Hello, my name is Jennifer and I’m a Graduate Medical Laboratory Science major. This is my 6th class in the program, and I’m taking them all online. I have worked in a hospital lab for about 25 years- first as a phlebotomist while I was in school, and then as a Medical Technologist when I graduated. I liked it but thought I was missing something, so in 2005 I got a Master’s Degree in Education and started teaching. I worked at an alternative high school for about 5 years, working with troubled teenagers. Six years ago, I got a job at Bryant & Stratton College in Buffalo NY coordinating their phlebotomy and EKG programs. At that time, I taught all the EKG and phlebotomy classes, along with A&P, Clinical Procedures, and Medical Laboratory. I now coordinate all the internships for the Medical Assisting, EKG, and phlebotomy programs for our WNY market. I still teach quite a bit, but am also responsible for training the new clinical instructors and helping the program director with accreditation stuff.
Online learning is new to me. I have had some really great teachers that make the class quite engaging, and some really awful teachers that just posted a bunch of stuff and couldn’t be bothered to answer any questions or post any grades until the end of the class. This experience is helping me see the student’s side, and therefor improve my own teaching.
Technology Software:
- Word- I am quite familiar with due to making notes, letters, etc for students. There are some functions that I don’t quite get such as mail merge
- Power Point- I am very familiar with for presentations
- Prezi- I’ve attended a couple of workshops, I like Prezi but haven’t yet mastered it
- Excel- I work in quite a few spreadsheets but don’t do anything fancy
- Access- I have never worked with
- Concept Mapping- never heard of it
- Publisher- I’ve dabbled with making newsletters
- PDF- I scan a lot of documents into PDFs and save them, but nothing fancy
Other technology:
- Email-I use all the time – it is my lifeline since I am out in the community all the time doing site visits and not in my office.
- List serv- I have never heard of
- Discussion board- I have used discussion boards quite a bit in the last few semesters as a student and this semester I started using them in my classes that I teach.
- Wikis- I’ve heard of but don’t know what they are
- Podcasts- I’ve heard of but don’t know what they are
- Video clips- I use these a lot, you can get great stuff off of youtube to demonstrate techniques, or show a concept- a lot of text books come with great supplemental material also
One of my hopes for this class is that I will get more computer literacy. I am not a novice, but by no means an expert. The college I teach at is changing the focus of our mission. We are moving with the times and becoming more adaptable and student centered. We will have more online and hybrid classes and the faculty must get on board with it or face not being employed.
Teaching Philosophy:
My philosophy in teaching is that everyone has the potential to be great, if given the chance to shine. So many students are written off by instructors way too easily. If a student isn’t interested in the class, I feel it is my job to inspire interest. I do that by making things real- hands on activities, relating the material to the student’s life, doing different things each class. Sometimes I use plain power points, sometimes they are interjected with videos, music, silence, walking around the room, asking questions, being loud, talking softly – basically always have them guessing what I’m going to do next. There is a routine to my classes, but there is also spontaneity and fun. The most important thing to helping a student be successful is to allow him successes- don’t tear him down and make him feel stupid. There is an art to correcting someone, without making them feel bad for having the wrong answer. I try to always be fair with students and admit if I make a mistake. I have high expectations and start off with high support, then gradually take away the support. By the end of the class, students accomplish things they never knew they could and are surprised when it’s pointed out that they did it themselves.
Personal:
On a personal note: I have a husband, 3 kids, 2 large dogs (a chocolate lab and a black newfoundland), and 6 chickens. We live just South of Buffalo NY and spend quite a bit of time on my husband's parent's 200 acre farm - where we hope to move to some day. My oldest son is 17 and driving, daughter is 15, and youngest son is 12. The youngest is currently being treated for cancer for the third time - he's had 2 bone marrow transplants and now has thyroid cancer due to the radiation he received. It's been a rough 4 months or so, but we hope he'll be back to himself by the end of the summer.