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

ANN, The misunderstandings you identify are very common. Very carefully chosen verbiage to correct and encourage is definitely a requirement of any text-based learning environment. Thank you for sharing. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Samantha, I believe in encouraging word is almost always appropriate. However, to believe that an individual's motivation for learning is always the responsibility of someone other than an individual is almost certainly harmful to "the direction of learning." Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Thomas, I have had many instructors advocate for the "sandwich" approach. Do you feel you are obtaining a successful result? Thank you for sharing. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Gershom, Your goal of drawing the students in an eliciting their participation to be more pervasive than your participation is exactly the right goal. Encouraging them for "more in-depth" feedback is also an excellent goal. Very good. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
John, I agree and understand your position that the instructor should model the desired behavior. Additionally, there should be a balance of instructor postings so that the instructor is not posting more than anyone else in the form. This sometimes has the effect of squelching student participation with their colleagues and responding almost overwhelmingly to the instructor only. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Stacy, Thank you for sharing these good ideas. Please keep in mind that it is certainly appropriate to "target" students when you are sending praise in the public forum, but to correct only in private. Keep up the good work. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Rubiela , Keep up the great work. Continue to implement multiple approaches as they seem appropriate. Also, remember you will probably not ever obtain 100% from any class with 10 or more students. Just keep trying new things and refining those things that work. Hang in there. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
tina, Yes, there are many approaches. You should always follow the principle of "praise in public and correct in private" when instructing students in the online class. Sometimes just by praising those who do respond in public, you can encourage others to participate in the same way. Don't give up. ;-] Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Kimberley, Yes, I agree with the perspective he stated as the prevalent situation. Do you see any reason or means to shift the motivation from external to internal for students "to take the course is anticipated?" As adult learners, should we put more effort into empowering them to take responsibility for their own participation? Thank you for your contribution. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Kathy, This is an excellent point. In the hybrid environment, there is often a much smaller rate of "unreachable" students. Keep up the great work. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

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