May’s Facilitator of the Month 

Valerie Haven

Our Facilitator of the Month is Valerie Haven. In May, Valerie facilitates the Accessibility The Easy Way workshop

Valerie Claire Haven is adjunct faculty and staff at the University of Massachusetts. She teaches graduate courses in accessibility and inclusive learning in online education for both UMass and the University of Southern Maine. Valerie also does consulting on accessibility issues related to technology and pedagogy for technologically-mediated instruction. Her primary interests and work relate to supporting faculty and staff to integrate assistive technology into their courses as easily as possible. 

Valerie’s career in assistive technology and on-line learning began in 2001 when she was hired to support the start-up of a new distance-based graduate program at UMass. She is an avid user of all types of assistive technology and develops toolkit suites to support learners with various disabilities and diverse learning styles taking on-line courses. While she is passionate about technology in general, her real interest is in helping teachers and faculty find and select the right technologies to support the learning objectives of their courses. Valerie is also the 2010 recipient of Sloan’s President’s Special Award for Outstanding Achievement by An Individual in the Field of Online learning. She has also designed a toolkit suite making synchronous conferencing accessible for learners who are deafblind. Valerie now facilitates workshops and consults on issues of accessibility for Sloan-C Institute. 

Her next workshop is Enhancing Your Course's Accessibility is offered May 16-25. If you would like the opportunity to learn with her you can find out more here: http://bit.ly/Htbmp6 

Thank you, Valerie for your dedication and hard work at the Sloan-C Institute!