SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2026: SUNY Poly – Dolores LaRue

Dolores LaRue, MS, RHIA, has been teaching Health Information Management in higher education for nearly ten years, primarily in the online environment. From the beginning of her academic career, she has focused on online instruction, recognizing early on the power of virtual education to expand access and create meaningful opportunities for students from all walks of life. Currently Dolores is a Lecturer in the online Health Information Management Program at SUNY Polytechnic.

Dolores holds a credential in Effective Online Teaching Practices from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). This distinction includes four micro-credentials: Creating a Productive Online Learning Environment, Promoting Active Online Learning, Inspiring Lifelong Learning, and Designing Learner-Centered Courses. She has also completed professional development through Quality Matters, an organization dedicated to excellence in online course design. In addition, Dolores participated in a research project focused on equity in online learning programs, further strengthening her commitment to inclusive and accessible education.

“I have been teaching online classes since I first started to teach in higher education. I think that the flexibility students can get from an online class is invaluable and opens learning up to an entirely new set of students that would normally not be able to take classes. My main interest in expanding my skills as an online educator focuses on non-traditional students in the online environment. More adult learners are focused on expanding their knowledge to advance in a career or even start a new career. These learners need a different way to learn online than a traditional college student. As busy adults with full-time jobs and often families, they need to be able to learn and engage in ways that support them in that. I often change the way that I am creating content and assessment in order to fit into the engagement style of this busy individual, with real world examples as well as assignments and discussions that lean on bringing their experience into the conversation.”