feature story Not all faculty are fans of it either, he says. And he can understand why. “There are a lot of seasoned professors who’ve spent a long time in front of the class. They’re master storytellers who can paint pictures with words and are really comfortable in front of the class. They fear losing that connection, and I can understand that,” he says. “But there are ways of doing that online too.” Just ask David Wearing, Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Mohawk. A 20-year veteran of the college, David was one of those faculty who gave online learning a wide berth. Now he’s well known for his hilarious YouTube videos. “I’ve been told by those who know me that I can’t call myself a dinosaur anymore,” he jokes. “If that’s true it’s because Shaun encouraged me to take a deep breath and jump in. Shaun works hard to make the online as close to one-on-one as possible. He’s proof that it can be done.” Every year, Mohawk holds an internal conference called Inspiring Minds. It’s a chance for faculty to share best practices and to learn from each other. It was at the first of these conferences that Shaun presented on the work he was doing with eLearn.
He ended up winning a prize for his presentation. The prize was getting to go to D2L’s annual Fusion conference. Soon after, he was asked to present at a Desire2Learn conference where his subject matter was so popular they had to move him to a giant ballroom to meet demand. He’s been a regular at D2L conferences ever since. He’s even co-presented with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. In 2014, Shaun travelled to Australia for D2L’s international conference. It was there that Shaun was named one of D2L’s Leading Educators for 2014, one of only five in the world to receive the recognition. Prior to that, he had also received D2L’s Desire2EXCEL Innovation Award, which recognizes individuals who display exemplary ingenuity and creativity in empowering students to achieve their academic goals. And he got a job offer. “I turned it down,” said Shaun. “I feel a connection (to Mohawk). It’s where I figured myself out. The faculty here really helped me out and I hope that I can one day give that back.” As for the snowboarding dream, Shaun still hits the slopes every winter.
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