Category Archives: Higher Education

Campus, College, Higher Education, Journalism, Winona State University

New Professor Overcomes New Challenges

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Education is fundamental to the of development one’s life.
Kay Hannahan knows this well.

Hannahan is a first-year professor in the Mass Communication department at Winona State University.

She got into teaching after graduating college at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

After graduating, she returned home to Minnesota where she later joined AmeriCorps in their welfare to work program.
In this program she taught immigrants “how to write a resume and how to interview.”

She enjoyed volunteering and said made connections and taught people valuable life skills.

Hannahan then joined the Peace Corps where Hannahan “taught English in a really small village school.”

One of her memorable moments while in Peace Corps in Bulgaria, was when she was walking down the street with fellow Peace Corp members when some of her students stopped to say hello to them in English in what sounded like a Minnesota accent.

From there, Hannahan went to graduate school at Temple University in Philadelphia where she taught as an assistant in the film program.

After spending time on the east coast and outside the United States, she returned to Minnesota in 2019 to look for teaching jobs.

Then in March of 2020 a day before the declaration of the pandemic she gave birth to her son Duke.

Not only was Hannahan juggling finding a job she said, “I always joke that there’s no postpartum book that tells you how to be a mother during a pandemic.”

Shortly after her baby was born, she was officially hired on to be a part of WSU’s Mass Communication department in June 2020.

She had to deal with the pandemic and being a new mother, Hannahan choose to have an online delivery mode for her WSU classes this year.

At first, she felt online teaching was going to be inferior to teaching in person.

She said she found it could be helpful in some ways.

Natalie Tyler, a fourth-year student at WSU and current student of Hannahan.

Photo submittted by Natalie Tyler

Said her experience in Hannahan’s online course was positive, “I love that she actually goes through all of the assignments more in detail and she shows you know what students are supposed to do and how to actually edit each project,” Tyler said.

Hannahan said she liked Zoom’s capabilities because “when you’re teaching editing software, you have the ability to record to lecture.”

Alek LaShomb, a fourth-year student at WSU has had two classes with Hannahan said that the recorded lectures were helpful because he ran into an issue with Adobe Premier Software and the recorded lecture helped him figure it out.

Photo submitted by Alek LaShomb

LaShomb said, “If we’re in person, that’s something I’d have to wait until the next class session, or I’d have to email her about”

Hannahan said camera equipment tutorials would work better in person than Zoom.

 So in the future she intends to have them in-person.

Next year, she looks forward to the introduction of her new course the Living History Project which will be a collaboration with WSU’s Retiree Center.

Hannahan said, “I’m excited to explore more of Winona and to see my students more often face-to-face.”

LaShomb spoke on what Hannahan adds to the Mass Communications faculty. “I think she’ll be a good face for that new guard that’s gonna be coming through the Mass Comm department” LaShomb said.

Campus, College, Digital Life and Learning, Higher Education, Winona

Are Education Students Prepared to Student Teach?

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With COVID-19 putting a strain on in-person classes, a lot of students are suffering when it comes to learning. One such group is students who are studying to become the next generation’s teachers.

College students in the Elementary and Early Education department at Winona State University are having to do supplemental work instead of being in the classroom and working with children.

According to Daniel Kirk, Dean of the WSU College of Education, 516 students are enrolled in the Elementary and Early Education department.

Those 516 students are missing out on vital time of working in person with children, and many within the next few semesters will start their actual semester of student teaching.

Dr. Mary Anderson, a professor in the Elementary and Early Education department, said she is optimistic for her students to begin student teaching.

Dr. Mary Anderson professor of the Elementary and Early Education Department, submitted

“I think they are going to be well prepared with their content,” Anderson said. “What I can’t replicate is the actual child or group of children.”

Dr. Anderson said while students are not able to work in the field, they are doing well with online learning.

“With the work students did last semester and are continuing to do this semester, I have not seen any signs of their academic work lacking at all,” Anderson said. “In fact, I might make a case that they might even be a little bit stronger.”

Payton Portugue an early education major for three semesters will begin student teaching this fall. Portugue selecting a school where she will student teach in the fall.

Payton Portugue major of Elementary and Early Education Department

The education department offers a variety of classes to prepare students for teaching and working with children in a classroom environment.

Since COVID-19 started, these students have not been able to get into any of the local classrooms to work with kids.

“COVID-19 has severely cut down the time we get to spend working with kids in a classroom and building those classroom management skills,” Portugue said.

Portugue said instead of field experience, Winona State University has provided alternative methods like observational videos.

“I feel like I’ll never be one hundred percent prepared,” Portugue said. “I think that Winona has provided me with a lot of different skills and opportunities, so I think I’ll fit in pretty well.”

Hannah Seifert, an education major for three semesters at WSU delayed her field experience after studying abroad for a semester.

“I’ve been able to take all my classes,” Siefert said. “I haven’t been able to do any of the field experience which is a challenge.”

Siefert described the requirements all education students need in order to begin student teaching.

“Minnesota requires 100  hours of field experience in order to student teach, where 50 of those hours can be supplemental,” Siefert said.

Siefert is optimistic to begin student teaching even though she never had field experience due to COVID-19.

“I think by the time I’m done with student teaching I’ll be prepared since we’re learning all the material now,” Siefert said. “I’m hoping by next spring I’ll be able to student teach in person.”