ASSETT Newsletter - October 2022
Dr. Nicole Jobin Receives ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award
Each year, ASSETT awards the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award to a faculty member who has been nominated by their peers and students for their commitment to teaching with technology. This year, Dr. Nicole Jobin is recognized for her use of technology as not only a tool, but also as a great equalizer in her classroom, placing students as co-creators, rather than passive learners, of their knowledge.
Dr. Jobin is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Stories and Societies Residential Academic Program here at CU Boulder and primarily teaches first year students. Dr. Jobin is an early adopter of technology as a learning tool, being one of the first faculty to implement Canvas and other online pedagogical tools, while also pioneering remote teaching techniques during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nominators note that Dr. Jobin was “invaluable to the RAPs when the pandemic necessitated a sudden pivot to remote teaching”, quickly preparing resources on Zoom and Canvas for other faculty members, and that she continues to provide tech support for RAP faculty that request help for technology related issues.
Dr. Jobin encourages fellow educators with this statement: “I think sometimes people think everything has to be polished and finished… [But] sometimes the process is almost as important as the product”. While Dr. Jobin speaks of some of her successes and some of the snags she’s encountered in using technology, she maintains that the process itself is still worth doing. Almost always, students will still learn something — even if the technological execution is not exactly perfect.