Even though she’s been teaching for nearly 40 years, Sue Brien has not slowed down one bit! This high energy instructor has been facilitating face-to-face and online courses for PLS since 1988 and regards teaching as a mission not a job. Sue is knowledgeable about many subjects and is certified to teach nearly 20 PLS courses. When she isn’t in the classroom, you can find her singing professionally or feeding the duck that adopted her.
What was the best part about the course development process?
I realized the tremendous amount of hard work that our designers do in creating or re-creating any of our courses. In my case, April and I re-developed TTLC together and we were able to teach each other. I think we both learned many things. In particular, I learned that our designers are truly quite creative and dedicated, and their interest is making our courses what they are – the best online or face-to-face. April kept me on my toes and in order to validate what we know about learning channels, she even had me trek to university campuses to make sure our sources were credible. (Actually, I did this on my own because our research is extremely important and we must have “proof”. Ah, the smell of the stacks at a university).
What was the most challenging aspect of being a SME and developing the course?
The challenging aspect of being the SME was to keep the essence of TTLC. It is one of our “oldest” courses and it is based on a vast amount of research. However, we needed to update the research and in the process update the way in which participants can best learn the material. April and I asked questions and patiently listened to each other as we made collaborative decisions on what to keep and what to either change or eliminate.
What did you learn while developing the course?
I learned that we can stretch our thinking and include wonderfully exciting possibilities for our participants’ learning. We went beyond “read, reflect, write” and used the learning channels as we redesigned TTLC. I learned that it is important to get to the heart of the topic and that it takes all of us to make our courses work.
Do you feel that serving as a SME will influence your approach to facilitating in any way?
I was excited to see how the revised TTLC would go and now that I am facilitating the new version of TTLC, I do look at what we have done a little differently. I am watching the course unfold with different eyes. I am also looking at what the participants are posting and checking my thoughts about what was with what we now have. I really like what I am reading and many have written that they enjoy the course. Of course, I now know a whole bunch more about the nuances of course building and content needs.
Allow me to express my gratitude for having had the opportunity to be a SME. I hope I can be a part of the process again.
