Open SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2016 – NCCC: Susan Siegmann

Susan Sigmann is an associate professor in Business Administration at Niagara County Community College.

“I love online teaching it allows me to combine my business experience, student learning outcomes, and my personality into a forum with a screen versus the front of a classroom. I have been teaching business classes at Niagara County Community College for twenty years. The first fifteen years were entirely in the classroom. I transitioned into online and hybrid teaching four years ago.

The students perform very well in my online classes and the success rates are high. The discussion forums bring us all together in one group to discuss the topics in marketing, organization & management, small business management, and international business in a professional format.

The discussions consist of questions pertaining to the student learning outcomes in the class, while incorporating important concepts from the textbook and the homework assignments. The students really enjoy the autonomy and authenticity of the various discussions, along with the subjective aspect of the online class.

Two semesters ago I decided to introduce online educational resources to the classroom because I found that the students were not purchasing the textbooks, which reflected in poor grades. The online resources have proved to be a good fit with the classes. Since inception I have noticed an increase in student success rates. Through follow-up with the students, the reason for the increase in student success is because they are purchasing the online educational resources. I look forward to investigating this new process in the semesters to come.”