Accredited webinars enhance the experience for Education students
Technology is bringing more diversity to the University’s classrooms by allowing it to partner with universities in large cities across the country in creating interactive webinars. These sessions not only count as credit toward the diversity requirement, but they also open up a dialogue and offer students more comprehensive points of view.
Graduate students in the Education Department experienced the first series of webinars in the fall of 2012, studying with students and professors from Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., and Columbia University, an Ivy League school in Upper Manhattan.
Literacy experts Kenneth Anderson, Ph.D., from Howard and Ernest Morrell, Ph.D., from Columbia focused the three monthly webinars on reader identity, academic achievement and at-risk learners. “It was truly an innovative collaboration and unique learning experience for all involved, including the professors,” says Cheryl Stanley, Ed.D., dean of education at Westfield State.
One of those graduate students was Tiara Ghedi ’10, currently in her fourth year teaching fifth grade in West Springfield. Ghedi returned to Westfield State in 2011 to pursue her master’s degree as a reading specialist. In one of the webinars, she recalls, Dr. Morrell described how teachers can help close the achievement gap among black and Latino males by building on asset-focused factors that all children bring to the classroom. “It was interesting to learn about how their engagement has affective, behavioral and cognitive factors,” she says.
Dr. Stanley was quick to acknowledge the efforts of Elizabeth Preston, Ph.D., the vice president of Academic Affairs and the University’s interim president; Kimberly Tobin, Ph.D., dean of Graduate and Continuing Education; James Martin-Rehrmann, Ph.D., former dean of Education and the program coordinator for Reading Specialist Licensure; Sandy Berkowitz, Ph.D., Chair of the Education Department; and members of the IT staff for their work on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Diversity Standard Initiative.
Adjunct Professor Renay Hill and Dr. Berkowitz worked together with Drs. Morrell and Anderson to plan, map and organize these webinar series for EDUC: 0662 Innovative Practice in Reading. The course is part of the Reading Specialist Licensure Program, a graduate program offered through the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education. The professors are looking forward to offering these webinars again in the fall of 2014. Dr. Stanley is planning to expand this effort to undergraduate students in the spring of 2014 with Spelman College.
Robin DiAngelo, Ph.D., and Professor Nitza Hidalgo are teaming up with Andrea Lewis, Ph.D., and Christine King Farris at Spelman College, a historically black women’s college in Atlanta, Ga., to present books written by Drs. DiAngelo and Farris. Students at Westfield State will follow Dr. Farris’ presentation on “Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family and My Faith,” a book about growing up in the ’50s and ’60s in the South and how it influenced her and her family. Farris is the sister of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Planning for the multicultural education course, which is offered every semester, began in the fall of 2013 for Dr. DiAngelo and Professor Hidalgo. Dr. DiAngelo, an associate professor of education, has completed research in U.S. race relations, in what’s called “critical whiteness students” and anti-racist education. Hidalgo, who teaches in the areas of multicultural education, the philosophy of education and Latino studies, is also writing a memoir about her childhood in East Harlem, N.Y., also known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem.
Their commitment and enthusiasm toward the subject matter is obvious.
Students will also discuss chapters from Dr. DiAngelo’s book, What Does it Mean to be White? Developing White Racial Literacy, based on her research and perspective of the Latino experience in the United States. The professors hope the class will help students bring history into the present and explore how race relations have evolved since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court verdict in Brown versus the Board of Education, which declared separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. Teacher candidates from Morehouse College attending education classes at Spelman will also participate.
Dr. Stanley says these conference-style webinars will ensure that the University’s pre-service and in-service teachers have some interaction with other diverse candidates and faculty from another NCATE higher education institution.
“We must assure that Westfield State candidates have educational experiences with diverse peers and faculty,” explains Dr. Stanley. “Because Westfield State is a predominantly white higher education institution, it has been difficult to provide experiences for our candidates to interact with other diverse candidates and faculty. We’ve been very fortunate to establish innovative partnerships.”
