The Summer Institute is a yearly training program for MCC faculty to enhance their professional development. 

Each year we focus on a different discipline. 2012 and 2013 was designed to provide creative ideas for more interactive instruction in Math. 

2014 had two Institutes, one for Math and one for Reading faculty. The two-day Math Institute was highly engaging. The eight-day Reading Institute brought in nationally recognized reading authorities to present on state-of-the-art brain research and teaching methodologies. If you missed either one, check out the articles in this section. 

2012 Summer Institute

Starting in the summer of 2012, a two week FSS Summer Institute was held with the majority of developmental math faculty in attendance. Guest speakers and presentations were arranged throughout the eight-day workshop with a focus on strengthening MCC’s math developmental education program to help better serve the developmental education student. 

The Title III grant’s aim is to break down barriers for students in MAT082 and MAT09X by improving the quality of developmental education programs thereby increasing success and graduation rates of developmental education students.  The redesign of academic environments was the main focus of the first summer institute.

2013 Summer Institute  

The second FSS Summer Institute was held June 10-June 20, 2013.  Dr. Paul Nolting, national expert in assessing math learning problems – from study skills to learning disabilities – and developing effective learning strategies and testing accommodations, was one of the guest speakers. He spoke on the importance of mathematics study skills and how they positively impact student learning in mathematics. 

Dr. Erick Hofacker was another guest speaker during the 2103 Summer Institute.  Dr. Hofacker focused on different ways of modeling mathematical concepts and ideas. Visualization through technology was emphasized. Dr. Hofacker will return again this summer for the two day Math Summer Institute 2014. 

Day 3 of the 2013 Summer Institute featured Mesa’s own Beth Alsen and Megan Garvy, specialists in instructional design and education studies. Their workshop focused on how to engage learners for the 21^st century classroom to promote student learning and critical thinking skills.  They gave an overview of 8 research-based standards for lesson design and delivery. They also discussed how to conduct peer-to-peer observations.

2014 Summer Institute

The third FSS Summer Institute hosted both a Math and Reading professional development component. The two-day Math Institute (June 2 and 3, 2014) brought back Dr. Erick Hofacker from the 2013 Summer Institute to further elaborate on collaborative and active learning in the Math classroom. His presentations included such topics as "Mathematical Tasks and Problems," "Technology in the Math Classroom," and "Real-World Applications in Math."

The eight-day Reading Institute brought in nationally recognized authorities in the field of Reading research. Dr. Janet Zadina spoke for two days to the group. Day one was on "Using Multiple Pathways to Enhance and Energize Instruction." Day two covered "Applying Brain Research to Classroom Practices."

Dr. Peggy Richek and Susanne Picchi presented on academic vocabulary development, entitled "Words are Wonderful: Engaging Students in Vocabulary Instruction." The day was filled with interactive activities that could be used by faculty to make vocabulary development more engaging.

Dr. Deborah Kellner presented on "Developing Resiliency for Reading Textbooks." Like the other presenters, her session was informative, interactive, and inspirational.

In addition to the guest presentations, a number of MCC faculty, staff and students spoke on more local topics, such as developing a growth mindset, information literacy, lesson design and delivery, EARS, Reading Department mission and vision for 2015, and a student panel, who gave faculty feedback on what worked and what could be improved with reading instruction.

All in all, it was a very successful Summer Institute. Here are some of the statistics for the event.

Reading Summer Institute Participation

Full-time Reading faculty: 7

Adjunct Reading faculty: 18

Total Reading faculty: 25

English faculty: 1

Total MCC Participants: 55

Total hours of training: More than 750 hours

Math Summer Institute Participation

Full-time Math faculty: 9

Adjunct Math faculty: 9

Total math faculty: 18

Total hours of training: 210 hours

When you add the two events together, we trained 73 employees and accumulated over 960 training hours.