SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2023: Empire – Kelly Cattron

Kelly Cattron is an Instructor and Associate Department Chair in the Psychology and Human Development Department at SUNY Empire State College. Kelly is in her 24th year teaching at the college level. She started her education at Monroe Community College, earning her bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo, and master’s degree in Social Psychology from Syracuse University.

I began teaching while a graduate student at Syracuse and instantly knew I was happiest while working with students. In 2007, I started teaching at SUNY Empire and love the variety of teaching options and the life experience, dedication, and work ethic Empire students bring to the table. I have lived in Rochester, NY my entire life and enjoy spending time with my husband and five teenagers.

When I started at Empire, my focus was on teaching in-person individualized and group studies.  It wasn’t until eight years ago that my attention shifted to the online world. I started by teaching one online study and was immediately hooked!  I loved the extra challenges and opportunities online teaching created.  I now teach 6 fully asynchronous online courses a year and am also the coordinator for the online courses within Psychology.  As part of this role, I work with a team to develop new online courses and revise existing ones. My focus when developing courses is threefold: (1) how can we present content in a clear and organized way, (2) how can we make it engaging enough that students won’t miss the traditional classroom, and (3) how do we create a rigorous learning environment that challenges students but still provides academic support when needed?

I think good organization and a high potential for student engagement are the most important building blocks of an online course. If students are confused or bored, they won’t see the value of their efforts or strive to learn more. I also believe that students need to see material in many different ways (reading about it, talking it through, engaging in an activity) before they can learn a new concept.  The challenge in online classes is presenting the material in enough ways for all kinds of learners to benefit.  This is something I am very passionate about and am always striving to improve in all our courses.