Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

About me

Dr. S. David Vaillancourt currently serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the College of Health Care Professions based in Houston, Texas. Prior to this post he worked as an e-Learning consultant for companies across the USA. His primary research focus over the past four years has been the development of online learning Engagement Metrics. Dr. Vaillancourt’s 27 years of service in education includes multiple levels of experience in both private and public educational institutions. His professional positions include Online Campus President for Virginia College, National Dean of ITT's Online Division, Director of Education for Ultimate Medical Academy, President of a two-campus allied health college in Utah, Certified Cisco Academy Instructor, Master Certified Novell Instructor, and K-12 public school science teacher.

Dr. Vaillancourt’s BS and MS in Education were earned from Samford University in 1983 and 1989, respectively. He completed his Ed.D. in Instructional Technology and Distance Education from Nova Southeastern University in May 2004. Dr. Vaillancourt designed, founded and chaired the non-profit National Math Bee (2006-2011), which provided an online learning community for over 15,000 elementary school mathematics students in 37 states across the country.  He was a US Army soldier prior to his career in education.

Activity

James, Being supportive and encouraging to the student is a key component. Additionally, the time-constrained environment does ad limitations to quality solutions. I sometimes spend time on the phone with student who do not Skype. These audible conversations seem to really help some the students. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
James, Good point. Exclusively text-based communication for a classroom can be very constraining. Is your school implementing any of the audiovisual instructional technology for online instructors to use? Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
James, Yes, especially the Adobe Connect or WebEx that facilitate two a/v communication can be significant in this area. The technologies are becoming more pervasive. So we should be seeing more and more schools implementing them. It does take time. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
James, Your comparison of the class size to management at work is a good analogy. The 15-20 is part of the mainstream thought on this. I am curious about what classes (topics and rigor) would you recommend maximum class sizes of 3-5? Thank you for sharing your insights. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
James, That occurs all too frequently. Some instructors require a reply email receipt, reading and understanding of the expectations. Unfortunately, this extra step does not ensure reading, but it does remove the excuse of 'not seeing it' from a subsequent conversation to correct the issue, because they have provided their own statement to the contrary. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Said, This seems like it would be a very engaging activity, as well as possibly very tasty. Thanks for sharing. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Said, I have no expertise in the kitchen, but this seems reasonable to me. Although, my 'common sense' concerning recipes would be worse than useless. ;-] Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Said, Indeed it is so. Pausing to think before reacting is often difficult within "critical thinking moments." Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Jim, This is a critical point. Today's world has many entrapments for the unsuspecting. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Jim, All of these are excellent recommendations. Thank you for your contribution. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

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