Middlesex Community College: MCC Staff Members Awarded For ‘Excellence' Amid Pandemic

Press release from the Middlesex Community College:

Caitlin Buckley

6/2/2021

Two Middlesex Community College staff members from the Office of Online Learning received League Excellence Awards from the League for Innovation. Roxanne McCorry, MCC’s Director of Online Learning and Blackboard Support, and Daniela Loghin, MCC’s Coordinator for Academic Resources, were recognized for supporting the college throughout the pandemic in the transition of coursework and student services to remote, virtual and limited contact systems.

With a 21-year history of success being a leader of award-winning online education, MCC had a strong foundation from the start of the pandemic. This success continued with support from all faculty, staff and administrators across the college working as a team.

Phil Sisson, MCC’s President-elect, calls McCorry and Loghin “consistently instrumental” to MCC’s success throughout the pandemic. Their support of faculty in the adjustment to online teaching has continued to be a valuable resource.

“Thanks to their dedication and constant support for all our faculty and mentors through ongoing workshops, discussion groups and one-on-one assistance, we have accomplished more in online course development in the last year than we have in the last ten years,” Sisson said. “They have both been our frontline support heroes and this recognition of their dedication and innovation in a time of crisis and great pressure is well-deserved.”

As Middlesex serves a diverse population of students, one of the goals of the Office of Online Learning is to ensure that learners of different levels of ability, experience, knowledge, language skills, hardware or concentration can succeed in their online courses. With a common goal of promoting student success, McCorry believes her office was able to develop a strong partnership with faculty to lend to this success.

“I was very pleased to receive the award since I feel there are many deserving staff and faculty who also have went the extra mile during this pandemic,” McCorry said. “This past year has been difficult to come up for breath at times, but I have seen faculty who never taught online now delivering a meaningful class experience online.”

For Loghin, the award brings about a number of emotions. She feels grateful for the award, but both happy and surprised to see how influential the work she and her team has been for MCC’s online learning platforms.

“I am empowered to find new ideas and technologies to put to work in our department,” she said. “With an ongoing ‘live and learn’ attitude, this award is a great ‘stop and look back’ moment to mark an entire year of teaching and learning during unprecedented circumstances.”

At the start of the pandemic, the Office of Online Learning focused on helping faculty move their instructional materials online and learn how to manage Blackboard. They offered daily trainings and workshops, listened to faculty about their perspectives and needs, and collaborated with them to transform their classes onto online platforms.

Among their tasks during the past year, the team helped Academic Deans pair up faculty who have never taught online classes to form peer relationships. They also provided online course development workshops, including how to use multimedia tools, video and other communication strategies to connect with students online.

The team has also continued to meet with faculty over Zoom to assist with building their courses, learning best practices to use Blackboard effectively, and offering technical support to help minimize any student issues.

“We really lived by the motto ‘we are in this together,’” Loghin said. “Looking back, I can see how the extra hours put to work, planning and strategizing where to invest our time and energy, and constant communication with faculty paid back great dividends to cross the chasm.”

McCorry believes that the team learns something new every day. As they continue to update the online learning website with resources and tools, the team is also looking at ways to integrate more student interaction and engagement opportunities in classes.

“As educators, I think we have to open ourselves up to learn new ways of doing things even if we have been teaching for many years,” she said. “I am proud of the work that we have done in the Office of Online Learning this past year.”

Visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/online/ for more information about online learning at Middlesex.

Registration is now open for MCC’s Summer and Fall 2021 semesters. To register, visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration/ or call 1-800-818-3434.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, MCC has been a proven leader in online education for more than 20 years. We educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners, offering more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!

This press release was produced by the Middlesex Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.