Office of IDEAS
Office of IDEAS Annual Report 2023-24
This report will provide a summary of the various activities and services provided over the past academic year. If one word described our greatest accomplishment, it would be collaboration. Our team continues to provide outstanding services and support to number stakeholders on our campus and throughout the CSU system. Leveraging the four major goals for the year, this report will outline activities, accomplishments, data collected, and qualitative feedback indicating the effectiveness of each of the activities where appropriate.
- Dr. Bryan Berrett, Director, Office of IDEAS
Strategic Goals 2024-2029
In alignment with the University Strategic Plan, the Office of IDEAS has developed the following long-term strategic goals:
| IDEAS Strategic Goal | Alignment with University Strategic Plan Goals |
|---|---|
| Implement and assess professional development programs for faculty that are culturally
competent, rooted in research, and focused on improving student success and reducing
equity gaps. |
1B, 5 |
| Provide infrastructure for ongoing support, resources, and training for students and employees across our campus and into our community. | 1A, 1B, 2, 3B, 4, 5 |
|
Enhance digital literacy experiences and innovative ways to modernize teaching and learning for all students and employees. |
1A, 1B, 3A, 5 |
|
Communicate stories of innovation, collaboration, and impact for teaching and learning. |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
Faculty Professional Development
"I have already been adapting the ways in which I communicate expectations with various students, adjusting and tailoring my approach to each individual student. I further am much more conscious of small patterns of behavior which can send unintended messages to mentees. The training has been a wonderful exercise in becoming more mindful about the entire mentoring process."
- ACUE Effective Teaching Practices (facilitated by Dr. Kevin Capehart & JoLynne Blake)
- Assignment Design Institute (facilitated by Dr. Tanisha Garcia & IDEAS Team)
- Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (facilitated by Dr. Earl Aguilera & Dr. Yuleinys Castillo)
- Clifton Strengths (facilitated by Dr. Joy Goto & Dr. Bryan Berrett)
- CSU Climate Change Learning Community (facilitated by CSU Chancellor's Office)
- CSU Quality Learning & Teaching Programs (facilitated by CSU Chancellor's Office)
- DISCOVERe Essentials (facilitated by Jason McGensy)
- Equitable Education with Universal Design (facilitated by Dr. Kimberly Coy & Ashley Abrahamson)
- Eequity 18 (facilitated by Dr. Kevin Capehart & Dr. Everett Viera III)
- Equity Minded Pedagogy (facilitated by Dr. Travis Cronin & William Hardaway)
- Essentials of College Teaching Faculty Book Club (facilitated by Dr. Constance Jones)
- Flexible Teaching in a HyFlex Classroom (facilitated by JoLynne Blake)
- HIT Refresh Winter Institute (facilitated by IDEAS Team)
- Humanizing Online STEM (facilitated by Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Dr. Kim Vincent-Layton & Dr. Mike Smedshammer)
- Introduction to Open Educational Resources (facilitated by Natalie Muñoz)
- Living with Intent Faculty/Staff Book Club (facilitated by Dr. Veena Howard)
- R Studio Learning Community and Summer Intensive (facilitated by Dr. Earvin Balderama & Dr. Justin Shaffer)
- Writing Across the Curriculum (facilitated by Dr. Nkenna Onwuzuruoha)
- Writing for Publication Community of Practice (facilitated by Dr. Jenny Banh)
- Zero Cost Course Materials (facilitated by Dr. Natalie Muñoz)
Faculy Participation by Rank
| Rank | Participant Count | Participant Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Full Professor | 27 | 14.7% |
| Associate Professor | 25 | 13.6% |
| Assistant Professor | 59 | 32% |
| Lecturer | 68 | 37% |
| Librarian | 5 | 2.7% |
Departments with Most Participation
| Deparmtent | Program Participations |
|---|---|
| Psychology | 17 |
| Counselor Education | 13 |
| English | 12 |
| Public Health | 12 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 10 |
Faculty Participation by College
| College | Participant Count | Participant Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| College of Arts & Humanities | 30 | 16.3% |
| College of Health and Human Services | 29 | 15.8% |
| College of Social Sciences | 39 | 21.2% |
| College of Science and Mathematics | 27 | 14.7% |
| Craig School of Business | 16 | 8.7% |
| Jordan College of Agricultral Sciences and Technology | 11 | 6% |
| Kremen School of Education and Human Development | 19 | 10.3% |
| Lyles College of Engineering | 8 | 4.3% |
| University Library | 5 |
2.7% |
The Learning Curve is a show in which Fresno State faculty are interviewed about their experiences in professional development progamming and in-progress efforts at adopting innovative and inclusive teaching pratices and meaningful technology integration in the higher education classroom today. Episodes are shared on YouTube and Spotify.
Equity-Minded Pedagogy Goes Systemwide
The Equity-Minded Pedagogy (EMP) program, which was developed and launched at Fresno State in summer 2022, expanded its reach this year, being offered across the California State University system to equip faculty to address structural barriers for underrepresented and Pell-eligible students using Human-Centered and course design principles.
Over 100 faculty completed the course, redesigning course content with an equity lens, co-creating courses with student input, and setting data-driven goals to enhance equity.
Post-course survey results showed increased use of data to examine equity gaps, improved faculty communication about students' learning abilities, and better outreach to underperforming students.
The one place students must be in order to graduate is in classrooms with instructors. Thus, the EMP course is inherently aligned with any student success effort that focuses on teaching and learning, pedagogy, and student-instructor interactions.
Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$)
Collective efforts at reducing course material costs have provided savings of over $25 million to Fresno State students over the past decade. In 2023-2024, we saw the largest impact yet, with over $7 million in course material cost savings, across 3688 course sections!
We also collaborated with librarian Sarah McDaniel to strengthen the OER and ebook collections for next year's AL$/OER campaign to continue reducing course material costs for students.
Total cost-savings by year 2019-2024
Total Affordable Learning Solutions course sections 2019-2024
| Academic Year | Student Cost Savings | Total AL$ Course Sections |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $3,624,218 | 569 |
| 2020-21 | $6,487,589 | 2425 |
| 2021-22 | $5,860,557 | 2079 |
| 2022-23 | $6,247,987 | 3124 |
| 2023-24 | $7,082,289 | 3688 |
Our team advocated for a Zero Cost Course Materials (ZCCM) icon to be added to Peoplesoft so students could easily see which courses would not have a textbook cost associated with them when selecting and registering for classes.
Support for Digital Learning
The Academic Technology Resource Center (ATRC) supports faculty and students with all things academic technology including: Canvas, Zoom, Panopto, and publisher-integrated materials. Requests for support come in via a live Zoom support room, walk-ins, emails, phone calls, and request forms.
The DISCOVERe Hub checks out DISCOVERe devices and provides technology support primarily for students, but also for faculty and any library patron. Aside from device checkouts, the Hub provides support for printing, wi-fi, library wayfinding, and technology such as Microsoft Office, Google Workplace, and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Accessibility Efforts
- Faculty that partnered with the IDEAS accessibility services saw an average course file accessibility score increase from 33% to 88%.
- 9 student assistants were trained in document accessibility (including PDFs and Microsoft Office files). We are in the process of training all student assistants at the ATRC and DISCOVERe Hub in this valuable professional skill as we work to improve access to course materials for each student.
- Canvas provides the ability for students to download files uploaded by faculty into different formats, such as audio versions of PDFs and more mobile-friendly versions of Powerpoint or Word documents. In academic year 2023-24 "alternative format" files were accessed over 50,000 times on Canvas, an increase of nearly 50% from the previous year.
TIP Conference - Exploring Ethical Uses of Artificial Intelligence
The Office of IDEAS hosted our 2024 Technology, Inclusion, and Pedagogy (TIP) Conference
in March featuring Dr. Paul Kim as our keynote speaker, a panel discussion of students and educators discussing ethical
uses of AI in and out of the classroom, and presentations from each of the Fresno State AI Task Force subcommittees on their work and progress this academic year.
The audience of 115 was made up of faculty and staff from Fresno State, State Center Community Colleges, and local school districts. 50 Fresno State faculty and staff participated in IDEAS-hosted AI workshops continuing the conversations from the TIP Conference.
Supporting Academic Virtual Reality (VR)
The Office of IDEAS launched a set of VR support services this academic year in response to growing interest in this innovative technology from faculty.
We hosted VR demo days for faculty and students and participated in classroom demos for select classes throughout the year.
We collaborated with the University Library and the NSF-funded ALIS-XR grant team to allocate resources for faculty looking to engage students with VR in the classroom.
IDEAS participated in the CHHS HealthTech Horizon Symposium in April showcasing a VR nursing simulation for student and faculty participants.
IDEAS was invited to showcase our efforts and experiences supporting VR at the ALIS-XR Symposium in May.
Conference Presentations
Hardaway, W., Fu, X., Berrett, B.D., Woods, C. (2023, July). Equity-Centered Teaching and Learning. American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Academic Affairs Summer Meeting. Baltimore, MD.
Bhushan, A., Figueroa-Jacinto, R., Quiroz, B., Berrett, B.D., Pitts, B. (2023, October). Bringing the Human Factor to DEI: Increasing Inclusivity and Accessibility From Academia and Industry to our Everyday Lives. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society International Annual Meeting. Washington, DC.
Muñoz, N. (2023, October) AL$ Case Study Presenter on Hosting Campus-Wide events. CSU AL$ monthly meeting. On Zoom.
Hardaway, W., Berrett, B.D., Woods, C. (2023, December). Exploring Inequity by Leveraging Data Dashboards: Improving Educational Experiences for All Students with Equity-Minded Pedagogy. Drivers of Educational Technology California Higher Education Annual Statewide Conference. Anaheim, CA.
Muñoz, N. (2024, February) Panel Discussion: The Role of Faculty Development in an AL$ Coalition. CSU AL$ Annual Conference 2024. CSU Chancellor's Office, Long Beach, CA.
Alameida, D.J., Lehr, J.L., Vieira, P.A., Ramrakhiani, S.H., Berrett, B.D. (2024, May). Building a Multi-Campus Professional Development Community To Support Faculty of Color. National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education. Honolulu, HI.
Vieira, P.A., Berrett, B.D., Bhavsar, V.M., Lehr, J.L., Ramrakhiani, S.H., Alameida, D.J. (2024, May). A Culturally-Informed Strengths-based Approach: Supporting People of Color in Higher Education. National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education Poster Session. Honolulu, HI.
Vieira PA, Ramrakhiani SH, Alamedia DJ, Berrett BD. (2024, June) "It takes a village": Creating a support system through peer coaching for Latine and Black faculty. National Conference for Race and Ethnicity; Honolulu, HI, USA.
McGensy, J. (2024, May). Academic VR Support - Pilot Year. ALIS-XR Summer Symposium. Fresno, CA
Muñoz, N. (2024, June) La faim dans l'Enigme du retour de Dany Laferrière. Conseil international des études francophones (CIEF) Annual Conference. Moncton, NB, Canada.
Video & Multimedia
Our video and multimedia team provided recording and live streaming services to a wide variety of campus events, including: Commencement, Top Dog Alumni Awards and the President and Provost's Lecture Series
- 2024 Save Mart Center Graduation Ceremonies (9 ceremonies)
- DHHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Commencement Address
- Faculty & Staff Fall & Spring Assemblies
- Fall Open Forums for Faculty & Staff and Students
- President’s Lecture Series with Malika Chopra
- Provost’s Lecture Series Zoom Support
- Division of Equity and Engagement Town Halls
- Dr. Francine Oputa Memorial Service Livestream
- Top Dog Alumni Awards Encore Presentation
- TIP AI Conference
- STAR Day 2024
- Phillip Gonzalez Mural Project
- High School Math Curriculum Videos: (MRWC, QRAT, TQR)
- CSU AGEP Grant Project Overview
- Construction Management Student Mini Lectures
- Nursing Knorr Simulation Lab AACN Video Demonstration
Events & Spaces
From Aug 2023 through June 2024, we had nearly 2,000 visits from faculty to utilize our lounge as an office space, to grade papers, review lesson plans, seek Canvas support, meet with peers or to use as a break room to relax and grab coffee and a snack provided by the Office of IDEAS.
The IDEAS collaboration rooms, 2134, 2132, & 2130, have been used by approximately 2,000 attendees from Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Division of Equity and Engagement, faculty campus organizations and the National Science Foundation.
Celebration of IDEAS
The Celebration of IDEAS is an end-of-semester event to build community while highlighting and celebrating accomplishments of faculty and other IDEAS collaborators throughout the academic year.
