{"id":11763,"date":"2026-02-22T23:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T04:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/?page_id=11763"},"modified":"2026-02-22T23:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T04:11:52","slug":"2026ambassador-parks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/engage\/ambassadorprogram\/ambassadors\/2026ambassador-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2026: Farmingdale &#8211; Dan Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_11764\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11764\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11764\" src=\"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DParks_Farmingdale_350-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Parks headshot\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DParks_Farmingdale_350-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DParks_Farmingdale_350-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DParks_Farmingdale_350.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Parks<br \/>Farmingdale State College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Dan Parks<\/strong> is a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Farmingdale State College. Dan believes in bridging theoretical concepts with hands-on applications to prepare students for real-world engineering challenges. He is a graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at Farmingdale State College and holds a Master of Engineering degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a concentration in Engineering Management from the University at Buffalo. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stony Brook University.<\/p>\n<p>He has extensive hands-on experience in manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing, quality control, and materials science. Prior to his faculty role, he was a Design Engineer and Instructional Support Technician, bringing a strong foundation in applied engineering education to the classroom. His industry background underpins his approach to curriculum development, where he regularly incorporates his professional experience.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to teaching, Professor Parks is regularly exploring educational technology, leveraging digital resources to enhance student engagement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ll be honest, online courses were not my preferred format early on in my college career. That changed when I experienced well-designed online courses. That experience stuck with me, and it shapes how I approach my own courses today. I build every online course with a simple standard: Would this course have a positive impact on those students who are taking an online course for the first time?<\/p>\n<p>With a background in engineering, I treat my LMS the way a designer treats a product. The student is the user and their experience matters. I build my courses with visual roadmaps, custom modules, and interactive activities so students always know where they are and what comes next. For technical content, I develop detailed annotation guides that give students a framework to follow, which is critical for asynchronous courses where materials need to stand on their own.<\/p>\n<p>What keeps me invested is the access online teaching provides. Many of my students are balancing work, families, and full course loads. A well-designed online course doesn&#8217;t lower the bar, it removes unnecessary barriers so students can meet it. That&#8217;s what I try to build into every course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Parks is a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Farmingdale State College. Dan believes in bridging theoretical concepts with hands-on applications to prepare students for real-world engineering challenges. He is a graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at Farmingdale State College and holds a Master of Engineering degree in Industrial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"parent":10809,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11763","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11765,"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11763\/revisions\/11765"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.suny.edu\/onlineteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}