Meet the Remote Teaching and Learning Specialists

The Provost has appointed a Remote Teaching and Learning Specialist for each school. These people are resources for the school’s faculty to seek guidance for virtual instruction and remote course delivery. Each of the specialists has provided a quote about their approach to or philosophy of virtual instruction.

ASB – Professor Nikhil Varma
“Transitioning to Virtual learning is a challenge. Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas are designed to support faculty to provide digital education more effectively. While some might view it as a repository only, others can use the power of such systems to create memorable and effective learning experiences. My role as an online learning specialist: I present different class configurations to faculty seeking to design their courses in Canvas that would be complementary to their human touch. I strive to help create a symphony with human and digital delivery and hope to help my colleagues use these approaches in their virtual/online delivery.”

CA – Professor Ruma Sen
“Virtual learning has been a challenge for most of us thrust into this world suddenly almost a year ago. Over time, I have come to appreciate the tools that are available to make online learning more than merely structured delivery of course content. The student-teacher interaction, which is at the heart of any classroom, must become a part of virtual delivery as well. I hope that through the effective use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) resources like Canvas that are available to us, along with recent advancements, we will be able to produce better modes of engagement, such as breakout sessions, even in this virtual world.”

HGS – Professor Karl Johnson
“My proposed plans as the remote teaching and learning specialist are to support Ramapo College’s Mission and Strategic plans, and integrate our online and hybrid course offerings in such a way that it can support the college’s long term viability by training all students, faculty, staff, and administrators to efficiently migrate and effectively use our new Canvas LMS.”

SSHS – Professor Jackie Braun
“As a cognitive psychologist, I try to integrate many of the basic cognitive principles of learning and memory (such as the importance of context, meaningfulness, retrieval practice, etc) into the design of my courses; this is true regardless of modality of instruction for any of my courses (in person, virtual synchronous, or asynchronous online courses). I look forward to working with my colleagues as we each adapt our courses to the new reality—I hope to be able to share best practice resources for teaching and learning (especially remotely), to serve as a sounding board, to help brainstorm ideas, and to simply offer support in general as we move forward.”

TAS – Professor Paramjeet Bagga
“Teaching and learning in the post-Covid era are likely to involve significant technology components. COVID pandemic times have provided us an opportunity to develop and adopt technological tools for complementing and enhancing our existing teaching-learning approaches. Let’s work together to help build the advanced workforce for the future!”

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