Open SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2019: Genesee – Judith Littlejohn

Ms. Littlejohn’s career at GCC began as a testing center associate in 2000. She quickly advanced to the department of online learning where she worked for ten years developing online curriculum, coordinating online learning functions, and acted as an advocate for inclusion of opportunities for diverse student populations. In 2015, Ms. Littlejohn became an Instructional Designer. She has been teaching online courses as an adjunct at GCC since 2013.

Honored for “Outstanding Peer Support” by participants in the Emerging Technologies Massive Open Online Course (#EmTechMOOC) in 2018, She has also been the recipient of the SUNY FACT2 Award for Excellence in Instruction at Community Colleges in 2016, and a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 2014. She also completed the 2018 ID2ID Program through Educause and Penn State.

Ms. Littlejohn earned two A.A.S. degrees in Instructional Model Making and Commercial Art – Graphic Design from GCC in 1993, a B.S. in History in 2010, and her M.A. in American History and World History in 2013, both from SUNY College at Brockport. She also holds a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design from the University of Wisconsin Stout, which she earned in 2015. She resides in Elba, NY with her husband, Martin and daughter, Amanda Littlejohn. Judith Littlejohn, her daughter Amanda, and daughter Laura (Littlejohn) Hare of Lockport are all GCC graduates.

“I love Online Learning because it opens the door to higher education for those who, due to time/location constraints, may otherwise not have access to credit courses. My full-time job as Instructional Designer and my adjunct role as Online Instructor often overlap as I try out tools and techniques on my own students before presenting them to others – finding new ways to engage students online is one of my favorite aspects of this profession; sharing those successes with fellow practitioners is, too.”

“Currently I am trying a new Open Pedagogy project with my Modern World History class. The project focuses on discerning good sources from poor sources, as well as developing thesis statements and using primary sources. Once this is finished these students will have laid the foundation for a repository of vetted sources and thesis topics that future students will be able to both expand and draw from. Plus, the current students can show their future employers as well as family and friends what they’ve been working on.”

“I have spent the past few years helping students develop their metacognitive skills and have given several presentations on this topic, most recently at OLC in Orlando and as a SUNY Fellow Chat. My goal is to share what I have learned so that future students and faculty can be successful online, too.”