April 17 Flex Day
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Building the Future with Heart, Mind and Hands
We continue the themes of building community by using our hearts, hands and minds to work together for a more equitable future.
This Flex Day will be a mix of in-person and online sessions. We aspire to build a thriving learning and working environment, and to support Skyline College's goal to become an antiracist institution.
We hope you will join us in person for this special day and invite all classified, faculty, and staff to come when you can. There are online sessions and at least 1 general interest session during each time block.
April 17 Schedule at a Glance
Breakfast and Welcome, 8:00- 9:00 am | Bldg 6 - Fireside Dining
Keynote Session, 9:00 - 10:00 am | Bldg 6 - Fireside Dining
Morning Breakout Sessions, 10:15 - 11:45 am | Building 6 and Online
Lunch and Tabling, 12:00 - 12:45 pm | Bldg 6 - Fireside Dining
Early Afternoon Breakout Sessions, 1:00 - 2:00 pm | Building 6 and Online
Late Afternoon Breakout Sessions, 2:15 - 3:30 pm | Building 6,7, and Online
Flex Day Schedule PDF Version (coming soon)
All SMCCCD full-time faculty members have a total of 6 days (30 hours) of Flex obligations to complete, while day/evening obligations vary based on semester assignments. Failure by full-time faculty to fulfill this obligation may result in a reduction of pay.
The District Academic Senate issued a clarifying memo on Flex Day obligations for 2024-25 along with the form. Full-time faculty complete the form annually with their Dean (new). See the Memo for details.
NOTE: Part-time faculty may be compensated for attending Flex Days regardless of which day they teach or if they teach asynchronously. Part-time faculty attending flex day(s) should fill out both the Flex Day Reporting Form and the Adjunct-OL Faculty Timesheet and submit them to their division assistant. Contact CTTL with any questions about flex reporting. Please see the Collective Bargaining Agreement for further details, Article 7.11.1 for full-time faculty and Article 7.11.2 for part-time faculty.
Timesheet Instructions Tutorial Video from AFT 1493 (Fall 2024)
If you are a faculty member unable to participate in any of the planned on-campus Flex Day activities and would like to know about alternatives available to you, refer to sections 5 and 6 of the District Academic Senate's clarifying memo.
SMCCCD provides a flexible calendar for staff development in accordance with California
Code of Regulations, Title 5,
Division 6, § 55724*. There are six (6) Flex Days in the 2024-2025 academic calendar:
● Monday and Tuesday, August 12 and 13, 2024, and Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
● Thursday and Friday, January 9 and 10, 2025, and Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Per Title 5, all Flex Day obligations are on “flexible time.” All faculty members
are encouraged to attend Opening Day
activities on Monday, August 12, 2024 and Convocation at Skyline College on Tuesday,
August 15, 2024. As of 2018,
SMCCCD requires mandatory attendance at two Flex Days for full-time faculty, while
the other four Flex Days remain on
flexible time. The mandatory Flex Days for full-time faculty are August 13, 2024 and
January 10, 2025.
You can click the Register buttons on the Agenda and Schedule tab for each session, or to bulk register:
1. Go to the SMCCCD Employee Portal and login with your SSO credentials:
2. After you enter your SMCCD credential you will see this page; click the Vision Resource Center tile:
3. Once there, click the Events Calendar Button link to go to the desired date. Be careful to select Skyline Events, CSM also uses the VRC to register for their events.
4.Click the name of each session you choose and Register by clicking the blue “Request” button.
You have now registered for the session. You will receive an email confirmation from skylinecttl@smccd.edu and a calendar invite.
ⓘ VRC Registration
If you are denied access, it means one of two things:
- You are not signed in with your employee Single Sign-On. Please sign in with SMCCCD OneLogin and try again.
- Your primary job needs to be updated to enable acess to the VRC. Please request this update, so we can promptly resolve the issue for you. NOTE: This can take up to 48 hours to resolve. After you submit the request to update your primary job, if this is not resolved by Opening Day, simply go ahead and attend the sessions you are interested in and make sure to write your name in the sign-in sheet. We can credit you retroactively in the VRC once your primary job is updated.
For more information about a session or if you need an ADA accommodation, please contact Sima Karve (karves@smccd.edu)
For help with VRC registration, please contact Lucia Lachmayr (lachmayrl@smccd.edu)
Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning - CTTL
Building 5, Room 5-118
Email: skylinecttl@smccd.edu
Phone: 650-738-7080
For professional learning/development inquiries contact:
Lucia Lachmayr : lachmayrl@smccd.edu
Breakfast and Check-In | Building 6 Fireside Dining | 8:00 - 9:00 AM
Breakfast and Registration Instructions
Even if you are not attending the full Flex Day sessions, please take a moment to
register if you are going to the continental breakfast. We so much appreciate it
and look forward to being in community with you!
Remember, when selecting your sessions, they are marked as suggested for Faculty, Classified, and All. You can register for all sessions in the Vision Resource Center (log into portal
first) by going to April 17 on the Events Calendar and following the prompts for each
session or simply click the links for each session.

Opening Day Session | Building 12 | 9:00-10:15 AM
Narrating Palestine: Teaching Strategies for Justice & Belonging
Dr. Therese Saliba
Fireside Dining Hall | 9:00 - 10:00 AM
The late scholar Edward Said asserted that Palestinians have been denied “permission to narrate.” With Palestine at the center of global politics and a frontline issue in defense of academic freedom, faculty may wonder how to teach about current events in ways that promote understanding and belonging, rather than polarization and silencing. This address will begin by unpacking Orientalist frameworks that distort Palestinian lives, culture, and history, and offer alternative frames of understanding, including national narratives, international human rights laws, and feminist intersectionality. In this interactive session, we’ll engage with interdisciplinary strategies and resources for teaching Palestine/Israel that promote critical inquiry and understanding, foster student engagement and belonging, and explore life-affirming possibilities for equitable futures.
Morning Breakout Sessions | Building 6 and Online | 10:15 - 11:45 AM
Playlab AI - Building Your Own Bots
Christyna Maria Serrano, PlayLab AI
Online | 10.30 - 11:45 AM
We have heard from many faculty and classified staff that want to learn more about using AI. Here is an exciting opportunity to pilot PlayLab AI with support from UC Berkeley faculty & students. The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office has collaborated with PlayLab AI and the UC Berkeley School of Education to provide an exciting pilot opportunity for educators to create impactful AI-powered tools to enhance the teaching experience, improve student learning, and complete administrative tasks. In this flex day session, we invite faculty, classified professionals, and administrators who are excited to engage with PlayLab, an AI-powered platform that allows users to create custom bots to provide tailored solutions that will support student needs, enhance educational outcomes, and support administrative efforts.
Student Equity Focus on Transfer Level Math and English Completion
Luis Escobar, Roger Perez-Vaughan, Ingrid Vargas.
6-203 | 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Join our campus community to learn about the upcoming Equity Plan template and share ideas on strategies to best support our disproportionately impacted students.
Student Equity Focus on Enrollment and Persistence
Luis Escobar, Roger Perez-Vaughn, and Ingrid Vargas.
Building 6, Room 202-204 | 10:15 - 11:45 AM
Join our campus community to learn about the upcoming Equity Plan template and share ideas on strategies to best support our disproportionately impacted students. Session objectives will include: 1) Gain an understanding of the Equity Plan Template 2) Awareness of the disproportionately impacted students across the Equity Plan metrics 3) Provide ideas and strategies across the 5 primary Equity Plan metrics to better support impacted students
Student Equity Focus on Completion and Transfer
Luis Escobar, Roger Perez-Vaughan, Ingrid Vargas.
Building 6, Room 205 | 10:15 - 11:45 AM
The Stewardship for Equity, Equal Employment and Diversity (SEEED) has been charged with writing the college's 2025-28 Student Equity Plan. In this interactive session learn about the work involved in drafting our college's equity plan. This is your opportunity to be help craft a bold vision for equity through the development of strategies that will remove barriers from student’s lives, and increase their achievement.
It's All Fun & Games: Gamification in the Classroom
Nancy Kaplan-Biegel
Online | 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Learning is serious business. That doesn't mean it can't be fun, too. We all know students who play difficult video games for hours without fear of failure or boredom; why not employ some of the same gamification strategies to increase engagement and risk-taking in your class? In this workshop, you'll learn a variety of strategies and tools--both low-tech and high-tech--that can help you add intrigue, motivation, competition, and just plain fun to any lesson, unit, or semester.
Benefits of Birding
Jared Feiner and the Skyline Bird Brigade
Buliding 4 Intercultural Center | 10:15 - 11:45 AM
Hosted by First Year Experience (FYE) students, join members of our newly found birdwatching club, Skyline Birders’ Brigade, as we view and identify various birds that are found on Skyline’s campus. Birding offers students and faculty many benefits; in fact, a North Carolina State University study found that “university students who went birding reported higher gains in subjective well-being and more reduction in psychological distress” (Forbes). Ever wonder what the difference is between a crow and a raven? Why are some blackbirds brown? These and other questions will be answered! Join the Brigade!
Lunch | Building 6 Fireside Dining | 12:00 - 12:45 PM

Lunch and Building Community (ALL employees)
Please join us for a light lunch in Building 6, Fireside Dining.
As always, we request you register for catering purposes; even if you are not attending
the Flex Day sessions.
Registration Link
Early Afternoon Flex Sessions | Building 6 or Online | 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Cultivating Agency for Personal Growth and Stronger Communities
Karen Wong (Classified, Faculty, Admin)
Building 5, Fireside Dining | 1:00 - 2:00 PM
As a college that seeks to empower students, how can we leverage our courses to inspire civic engagement? Hear from colleagues in art, math, and the physical and social sciences who cultivate their students’ sense of agency by prompting them to apply classroom knowledge to real-world challenges. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to share their own assignments and design new ones that promote civic engagement, leaving with actionable ideas to enhance their teaching and students’ impact on their communities.
DesignPlus Drop Ins
Terri Hannon
Building 6 Room 203 | 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Have you used prebuilt Canvas pages with the DesignPlus software?Creating engaging and effective content pages, discussions, and assignments in Canvas can be fun. Bring your laptop for a hands on session to introduce easy-to-use DesignPlus templates in Canvas.
First Aid and CPR
Joe Morello
Building 6-202 and 6-204 | 12:30 - 4:30 PM
Skyline College will be hosting an Adult CPR/AED and First Aid training with American Red Cross. This training will be open to all district employees. The Adult First Aid/CPR/AED course incorporates the latest science and teaches students to recognize and care for a variety of first aid emergencies such as burns, cuts, scrapes, sudden illnesses, head, neck, back injuries, heat and cold emergencies and how to respond to breathing and cardiac emergencies for victims about 12 years and older. Successful students will receive a certificate for Adult First Aid/CPR/AED valid for two years. Course is open to all district employees and is capped at 25 participants. Course will take place in 6-202 and 6-204 from 12:30P-4:30P. Please wear comfortable clothing and be prepared to sit, stand, knell and move around the room.
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI)
Kim Saccio
Online | 1:00 - 2:00 PM
In this interactive workshop we will discuss findings from the 2024 Online Student Experience Survey and identify trends over years of data. We will then review updated Title V standards for Regular and Substantive Interaction, as well as success criteria outlined in the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Quality Continuum Rubric for Distance Education - which will be used by review teams to assess online courses during the upcoming accreditation process. With all this in mind, we will then develop RSI-based course design and instructional strategies to respond to online student needs.
Late Afternoon Flex Session I Building 6, 7, or Online | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
Teaching What it Takes: Centering Discipline-Specific Learning Strategies
Leigh Anne Shaw (Faculty)
Building 6, Fireside Dining | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
We preach learning strategies to our students; but do all strategies work the same for every discipline? Part presentation, part thought-group, this session aims to explore ways to identify discipline-specific learning strategies and center them in the classroom to increase learning. What does it take to learn the material we teach, and how can we guide students to adopt maximally effective strategies and behaviors to ensure greater learning? Come with ideas about your own discipline and what you know it requires as well as practices to share that you feel have the most impact for students learning that discipline.
Build Numeracy with Visual Patterns and Area Puzzles
David Hasson (All Employees)
Building 7 Room 111 | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
Did you learn math facts through flashcards and worksheets? There is another way. In this hands-on workshop, we will use whiteboards and unifix cubes to approach numeracy as a collaborative puzzle, rather than a individual checklist.
Fundraising 102 for Faculty and Staff
Megan Barber Allende
Building 6, Room 205 | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
Fundraising 102 will focus on the basic components of designing and executing a successful fundraising campaign. Topics will include peer-to-peer fundraising, grant research tools, corporate sponsorships, and the pluses/minuses of events. Feel free to reach out with any questions to Megan Barber Allende, Executive Director, allendem@smccd.edu.
Promise Scholars Program Partners Spring 2025 Brainstorming and Planning Session
Albin Lee
Online | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
This workshop will be an opportunity for Promise Scholars Program to re-group with campus faculty and staff in an effort to increase support for students, increase awareness of Promise at Skyline College, and build upon ideas for future semester offerings, events and workshops series.
Accessibility
Kim Saccio
Online | 2:15 - 3:30 PM
In this hands-on workshop we will look at recent W3C guidelines on cognitive accessibility (COGA) and discuss how incorporating COGA into course design and pedagogy supports learning for all students - and especially for students who are neurodiverse or have learning differences. We will then explore Universal Design for Learning 3.0 as a framework to support COGA and consider how this relates to our own pedagogy.
Community Event | The Quad | 4:00 - 5:30 PM

Propose a Workshop for Flex Day
Have an idea or some experience to share? To support diverse programming that meets the needs of our campus community, the CTTL is requesting proposals for Flex Day sessions.
Fall Flex Day/Convocation workshop proposals are now open. (NO district wide proposals).
We are looking for tracks around Excellence in Teaching, Community Building, Technology and Innovation (including Online Teaching), Health/Safety/Wellness, and Equity/Access. Our two top priorities are Equity/Access and Thriving Work/Learning Environment.
Propose a workshop for Fall 2025
Guidelines for Presenters
Prospective Presenters - The CTTL has adapted the Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills (AKS) framework by Connerley and Pedersen (2005) to develop our own framework of constructing and facilitating workshops/training.
The adaptation of AKS is as a way to identify if the workshop is building awareness (creating the foundational information about your topic such as definitions, historical timelines/context); relating knowledge (interpreting the research, policies, or other resources related to the topic); as well as implementing skills (applying best practices/strategies). Workshops should either focus on one or all of the adapted AKS framework to build upon the work currently being done within our college and across the district. Using this framework will also further inform the participants of the purpose and outcomes of the workshop.
Need support with developing a workshop proposal? Have questions or need additional information? Contact Sima Karve or Lucia Lachmayr, PD Coordinators.
Previous Flex Days
Access materials from earlier flex days in the CTTL Faculty Repository, Professional Development section.

Flex Day Archives
CTTL maintains copies of slide decks, handouts, and some video recordings from previous flex days. You can browse the CTTL Faculty Repository for this information. If you have any questions, please contact Terri Hannon in the CTTL.
PD and Flex Day Repository