Wednesday, October 8 | 1:40 pm –2:55 pm
Liberatory Design & Transformative Research for Racial Equity: Bay Team Career Exploration Community
Strand: Race-Conscious Partnerships and Networks
Room: Regency A
Are our freedom dreams of racially just career pathways possible? In the words of Dr. Bettina Love, “Freedom dreaming is imagining worlds that are just, representing people’s full humanity, centering people left on the edges, thriving in solidarity with folx from different identities who have struggled together for justice, and knowing that dreams are just around the corner with the might of people power.” Please join our regional capacity-building Bay Team to learn about our collaboration to adapt the National Equity Project’s Liberatory Design and the UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute’s Transformative Research Toolkit to K14/16 and Guided Pathways redesign. Together, we are centering Bay Career Exploration students, faculty, and staff in community learning and co-creation of equitable career exploration resources to support our students’ dreams and regional family-sustaining wage attainment.
Presenters: Sharon Turner, Bay Area Community College Consortium (Foothill College hosted); Rona Zollinger, Bay Area Community College Consortium (Peralta CCD hosted); Maeve Katherine Bergman, Foundation for California Community Colleges; Grace Cho, Gladeo
You Can’t Count If You’re Not Counted: More Inclusive Data Collection and Reporting Strategies to Drive African American/Black Student Success
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities
Room: Regency B
The RP Group is calling for more inclusive ways of identifying African American/Black students in higher education because current methods do not always capture everyone who identifies as African American/Black. Our existing data collection and reporting practices often limit or exclude students who identify with more than one race or ethnicity, leading to the undercounting of African American/Black students. More inclusive identification methods can lead to more accurate and complete data, which in turn can result in a better understanding of African American/Black students and improved support of their success. The recommended changes that will be presented will benefit not only African American/Black students but also students from other racial/ethnic groups that are also often undercounted, including Native American and Pacific Islander students.
Presenters: Temperence Dowdle, Cypress College; Aisha Lowe, Los Rios Community College District; Lisa DiDonato and Marcell Gilmore, Mt. San Antonio College; Jeremy Smotherman, Santa Rosa Junior College; Darla Cooper, The RP Group
- Artificial Intelligence as a Learning Tool: Implications and Applications in Tutoring and Academic Support Centers
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom
Room: Regency C
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping education, including tutoring and peer-led academic support. This session examines how AI impacts peer educators both as students and as tutors, exploring its potential to support learning and the ethical challenges it presents—particularly regarding equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Participants will analyze risks such as bias and academic dishonesty, while also exploring AI’s ability to increase access and personalized support. This session highlights the unique role of peer educators in helping students develop critical AI literacy in student-centered environments. Attendees will gain concrete strategies for training peer educators, supporting faculty AI policies, and fostering safer, reflective spaces where students learn to engage with AI ethically and intentionally, strengthening connections between academic support and student success.
Presenters: Fred Hernandez, Crystal Kiekel, and Freddy Ramirez, Los Angeles Pierce College
- Student Success in Corequisite STEM Calculus at Citrus College
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom
Room: Harbor
Citrus College has improved calculus completion by implementing strategies including 1) redesign of our STEM calculus pathway, providing direct access to Calculus 1 with support for students and 2) enhancing classroom experience for students through active learning, blended strategies, and a welcoming environment, which resulted in improved student engagement, participation, and success with positive math attitudes and sense of belonging. In this presentation, Citrus College mathematics faculty and students will share their classroom experiences teaching and learning in the Corequisite STEM Calculus I course.
Presenters: Robert Chen, Sophia Lee, and Balaji Sethu Raja, Citrus College
Culturally Responsive Dual Enrollment: Professional Development for Faculty
Strand: Professional Learning and Leadership Development: Building Culturally Relevant, Humanizing Practices
Room: Sandpebble C-E
Dual enrollment is growing, but how are we preparing faculty to teach adolescents? The Bay Area K-16 Collaborative partnered with Career Ladders Project to create a three-part professional development experience for dual enrollment faculty, Culturally Responsive Dual Enrollment Teaching and Learning. This experience focused on the following concepts: creating conditions for success, cultivating learner success, and course reflection and refinement. Together with faculty who experienced the course, we will share an overview of the content and format and explore how to support faculty in dual enrollment.
Presenters: Laurencia Walker, Career Ladders Project; Cynthia Grutzik, San Francisco State University
Designing for Equitable Impact: Human-Centered Strategies and Tools for Implementing Transformative Change
Strand: Strategic Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Race-Conscious Campuses
Room: Bayside
Please join us as we explore practical application of abolitionist teaching, liberatory and backwards design, and institutional responsibility frameworks. Liberatory design is a framework intended to center those most impacted by decisions, especially historically oppressed and marginalized groups, while strengthening community bonds. Braiding together these frameworks and through use of practical tools, practitioners will have the opportunity to explore how working together in more affirming ways is necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for students and larger communities. This interactive session will cover CCC examples of liberatory design in action and invite attendees to apply these principles in their own settings. Participants will receive access to a digital toolkit to support their local redesign work, including customizable worksheets, technology recommendations, and assessment tools to support ongoing planning, implementation, and reflection for collaborative work efforts on complex topics. Join us for this session to dive into customizable design principles and process models for cross-functional work, examples of data and research for impact, and collaboration methods to mobilize community for your own transformational redesign efforts. Come find the liberatory practices that will resonate with your unique community and begin uncovering solutions together for sustained, equity-driven impact!
Presenters: Symone McDaniels and Stacy Teeters, Foundation for California Community Colleges; Jaime Seiverd, San Diego Community College District
- Navigating Places Not Meant For Us: Work-Based Learning With AANHPI Community College Students
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom
Room: Cypress B
How can learning communities integrate work-based learning in a culturally sustaining way? This session will present the results of a case study on capstone projects in an AANHPI learning community at a California community college. It will seek to underscore the dynamic nature of cultures in our praxis and the innate potential in our AANHPI students to challenge dominant narratives and toxic stereotypes and reclaim their power of voice. It also will amplify the calls to action that the AANHPI students issued in their capstone projects for more love and understanding of their ancestors, their intersectional selves, and each other. As one of the students shared, “I think that is really important to just have spaces where you feel like you can just unapologetically belong.”
Presenter: Katlin Choi, San Diego Mesa College
Nursing a Sense of Belonging: Improving Outcomes for English Language Learners in Career Training Courses
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom
Room: Sandpebble A-B
Communities benefit when medical professionals reflect the community’s diversity. The San Diego College of Continuing Education’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program consists of a diverse, multilingual group of students. Through the ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant, students participate in an Integrated Education and Training (IET) model that includes in-class, contextualized language support, dedicated administrative services, and digital skills, and that nurtures a sense of belonging. Additionally, CNA instructors gain strategies for differentiating instruction to benefit multilingual learners. Faculty reflect on student input and outcomes as they consider ways to improve the healthcare pathway and build belonging for all students. In this interactive presentation, we share lessons learned, summarize student success outcomes, discuss potential challenges in cross-departmental partnerships, and invite your perspective on improving student success in career pathways.
Presenters: Karen Hamilton and Ryane Willis, San Diego College of Continuing Education