about the different mechanisms built into Talon (and other tools) that have proven most effective with your students. Then we can discuss alternative ways to provide feedback you haven’t explored yet. And woven throughout our conversation, we'll reflect on creating learning processes for students that encourage them to receive and implement your suggestions.
The first day of class is more than just going over the syllabus. It is your chance to inspire students, connect with them, and set a positive tone for the semester. Whether you teach in person, online, or hybrid, this session will help you create a strong start that encourages student engagement and learning.
In this session, you will learn about research that shows why the first day matters. We will recognize the great things you are already doing. You will see practical examples like fun syllabus quizzes, building community rules with students, icebreakers, and active learning ideas. We will talk about how to use these ideas in different teaching formats. You will also get to share your own ideas and learn from others.
You will leave with easy-to-use resources such as the First Day of Class checklist. You will feel ready to make your first day an important step toward student success. (1 hour)
Savannah, GA was a hotbed of Talon (aka Brightspace) sharing and learning last July. It was also just hot. So hot one of the networking events set off the fire alarm! Come take in the main takeaways from two attendees (Alan Peterka and Emily McWorthy). Let’s talk about the exciting future updates D2L is planning. And how other institutions are leveraging the platform in exciting ways. (1 hour)
Let’s start at the beginning. We will take a broad look at Talon and integrated systems. How all the pieces fit together. We will discuss strategies for using the tool to help students stay organized and learn. This session is geared toward beginners and anyone who feels uncertainty when creating and setting up their course in Talon. (1 hour)
A Teaching Squares Project builds a teaching community of four faculty through classroom observations and shared reflection. The structure emphasizes learning from other instructors, instead of evaluating or judging. Each of the four faculty will visit each other’s classrooms to learn how the physical space, the student’s behavior, and the faculty’s teaching all interact. The final goal is to share a reflection of what was gained from each of the classroom visits. Please email Emily.McWorthy@kirkwood.edu to setup a square. (15 hours)
As generative AI becomes more accessible, educators face new opportunities and challenges in fostering authentic learning. This interactive session invites faculty to reimagine their teaching through a human-centered lens, ensuring that technology enhances rather than replaces meaningful educational experiences. Participants will engage in discussions and case studies illustrating how AI can support critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, while maintaining academic rigor. Participants will leave with practical strategies to integrate AI in ways that prioritize student agency, ethical engagement, and deep learning. (1 hour)
On Demand Trainings (offered via Discover)
This one hour course will walk you through the process creating an alignment document. Rooting every aspect of the course—materials, activities, and assessments—in the learning outcomes, results in a minty fresh learning experience, where clarity and purpose refresh the student's journey like a cool, invigorating breeze. (1 hour)
This intro session to Panopto, Kirkwood's video platform, will provide the steps needed to deliver, make and manage videos. We will cover accessing Kirkwood's Panopto site, using the Panopto web-based Capture program, the feature-rich video player, and how to best share videos in your Talon courses or anywhere. (1 hour)
Kirkwood serves many students from diverse cultural backgrounds. This course will help you better understand cultural differences and provide practical skills for improving cross-cultural interactions inside and outside the classroom
Creating effective assessments is a key element of course design. This course will explain best practices and examples for implementing different types of assessments across all delivery mediums. Please note – these practices are focused on course-level assessment only. This course does NOT cover college-wide assessments or assessment data. (1 hour)
If you are interested in adopting OER (Open Educational Resources, free alternatives to traditional textbooks), but don't know where to start, this is the course for you! You will walk away from this course with a solid understanding of what constitutes an OER, the benefits to students and faculty, the basics of open licensing, and the best ways to locate OER for your courses.
In this session you will be introduced to Honorlock, our remote proctoring partner. You'll come away with all of the skills and knowledge needed to enable and configure Honorlock for Talon and third party exams (1 hour).
Imposter Syndrome and Stereotype Threat are two powerful psychological phenomena that affect performance, confidence, and well-being across academic, professional, and personal settings. Throughout this course, we'll explore what these experiences are, how they develop, and most importantly, how to recognize and navigate them effectively.
In this session you will review the current accessibility issues present in your PDF documents, learn how to address these issues, and implement fixes. Accessibility means removing barriers individuals might face when interacting with your materials. We will show you how to use Ally, a tool built into Talon, to scan and review current materials. And we'll demonstrate how Adobe Acrobat Pro can be used to address any issues. (1 hour)
In this session you will review the current accessibility issues present in your Powerpoint documents, learn how to address these issues, and implement fixes. Accessibility means removing barriers individuals might face when interacting with your materials. We will show you how to use Ally, a tool built into Talon, to scan and review current materials. And we'll demonstrate how Microsoft Powerpoint can be used to address any issues. (1 hour)
Review the current accessibility issues present in your Word documents, learn how to address these issues, and implement fixes. Accessibility means removing barriers individuals might face when interacting with your materials. These individuals will encounter different barriers due to permanent or temporary disabilities, neurodivergent conditions, and learning preferences. (1 hour)
Creating an inclusive community and sense of belonging in the classroom requires the instructor and other students to recognize and confront their own conscious and unconscious biases. This on-demand course will provide practical suggestions for managing bias in the classroom.
One of the descriptors of Quality Instruction is, Provide
regular and substantive feedback and opportunities for student
reflection. We know that feedback is key for student growth and
learning. There are several methods and tools that can be used to provide
regular and substantive feedback to students. This course will provide
suggestions and best practices for providing effective feedback to students.
Microaggressions are everyday slights, insults, invalidations and offensive behaviors experienced by individuals from marginalized groups. This course will help you recognize microaggressions, their impact on students/colleagues, and how to respond.
This self-paced on demand course introduces you to writing effective alt text to make online content more accessible and foster a stronger sense of belonging. You'll learn when and how to describe images like photos, charts, and logos so all students, including those using screen readers, can fully engage with your course materials. By the end, you'll know how to write clear, useful alt text and create accessible content that supports all learners.
The 4 Connections are an evidence-based approach that can be integrated into your teaching strategy to enhance student success, retention, and inclusivity. This course will explain each of the 4 practices and provide practical examples of how Kirkwood faculty are implementing these strategies based on feedback from Kickoff Day in August 2023.
This course features 3 Kirkwood faculty members walking you through their online and hybrid courses in Talon, focusing on some best practices for structure, layout, design, aesthetics. (1 hour)
The Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework is an evidence-based strategy to improve accessibility, equity and connections with students. It is rooted in the idea that increased clarity in communicating the purpose, task, and criteria for course activities and assignments improves student success. This course explains the rationale and research behind the framework as well as practical examples that can be implemented into your courses.
Time management isn't a skill though that comes easily to everyone or is often explicitly taught. According to a 2023 survey by Inside Higher Ed/ College Pulse, 47% of undergraduate college students find it a challenge to balance schoolwork with other responsibilities. This session will look specifically at time management and the challenges that students at community college can face while navigating their personal lives and their commitment to their education.
In this session, you will be introduced to the Talon Instructor Dashboard reports. The data can help you take actions to fix hidden course issues, or connect with students in need of support. You might also come away with additional report requests to be added to the dashboard, or special reports your program would find useful.
This webinar will showcase how to implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles effectively in the classroom. Participants will learn strategies for creating inclusive, accessible, and engaging learning environments that cater to diverse student needs. By exploring case-based scenarios, attendees will see practical applications of UDL in real-world settings, focusing on how to support students throughout their learning process and beyond traditional assessments.
Communication - something we all do and seek to improve. This course offers practical tips for communicating with clarity, empathy, and confidence across all types of interactions with students.