Program Development

In order to remain vital, programming within a school must reflect the needs of the students who attend it and the demands of the pathways which they choose. For a sampling of programming available at the Belleville and Picton sites, check the attachments below. The pre-heath program was introduced at the time I began as Department Head. For three years it has continued to be one of our very popular programming choices. It is now entering a small area of change. Colleges have identified a need for students to complete an additional English course in order to be successful in their programming. As I plan for the course offerings for the 2012-2012 school year, I will take this into consideration and use it to make Loyola’s pre-health program even better.

Many students do not plan to attend post-secondary education. Upon graduation, they want to find employment. Mike Zaffino, identified this two years ago and introduced a “JumpStart to Employment” pathway at Loyola Trenton. Effective leaders learn from their peers and colleagues and follow all good leadership models. Although, I have not introduced this program in its entirety, I do recognize the importance of giving Loyola students “an edge” by offering them the chance to receive workplace certifications while in attendance. This was introduced during the 2010-2011 school year with great success.

I believe online learning will continue to grow and develop in the coming years. Since becoming Department Head, online learning options have grown significantly at Loyola. This form of learning and teaching is currently in the pioneer phase. It is exciting to be involved in this program at this phase of its development. Some areas which I have been directly involved with include developing scripted emails for teachers to use to ensure consistent messaging is received by all students; and lead a collaborative inquiry with the mandate to identify areas of improvement and act on them.