WPCC Center for Teaching and Learning

WPCC’s summer semester is off to a strong start! ☀️ With nearly 100 curriculum courses, 700+ students, and 50 dedicated full-time and adjunct faculty, it’s shaping up to be a busy and exciting season. The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) team is here to support it all—through Moodle, educational technology, and beyond!

So what’s on the CTL agenda this summer?
🔹 Updating the Advisor Training Course.
🔹 Enhancing our adjunct faculty fall orientation.
🔹 Planning fall professional development aligned with college initiatives like NC Reconnect and our Strategic Plan.
🔹 Attending statewide conferences on online teaching and learning.
🔹 Coaching faculty to strengthen online course design.
🔹 Exploring new tech to support academic integrity and navigate AI challenges.
🔹 Improving data tools to better identify and support students.
🔹 Strengthening statewide partnerships with the Belk Center for Community College Teaching and Research.
🔹 Saving the biggest for last —planning for the upcoming Canvas transition!

Wishing everyone a fun, productive, and successful summer!

✨ As the spring semester comes to a close, the Center for Teaching and Learning is excited to wrap up with one final project. This semester, the CTL partnered with WPCC’s QEP Director and Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Ann Marie Radaskiewicz, to offer an Advisor Training Course for new faculty and staff who serve as student advisors.

🎓 This course provides a strong foundation in the concepts, information, resources, and relationship skills needed for effective advising at WPCC. Participants engaged in campus tours, technology training, selected readings and videos, case studies, mentoring sessions, shadowing, and other hands on activities.

✅ We are pleased to announce this semester’s course completers:
• Anna Allman, Horticulture Coordinator/Instructor
• Jenny Beck, Director of Advising and Enrollment Management
• Mikayla Johnson, EMS Programs Coordinator/Instructor
• Sarah Morgan Bunton, Dental Programs Coordinator/Instructor
• Sarah Ledford, Nursing Instructor
• Karli Lilley, Psychology Instructor
• Craig McGee, Mechatronics Instructor
• Kiersten Proctor, Student Success Advisor
• Kyndal Propst, Student Success Advisor
• Hal Robinson, Welding Instructor
• Luke Setzer, Student Success Advisor

🌟 We also extend our sincere appreciation to the following advisors who served as mentors for the course:
• Dr. April James, Medical Lab Technology Coordinator/Instructor
• Dr. John Kiser, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning
• Jordan Lowe, Student Success Advisor
• Dr. Ann Marie Radaskiewicz, QEP Director and Dean of Arts and Sciences
• Michael Spath, Life Science Coordinator / Biology Instructor
• Katharine Wright, Health Sciences Department Head / Recreational Therapy Assistant Instructor

👏 We are proud of the hard work shown by both our completers and mentors and are excited about the role these advisors will play in shaping student success at WPCC.

The Center for Teaching and Learning recently hosted a Lunch and Learn focused on Helping Students Thrive: Campus Support Services. The goal of the Lunch and Learn was to connect WPCC faculty with the many campus resources available to support student success. These connections support WPCC’s continuing work on our Quality Enhancement Plan and Title III grant and our upcoming NC Reconnect initiative.
We were glad to hear from:

Deanna Keller, Director of Accessibility Services, who shared how students access academic accommodations and accessibility resources
Nick Evitt, TRIO Director, who highlighted the TRIO program and support for first-generation students
Kiersten Proctor, Student Success Advisor, who introduced TimelyCare, Single-Stop (food and housing security), counseling, and community resources
Star Baughman, Director of the Library & Academic Success Center, who covered library, tutoring, and testing services
Lisa Shaw, Director of Career Services & Experiential Learning, who discussed resume and interview coaching, career counseling, and employment connections.
Dr. John Kiser, Director of Center for Teaching and Learning, who emphasized the importance of connecting students with campus resources and reminded faculty on how to use technology tools to keep students and their support team connected.

We’re grateful for these campus partners who are making a real difference for our students and we’re appreciative of them taking the time to share what they do with faculty and staff!

After a short hiatus with A/B term transitions and Spring Break, the Center for Teaching and Learning is back in full swing as we head toward the end of the semester!

We’re excited to welcome Deb Pennington, who joined us in early April as our new Digital Learning Specialist. Deb will support and administer our digital learning technologies, including our Learning Management System. She brings extensive LMS experience from the University of the Virgin Islands and City of Hope / Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and we’re thrilled to have her on WPCC’s team.

On Wednesday, April 15, we hosted a great session on QEP and Advising Updates. Dr. Ann Marie Radaskiewicz, QEP Director, shared progress and student success data; Jenny Beck, Director of Advising and Enrollment Management, highlighted updates to WPCC’s advising model and QEP success stories; and Leigh Ann Angle, Title III Project Director, offered helpful tips for using Aviso to keep advisors, students, and instructors connected.

We wrapped up the week on Friday, April 17, with a trip to Chapel Hill for the Carolinas Canvas Connect Conference. The conference gave us deeper insight into WPCC’s new LMS, Canvas (Starting in Summer 2027), along with valuable sessions on AI in course design, online teaching trends, and practical Canvas tools to support teaching and learning.

Stay tuned—there are a few more great things ahead as we finish out the spring semester!

We had an excellent Spring 2026 Professional Development Day on Thursday, March 5th.

NC Reconnect and the Belk Endowment provided a delicious lunch.

We began with the NC Reconnect kickoff. NC Reconnect will help reconnect adults with some college, but no degree, with WPCC and credential and degree completion.

Dr. Tou Vang and Kristi Farley led a session on WPCC's OneCollege Model. This model will provide more opportunities for both curriculum and workforce development students.

Katharine Wright and the Social and Wellness Committee hosted fun Minute to Mingle and other team building activities.

VP Sandy Hoilman led a session on the budgeting and funding processes.

Emily Banks and Maria Juan led a session on Marketing Department: Headlines to Hashtags.

Robert Vasile and Betsy Colliander led a session on how to streamline appointments with Microsoft scheduling polls and bookings.

A shout-out of thanks and gratitude to the Catawba Valley Leadership Foundation for allowing WPCC to host a simulcast of their 2026 Annual Leadership Conference on Friday the 6th!

We had two excellent PD sessions this week! First, several WPCC deans, assistant deans, and instructors led a Lunch and Learn on Preventing and Responding to Academic Dishonesty. Then, representatives from TurnItIn demonstrated their latest tools for preventing and detecting AI use.

Not only does the CTL oversee Moodle (our Learning Management System) and other types of educational technology, we stay up to date on current educational trends and innovations. Last week, Director Dr. John Kiser attended the Changing the Paradigm Conference related to advising and transfer at UNC-Wilmington. In addition to learning about best practices for student advising and transfer, John presented on WPCC's Advisor Training Course that uses a mentoring approach for new advisors.

We had a great Lunch, Learn, and Laptops session today! WPCC instructors Dr. April James and Laura Marley-Trotter, from WPCC's Medical Lab Tech program, led a session on using AI in the Classroom. They shared how they used AI to support student learning and as a time saving tool in the classroom and office. They also discussed productive versus problematic use of AI and revising AI course policies.