 Dr. Belinda Ramos
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
This semester, Dr. Ramos has had the opportunity to offer the PSY101 class she teaches as "a hybrid course with an added incentive." Since she is a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) administrator, the Chandler-Gilbert Community College Social and Behavioral Sciences Division paid for MBTI forms for her online students. She began the hybrid class with a mandatory meeting where she administered and interpreted the MBTI and provided the students with study tips (based on their learning styles) that would help them get the most out of the class. An analysis of the results between learning styles and success in the class, along with a distance learning literature review to locate best practices for predicting and assessing student success in online coursework will be conducted at the end of the semester.
Chandler-Gilbert has also been very accommodating by allowing Dr. Ramos to teach PSY250. This is the first time in a very long time that this course has been taught at this college. Many of the active learning techniques proposed at the MCLI Engaging Students in Active Learning Learnshop have been incorporated in this class, including a Games Day. Students were responsible for creating games to demonstrate social psychological principles and were allowed in-class time to demonstrate and play these thought-provoking games. Dr. Ramos also facilitated Chandler-Gilbert's 1st "Annual" Social and Behavioral Sciences Awards for students who take the knowledge that they learn in the social and behavioral sciences and apply it to their communities (i.e., civic engagement). Three outstanding Social and Behavioral Sciences students will be recognized on May 12th at a reception.
 Gaye Oberlin
Glendale Community College
Teaching BIO181 (General Biology for Majors I) and BIO156 (Introductory Biology for Allied Health) at Glendale Community College has inspired Gaye to incorporate more active learning into her classes. Biology labs have always involved hands-on learning, but she has also been striving to introduce more meaningful and collaborative learning into the classroom. Some strategies have been effective while others have not; however, her FIPP internship has given Gaye a tremendous opportunity to learn and apply new teaching strategies with the guidance and support of the entire Glendale biology department.
 Malik Toms
Estrella Mountain Community College
This semester has found Malik entrenched in several new endeavors at Estrella Mountain Community College. The upcoming release of his student-run Thoughtwired.com website promises to be to a campus-wide student writing showcase similar in scope to nationally renowned e-magazines such as dotlit.com. Thoughtwired.com will give students a forum to publish their work to the general public and will allow readers across the globe to post online feedback for that work. Malik has also been involved in program development. He has been a vocal participant in the framing of Estrella Mountain's new First-Year Experience program for incoming freshman.
The jewel of this semester however has been his work in the classroom. Malik was instrumental in forming the schools first Creative Writing Club. His teaching schedule includes a freshman composition course (ENG 101), an introductory creative writing course (CRW 170), and an American Indian Literature Course that focuses on the oral storytelling tradition (ENH 259). Additionally, Malik is in the process of lending his DJ talents to the Modern Jazz Dance I (DAN 133) class for a session that will include live mixing to choreographed student dancing.
 Tanisha Johnson-Maxwell
Estrella Mountain Community College
This semester, Tanisha taught two courses at Estrella Mountain that had never been offered there before, CPD 103BC: African American Cultural Pride and Awareness and DAN 133: Modern Jazz Dance I. As co-advisor of the Black Student Union (BSU), Tanisha has organized several volunteer, academic, social, and fund-raising activities to engage students both on and off campus. Under her supervision, Estrella Mountain's BSU went on a fieldtrip to Arizona State University for a meet and greet with the leadership of ASU's African American student organizations, a campus tour, and the "Tunnel of Oppression" exhibit. On campus, Estrella Mountain's BSU has also sponsored numerous events including an interactive play and fashion show in honor of Black History month, a campus-wide student organization meet-and-greet, and a district-wide three-on-three basketball tournament.
Tanisha has also been actively participating in several committees at Estrella Mountain including the Maricopa Council on Black American Affairs and the Core Values Diversity Team. Additionally, Tanisha has engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration with other Estrella Mountain faculty to create programs, workshops, and activities that encourage dialogue, awareness, and understanding of various issues related to diversity including "The Relationship Between Genetics and Education," "Dialogues on White Privilege," and "Intercultural Communication." Finally, Tanisha has developed and piloted an instrument to assess campus climate from a student's perspective. This assessment was administered to all of Estrella Mountain's students registered for CPD courses in the Fall 2004 semester for the purpose of analysis, instrument revision, and possible expansion of utility.
 Karen Bandy
GateWay Community College
During the past few months in the FIPP internship, Karen, along with other FIPP interns, has been doing a lot with active learning. This has been extremely helpful to her in the classroom, because it encourages all students to become engaged in learning. The courses she teaches right now are very "hands on" classes, so she has been able to incorporate many active learning techniques. The FIPP internship has given her so many resources, and has provided so much training, that she feels her teaching style has greatly improved!
 Maria Martell
Mesa Community College
This semester, Maria is part of the organizing committee for the 2nd Annual International Film Festival at Mesa Community College. She is writing a catalog for the festival in both Spanish and English. Well-known Mexican directors including Mar'a Novaro and Marcela Fernández Violante will be present at the screenings of their films and will answer audience questions. Maria was also invited to lead a discussion at the Phoenix College Latin American Film Festival at the end of March. During Women's History Month, she also participated on a panel discussing the role of international faculty at Mesa Community College. Maria sees her involvement in these activities as promoting cultural awareness - in particular of Latin America - in our community.
Maria currently teaches three sections of Spanish 115 and 116, Conversational Spanish. She encourages active and collaborative learning in the classroom that involves communicative rather than teacher-centered approaches. Students enrolled in these classes practice their oral skills in Spanish by working together in group exercises, presentations, and discussions to simulate real world interactions. Maria asks students to explore Hispanic culture beyond the classroom by setting up web-based interactive assignments using Web CT, her website, and StudyMate software. These web-based sources are then incorporated into written reports and oral presentations that ask students to reflect on issues of cultural difference.
 Jeff Eldot
Phoenix College
The FIPP program provides Jeff with first-hand experience in the multi-faceted areas of faculty life. First as an instructor, he is learning curriculum development and teaching strategies for a diverse and high-energy student body. Jeff is integrating technology to support interactive learning for his students. Second, he is learning to collaborate with faculty, staff, and administration to achieve the best results in a variety of projects. And finally, the special workshops and programs offered to him as part of FIPP imparts teaching strategies and tactics to fine-tune his instructional skills.
 Jason Margolies
Paradise Valley Community College
Last semester, Jason worked with the Underprepared Student Initiative (USI) Committee to examine student achievement in MAT092 and MAT120. A subcommittee, a group of three math instructors including Jason, two counselors, and the Learning Support Center Director, created a pilot study for this semester to determine ways to improve student performance. The subcommittee created mandatory learnshops that students in MAT092 classes would be encouraged to take. Learnshop topics include Learning Support Center Orientation, Math Student Success Behavior, Math Study Skills, Math Anxiety and Avoidance, and Connecting Math to Your World. The subcommittee is hoping that the information gained in these Learnshops will advance the students' abilities to go on and be successful in MAT120 and beyond.
 Pedro Rubio
Rio Salado College
This semester, Pedro is teaching two sections of a distance learning online class called CIS133DA, "The Internet/World Wide Web." One of the classes is in Rio Salado College's legacy distance learning system called First Class and the other is in the new distance learning system called RioLearn. He is also the instructor of a pilot program that partners the Mexican University, Tecnológico de Monterrey with Rio Salado College. In this pilot program, Pedro teaches two sections of a computer basics course (Habilidades Básicas de Informática) in Spanish. Pedro is also part of the Educational Outreach Team through the District Office of Public School Programs that is organizing this year's International Science and Engineering Fair. He teaches two mathematics workshops, "Math Anxiety" and "Arithmetic," to students pursuing their teaching certificates. The workshops were created to help students prepare for the Accuplacer assessment in the area of mathematics. Finally, Pedro works in Rio Salado College's Tutoring Center assisting students in mathematics and sometimes science.
 Asha Dey
South Mountain Community College
Diversity and cultural awareness are important in the classroom; therefore, Asha has students participate in a five-week diversity experience which includes collaborative, cooperative, experiential, and active learning activities. Some of the exercises that students engage in are completing the first section of the diversity piece called "ABOUT ME"...writing about their family, customs, and lifestyle. Thereafter, they work in pairs and share their stories. The final two sections of the program involve writing a reflective paper, preparing and presenting a PowerPoint presentation, and telling their story to the class. It is a holistic experience because it involves using all the skills students have learned in reading class.
This semester, Asha was one of the faculty facilitators for the FIRST Latina Girls conference, a collaborative effort between Intel, South Mountain, Estrella Mountain, and Phoenix Colleges. Approximately 125 enthusiastic 6th grade to 12th grade Latina girls participated in the conference, which exposed the young women to higher education and technical careers in science and engineering. Asha is also a member of the college Asian Pacific Islander Association (APIA). She and others from the APIA participated in South Mountain's International Week. They displayed items from their homelands such as, Bangkok, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and Hawaii.
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