On Friday, July 26, 2024, the Teaching & Learning Excellence Division (TLED) Office of Faculty Development hosted its much-anticipated Summer Software Day (SSD) 2024. This year’s SSD theme was “The Future of Education: Adapting to a Changing Landscape.” The dynamic event aimed to provide an opportunity for faculty and staff to stay up-to-date with their tech skills and learn new ones to implement within their classroom and day-to-day workflow. Here’s a recap of the highlights and key moments from the event.

SSD took place completely online this year. The event was designed to encourage continued learning by highlighting various tools, platforms, and methodologies within workshops throughout the day. The day was filled with insightful presentations, interactive workshops, and ample opportunities for connecting, making it a hub for anyone interested in advancing their knowledge on topics like Artificial Intelligence, Google Suite, Wellness and Belonging, Neurodiversity, Packback, OIRA DOMO Dashboards, and more. 

Highlights of the Event

The event featured an inspiring keynote address given by Austin Community College (ACC) professor Stephanie Long, GISP, MSc, on “How ACC is Transforming Riverbat Success Through Flexibility.” Long’s keynote highlighted how combining innovative techniques with modality flexibility goes a long way in helping students persist. She aimed her presentation to help achieve the College’s Northstar goal of a 70% student completion rate by 2030. Topics such as lessons learned from a collegewide pilot, insights into student success, and highlights of how generative AI can be helpful captivated the audience and sparked thoughtful discussions. Interim Manager for the Office of Faculty Development Chelsea Biggerstaff said, “you could feel the inspiration in the room during Stephanie’s keynote.” The presentation was also recorded and uploaded to the ACC Panopto site for further viewing.

Throughout the day, attendees participated in an opening and closing session, as well as an additional five sessions in which they were able to choose from different topics tailored to different skills. Each session offered three or more diverse topics to choose from, hosted by  passionate ACC employees or software vendors.

With over 200 registrants for this year’s event and 20+ sessions offered throughout the day, participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Faculty Development Coordinator and Communication Studies adjunct faculty member Aimee Finney said, “SSD was incredibly invigorating, and I feel ready for the challenges and adventures of the fall semester. I appreciate the variety of topics, from new software to the importance of taking care of myself so I can be ready to take care of my students. AI is not something to be scared of, it is something to be embraced and used as a tool to enhance the experience for everyone.”

SSD not only has a significant impact on attendees but will also serve students as the skills and ideas learned during the day will be implemented into the classroom at ACC. Additionally, the event’s success was reflected in the enthusiastic evaluation responses, further establishing ACC as a leader in education.

Dive Into the SSD Sessions!

Given that this year’s SSD event was delivered entirely online, it was filled with engaging sessions and workshops that were captured on video. Each session was recorded to ensure that the valuable content shared could be accessed by both attendees and those who could not make it. These recordings have been uploaded to ACC’s Panopto for easy viewing. These videos are a valuable resource for anyone looking to delve deeper into the topics covered during the event. For those interested in watching the recordings, you will need to use your ACC credentials to log in.

Session 1:

Session 2:

Keynote Presentation – “How ACC is Transforming Riverbat Success Through Flexibility”

Session 3:

Session 4:

Session 5:

SSD Professional Development

SSD is also a great opportunity for receiving professional development credit! For participants who attended the event live, your professional development credit will be awarded automatically in the coming weeks. Please contact TLED’s Office of Faculty Development at facdev@austincc.edu for any questions regarding your professional credit if you attended live. If you are viewing sessions via Panopto, please work with your supervisor on submitting that time to HR directly via WorkDay.

Thank you for Attending!

TLED’s Summer Software Day was a resounding success, offering valuable insights and opportunities for everyone involved. We extend our gratitude to the speakers and participants who made the event possible. 

We invite you to subscribe to TLED’s Weekly Email Newsletter to stay connected and updated on upcoming events and opportunities. Additionally, for more information on future programs and to stay informed, visit the Teaching & Learning Excellence (TLED) website.