Districtwide Winner
Escape the Viral Vortex: A Fact-Checking Escape Room Game
Scottsdale Community College
Welcome to the Viral Vortex, a whirlwind of unchecked trending posts, shocking rumors, and head-scratching headlines. You must sift through these claims and expose the truth before time runs out. Otherwise, you'll be at the mercy of the internet evil-doers...forever!
Escape the Viral Vortex is an interactive game-based learning experience that teaches students how to fact-check information and evaluate the credibility of sources. Students work in small groups to verify or debunk viral claims, solve puzzles, and apply evidence-based fact-checking strategies in real time.
This innovative project utilizes gamification and collaborative learning to teach vital 21st-century information and digital literacy skills. It engages students as active investigators and problem solvers while strengthening analytic skills. Additionally, this project is adaptable to various courses and topics, providing relevant and real-world applications of skills that align with student learning outcomes.
Team Members
- Serene Rock, Library Faculty
- Michael Dzbenski, Teaching and Learning Director
Finalists
The Instructional Design (ID) Fellows program expands instructional design capacity at CGCC through a scalable, faculty-driven peer-mentoring model. Instead of relying solely on expensive, centralized instructional design support, the program trains faculty across divisions to become certified reviewers and mentors in partnership with the Office of Online Learning. Fellows use a research-based checklist to conduct collaborative online course reviews focused on best practices, Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI), and accessibility. This work also produced CGCC’s RSI Assurance Process, a key element of reaccreditation. The model is low-cost and replicable, with training funded through FPG resources and stipends supported by tuition-differential revenue. Since launching in Spring 2023, Fellows have completed 125 reviews and improved RSI, accessibility, faculty satisfaction, and student experience across online courses.
Team Members
- Lesley Cryderman, Coordinator of Online Learning, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Julie McCarty, Course Production Coordinator, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Karen Villalobos, Economic Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Buzzy Sullivan, Photography Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Andrea Villarreal, Dietary Sciences Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Kim Chuppa-Cornell, Library Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Kim Greer, Biology Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Barbara Howe, Library Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Workforce 2 You brings high-quality, industry-recognized training directly to rural communities in Maricopa County by delivering programs in local libraries and community centers. This mobile, community-based model removes transportation barriers and aligns each training offering with local workforce needs in non-clinical healthcare, manufacturing, and business. Through a partnership between the Maricopa County Community College District and the Maricopa County Workforce Development Division, participants gain in-demand skills, earn industry credentials, and receive career support from the County. The program has expanded across multiple colleges and communities, demonstrating a scalable and responsive approach to workforce development. Workforce 2 You is innovative because it reimagines access to education by bringing training to residents where they live, creating new pathways to employment for rural learners.
Team Members
- Jason Weinstein, Chief Officer of Corporate Engagement, District Office
- Dana Macke-Redford, Senior Project Manager, District Office
- Emma Martinez, Project Manager, District Office
- Brent Boardman, Project Manager, District Office
- Tran Mendez, Program Analyst, District Office
- Alex Kouumdjieva, District Director, Marketing Operations and Digital Strategies, District Office
This quality improvement project implemented a Just Culture–based safety reporting system within EMCC’s nursing simulation and clinical courses. Faculty created an anonymous Google-Form tool and educated students on reporting errors and near misses without fear of punishment. Over the past 3 years, students identified that most errors occurred during medication administration and were often due to knowledge gaps, communication issues, or inadequate preparation. Reporting increased transparency, strengthened clinical judgment, and promoted a culture of shared accountability. Findings enabled faculty to target common errors, improve teaching strategies, and model professional safety practices. The project fostered psychological safety, open dialogue, and continual learning, which empowered students to recognize, report, and prevent errors to support safer future nursing practice.
Team Members
- Louise Comer, Nursing Faculty, Estrella Mountain Community College
- Amanda Hundley, Nursing Faculty, Estrella Mountain Community College
- Carrie Hayter, Adjunct Nursing Faculty, Estrella Mountain Community College
This initiative leverages an n8n-built automated AI agent workflow. Program Review Intelligence & Systems Model (PRISM) was created to transform the program review process from a manual, time-intensive task into a fast, collaborative, AI-supported system. The workflow retrieves documents, analyzes key metrics, and generates structured summaries using AI, allowing faculty and administrators to serve as editors rather than perform repetitive data gathering and interpretation. By automating routine steps, the project significantly reduces human labor hours, documents trends, gaps, and repeated issues across datasets. This allows for standardized review quality across programs. PRISM becomes a true digital collaborator by automating the labor-intensive steps of data gathering, document analysis, and summary writing. Faculty and staff can devote their expertise to refining the results. Thus, freeing up human capital for more student-focused work.
Team Members
- Tabatha Hatfield, Residential Faculty, GateWay Community College
Over the past three years, the GCC/CGCC Advisory Board meeting has grown into a shared, collaborative Portfolio Review. Participation increased by more than 40 percent, expanding from a small GCC classroom event to a joint review now hosted at the Phoenix Art Museum. This innovation creates an accessible, workforce-oriented experience that mirrors national reviews like Filter Photo Festival and MOP Denver, where sessions typically cost $40–$70 plus travel. Our free, community-embedded model brings together both fine art and commercial photographers, allows students to choose reviewers aligned with their goals, and strengthens career readiness while reducing duplicated advisory efforts across campuses. This is MCCCD’s first cross-college portfolio review, and one of the only national models to integrate fine art and commercial photography in a no-cost, workforce-aligned format.
Team Members
- Stephanie Burchett, Residential Faculty, Glendale Community College;
- Brendan Regan, Residential Faculty, Glendale Community College;
- Buzzy Sullivan, Residential Faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
The Mindfully Informed Civic Engagement Classroom Toolkit is an innovative model that strengthens civic learning at Mesa Community College by combining a staff-facing handbook with a mindfully informed student presentation. The handbook provides CCCE staff with a complete system to oversee, train, and mentor the student presenters who deliver nonpartisan civic presentations in classrooms—ensuring quality, consistency, and accurate information each semester. The student presentation integrates wellbeing practices, political stress reduction, and real-life relevance to help students connect civic engagement to their daily lives. This innovation improves teaching quality, increases efficiency, and creates a replicable structure that supports student leadership development and faculty partnerships. By blending mindfulness, student voice, and structured staff training, the toolkit enhances campus civic engagement and advances MCC’s commitment to student success and community connection.
Team Members
- Alejandra Maya, Civic Engagement Program Coordinator, Mesa Community College
The Student Progress in Academic Programs dashboard is an innovative tool that transforms how a college monitors student momentum toward completion. By integrating course sequence pathways with student enrollment and transfer credit data, the dashboard converts disconnected information into a visual, program-level progress map. Advisors, faculty, and program managers can instantly identify students who are on track, off sequence, or approaching completion, enabling proactive outreach and timely enrollment guidance. Developed using existing institutional data systems and open-source tools, the dashboard demonstrates how colleges can build scalable, data-informed solutions internally to advance student success without additional cost.
Team Members
- Xiaojie Li, Planning & Research Analyst Senior, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Michael Tyler, Planning & Research Director, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Josh Moss, Program Manager, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Jay Franzen, Student Services Analyst, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Lynn Clark, Faculty Chair, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Adam Cherrington, Student Services Specialist Senior, Paradise Valley Community College;
- Gina Cinali, Associate Vice President of Strategic Planning, Institutional Effectiveness, Analytics, Paradise Valley Community College
The Awareness of Health Challenges in STEAM Education program transforms how students learn about health challenges by positioning them as co-creators rather than passive recipients of knowledge. This innovative initiative pairs faculty with student partners to collaboratively design STEAM-based assignments addressing Arizona's health challenges.
The program's innovation lies in three key areas: First, it elevates students as pedagogical partners in curriculum design, bringing their lived experiences, digital fluency, and diverse perspectives to create relevant, engaging learning experiences. Second, it applies the research-based 3X3 Framework of 21st-century knowledge to ensure assignments develop foundational, meta, and humanistic competencies. Third, it creates sustainable, openly licensed educational resources that are easy to replicate across institutions.
The program has produced 23 openly licensed assignments across 23 courses at 9 colleges, impacting approximately 575 students.
Team Members
- Stephanie Green, M.ED, RDN, Co-PI AHESE Grant. Open Maricopa Liaison, Phoenix College
- Dr. Debbie Baker, Ed. D., Co-PI AHESE Grant. OER Coordinator, District Office
- Kali Van Nimwegen, MLIS, Instructional & OER Librarian, Phoenix College
- Janelle Yoder, MLIS, OER Librarian, Estrella Mountain Community College
Rio Virtual Proctoring (RVP) is an institutional innovation that delivers flexible, high-quality virtual assessment managed in-house. Building on Rio Salado College’s strong in-person proctoring standards, it brings the same secure, student-focused experience into a virtual environment, giving online learners a reliable and convenient way to complete exams. Driven by cross-college collaboration, RVP modernizes a service once available only in-person by reimagining it into a virtual format that matches what students expect from contemporary online learning. The project uses internal expertise and existing technologies to remove geographic barriers, expand assessment options, and maximize academic integrity while ensuring a smooth, student-centered experience. Student feedback affirms its impact, with the process described as simple and reassuring. More than a testing option, RVP positions the college for the future with a scalable, cohesive, and adaptable model for online assessment.
Team Members
- Diana Pinon, Director of Testing, Rio Salado College
- Rachel Lievrouw, Supervisor of Testing, Rio Salado College
- Alejandra Alvarado, Student Services Analyst, Rio Salado College
- Arianna Rivera, Student Services Specialist Sr., Rio Salado College
- Donna Tannehill, Math Faculty Chair, Rio Salado College
- Melissa Schrand, Project Manager, Rio Salado College
The STEM PREP Academy is a collaborative initiative involving South Mountain Community College educators, researchers, and students. The program is innovative, different from a traditional workshop for its hybrid approach; merging project-based learning (PBL) and undergraduate research (UR) to help students acquire basic skills needed to complete STEM degrees. It has four goals: 1) Prepare: Develop a series of STEM skills-based workshops for students. 2) Retain: Engage students in undergraduate research to further develop their skills and increase student retention. 3) Excel: Students excel at PBL and undergraduate research projects. 4) Progress (towards a degree): Mentor students to finalize their career pathways.
Team Members
- Dr. Yvette Espinosa, Biology Faculty, South Mountain Community College
- Dr. Bechir Amdouni, Math Faculty, South Mountain Community College
- Dr. Sudipta Biswas, Biology Faculty, South Mountain Community College
- Dr. Chelsea McIntosh, Chemistry Faculty, South Mountain Community College
- Ted Ransome, Biology Lab Supervisor, South Mountain Community College
- Dr. Carl Whitesel, Engineering Faculty, South Mountain Community College