Polly.Miller
Dr. Miller has been with the district for over twenty years. During this time Dr. Miller has served in many faculty leadership roles such as Faculty Senate President, Assessment Co-chair, E-Learning Faculty Coordinator, PAR Faculty Mentor, Interim District Director Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, and since 2018, MCCCD Student Research Conference Faculty Coordinator.
Dr. Miller brings a strong educational, instructional design focus to her teaching and course design.
Dr. Miller earned her Ph.D. in Education with a concentration in E-Learning and Online Teaching from Northcentral University, a M.Ed. in Education, Computing and Media from Arizona State University and a B. A. in Elementary Education with a Social Sciences emphasis from Rhode Island College.
A member of the North Central Association Higher Learning Commission Consultant-Evaluator Corps since 2006, Dr. Miller has embedded accreditation and assessment best practices into course, program and institution design.
Prior to joining the Maricopa County Community College District, Dr. Miller was a Regional Director,specializing in multi-unit retail management, overseeing multi-million dollar operations. One of the last major projects Dr. Miller provided leadership for before returning to the classroom, was the design of a Point of Sale and Distribution Center Replenishment System, designed to increase warehouse and retail unit inventory efficiencies and minimize retail shrinkage.
Miller, P.M.. (2015). Alternative Course Scheduling as an Institutional Strategy to Increase Student Program Opportunities (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3680951).
Dissertation Abstract: Community colleges are urged by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) to explore new paradigms in distance education to help plan for future generations of students who work in the global market and need flexible learning opportunities. Community college enrollment, completion, and assessment data confirm that successful teaching and learning occur in hybrid and online environments. As a result of hybrid and online scheduling, traditional classroom seat time is reduced. This provides colleges with opportunities to increase student engagement programming, which is the scheduling of cohort based programs designed to increase student retention and completion such as service learning, peer mentoring, athletics, honors, internships, and student life. Student engagement programs support educationally effective practices, both inside and outside the classroom, which lead to measurable positive outcomes. Traditionally, course scheduling and student engagement program functions fall under separate administrator scope of responsibilities, academics and student affairs, that tends to lead to a lack of understanding of how to leverage 21st century scheduling with student engagement programming to support student retention and completion. Through a guided semi-structured interview process with twelve sophomore-level students, this qualitative case study was used to explore how students perceive scheduling format options’ impacts on their ability to participate in engagement activities and, therefore, their ability/desire to retain and complete. This study confirms that scheduling format options offer students opportunity to carve out time and participate in student engagement programming. Participants in this study confirmed that they are currently leveraging alternative delivery options, when available, to participate in student engagement programming and accelerate degree completion. This study offers evidence that alternative course delivery options provide students with more opportunity to participate in student engagement programs because with alternative delivery options students can flex their time based on individual program requirements, learning styles, cost, and work and family commitments. The significance of this study is that it demonstrates the relationship between alternative delivery course scheduling, student engagement program participation, and community college completion. Results from this study include advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face, hybrid, and online course scheduling, community college student scheduling challenges and preferences, the relationship between the creation of information networks and student engagement programs, factors that prohibit student participation in engagement programs, and lastly, student scheduling preferences that increase student participation in engagement programs.
- Learning Summit, 2011, ‘Professional Development and the
Learning College Journey’ - League for Innovation, 2011,’ A Learning College Communication Assessment Model’
- Educause Learning Initiative, 2010, Faculty Development Panel Presentation
- Maricopa Student Success Conference, 2010, ‘E-Learning Student Success Best Practices’
- Sloan ALN Conference, 2008, ‘Institutional Localness Summaries; Focus on Marketing and Virtual Student Support Tools’
- League for Innovation, 2007, ‘Assessment Documentation Models at EMCC’
- Sloan ALN Conference, 2006, ‘Blended Learning and Localness: Institutional Strategies for Success’
- Sloan-c Blended Learning Conference, 2006, ‘Localness and Outreach Case Studies’
- Educause Learning Initiative Conference, 2006, ‘The Estrella Mountain Hybrid Learning Program: A Renaissance in Teaching and Learning’
- Blackboard Webinar, 2005, ‘The use of templates in the development of a Hybrid Learning Program’
- NACCTEP, 2005, ‘The Hybrid Teacher Education Learning Program’
- Learning Center Course, League for Innovations, 2005, ‘Begin with the End in Mind: How to Strategically Plan a Hybrid Learning Program’
- Gateway Community College, 2004, 2005, Hybrid Redesign Workshop
- League for Innovation, 2003, ‘How to build integrity in online courses’
- MEC 99, ‘Mid-life crisis: cooperative learning experience using Authorware 4.0’
Estrella Mountain Community College Woman of the Year Award, 2006