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QCC Professor Wins Course of Distinction Award

Contact: Cherie Ronayne
Office of Institutional Communications
508.854.2849
cronayne [at] qcc.mass.edu

Release Date: 
7/12/2006

WORCESTER –   Worcester native and Quinsigamond Community College professor Sheila Booth was awarded a Course of Distinction Award by Massachusetts Colleges Online.

Mass Colleges Online (MCO) is a consortium of the 15 community colleges and 9 state colleges of Massachusetts.  Through MCO, the colleges work jointly to share their online courses and programs with students throughout the state.  One course may be nominated annually by each institution for the Course of Distinction Award.  According to the award’s guidelines, the course must demonstrate “outstanding faculty innovation and online course practices, along with innovative teaching and creative uses of instructional technology.”

“I’m delighted to have this course – ‘Internet Communications’ –  recognized and valued with the COD award,” Sheila said. “No matter what career or four-year college our students prepare themselves for, information literacy is an essential skill.”  

Sheila Booth has been teaching her award-winning “Internet Communications” course for ten years now.   Six years ago, she revised the course for the online classroom.

“As a teacher of writing, I’m fascinated by the way computers help people communicate and I developed ‘Internet Communications’ to help students navigate this growing medium,” Sheila stated.  “It became ideal for the online environment.” 

The MCO Course of Distinction award encourages faculty to incorporate successful strategies and techniques into their online courses.  Among the other parts of Sheila’s course, students create and publish online portfolios of course projects using web authoring software.   In addition, they improve their research skills and adapt to change since “the Internet is certainly a fluid space to navigate and it often influences our decision making,” she added.  

 Professor Booth’s course was showcased at MCO’s June Conference in a presentation to attendees.  She joins past winners and QCC faculty Steve Zona (College Math course) and Walter Swett (Chemical Dependency course) among the group of QCC professors to have won this award.  

Quinsigamond Community College is the most affordable higher education in Worcester County. As a regional leader in education and workforce development, QCC serves the diverse educational needs of Central Massachusetts by providing affordable, accessible, and high quality programming leading to transfer, career, and lifelong learning.