June 15, 2022
The Massachusetts Colleges Online (MCO) consortium has announced that Dr. Anne Goodwin of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) has received a Course of Distinction (COD) Award. Dr. Goodwin, one of fewer than 30 recipients from state campuses across Massachusetts, was recognized at the 17th annual MCO Conference on eLearning, held virtually June 2, 2022.
The Course of Distinction awards are given annually to recognize excellence in design and delivery of online and hybrid courses across multiple categories. Dr. Goodwin designed and taught Nutrition for Healthy Living as an asynchronous, fully-online course. The course integrates individual and small-group activity, and provides authentic, humanized connections to support students' engagement and academic success in an asynchronous environment.
This was Dr. Goodwin’s second semester teaching this fully-online course, and its success, she said, can be drawn from the course’s organized and consistent schedule; the variety of ways students could seek information, including videos, readings, and websites; and well-curated virtual class discussions where students could share information and ideas with each other. “While MCLA hosts mainly in-person classes during the academic year, this award shows that we do have the flexibility to offer high-quality online courses, as well,” said Dr. Goodwin.
Professor Goodwin is the second faculty member in MCLA's Biology Department to earn recognition in recent years for outstanding online course design. Adjunct instructor Maryann Schroder won a COD in 2019 for the course Human Growth and Development.
Massachusetts Colleges Online (MCO) is a collaborative of 24 public state higher education institutions involved in the design, delivery, management, and assessment of online, blended, and other technology-mediated learning formats. MCLA is a member institution of the consortium.
