Onondaga Community College: Combining Extraordinary Teaching & Technology

Syracuse NY

16 December, 2021

11:45 AM

Description

Press release from Onondaga Community College: Roger Mirabito December 16, 2021 Professor Kim Amidon teaches American Sign Language to high school students in Oswego County from a classroom on the OCC campus. American Sign Language Professor Kim Amidon begins each class the same way... by tapping her hands on her desk to get her students attention. Her students are scattered across five high schools in neighboring Oswego County. Amidon is in a specially equipped classroom in Mawhinney Hall on the Onondaga Community College campus. There are microphones on her desk which pick up the noise her hands make. And she's surrounded by technology which gives her the ability to communicate with students. "I try to teach classroom style even though I am not in the same classroom as them. I'm trying to make ASL fun for them." Despite being Deaf, Amidon is able to teach successfully thanks to a variety of electronic devices coupled with her willingness to constantly learn new and better ways to do things. "This year has definitely been more challenging. I'm using more technology this semester than I ever have. It took about a month-and-a-half for us to get everything working perfectly." OCC Audio Visual Technology Coordinator Kelly Larrivey has worked with Amidon for 5 years, helping her with the technical side of distance learning. "We've worked through many technological challenges together and she's always come through it smiling. It's fascinating to watch her interact with students at five different schools using ASL. Through the years some of those students have wound up coming to OCC and they've always been excited about meeting her in person." The specially numbered photo at the bottom of this story shows you the technology around Amidon and how each piece of it is used. All hardware is supplied by either OCC's Audio Visual department or CiTiBOCES in Oswego County. The technology surrounding ASL Professor Kim Amidon includes: #1-desktop computer she uses to see her students in larger classrooms; #2-laptop she uses to share her PowerPoint presentation; #3-Ektron touch screen to turn on projectors; #4-Cisco touch pad to dial out and make the connection for video calls. It is also used to change the camera position when she moves from her desk to the dry erase board; #5-document camera which shows both documents and PowerPoints.             This press release was produced by Onondaga Community College. The views expressed here are the author's own.