Speaking of College returns after a long break! In this episode, Dr. P. talks with Joshua Williams about ways to navigate college.

Joshua Williams is a Los Angeles-based higher education professional and student development expert. Leading his consultancy, JW1, he focuses on projects around institutional capacity building for colleges, coalition building and organizing, and resource accessibility for disproportionately impacted students. Through JW1, Joshua also develops and champions initiatives that center on community-building to create spaces for diverse groups to share experiences and resources.

Current projects include developing learning communities and providing technical assistance for colleges in the California Community College system. He manages the Real College California Coalition, offering basic needs guidance and implementation support for 94 community colleges. He also provides technical assistance consulting and training for new NextUp foster youth programs.

Prior to launching JW1, Joshua was a Practitioner-Researcher at The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University, where he delivered basic needs coaching and technical assistance training to college personnel nationwide. He also served as the Inaugural Director of the Toro Guardian Scholars (TGS) program at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), providing case management for former foster youth and supporting students’ basic needs. Throughout his time there, he built the TGS program, launched the CalFresh Outreach program, raised funds to support students in need of academic support and emergency aid, and co-designed an app aimed at securing food for students on campus.

He holds a B.A. in Communications from CSUDH and an M.S. in Counseling from California State University, Long Beach, with an emphasis on student development in higher education.

JW1 Consulting

Joshua's Social Media Links
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As online learning becomes a more commonplace option for college students, this is a good time to discuss the benefits of the experience. In this episode, Dr. P. talks with Dr. Cristi Ford about the basics of online learning and strategies that students can use to be successful in virtual environments.

Dr Ford serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs at D2L. She brings more than two decades of cumulative experience in higher education, secondary education, project management, program evaluation, training, and student services to her role. In this role, she offers thought leadership and direction to the academic affairs unit of the organization. Her previous roles have allowed her to have impact in education from secondary and higher education settings as well as the on the international landscape. Her reach has allowed her to focus on building online education in the US and African continent.

Dr. Ford was selected by the Online Learning Consortium, as the 2022 OLC Fellow which is the highest professional distinction offered by the association. She is a tireless advocate for quality online education where she has leveraged her passion and expertise in many realms in the education space. She is known for utilizing her leadership in extraordinary ways to help institutions build capacity to launch and expand online programming through effective faculty development, instructional design and pedagogical practices.

Dr. Ford holds a PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field of Psychology from Hampton University and University of Baltimore, respectively.

Dr. Ford on Twitter
D2L Teach & Learn Podcast

In this episode, Dr. P. and guest Helen Chen discuss the many options that students have to showcase their learning online.

Helen is a research scientist in the Designing Education Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She holds an undergraduate degree in communication from UCLA and a PhD in communication with a minor in psychology from Stanford. Helen is a board member for the Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) and is a co-author of Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Guide for College Instructors and co-executive editor of the International Journal of ePortfolio. She works closely with the Association of American Colleges and Universities and consults with institutions on general education redesign, authentic assessment approaches, design thinking, and personal branding and ePortfolios. Helen's current research and scholarship focus on engineering and entrepreneurship education; the pedagogy of portfolios and reflective practice in higher education; and redesigning how learning is recorded and recognized in traditional transcripts and academic credentials.

Helen Chen on LinkedIn