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STCC Prepares to Deliver Exceptional Online Learning Experience

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When students log in virtually on the first day of the new fall semester, they will begin an online learning experience that Springfield Technical Community College educators have been fine tuning all summer.

Online learning offers flexibility and quality
Mary Wiseman and Kyle Kraus, instructional designers at STCC, worked one-on-one with faculty to help them develop their online classes. Faculty will be using a number of digital tools including Zoom conferencing. STCC uses an online learning management tool called Blackboard to access course resources which include video, audio, PowerPoint slide presentations, graphics and more.

Wiseman is a big advocate of online learning, having studied the method for over 26 years. She highlights advantages to the approach, which include greater flexibility. Students who are juggling a busy schedule can access materials online 24/7 and complete the academic work at their own pace.

“An online experience is a very thoughtful, planned, unfolding of a course in the virtual space,” Wiseman said. “There’s a lot you can do online. It’s very exciting. When you take away the fact that somebody has to be at a particular place at a particular time, you take away a lot of constraints.”

Wiseman said online courses are as rigorous as face-to-face courses.

“I’ve been studying online for 26 years so I think it’s a really good way to continue your education and keep investing in yourself. You will never go wrong investing in your own education and your own self,” she said.

Meet Them Where They Are!

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Hello,
The title of my EDU7244 curriculum poster is: Meet Them Where They Are!

My essential question is:
How can online faculty design their course curricular and pedagogical approaches to engage Hispanic students?

The first version has bold-face-font on the authors. I thought that helped define and break up the body copy.

 

Finding Your Way – Hess’s Tips for Education Reformers

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Excerpt from the Finding My Way article Letters to a Young Education Reformer (2017) by Hess. 

  • Jobs aren’t forever: step in, do some good, learn, grow and meet people
  • Value in working from the inside and the outside. Opportunities as arrayed along a continuum that spans from inside to outside the halls of power. Insiders are at the table where the decisions are being made. Outsiders are freer to speak their minds, spin radical solutions & push new ideas. These are just different, be willing to work both sides and move between them.
  • Watch out for thought bubbles and people who only think in a single way.
  • Do your job. Contribute, do stuff, even small stuff, one person can’t ‘fix’ education…however, one person can contribute. Your voice needs to be heard. 
  • Follow the Golden Rule
  • Embrace the 90-10 rule: 90% in your hands and 10% is out of your hands. Focus on the 90%. Do your job, be detailed and organized and when the 10% goes wrong, think on your feet tof make it right. 
  • Make deposits in the favor bank. Everything operates on favors. Pay attention to detail, people appreciate the little things. 
  • Presume good intentions
  • Don’t get too impressed with yourself
  • Sweat the small stuff: planning, deadlines and details
  • Unleash your brain, solve problems & look for opportunities to plan, write or take responsibility for a project or program.
  • Keep you word-other people want to be able to rely upon you.

College UnBound

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August 16, 2020 my classmate Brandee Idleman and I reviewed the text College (Un) Bound by Jeffery J. Selingo. This text is a bit dated [2013] however, its ideas ring true now in 2020. Listen to our thoughts.