We found 10 results that contain "flc"

This week, we are featuring, Kate Sonka, Assistant Director of Inclusion & Academic Technology in the College of Arts and Letters. Kate was recognized via iteach.msu.edu's Thank and Educator Initiative! We encourage MSU community members to nominate high impact Spartan educators (via our Thank an Educator form) regularly!
Read more about Kate's perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by Kate's responses!

In one word, what does being an educator mean to you? 
Connection
Share with me what this word/quality looks like in your practice? 
This looks like connections between educators and students, connections between learners and course content, connections among students, connections among faculty, and so forth. In that way, I continually keep these possibilities for connections and collaborations in my mind as I work to support teaching and learning in the College of Arts & Letters (CAL) and the broader MSU community. Some of this appears through faculty professional development opportunities I help create and facilitate and it also appears through the grad and undergrad courses I teach. And in a broader sense, it very much features in the work I do as Executive Director of Teach Access.
Have your ideas on this changed over time? if so how? 
If anything each day I find more and expansive ways to connect people to ideas and to each other. I’m definitely a life-long learner myself, so as I take in and learn new information or new pedagogies I want to share those out.
Tell me more about your educational “setting.” This can include, but not limited to departmental affiliations, community connections, co-instructors, and students.
I’m situated in the CAL Dean’s office and I report to both the Assistant Dean for Academic and Research Technology AND the Associate Dean of Academic Personnel and Administration. Beyond that, I spend a lot of my time working with colleagues in a variety of colleges and units across MSU.
What is a challenge you experience in your educator role? 
A challenge I experience is one we all face – how do we meet students where they are and ensure we’re creating inclusive learning spaces for everyone in our class.
Any particular “solutions” or “best practices” you’ve found that help you support student success at the university despite/in the face of this? 
Making sure we take the time to actually listen to students. I always include surveys to collect anonymous feedback before the semester, mid-way through, and at the end asking about how inclusive (or not) I’ve been as an educator and recommendations on how to help them meet their learning goals. And wherever I can, I try to incorporate that feedback while I still have students in the class, and/or use that feedback to improve the course the next time I teach it.
What are practices you utilize that help you feel successful as an educator? 
Certainly the student surveys I mentioned above help me understand if I’m being successful, but also any sort of additional feedback I can get from students or colleagues also helps.
What topics or ideas about teaching and learning would you like to see discussed on the iteach.msu.edu platform? Why do you think this conversation is needed at msu? 
I would love to see more conversations about how people are creating accessible learning environments and how considering students with disabilities improves their overall teaching practice. We’ve made some progress in this area since I’ve been at MSU, but the more we could share with each other, the more I think other educators would be energized to try in their own classes.
What are you looking forward to (or excited to be a part of) next semester? 
I’ve been doing more work with the CAL Inclusive Pedagogy Initiative, and we were just considering a two-part workshop series on topics of inclusion. Excited to see how this work expands in our college and beyond!
 
Don't forget to celebrate individuals you see making a difference in teaching, learning, or student success at MSU with #iteachmsu's Thank an Educator initiative. You might just see them appear in the next feature! Follow the MSU Hub Twitter account to see other great content from the #iteachmsu Commons as well as educators featured every week during #ThankfulThursdays.
 

 
 

This resource is meant to put information about trauma informed practices into the hands of faculty and instructors. Please see the digital flyer for more information. The references below were used in the creation of the flyer. Special thank you to Cheryl Williamns-Hecksel, Apryl Pooley and the Mental Health Committee (JED) for support in creating this resource.
References for Trauma Informed Practice Digital Flyer 

Cusack SE, et al. (2019). Prevalence and predictors of PTSD among a college sample. J Am Coll Health. Feb-Mar;67(2):123-131. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/29652647/
Read, J. P., Ouimette, P., White, J., Colder, C., & Farrow, S. (2011). Rates of DSM–IV–TR trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among newly matriculated college students. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(2), 148–156. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/25621098/ 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014. https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma14-4884.pdf 
https://istss.org/public-resources/trauma-basics/trauma-during-adulthood 
Morissette SB, et al. (2021). The effects of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms on educational functioning in student veterans. Psychol Serv. Feb;18(1):124-133. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/31192672/ 
Boyraz G et al. (2016). Posttraumatic stress, effort regulation, and academic outcomes among college students: A longitudinal study. J Couns Psychol. Jul;63(4):475-86. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/26214096/ 
https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/resources/trauma-informed-practices-postsecondary-508.pdf 
Racine N, Killam T, Madigan S. (2020). Trauma-Informed Care as a Universal Precaution: Beyond the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire. JAMA Pediatr. 174(1):5–6. https://jamanetwork-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2754104