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MCC Daily Tribune

Kudos to Renee Dimino and Gena Merliss for teaching SUNY professional development course

Renee Dimino (ESOL/TRS and Project Director, SUNY Guided Pathways) and Gena Merliss (Teaching and Creativity Center) recently completed developing and teaching the course Meeting Students Where They Are, an online asynchronous course through the SUNY Center for Professional Development. Faculty in the course commented on their own transformational learning and shifts in perspective. Participants each made significant revisions to their own courses based on their learning.

Course Description for Meeting Students Where They Are

With each new course and new semester, there is the hope that all students will successfully meet course learning outcomes and the reality of the challenges many students face. This course will utilize critical self-reflection, collaboration, and social constructivism to consider how faculty can meet the learning needs of a diverse student body with a variety of educational backgrounds and experiences. Additionally, participants will identify our own biases about what it means to be a successful student, examine a variety of inclusive pedagogical practices, and implement discipline specific classroom methods.

The course used Judi Salsburg Taylor's The Purposeful Prof (http://thepurposefulprof.org/) as a foundational information source. Judi's website includes impactful video interviews with several MCC faculty.

This course is a part of SUNY's new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Teaching and Learning Certificate Program. Gena Merliss served as a member of the advisory board, which developed the framework for this statewide program. To earn the certificate, participants take 3 six-week online courses that are available throughout the year.

More information about the certificate program is available here:

https://sunycpd.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/deicertweb/info

The Teaching and Creativity Center is pleased to offer our part-time adjuncts a free online course this year. To learn more about this, please contact your adjunct coordinator.

Kimberley Collins
Academic Services
10/21/2019