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

Amy, Nice balance and rationale. Very good. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Amy, Very well laid out. Excellent recommendations. Thank you for your insights. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Stephanie, One example for elementary mathmatics is the National Math Bee (http://nationalmathbee.org/Video.aspx). It is a nonprofit learning community that grew out of a dissertation. It lasted five years. The at the indicated link demonstrates one implementation of the concept. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Deborah , The individualized affirmation, encouragement and instruction can be a tremandous 'jump start' for these overly self-conscious students. It is very rewarding to see one of the gain confidence and become substantive contributors to the class. Terrific approach. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Kevin, Welcome aboard as an online instructor! The smaller ratios, as you correctly identify, are more effective for the 'personalized attention' from the instructor to the student. One important dynamic to remeber is to help the students collaborate with their own pursuit of learning. The student-to-student dynamic requires enough of s class population to generate the synergy of groups, both intra-group and inter-group dynamics can be used to facilitate online learning if the required careful setup has been properly implemented. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Yvette, I greatly enjoy learning of success stories like this. Teachers do change the future. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Yvette, These are excellent focal points and can have significant impact with many students. Encouragement, focus on doing better next time and specific instruction for doing better makes a great recipe for student improvement. Very nice. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Yvette, Tone of emails is a critical issue. Many times the receiver is the one who adds 'tone' that was not intended and misunderstanding can ensue. For example, sometimes brevity in constructive criticism without ample encouragement and affirmation can seem to have a 'tone' to some students. Very good post. Thank you for your contribution. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Yvette, Yes, many instructors, and schools, accomplish this with posted class announcements, introductory emails, student handbooks, student catalogs, etc. Organization and brevity of putting all of that information into an "Expetations Statement" is one of the biggest parts of the challenge. Thnak you. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Yvette, Very solid approach. Nicely done. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

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