Introducing Kristina Jipson

Kristina Jipson, PhD, MFA
Senior Associate Faculty, English Department
Co-Coordinator Faculty Development

Welcome, Kristina Jipson! Kristina is one of the newer folks in the 5 Star Consortium. Learn more about her below!












What do you like most about your job?
The passion and genuine kindness of the people I work with.

What are three career lessons you’ve learned thus far?
Very few people wind up doing one thing their whole lives—be open to career growth and change.
If you have a great idea, somebody else is probably already working on it—find them and help!
Google yourself—at least once. I’ve been caught out one too many times with a sentence that starts with, “I saw online that you…”

What is one surprising thing you do as part of your job?
Assemble furniture!

What do you like to do on your days off?
I have days off?

Are you messy or organized?
Organized! I consider myself a an IKEA collector. The most romantic thing my husband has ever done for me is set up a Craigslist alert for coveted KALLAX units on sale in our area. So far, we’re at 80+ cubbies, and as far as I’m concerned, they are the only thing standing between us and the total world domination of our small, knick-knack collecting children.

If you could be anyone from any time period who would it be and why?
Can I stick with my current hand? We are living in “interesting times”!

Any favorite line from a movie?
That’s easy, because it’s my youngest daughter’s as well: “Weezin the juice,” from Encino Man. My daughter’s name is Louise, AKA Weez, Weezo, Weezy, ZZ, etc., so in our house “weezin” is basically the coolest thing anyone could do to anything, especially juice.

You’re happiest when?
Hmmm…can I have two? One for when I’m immersed the chaos of my adorable family, and one for when I’m writing quietly all by myself?

If you had to eat one meal, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
No brainer: sushi boat.

If your house was burning down, what’s the one non-living thing you would save?
Do I have to be able to carry it? We have an old family piano that travelled cross-country four times before landing in our living room, where it gets played every day (very well, I might add!) by my oldest daughter, Mathilda. I’d haul that out of the flames and impress the neighbors.

Top 3 life highlights?
Well, I have one very tall and infinitely kind husband, and two insane, wizardly daughters, so that math works out pretty well!

Building Relationships

Recently Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction, Engagement and Learning at Lake Washington Institute of Technology finished a 5-part series on Impacting Students for a Lifetime. Sally uses the lens of “The 4 Connections” first introduced to her at an Achieving the Dream kick-off event by Don Wood at Odessa College in Odessa, TX. Don described the impact of the in-class retention rate when their faculty used what they called the “Drop Rate Improvement Plan.”

I like sharing these simple steps with new faculty to help them build connections with students, and they are in fact pretty simple steps. In addition to the 4- Connections, instructor presence is known to help with student retention. Stephanie Delaney, Dean for Academic Programs at South Seattle College, wrote about instructor presence in a recent article that appeared in Faculty Focus:

“Instructor presence increases student retention because students are more likely to stay in class if they feel their instructor cares about them. By being present, the instructor can pull students together, encouraging cooperation and collaboration. Additionally, if things start to go off the rails and a student begins to have problems, an instructor who is present can address those problems immediately.”

Research tells us that teachers make a huge difference in student success and retention. But what do we do to promote teacher success and retention?

A recent conversation on the POD network (Professional and Developmental Organization Development in Higher Education) started when a contributor wondered what we as professional developers can do to help struggling faculty. Recognizing that there are different reasons faculty struggle (factors both inside and outside of work that impact work/life balance, a heavy workload (think teaching all new classes in a quarter), difficult students/classroom management issues, demands of the department and/or division), what can we do to support them?

One respondent said, “I have seen (over and over) that the relationships we build in the classroom, boardroom, faculty work room and beyond remain a critical component to student success—as well as faculty success.” Mentoring is an important part of this, and not necessarily the formal mentoring where you are paired with a person for a stated length of time with a certain number of required meetings.

Think about the hallway conversations you’ve had with a colleague that helped you work through an issue. Can you be available to someone else who needs a sympathetic ear?

Focusing on faculty success, what do you believe are the most important things we can do to support not just new but veteran faculty who are experiencing a difficult quarter?

Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning and Assessment - Shoreline

Shoreline Community College is hiring an Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

The Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment provides leadership and professional learning related to high-engagement practices in instructional and one-on-one settings.  This position will be responsible for strengthening and supporting Shoreline's efforts to develop and maintain a robust, systematic, and meaningful approach to student learning outcomes assessment.  This position will work collaboratively across campus to ensure that the College's engagement with teaching, learning, and assessment aligns with our core themes, values, and strategic plan.  The position will facilitate this effort through managing and directing projects involving faculty, administrators, and/or classified staff.

Qualifications are:

• Master's degree from an accredited institution
• Three (3) years of experience in college-level teaching
• Participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and/ or learning outcomes assessment

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of:

• Current theories, principles, and operational practices applicable to the scholarship of teaching and learning
• Microsoft Office applications including Access, Excel, Outlook, and Word programs
• FERPA, HIPAA and other applicable laws, rules, ordinances, and regulations related to students

This position requires skill in:

• Fostering a climate of equity and belonging through multicultural awareness and competence
• Applying student development theories in conjunction with administrative policies/processes
• Providing leadership, motivating staff and colleagues, and working collaboratively across job classifications, College divisions, and between agencies and organizations
• Time management, multitasking, and coordinating work outcomes to meet deadlines while working with multiple partners
• Communicating effectively (both orally and with active listening) with individuals at all levels inside and/or outside of the College
• Interpreting applicable laws, regulations and policies
• Preparing clear/concise materials resulting in effective oral and written communication
• Handling difficult or sensitive situations using sound independent judgment within legal guidelines

 To apply, please visit the Shoreline CC website.

Saturday Fall Series Workshop Recap - Putting the YOU in UDL!

Last Saturday, several faculty members representing most of the colleges within the 5 Star Consortium came to the Fall Series Workshop: Putting the YOU in UDL!

Collaboration while using new tools for
the classroom (Diane Houston of EvCC &
Cascadia, and Marcelo Guerra Hahn of
LWTech)

This was a workshop exploring how the principles of Universal Design for Learning can inform your teaching practice. Participants learned strategies for making course content accessible and engaging for ALL students, and generated ideas for how to start incorporating UDL into classrooms.

A Google Slides Presentation from the workshop is available for viewing here. 

Jason Pfau & Stephanie Doyle of EvCC and Priyanka Pant
of LWTech

Kristina Jipson, Sr. Associate Faculty and
co-lead of faculty development at EdCC

Many great ideas were shared at this event! Below are some resources and information that were shared on Saturday:

Stay tuned for our next event!

What we learn at the 5-Star Consortium Orientation

 Some time ago, we posted a blog about how the 5-Star Consortium began. We said we wanted to “grow and meet the needs of our colleges into the future.” Adjunct (associate) faculty need some extra attention. From these initial conversations, the Best Practices event was developed. On Saturday, September 16, more than 70 faculty from the 5-Star Colleges were invited to attend and participate in a morning of learning and experience classroom practices that will lead to both faculty and student success.

The main goal of this orientation is to help everyone develop a common, shared understanding and vocabulary about teaching in the Five Star Consortium, and to engage in the campus conversations around teaching and learning. We want to give new faculty a space to meet, network, and talk about teaching with colleagues as the first step in creating a community of practice. We also want to give faculty a chance to get to know the professional development folks on each campus, and ask questions over lunch about the teaching and learning conversation at each college. We want to model techniques, strategies, and activities that even brand new instructors can use with their own students. How might each person adapt the activities to use with their students? What are the benefits of using activities like these?

We’ve selected the topics because they’re key components of the teaching and learning conversation, and are all connected with the major themes of active learning, the growth mindset, and metacognition. Our sessions include Growth Mindset paired with Reading Apprenticeship, Creating Community and setting expectations in the classroom for both the instructor AND the students, The Four Connections, Formative Assessment, and Legal Issues that intersect with the classroom and help everyone understand how to respond appropriately presented by HR. Throughout the morning we keep coming back to active learning, modeling, metacognition, and growth, and we always ask participants to think about potential applications in your classroom.

How do we assess the session? We decided from the very beginning that it’s important to not only talk about assessments but to engage in assessment. The “I Used to Know…Now I Know” technique after our session on growth mindset and reading apprenticeship can be used to check for learning and can be used in nearly every discipline. You can see that we went from many people not knowing anything about either of those subjects to a much better understanding of both. An instructor using this technique can gauge changes in understanding quickly and anonymously and make changes in classroom activities based on students’ perceptions of the material.
















Talk to the faculty development person on your campus to learn more about formative assessments and how to implement them in your classroom!

Copyright Q&A

by Jeanne Leader, Dean of Arts & Learning Resources at EvCC

The following is a brief Q&A from a previous 5 Star Consortium event regarding copyright. Please note, each faculty member should refer to their campus' policies & procedures regarding copyright information and regulations, as institutions may vary in specifics.

Q: If we do a project, and the students make a powerpoint using pictures & text from the same book or website and it goes over the 1000 word limit & 15 image limit, what should we report on?

A: This is a great example of how faculty can help by reviewing fair use guidelines with students early and often!  Rather than reporting a copyright infringement, I think the most appropriate course of action is for the project to be re-done (including citing all sources).

Q: When presenting lectures in class, can you use images from internet for presentation only? (Not for handouts)

Use the same fair use guidelines to determine if you should use the image.  Repeated use of any image is never a good idea; one time use may be ok.  It is always a good practice to first look for images that are labeled for noncommercial use.

Q: Copyright – how much on videos, pictures; text?

Most of the time, the answer to any copyright question is likely to be “maybe!”  Always consider the four factors of fair use:

• What is your purpose in using the material? Are you going to use the material for monetary gain or for education or research purposes?
• What is the characteristic nature of work – is it fact or fiction; has it been published or not?
• How much of the work are you going to use? Small amount or large? Is it the significant or central part of the work?
• How will your use of the work effect the author’s or the publisher’s ability to sell the material? If your purpose is for research or education, your effect on the market value may be difficult to prove. However, if your purpose is commercial gain, then you are not following fair use.
• Fair use for educational purposes – I had always thought that the rules were guidelines pending the ability to demonstrate fair use, not hard and fast limits

These are indeed guidelines to consider carefully before using any material to which you do not own the copyright or have not be granted permission.  There is no guarantee that what you might consider to be fair use is not a copyright violation.  Click here to consider some scenarios.

The copyright info – What if I just have an article from an electronic journal that I want to create a PDF of and send to students. Is this ok?

If the journal allows you to save the article as a PDF, you may be within fair use guidelines to provide the article to students in one class and on a one time basis.  If you want to continue to use the article in subsequent courses, you should seek permission.  Check with your library about e-reserves as this might be another option for a specific journal.

Copyright – Who owns copyright for lecture slides & questions that I have developed for the course to share with the students? Am I allowed to use the same slides/questions at another institution without seeking permission?

If you developed the materials on your own time and with your own equipment, your ownership of the copyright should be clear.  If you were compensated for the development, the institution may own all or partial rights.  Check your faculty contract and any college policies about creative works. 

Saturday Fall Series 2017 Workshop: Put the YOU in UDL!

Join us next Saturday for a great workshop! 

Saturday Fall Series 2017 Workshop: Put the YOU in UDL!
Saturday, October 14, 2017
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
EvCC, Gray Wolf Hall- The Center (Room 268)
Coffee, tea and light snacks provided


Put the YOU in UDL!

A workshop exploring how the principles of Universal Design for Learning can inform your teaching practice. Learn strategies for making course content accessible and engaging for ALL students, and generate ideas for how to start incorporating UDL into your classroom now.

Questions? Email fivestarcolleges@gmail.com