CFI FY25 Annual Report

Executive Summary

In FY25, the Center for Faculty Innovation (CFI) made progress toward its three-year goals while identifying areas for renewed focus. For Goal One, the assessment of CFI offerings began with a survey during the Fall Development Days. However, we didn’t maintain consistency with that feedback collection. Moving forward, the CFI will embed a QR code in all slide decks and prioritize feedback collection starting with new faculty orientation.

Goal Two, increasing faculty participation in professional development, was more complex. While faculty expressed strong interest in Generative AI and academic technologies in a start-of-the-year survey, the CFI needs to revisit the Professional Development Plan process, exploring tools like Microsoft Forms to track trends.

Goal Three, mentoring new faculty, saw significant progress through collaboration with HR and deans, early-semester meetings, and a new onboarding checklist. FY26 will focus on consistency in onboarding, especially during spring semester.

In Equity Work, progress was limited due to timing in the self-study cycle. The CFI will explore utilizing system-level courses like Regular and Substantive Interaction and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy as models for future internal offerings.

Among short-term goals, the Reading Across the Curriculum FIG was well-received and will continue, while Generative AI sessions had mixed attendance but will remain a focus. The Professional Fluency initiative needs revitalization, with FY26 emphasizing early conversations and explicit instruction on professional skills.

The faculty members of the Center for Faculty Innovation had a busy year focusing on AI integration, digital accessibility, and zero-cost education. Highlights include converting 11 courses through the Z-Degree grant, expanding student review participation to 32 faculty, and leading Faculty Inquiry Groups on reading across the curriculum and Generative AI. The team developed new training materials, co-created a POET course, and supported Open Education through Pressbooks and webinars. Accessibility efforts included updates to training and tools. Through workshops, committee service, and statewide collaboration, the CFI strengthened faculty development and student-centered teaching across disciplines.

Kelli Hallsten Erickson, Jody Ondich, and Amy Jo Swing look forward to continuing work with LSC’s Instructional Technologist, Stacy Leno, to provide high quality instructional support. With revised position descriptions and a renewed focus on goals, we expect to achieve much and appreciate the support of the administration of LSC in our work.

Executive Summary created with help from Microsoft Copilot with editing by humans.

Review of Goals

GOAL ONE:

Assessment of CFI Offerings: Assuring that we’re reaching different audiences with our topics and people are getting what they need.

• Qualitative and Quantitative
• Short evaluation for anything we do:
  • What kind of CFI session did you attend? (one on one help, real-time webinar, breakout session, open lab, etc.)
  • What kind of help/information were you looking for?
  • Did you get what you needed?
• Gather stories of how the CFI work has impacted their teaching
• Look for numbers of people who

THREE YEAR PLAN for Goal One

UPDATE for FY25

The survey was created and implemented during the Fall 2024 Development Days. Survey responses were positive, with the only suggestions for improvement being more time to work with subject matter presented.

After that time, however, we did not continue to offer the survey. What a process like this requires is dedication to continually offering the QR code, making it a part of all presentations we offer. We value input and are planning on creating a QR code that we can add to the ends of all slide decks we create and make a point of asking for feedback, starting with the new faculty orientation. We will start back at Year One for this and be more dedicated.

Survey questions:

Question One: How would you rate this session? (Responses: Helpful, Somewhat Helpful, Not Helpful)

Branching:

• If “Not Helpful”: We’re sorry this session wasn’t helpful. What would have made it more helpful?
• If any other response: What was most helpful about this session?

Question Two: What would have made this session even better for you?

GOAL TWO

Getting More Faculty Involved in Professional Development sessions we offer.

• Attending division or department/program meetings to help determine needs.
• Get the CFI on the Professional Development Plans.
• Asking specific faculty to showcase their work/skills/knowledge.
• Look at common issues students are facing (such as students not completing homework, professionalism, reading, class formats, etc.)

THREE YEAR PLAN for Goal Two

YEARLY: Attend division or department/program meetings to help determine needs:

• What are you experiencing in your teaching that’s been new/challenging?
• What are you seeing from your students that have been struggles/issues?

YEARLY: Faculty Showcases

UPDATE for FY25

This goal was trickier to implement than we originally suspected. Though we did have a conversation with the deans about this and it was determined that it would be a useful addition, it is unclear what the process is for making these types of changes. We did receive feedback from all three divisions about their needs, and Generative AI followed by academic technologies were far and above the most-mentioned needs by the faculty. We have not determined a method for showcasing good faculty work that would both worth the time for those who present and useful for faculty who hear the presentations.

For this goal, we are back to Year One and will focus on the Professional Development Plan process for the year, both in terms of its content AND how it is turned in. Could it possibly be a Microsoft Form? This would allow us to see trends in the plans for Professional Development our faculty are committed to.

GOAL THREE

Mentoring of New Faculty (to include some onboarding and orientation)

• Clarifying the onboarding steps between HR and the CFI
• For those teaching in online classes, include a specific meeting time with a fellow faculty peer reviewer/member of the CFI to review:
  • The basic setup of the online class to assure its basic navigability for students.
  • The policies around communication with students to assure instructor visibility and approachability.
  • Standardizing topics of conversation between the mentor and mentee
  • Push the Faculty and Staff Resources page
• Assessment: Survey for us to help improve our work.

ONE YEAR PLAN for Goal Three:

UPDATE for FY25:

We made significant progress on this goal, meeting with the deans and HR several times over the course of the year so we could understand the onboarding process and how the CFI might fit into it. We met with new faculty as they met with HR, explaining our support for their work and gathering information from them that would allow us to reach out to them as needed with specific teaching concerns. We held three meetings in the first six weeks of courses to connect with new faculty.

Two elements of this need more attention in FY26. First, we need to consider the utility of the mid-semester and end-of-semester surveys. They are not always filled out, nor are they necessarily useful. We need to review this process to determine how to get feedback and use it in the simplest form possible.

Second, we need to establish a pattern of onboarding for both fall and spring semesters. Fall has been robust, but it has been less so in the spring. We now have a checklist of actions and activities we will take every semester to assure all new faculty can get the support they need.

Equity Work

Parts of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workplan that the CFI “owns”

• Goals we’re looking at from the Equity Workplan:
  • Modify the “What does racial equity mean to us?” template for use in self-studies.
  • Create an internal Equity D2L course.

UPDATE for FY25:

We did not make progress on these goals. As the self-study process has not proceeded through all the programs/departments, it is too early to make changes to it. It might be useful to see if programs/departments self-report work on Equity 2030 first to see what is already being done to then determine what would be the best way to support them moving forward.

An internal Equity D2L course created from the ground up would be a large undertaking. This fall, we are going to be offering the Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) short course from the System Office internally and with specific invitations to Fond Du Lac TCC, Pine Tech, and Minnesota North faculty; we could consider doing something similar with another of the System Office short courses, such as Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP). The RSI course will show us what it would look like to do this kind of local adaptation for a system-level course and could be proof of concept for a CRP course in the future.

SHORT TERM GOALS (for FY25)

Reading (along with English Department):

• Create a comprehensive plan for supporting effective reading strategies across campus.

UPDATE for FY25:

We started this goal by offering a Reading Across the Curriculum Faculty Inquiry Group in the fall. We met eight times, and participant numbers ranged from four or five up to eight or nine at each session. Faculty who attended most sessions, created a reading plan for a class, and presented at a development day earned a Reading Across the Curriculum badge. Four faculty members did this.

We plan to offer the Reading Across the Curriculum FIG again this fall.

Generative AI:

• Communication about this topic is going to be critical! Setting up meetings/information sessions, discussions to help faculty think through all the issues around AI.
• Set the sessions up for twice a semester, gather stories, provide support across the college.
• What are AI assignments, what are you doing with your students?

UPDATE for FY25:

We offered several sessions over the semester and during development days to support faculty in considering how they might use Generative AI in their courses, how they might talk with students about GAI, and policies they might put into place for their courses. The sessions hosted during the Development Days were well attended, but those during the semester did not get participation. During the May Faculty-Assigned duty day, we had a three-hour morning workshop that had 11 participants, along with the four members of the CFI.

We plan on continuing this work during FY26.

Professional Fluency: Follow up on major trends noted in recent survey

• Communication
• Teaching students how to use and write email
• Timeliness and Taking Personal Responsibility
• How does this get taught?

UPDATE for FY25:

This initiative, though critical, needs a stronger revamp. Kelli Hallsten Erickson continues to work behind the scenes to learn more about professionalism and the aspects that need the most work, and in conversations with colleagues, it’s clear that the work still needs to be done. Professional Fluency week activities continue to get pushed, with a strong emphasis on faculty talking with students about these skills that they are learning in their courses alongside the subject matter for the particular course.

In FY26, the focus will be on conversations early and often, and that starts with a conversation that will happen during the fall development day in which a table conversation will take place affirming where professional skills are taught in individual’s courses. We will then ask faculty to be explicit in their conversation with students about those professional skills, with reinforcement from the professionalism packets for instructors.

Capturing equity work being done

• Create a checklist of items: what does equity work look like?
• Ask faculty to be self-reflective at several points during the semester?

UPDATE for FY25:

The work for this began in the fall, but it was not carried through during the rest of the year. This could work in conjunction with the Self-Study goals noted above.

Connect with new faculty early

• Through closer collaboration with HR and the deans, connect with new faculty one-on-one as they are going through their introductory materials at LSC.
• Complete a needs assessment for each faculty member, including who or what would be the appropriate resource for each need.

UPDATE for FY25:

This goal was completed as noted above.

Individual Activities

Kelli Hallsten Erickson, Center for Faculty Innovation Coordinator

I usually begin sending weekly emails to faculty before the semester starts, letting them know about required syllabus language and what the CFI is and who all of us are. I share other materials, such as sample Generative AI syllabus policies and best practice activities faculty have shared with me to share out widely. I also advertise for different activities faculty might be interested in, not just from the CFI, but also from the system and other offices on campus, like the Center for Equity and Inclusion, in those emails.

In the fall, I hosted a Faculty Inquiry Group on Reading Across the Curriculum. Keri Stimpson from the Reading/English department assisted. I spent many hours over the summer reading and curating materials to be used in the FIG to avoid the costs of purchasing a book, and I also developed a Credly badge for the course. We met over the semester eight times; attendance fluctuated session to session. Four faculty members (including me) did enough to earn the Reading Across the Curriculum badge. We will offer the FIG again this fall.

The Fall semester Professional Fluency Week was focused on professional written communication, with tips and ideas for faculty to include in their courses. Spring’s Professional Fluency Week focused less on a skill and more on a population: Generation Z and its nuances and the needs we might see from this generational cohort in terms of communicating professional skills.

I co-hosted several sessions over the course of the year on Generative AI; some were general, “Come and talk about what you’re seeing”-type sessions, and others were more focused, especially the three-hour long workshop in May. I did work on understanding how learning works and how Generative AI might circumvent that, along with how to create class policies around Generative AI, along with the logistics for invitations to faculty, bringing food, and acting as the timekeeper. Over spring semester, I also hosted a Faculty Inquiry Group on the book Teaching with AI. We met four times over the course of the semester to discuss strategies the book included and what we were doing in our courses.

I offered the following sessions throughout the year:

• What we can learn from Generation Z
• Creating a Syllabus Students can Understand
• Starting Right with Professional Expectations
• Capturing Equity Work Being Done
• Reading Across the Curriculum
• Starting Right with Office Hours and Email Communication
• Getting Your Syllabus and Generative AI Policies DONE (with Jody Ondich)

Finally, in addition to one-on-one assistance for faculty, I worked on chairing the Professional Development Committee, which involves planning all the Employee Development Days along with during-the-semester professional development sessions. I co-chair for the Coalition for Faculty Support. I also took on co-chairing the Campus Assessment for Student Achievement (CASA, formerly the Assessment Committee) near the end of the year. I am also the Network for Educational Development Fellow for the system office (four credits of release), offering three short courses over the course of the year, facilitating six webinars, and leading a project to inventory and categorize professional development centers on all of the MinnState campuses.

Amy Jo Swing, CFI Online Teaching Coordinator

This year, I focused quite a bit on the Z-Degree grant that we received from Minnesota State. We had $50,000, which we spent on faculty stipends and release for converting classes to zero cost. By Fall 2025, we will have an additional 11 classes that are zero cost. In addition, 7 faculty members met with our librarian to explore zero cost materials, and two faculty members expanded their zero cost resources. We were also able to purchase some textbooks and materials for the library that will give students zero cost resources. We still have some funds left, so we will continue this project into FY26.

I was also involved in the LSC exploration of Competency-Based Education, attending the C-BEN conference in October 2024 and the two day CBE workshop in May 2025. I will be serving on the steering committee for LSC’s CBE programs and on the curriculum task force.

Another focus was on RSI (Regular and Substantive Interaction) for online courses, a federal requirement. I took a 3-week short course through NED in April and have been working with the CFI to add materials and provide training for faculty. We will try to offer online training to LSC faculty and to area MinnState colleges: Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Central Lakes College, and Minnesota North.

Other activities this year included getting ready to attend D2L Fusion for the first time (conference information will be included in the FY 26 report), attending the NED faculty Developer conference in April, which included writing an article and preparing a webinar for new Minnesota State faculty, and earning the Reading Across Curriculum Badge here at LSC.

Stacy Leno and I are currently working on a New POET class for D2L Brightspace and online teaching. We began this summer 2025 and hope to have it completed by the end of the Fall 2025 semester. I continue to support faculty in their online teaching on a one-to-one basis and with workshops and online trainings.

Campus involvement included serving on LSC’s Campus Academic Technology Team, the Professional Development Committee, the DEI committee, and co-chair the Coalition for Faculty Support. I also serve on the state MSCF e-learning committee.

Jody Ondich, CFI Course Review Coordinator

This year my focus was on AI use, digital accessibility, and on the student review process. 6 people started and 5 finished the student review program. This involved them getting student evaluations of a course and working with various CFI staff to improve their online teaching and offer more student-friendly courses for the college. As in the past with the faculty involved in student reviews, all involved felt that this was both worthwhile and helpful in their understanding of student needs and in addressing them more successfully. Currently 32 faculty have participated in this process, and 100% of them have found it useful!

AI use, both from the student and the faculty perspective, has caused a lot of anxiety. I have worked both alone and with CFI colleagues, and we have offered various break-out sessions on the topic of AI use in higher education. In addition, I participated in a year-long process with the system office in designing a book to offer suggestions for AI assisted assignments. It is clear that AI is going to be part of the ways students study and learn, but it is also going to be a part of how they work in the future. These materials (to be published fall of 2025) will offer some help to faculty in understanding what AI can and cannot do well, but also ways to use it so that students are not “cheating” but instead creating, evaluating, and growing in their abilities in using technology. I also gave the keynote address for the fall CITS faculty, offering demonstrations of Copilot use, but also offering a chance to talk to me and to one another about AI use in the classroom and with their students. I participated in 2 system level sessions on Open Education, talking in one about AI use in creating open educational materials.

I regularly lead system level groups in looking at the use of Pressbooks, a software program available through the Minnesota Library Association and through the MinnState system. This is software that works well in housing materials, in creating modules, assignments, and even textbooks that are designed by faculty for Open Access. I offer tutorials on how to use the software and assist people in finding Creative Commons licensed materials that they can adapt and use. This is one form of making materials accessible to our students—it costs them nothing and is available from day one in their classes. I led 4 groups of faculty working with this software this academic year. I also led 4 webinars in the past year showcasing finding materials that are both accessible and Open Education.

ADA accessible digital materials must be in place for all our students as of April 2026. I am on the system level Accessibility Committee, and we have worked to get an ELM training in place, and to communicate more clearly with colleges about the needs of faculty and staff for more training and assistance. I re-wrote our Accessibility Course at LSC using D2L templates and adding information on creating transcripts for audio materials. Working with Stacy Leno, we created up to date information about the new Kaltura captioning software that replaces VidGrid for LSC. I am helping evaluate the possible use of either Yuja or Ally, software to assist us in meeting the April 2026 deadline. Stacy and I have met with several groups of staff in working through the process of making all LSC digital materials accessible.

Campus involvement included serving on LSC’s Campus Academic Technology Team, assisting with the onboarding of new faculty, and co-chair for the Coalition for Faculty Support. I meet with individual faculty at their request for assistance.

Position Descriptions for FY26

Kelli Hallsten Erickson: Center for Faculty Innovation Coordinator

9 credits RCE per year: 6 Fall, 3 Spring
Description: Chair the Professional Development Committee and the Campus Assessment for Student Achievement (CASA) Committee. Support faculty in designing and teaching on-campus courses, including one-on-one mentoring and instruction, creating and curating resources, and hosting learning communities. Coordinate Professional Fluency initiatives and New Faculty Orientation and Mentoring. Work with other members of CFI on trainings, faculty mentoring, and other projects and initiatives. Support other college projects and initiatives as assigned.

Jody Ondich: Course Review Coordinator

6 credits RCE per year/3 per semester
Description: Support faculty by supervising the peer and student review programs of LSC. This position also includes maintaining and instructing the Accessibility course and advocating for additional accessibility needs, assisting in OER discovery, adaptation, and creation, and one-on-one mentoring and instruction from faculty and staff as requested. Co-chair Coalition for Faculty Support and Innovation and work with other members of CFI on trainings, faculty mentoring and orientation, and other projects and initiatives. Support other college projects and priorities as assigned.

Amy Jo Swing: CFI Online Teaching Coordinator

10 credits RCE per year/ 4.5 Fall, 4.5 Spring, 1 summer
Description: Support faculty in designing and teaching online courses, including one-on-one mentoring and instruction, in person and online instruction, and creating and curating resources. Coordinate the Z-Degree AA degree program, including grant writing and implementation. Co-chair Coalition for Faculty Support and Innovation and maintain membership on Professional Development Committee. Work with other members of CFI on trainings, faculty mentoring, new faculty orientation, and other projects and initiatives. Support other college projects and priorities as assigned.