Spring Development Day
Spring Development Day 2026
Austin Community College (ACC) welcomed faculty and staff to Spring Development Day (SDD) 2026. This engaging event was organized by the Teaching and Learning Excellence Division’s (TLED) Office of Faculty Development and took place on Friday, January 16, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. All workshops were held synchronously online via Zoom, including the keynote.
This year’s theme, “Level Up Your Work,” builds on the Faculty Growth Series (FGS) and extends the Connected Classroom concepts from Mini Development Day into more advanced, skill-building territory. The event featured four workshop tracks and an engaging faculty panel as the keynote presentation. Attendees selected from multiple sessions in each time block to explore sessions designed to enhance teaching practices, deepen technical and AI literacy, strengthen interpersonal and leadership skills, and foster a sense of belonging across the college community. The day also provided valuable opportunities for collaboration and connection with colleagues.
2026 Theme: FGS: Level Up Your Work
Tracks:
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- 🧠 Artificial Intelligence (AI): Applications, ethics, and innovations shaping the future of teaching, learning and professional skills.
- 🌐 Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Approaches that create flexible, inclusive, and accessible learning environments.
- 💡 Belonging, Purpose, & Connection: Strategies that build authentic community, enhance engagement, and support belonging across ACC.
- 🌟 Staff Professional Growth: Leadership development, team dynamics, wellness, and overall professional growth.
THANK YOU
Thank you for participating in SDD 2026! We enjoyed the opportunity to connect and create at the Employee Mixer. Thank you to the Office of Belonging and Purpose, the Faculty Center for Learning Innovation, the Joyful Employee Ambassadors, and the TLED for co-hosting this event.
Your engagement helped make SDD a meaningful experience, and we appreciate the energy you brought to a day focused on learning, collaboration, and growth.
Action Items:
Faculty Growth Series
During SDD, we highlighted the FGS, a professional learning pathway. FGS is organized around three interconnected strands: Belonging, Purpose, and Connection; Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility; and Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Fluency.
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- Get Started: Faculty can participate in guided learning experiences within each strand, track their progress in Suitable, and earn a digital badge that fulfills the annual professional development requirement upon completion. Slides from the morning presentation, including additional details about FGS and how to get started in Suitable, are available here.
Professional Development Credit
If you attended SDD, you can self-report your participation in Workday for professional development credit. To self-report credits:
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- Go to Workday → Profile icon → View Profile → Career → Training → Add Training.
- View a helpful guide here.
Program Evaluation
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- We also ask that you take a moment to share your feedback by completing the Program Evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is to collect feedback on your overall experience attending the SDD program. Your input is invaluable in shaping future sessions.
Keynote Presentation & Workshop Recordings
If you were unable to join us for the live keynote, “The Real Faculty of ACC!,” led by strand leaders Kisha Barrett, Stephanie Long, and Alex Watkins and featuring panelists Nagham Awadallah, Jaime Cantu, Jennifer “Houli” Houlihan, John Nation, and Maria Ruelas, moderated by Theresa Glenn, we are pleased to share that a high-resolution recording is available. This recording will include captions and will be accompanied by recordings of other SDD workshops.
Thank you for making SDD 2026 a success. We look forward to seeing you at upcoming events! Contact facdev@austincc.edu with any questions or concerns.
Spring Development Day Archive
2025 Spring Development Day (SDD): Post Event Summary
Austin Community College (ACC) welcomed faculty and staff to a new semester with Spring Development Day (SDD) 2025, a vibrant and engaging professional development event designed to inspire and empower employees. Held on Friday, January 17, 2025, this year’s theme, “Spring Forward: Creating a Mosaic of Opportunities,” encouraged participants to explore innovative tools and strategies to enhance both teaching and workplace environments at ACC.
SDD 25 Employee Mixer
This year, in addition to providing professional development opportunities, SDD 2025 also fostered community and connection through the Employee Mixer co-hosted by the Teaching and Learning Excellence Division (TLED), the Office of Belonging and Purpose, and the Joyful Employee Ambassadors.
Held the day before SDD on Thursday, January 16, 2025, from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at the ACC Highland Campus (HLC), the Employee Mixer featured a baked potato bar, salad, and dessert, along with interactive art activities and entertaining bingo games hosted by the Office of Faculty Development. Attendees had a lot of fun all while participating in ACC’s commitment to fostering a welcoming and collaborative environment.
Employees were able to unwind, engage in meaningful conversations, and participate in fun activities such as bingo, a collaborative mosaic creation, and a ‘Loving Students to Success’ mural coloring. This mixer set the stage for a productive and inspiring Spring Development Day while strengthening relationships beyond SDD 2025.
A Day of Learning, Collaboration, and Growth
SDD 2025 featured a dynamic lineup of workshops, discussions, and networking opportunities tailored to support professional growth across various disciplines. The event brought together 500 registrants for a day of engaging discussions, hands-on learning, and professional growth. With 28 unique online workshops spanning a range of topics—including instructional innovation, student engagement, leadership development, and workplace productivity—attendees had ample opportunities to expand their knowledge and skill sets.
Workshops were grouped into four sessions throughout the day. Participants explored emerging trends in education, workforce readiness, technology integration, and student-centered strategies, fostering a collaborative environment where ideas and best practices were shared. While the keynote presentation was HyFlex (both in person and online), all other workshops were conducted synchronously online via Zoom, ensuring accessibility for employees across the college community.
Keynote Presentation: CLI Preview: Inspiring Leadership at ACC
The event highlighted an inspiring keynote titled “The Chancellor’s Leadership Institute (CLI) Preview: Inspiring Leadership at ACC,” featuring ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart in conversation with Dr. Missi Patterson. Their discussion supported the tone for the day, emphasizing the importance of connection, continuous learning, and creating a supportive academic environment. Attendees gained insights into ACC’s leadership vision, participated in engaging CLI activities, and explored ways to foster a culture of belonging within the institution.
Faculty and staff were encouraged to contribute their reflections on the keynote via a dedicated Padlet board (you must be logged in with your ACC credentials to view the Padlet), where they could document key takeaways, connections to their work, and actionable steps inspired by the keynote.
Watch the Recordings via Panopto
For those who could not attend the keynote live, a high-resolution recording, complete with captions, is available here. Additionally, recordings of the SDD workshops are also accessible via Panopto.
Note: You must log into Panopto using your ACC credentials to view the recordings.
Continuing the Momentum
Spring Development Day 2025 was a resounding success, reinforcing ACC’s dedication to lifelong learning and professional enrichment. Thank you to all who participated, contributed, and made this event a meaningful experience.
Stay connected for more opportunities to learn, innovate, and grow by subscribing to the TLED Faculty Newsletter!
2024 Spring Development Day Post-Event Summary
Spring Development Day 2024 was a tremendous success! The 2024 theme, “The Power of Love: Inspiring Change and Innovation,” invited all employees to explore how love, empathy, and compassion could be powerful catalysts for positive change and innovation in both personal and professional contexts.
The event took place on Friday, January 12th, and featured a day full of synchronous online workshops and a hybrid (online/in-person) keynote address delivered by Austin Community College (ACC) Chancellor, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart. The keynote address took place in-person at the ACC Highland campus with watch parties held at the ACC Round Rock and ACC Hays campuses. Three hundred people attended the keynote online and over 80 attended in-person at one of the three campuses.
There were over 480 registrants for Spring Development Day 2024 workshops. Workshop topics included purpose and belonging, emotional intelligence, artificial intelligence, course design, and much more. The workshops presented attendees with the opportunity to improve their creativity and wellness, develop new technical talents, teaching techniques, and interpersonal skills, and also provided opportunities for networking and collaboration.
Here is some of the workshop feedback from fellow attendees:
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- “I appreciated the opportunities to talk with other faculty.”
- “This was the best SDD I’ve ever attended.”
- “I enjoyed hearing the common support efforts and learning about the perspectives of others and how we can work together to help our students persist more effectively and efficiently.”
- “I am so glad I attended the morning sessions you all presented. I actually learned a lot about myself.”
- “Overall, amazing job! Thanks, everyone for your amazing work!”
- “Loved the sessions I attended and will go back to see recordings of the ones I missed.”
Thank you all for attending and for helping make SDD24 a resounding success!
Recordings are available below in case you missed SDD and/or want to rewatch Chancellor Russell’s Keynote and/or any of the wonderful workshops presented by our ACC colleagues.
Note: You may need to use your ACC credentials to access the links below.
Spring Development Day 2022: Light Your Fire
Friday, January 14, 2022
Spring Development Day 2022 welcomed all Austin Community College (ACC) faculty and staff to a new spring semester. A full day of inspiring sessions were offered to enhance employee practices and processes, improve creativity and wellness, and develop new technical talents, teaching techniques, and interpersonal skills. The 2022 theme, “Light Your Fire,” explored professional development topics designed to fuel purpose and a sense of belonging.
450 registrants attended over 30 different workshops on topics such as Accessibility and Universal Design, Active and Engaged Teaching, Adobe Tools, Assessment Techniques, Austin Community College (ACC) Resources, Creativity, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), and Wellness. The feedback for this virtual event was overwhelmingly positive.
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- “Thank you for ALL you do to help us become better professors and create a collaborative, caring community!”
- “I appreciate how willing people are to share their expertise. We all benefit greatly from this.”
- 96% of survey respondents for all workshops believed the information learned would make them more effective in their role
Featured speakers included keynote Dr. Sam Echevarria-Cruz, ACC’s Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of Initiatives in Instruction, and many fellow ACC faculty and staff who shared their expertise with colleagues.
The Office of Faculty Development & Evaluation is working to award professional development credit in Workday Learn. Attendees will be notified when this process is complete. We appreciate your patience as we learn how to use this new system. Questions can be directed to facdev@austincc.edu.
Spring Development Day 2021
Remote Delivery, Meaningful Learning
Friday, January 15, 2021
TLED’s Faculty Development team hosted ACC’s annual Spring Development Day on Friday, January 15, 2021. The 2021 theme, “Remote Delivery, Meaningful Learning,” invited all employees to discover meaningful ways to support student learning, even when our teaching and services are delivered remotely. The year’s event boasted 1,379 registrations and 504 unduplicated participants who shared glowing feedback about the experience:
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- “I sincerely appreciate all of the information I gathered. The leads were strong and very open to sharing ideas.”
- “Best PD day ever”
- “This was great information and directly transferable to my classes, thank you so much for this!”
- “I already started to tinker with the programs suggested in the workshop and I am super excited to share with my students.”
- “Loved this and learned a lot of new things to try out. Thanks so much!”
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Featured speakers included keynote Dr. Katharine Brooks, Evans Family Executive Director from Vanderbilt University, and many fellow ACC faculty and staff who shared their expertise with colleagues.
Thank you to all who attended!
Spring Development Day 2020, held on Friday, January 17, welcomed all ACC faculty and staff to a new spring semester with a full day of inspiring sessions to enhance their practices and processes, improve personal productivity, technical talents, teaching techniques, and interpersonal skills. The 2020 theme, “Recharge and Reinvent,” invited all employees to focus on renewing their passion in the New Year, and developing new, innovative approaches to their work.
555 participants attended 44 different workshops organized in 6 themes – Accessibility, Equity, Teaching and Learning Strategies, ACC Resources, Technology, and Staff Development. 98 employees participated in equity-focused workshops.
In addition to the workshops, the Teaching & Learning Excellence Division (TLED) also provided participants with food and free chair massages in the faculty/staff lounge and arranged for food trucks to offer lunch options.
Contact us
If you have any questions about Spring Development Day, please email the Office of Faculty Development at facdev@austincc.edu. If any updates are needed for this page, please email them to tledcomms@austincc.edu.