Open SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2018 – Potsdam: Kathleen Valentine

Kathleen Valentine is an Associate Professor of Education at SUNY Potsdam College. Her graduate work was completed at the University of South Florida with a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Education with specializations in Adult Education and Early Childhood. She Completed an Ed.S. and a Masters in Counselor Education at the University of South Florida as well as a Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Before coming to SUNY Potsdam, Kathleen spent three years in Germany teaching with the Department of Defense Dependent Schools. She was also an adjunct professor at Hillsborough Community college, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Junior College and National Louis University.

My first experience with Online Learning occurred while earning my doctorate at the University of South Florida. I chose Q Basic Programming as my language and found myself in an online course offered by Dr. James White who, at the time, was developing the Instructional Technology program at the University. I still marvel at the design, creativity and attention to detail that was put into the development of that course. At the time, there was no Internet as we know it today. We used a special network that was part of the State of Florida ‘s communication system known as FERN. We did not have web pages or email. What we did have was a cursor blinking on the screen and we could send messages out but did not always know who was receiving them. I spent many hours communicating with fellow students from all over the state about the different topics covered in class. Each of us received a large notebook that contained all of the different course modules saved to 3 ½ in floppy discs. Any extra articles or resources needed were also included in the notebook. Much to my amazement, I loved the course! From that point on, I was hooked. Online Learning has certainly changed tremendously since those early beginnings and my enthusiasm for it has only increased. I have since developed two online courses at SUNY Potsdam college that are part of the MSED in C & I program. This past year I was part of a three-person team that developed SUNY Potsdam’s first online graduate program, the Advanced Certificate in College Teaching.