Welcome to season two of the Poggle Podcast. I'm Matt Tarca, producer of the
Poggle Podcast for the Poggle Project. Poggle stands for process-oriented guided
inquiry learning, a student-centered approach that guides students in
constructing their own understanding of content and helps them develop important
skills such as teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
The Poggle Podcast is an ongoing conversation from the Poggle Project
that celebrates innovative educators both in and out of the classroom. For our
seventh episode this season, we will focus on the fifth goal of Poggle's
strategic plan, which is networking and strategic collaboration. Today, co-host
Alex Grouchow, who is a professor of chemistry at Rider University and chair
of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, interviews Dr. Joanne Roke,
assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at CAIE. We
also have Dr. Joyce Easter, dean of the Batten Honors College of Virginia
Wesleyan University and professor of chemistry and chair of Poggle's National
Conference to Advance Poggle Practice, or NCAP, in 2023. She is also the chair of
Poggle's strategic plan working group titled Embracing Equity, Targeted
Recruitment. Joanne and Joyce, thank you for being here today to discuss the
importance of the strategic goal, and Alex, I will pass the baton over to you.
This season, we will explore the inner workings of the Poggle Project. The
project, it turns out, is not just about creating materials and disseminating
them to the broader educational community. There are many other
activities that people in the organization undertake to promote the
mission of the project. We'll talk with educators around the country who work to
steer and shape various aspects of the project. Through different episodes, the
season listeners will learn about the many opportunities to participate in the
workings of the project. In this episode, I will be talking with Joanne Roke and
Joyce Easter. Joyce teaches at Virginia Wesleyan University and Joanne is at
University of Puerto Rico, Cajet. Both Joanne and Joyce lead working groups for
the Poggle Project that are related to developing strategic collaborations.
Welcome to you both.
Thank you, Alex. It's good to be here.
Thank you as well. It's good to be here too.
So in earlier episodes, we discussed how the working groups of the project stem
from the strategic plan. Joyce, can you describe for our listeners, what is
meant by strategic collaboration and what is it that this working group is
seeking to accomplish?
Yes, thank you, Alex. Strategic collaborations are relationships between
the Poggle Project and other organizations that are productive for
both organizations. This working group was established three years ago to
contribute to goal five of the strategic plan, which focuses on the
sustainability and growth of the project. Our working group seeks to identify and
establish relationships with organizations that further the Poggle
Project mission while being mutually beneficial to both organizations. In the
first year, the focus was on identifying organizations that offer the most
productive opportunities for dissemination of Poggle pedagogy, as well
as developing strategic approaches to providing presentations or workshops at
conferences of various professional organizations. But this has now expanded
to include other collaborations beyond dissemination of Poggle pedagogy.
Okay, so what are the key characteristics of these organizations that we're
looking to collaborate with and what's our goal in developing them?
Yeah, ideally, we want to develop collaborations with other organizations
that have a mission that is aligned with and complements the Poggle Project
mission. The Poggle Project is involved in a number of initiatives, which means
we have potential collaborators in a number of areas, including teaching
materials, professional development, professional network, and dissemination.
For example, last year, we established a relationship with the Learning
Assistant Alliance, which is an organization with which we share some
members. Due to this collaboration, we have presented workshops at their
International Learning Assistant Conference, and they have presented at
the National Conference to Advance Poggle Practition. We hope to expand
this collaboration further in the coming year.
Joanne, I want to turn it over to you. Your group is also working on
developing strategic collaborations, but it has a specific purpose to the
project. So can you tell us a little bit about what kind of collaborations
your team is trying to develop?
Yes, thank you, Alex. So my group, it's targeted recruitment. So what we're
trying to accomplish is to recruit faculty who work specifically at
minority serving institutions, for example, or even faculty who are
considered to be minority faculty members, because we want to expand the
diversity of the project. So our group focuses on recruiting faculty from
those groups.
Okay, so and you're Hispanic, and so you you've become a strong supporter
of the Poggle Project. Can you tell our listeners about how you got
introduced to Poggle and you know how that relates to your background?
Yes, of course. So I started working with the project four years ago, when
I started working at Westminster College in Utah. And that's how I got
introduced to the project. And what they do, it's they, their department
uses a lot of Poggle in their classrooms. So they taught me how to use
it, they introduced me to it. And I had that support system in place at my
department. So it was a very atypical way of being introduced to the project.
I know that other people do not experience it that way. So I really
loved it. And that's why I kept trying to find ways in which I could continue
collaborating with the project. And I ended up attending the PMMs last year.
And yeah, that's why I'm here today.
So why is it important then for the project to develop the kinds of
collaborations your team is working on? Given how you were I mean, you were
introduced by your department. You know, what's what's important about the
kind of strategic collaborations that you're talking about?
So like I mentioned, it was a very atypical way of being introduced to
the project. And I know not everybody has that support system in place. I
mean, everybody in my department uses it. So whenever I had to then push
back, I could talk to my colleagues and ask them like, how do we deal with
these? What should I do? How can I change? So it was pretty, I wouldn't
say the easiest thing to do, but it was more manageable that way. So I feel
like with my group, trying to find people who look like me, for example,
will help us create a support system for those faculty members who don't
have as much support as I used to when I started using Poggle. So I think
it's really important our work in expanding and finding other people who
will feel comfortable using Poggle in their classrooms and know that they
have someone to rely on like I did when I started using it. So really,
this is about developing a support network for what kind of groups are
we talking about here? Can you tell us the kind of groups that your team
is working to collaborate with? I mean, not necessarily specific, but what
kind of what do we want to get out of this? Yeah, of course. So we're trying
to reach out to professional associations or groups whose aim is to
increase diversity. For example, societies in science, for example,
that are for faculty who are from minority backgrounds and for groups
that are trying to bring in more diversity to their group, for example.
So we have some that we're collaborating with, but we're trying to create
a stronger collaboration with them. So right now, but that's a kind of group
that we're trying to collaborate with those that, again, are meant to
increase diversity in college. We're focusing on college right now with the
purpose of expanding in the future, but we're trying to, you know, start with
one step at a time and then expand to other groups. And this is really to
help support faculty in underrepresented, not necessarily just at
underrepresented, you know, institutions that serve underrepresented minorities,
but basically all faculty in this area with the hope, I guess, of also
working with students as well. Yes. So we're trying to address both. We're
trying to recruit faculty members from minority serving institutions
whose purpose is to serve underrepresented students. We have HBCUs,
HSIs, which is where I'm working right now, one of them. And we're trying to
recruit faculty of color as well who not necessarily work at those kinds of
institutions because the final goal is to support our students as well, right?
If we have faculty from underrepresented groups who look like me, for example,
we can support our students, our minority students. So that's one of the main
goals of my group. OK, Joanne. So you've used a number of little acronyms there
to describe some of your organizations. Can you tell our listeners what you
mean by HSI and HBCU, et cetera? Yes. So I was talking about MSIs, which are
minority serving institutions, and those include HSIs, which are Hispanic
serving institutions and HBCUs, which are historically Black colleges and
universities. And the idea of those colleges in particular is that their
number of underrepresented students will be quite high. So compared to a
predominantly white institution, they're going to have way more students of
color. So that's why that's one of our targets, because we want to make sure
that we are also supporting students from those populations. OK, all right.
That makes sense. Thank you. So, Joyce, I want to turn it back to you. In order
to develop these collaborations with organizations, people within the Pogal
Project need to reach out. How is this done? How do we get connected? I think
you alluded to this a little bit at the beginning. So I think that this really
depends on the organization that we are trying to establish a partnership with.
With an organization with which we don't already know someone in their
leadership or in their membership, one of our working group members has reached
out to the leadership in that target organization to start the conversation.
In some cases, we have members of the Pogal community who are members of an
organization or members of a leadership team in the organization, and they make
the initial contact. Ultimately, members of our working group and the national
office meet with the representatives from that organization to discuss the
potential ways in which we can collaborate. Depending on what that
collaboration entails, we may then need assistance from other members of the
Pogal community. So as the collaboration develops, we reach out to members with
the expertise that we need to further the joint project between the
organizations. Okay. As we have talked with other working group leaders from
the Pogal podcast, we've learned that many of the working groups meet during
the PNM, and they organize and develop their plans, but there's always work
that's going on throughout the year. Can you tell us a little bit about what
happens throughout the rest of the year? Yes. Our main focus after the target
organization has been identified is to communicate with that organization.
And then, of course, it really varies from organization to organization, but
we have to then take the next steps that are necessary to carry out each of the
initiatives that we might have with those organizations. So it could be
planning and facilitating a workshop. It could be providing content for an
organization's newsletter. It could be any number of tasks that help to further
and develop the relationship with that organization. There's also a fair share
of research involved throughout the year as we research a particular
organization or potential ways in which we can collaborate. So different things
have to be done throughout the year in order to further develop those
relationships. Okay. Joanne, do you have anything to add to this? Yes. So our
strategy is very similar to what Joyce described, but we also meet every month.
Our group meets every month to kind of discuss what we have accomplished, how we
can move forward, what associations we've identified. And we also meet with leaders
from other groups if necessary. Last year, I met with Joyce to talk about ways that
we can collaborate with them and not only just start doing rain-bed-to-the-wheel.
We have people who know what they're doing and have done it before. So we
try to create a set of guidelines that we can use throughout the year on our own
so that we can reach out to those associations and keep in touch with them. And after
several exchanges with a particular group who showed a lot of interest in collaborating
with us, we were able to offer a one-hour fundamentals workshop for them. So we were
able to accomplish that in a few months. So we were pretty excited about that.
Well, that's cool. So there's things moving forward and we're getting stuff out there.
So I want to talk a little bit more about connections to other working groups. I mean,
clearly, as you said, these two groups have a lot of similarity because they're both about
strategic collaborations, but there's got to be some other synergies with other activities
in the POGLE project. Can you talk a little bit about other teams that you've been working with
in more detail? Yeah, this also really depends on the specific collaboration that we're involved in
and the direction that that particular collaboration is taking. But we have collaborated
with workshop facilitators. It's probably the most common one that we have in our particular group.
But also, we collaborate with the conference organizers for the National Conference to
Advance POGLE Practice. We also participated with or are planning to collaborate with the E-Series
organizers in a collaborative session with our organization and other organization and also
some potential crossover with the POGLE activity clearinghouse as we think about collaborative
activities that might involve the materials, creating more teaching materials. So that might
be a further synergy that might happen with us as well. Right. And Joanne, do you have anything to
add there? So we, like I mentioned earlier, we talked with Joyce and her group. And we also
work closely with the mentoring group, the addressing equity, particularly the mentoring
group, because they're developing their mentoring program, which is something that really interests
us because it's not only about recruitment. We also want to make sure that whoever we recruit has
a support system, which is what that particular group is trying to accomplish. So more than
reaching out to everybody, we're focusing on working closely with the mentoring program right now.
Okay, excellent. So if someone's new to the POGLE community and they don't have a chance to
get to a PNM, but they're interested in helping the project build these connections,
how can they help out? I would say if there's somebody who has a connection with an organization
that they think is a potential strategic partner, and you're interested in particularly in
initiating a conversation between POGLE and that organization, we would welcome your information
so that we could establish potentially, or at least look into that potential collaboration.
Also, if you're somebody new to the project and you're interested in helping with any of our
ongoing collaborations, we'd be happy to welcome you to the team as well.
Joanne, I would imagine that as you have particularly underrepresented people joining in
the project, having them act as mentors to even new people, is that something that you guys are
looking to also build? Yes, yes. Of course, we are looking, and not my group in particular,
because that would be the mentoring group. But yeah, if you're interested in mentoring anyone,
if you want to join the POGLE group and you feel unsure, you can always reach out to us
because we have resources for you. And I want to echo what Joyce mentioned. If you know
specific groups who are trying to increase diversity, they don't necessarily have to be
for diverse people. It can be one of their goals. And you think that we can collaborate with them.
I'd really appreciate if you reach out to us, if you want to help in any way, if you know someone
who's trying to get into POGLE, but they don't have a support system, let them know that we're
here for them because that's our focus. Not only bring them in, but support them and make sure that
they feel welcome and that they can do these. I don't want to say on their own because they're
going to have this. So they have someone to rely on. Right. And I mean, that's one of the things
about working with the POGLE project. Nobody actually works alone on any one of these tasks.
It's always a group effort. And I think, you know, if people are interested, you can find out
information about it at the website www.pogle.org because each of the working groups is sort of
outlined there. And, you know, there's information about how to contact Joanne or Joyce if you wanted
to get involved. I really want to thank the both of you for taking the time to discuss and share
your experiences with the PNM and with your working groups to our larger audience. So please tune in to
more podcasts this season for more details on all the activities of the POGLE project and how you
can become involved with this community of practitioners. Thanks to all of you for listening
to today's conversation on the POGLE podcast. For additional details on how you can engage with the
POGLE project or its working groups, contact associate director Marcy Dubroff at marcy.dubroff
at pogle.org. That's marcy.dubroff at pogle.org. The POGLE project is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
If you would like to make a donation so we can keep providing podcasts, low-cost workshops,
and classroom materials, please visit www.pogle.org backslash donate. Intro and outro music of our
podcast is produced by POGLE practitioner Wayne Pearson. Please join us next time when we interview
the 2022 winners of POGLE's Early Achievement Award, also known as the Peach Award, as well
as the project's first Impact Award. Until then, enjoy your week!