Page 33 - BusinessWest March 3, 2021

Kimberly Quiñonez says her professors encouraged her to overcome the challenges of online learning and succeed.
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STCC Faculty, Students Make Investment in Digital-literacy Skills
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) had a long- term plan to ramp up online and digital learning.
But then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced staff
working at STCC’s Center for Online and Digital Learning to move fast- er than they ever imagined. The staff includes instructional designers who assistant faculty in online teaching methods they incorporate into the classroom experience.
To maintain the safety of students, faculty, and staff, STCC moved classes to remote instruc-
“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. It was for sure different, but a ‘good’ different.”
tion last March. Instructional designers worked with fac- ulty over the summer to pre- pare for fully online teaching in the 2020-21 academic year.
Faculty and administra- tors acknowledge the abrupt
change to remote learning created great challenges and, for some, led to a less-than-ideal learning environment last spring. The sudden need to vacate campus resulted in the use of a slew of digital tools to com- municate with students, including e-mail, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and teleconferencing by phone and Zoom.
“Many faculty had been using online tools for the delivery of their face-to face classes. However, for those faculty who were not familiar with the digital space or whose
courses required hands-on
instruction, the ‘lift’ to online
Literacy
Continued on page 47
TECHNOLOGY
MARCH 3, 2021 33
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