SFA BEAMS MASTER LEVEL COURSES TO PANOLA COLLEGE

Students pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education Leadership from Stephen F. Austin State University are now traveling from as far away as Jacksonville, Gilmer, Troup, Marshall, Longview, Center, and Hallsville to receive instruction at one of Panola College’s Interactive Television (ITV) classrooms.

Receiving the courses via ITV at Panola was the brainchild of Martha Boren of Carthage.  Ms. Boren was tired of traveling to Nacogdoches weekly to attend classes at SFA, so she approached the administration with the idea of “beaming” classes to Panola College. They agreed and after some discussion with Panola College, four students started meeting at an ITV class at Panola College last spring.  

Since then the classes have grown to eleven students, prompting SFA to send adjunct instructors to provide face-to-face instruction. The classes meet every Wednesday. The first one, “Practical Inquiry and Action Research II” meets at 4:00 p.m. and is taught by adjunct instructor Raylene Conner. Dr. Conner works as a full time educator for Henderson ISD and has been an adjunct instructor for SFA for two years. When asked to comment about Panola College’s facility and the courses being offered she replied, “This is a more user friendly way for SFA to offer classes in a rural area. I really love the small class size because I get to know the students very well. I am grateful to Panola College for making it possible to offer these courses.”

The other is a capstone course that begins at 7:00 p.m. and is led by Dr. Julia Ballinger. The course is designed to prepare students to take the TExES/ExCET exams. The purpose of these examinations is to ensure that each educator has the prerequisite content and professional knowledge necessary for an entry-level position in Texas public schools.

Students are also pleased with the courses. They commented that the ITV classrooms were relatively close by and convenient. They like the fact that they can stay together as a cohort and believe they have a great support system in place. “Each student has different strengths,” said Mark Davis. “For instance Shane Wright has a mathematics background. His knowledge and willingness to help has benefited many in our group.”

Dana Robertson from Gilmer commented that, “Panola College was very accommodating and had tried to meet all of their needs. While Dawn Bauer of Jacksonville said, “Steve McGee, Patti Rushing, and Ann Morris have gone above and beyond.”  The students also bragged on the hard work and professionalism demonstrated by Cristie Ferguson and Joe Pate. “Cristie did a great job presenting the library orientation and getting materials for us through the TEX-Share program while Joe is a great help when we need to visit the computer lab.”

 

“The value of distance learning is limited only by the imagination of teachers, administrators and students willing to embrace the potential of the technology. Because of our ITV capability and the helpfulness of Panola faculty and staff, these full-time public school educators eliminated the time and cost of traveling back and forth to SFA. We’re using our resources to better serve and educate our community. It’s what we do here,” stated Ann Morris, Associate Dean of Distance Education at Panola College.