The Mt. San Antonio College Podcast

Host Sun Ezzell talks with Kristina Alvarado-Grassman, Director of ASAC and Gizelle Ponzillo, supplemental instruction coordinator about the changes in operations after moving all resources and functions online and the importance of maintaining the culture of the center while operating virtually. With serving students at the core of the academic support & achievement center, Kristina, Gizelle and...

David Charbonneau, Nicole Blean, and long-time tutor Jackie from the Mt. SAC Writing Center share how the Writing Center is supporting students during this time of online learning and social distancing. They talked about the journey of moving a Writing Center online, the discoveries they made along the way, and how those discoveries are fostering connections with students. Visit The Writing Center...

Host Sun Ezzell talks with the President Chisa Uyeki, Vice President Lance Heard, and Vice President-elect Kelly Rivera of the Academic Senate to discuss the college's commitment to affirming that Black Lives Matter, the actions that our campus is going to take moving forward, and the role of the Academic Senate in doing this crucial work. Other Magic Mountie Episodes in Support: FLEX Your Equity...

This episode is being recorded and released during a time that is isolating in nature, that being a result of the 2020 covid-19 pandemic and the quarantine that we are experiencing as a result. This has been taking a toll on our mental health and may be bringing up feelings of loneliness and many other emotions and stressors. So we decided to bring on some amazing mental health staff members from...

Host Sun Ezzell had the pleasure of talking with Mt. SAC librarians Esteban Aguilar, Monika Chavez, and Kolap Samel to find out how the Library is supporting the campus during this time of online learning. The Library has a wealth of support for online learning. In addition to the online databases, e-books, and 24/7 chat with a librarian that the Library has always had, they are now offering refer...

This episode we had the pleasure of talking with Carol Impara, Distance Learning Coordinator and Catherine McKee, Assistant Distance Learning Coordinator to get a perspective on their version of what the transition to online teaching and learning has been like for them while they also share some details about SPOT training. Run Time: 32 min, 14 sec To find the full transcript for this episode, cli...

We are back! Like everyone on campus, we at The Magic Mountie Podcast have had to transition to working remotely. For us, this included new equipment and new processes for remote podcast interviews. We have been so inspired by the incredible work of the Mt. SAC community to transition online in a very short period of time. Folks all over campus are pulling together and doing amazing work to every...

Today we captured the keynote speaker from our very own spring Flex Day, Dr. Lindsay Masland. She is an associate professor of psychology at Appalachian State University and she does a deep dive with us on the topics of how to motivate students, what motivates student achievement, and engagement and what can we do about it? Questions she addresses are "what is learning, what teaching strategies le...

This episode is all about data! How data is being used on campus by faculty in their research and decision making processes. Tania Anders speaks with Daniel Berumen of the Research department as well as Lisa Rodriguez in the POD office about how data coaching is a tool in creating a "culture of inquiry". Learn what a data coach is, how to work with one and how this can influence your processes and...

Welcome to the second episode in our mini-series on Getting a Full Time Job at a Community College. Hosted by Julie Laverty, Professor of Communication, this workshop series demystifies the hiring process--from the paper screening to the interview to the teaching demo. In this episode we'll hear from Derek Dokter, Professor of Business Management who attended last year's workshop What to Expect Wh...

Today's episode kicks off the first annual series on getting a full time job at a community college. Hosted by Julie Laverty, Professor of Communication, this workshop series demystifies the hiring process--from the paper screening to the interview to the teaching demo. In today's episode we'll hear from HR Deputy Director Sokha Song and Faculty Association President Joan Sholars as they discuss t...

Taking learning outside of the classroom can have beneficial effects for a student in ways that impact not only their understanding of the class material but to their lives as a whole. Hands-on, interactive excursions encourage students to ask more questions, engage in teamwork and digest application at a deeper level. Join Tania Anders and her Oceanography classes as they take two field trips, on...

Happy Holidays from the Magic Mountie Podcast, we hope you join us again 2020 when we come back with some fresh episodes to start your new year off on an informed foot beginning January 14th. We also would love to hear from you by way of a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or iTunes so we can keep creating episodes that resonate with you. Run Time: 1 min. To find the full transcript for this epi...

Staying curious allows us to stay engaged and what better way to practice curiosity than asking questions. We have our last installment episode of The Question Formulation Technique and this time you'll hear from your very own Mt. SAC colleagues who have bravely tested this technique in the classroom. Here we have a panel discussion of observations, challenges, and discoveries they made while goin...

In this episode we spend just a little more focused time unpacking the Question Formulation technique, exploring why it's useful. As you'll hear Luz say in the episode, QFT "offers a little more joy in a demanding profession" and she quotes journalist Clive Thompson when he says "How should you respond when you get powerful new tools for finding answers? Think of harder questions". The Harvard Edu...

Captured during Fall Semester, Inspired Teaching Day, the DEST team brought in some amazing facilitators to take us through the process of The Question Formulation Technique. Luz Santana, the co-director of Right Question Institute and Andrew Minigan director of strategy for the Education Program of The Question Formulation Technique all the way from Boston. They introduce us to the process and em...

Today rather than releasing a full episode we just have a small announcement for you. As we head into the busy holiday Season, we decided we would release episodes bi-monthly rather than weekly going forward until further announced. So you can expect a full episode next week, with the following week of Nov. 26th off. We at the Magic Mountie Podcast hope you are enjoying your Fall Semester and we t...

In this week's episode we bring you Meme Madness--an amazing collaboration between Professor Cynthia Flores, tutor Dianna Velasco, along with Mt. SAC Librarians Eva Rios-Alvarado and Pauline Swartz AND the Summer Bridge Students! The goal of this collaboration was to get students into the library and engaged in the concepts they were working with in their multicultural literature class, such as et...

The Mt. SAC campus honored Indigenous Peoples Day on October 14th and if you missed the celebration that took place at the Indigenous Peoples Fountain in front of the Mt. SAC Library, here is your chance to hear from those who participated talk about their message and why Indigenous Peoples Day is important. According to the SAC Media article "Why Mt. SAC Dropped Columbus Day," "In 2016, the Mt. S...

The cost of textbooks can have a negative effect on students' budgets. Faculty who use OER (Open Educational Resources) can help. OER is a way to use free textbooks in the courses you teach. In this episode find out how you can be part of the library's initiative to increase the number of faculty at Mt. SAC who use and create OER textbooks. Participants in this initiative can receive up to $5000 i...

This episode features the stories of our dedicated alumni who have come full circle to continue adding to the culture of Mt. SAC by accepting jobs as faculty members and classified employees. Their stories and words of wisdom reflect on their personal journey's of attending Mt. SAC as students and finding themselves in the process. Run Time: 21 min, 26 sec To find the full transcript for this epis...

If you want to take your connection with students to the next level, you may want to consider the Monthly Mentoring program. Eric Lara and Tannia Robles breakdown what it means to students to get this type of interaction with Mt. SAC faculty, what the typical framework of a monthly mentor meeting is like and you'll even hear first hand from a student mentoree. Taken from the Fall FLEX day session,...

We want to share with you some clarification around different types of academic support as well as some first hand experiences from faculty, students who have worked in the academic support programs and one student who decided to invest in himself to further his success in his class. Taken from the FALL FLEX Day breakout session "ASAC and ET's, Oh My! Navigating the Waters of Academic Support, her...

In this episode we are following up on Dr. Frank Harris' keynote featured in episode 60 FLEX Your Equity Approach With Dr. Frank Harris, go check out that episode if you haven't yet. In today's show we have some actionable steps outlined during Dr. Harris' breakout session called Employing Culturally-Affirming Teaching and Learning Practices to Advance Institutional Equity. You'll hear some great...

This week is the Library's Welcome Week! It's a perfect time to learn about the services the library offers and how they are partnering with faculty across campus to proactively reach students in their classes. So much is happening at the Library from the super fun Library Welcome week, Library Workshops, new technology, OER: Open Educational Resources (including zero cost textbooks), and the libr...