MHC instructor receives Alberta Colleges award

By Mo Cranker on April 27, 2018.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

It’s been a good week for Medicine Hat College instructor Colleen Whidden.

MHC announced Thursday that Whidden was named the winner of the 2017 Distinguished Instructor Award by the Alberta Colleges & Institutes Faculties Association.

Alongside the announcement, Whidden was also named MHC’s first teaching fellow by the Centre for Innovation and Teaching Excellence, both exciting honours, she says.

“It’s always great to be recognized,” she said. “It’s a provincial award, so I was quite honoured to win.

“It’s great to have the support of my colleagues and my students, and really just the whole education division at the college here.”

Whidden is in her second year with the college, and says she was picked by her peers to be nominated for the award.

“We put together a nomination package that was signed off by a number of faculty and students,” she said. “We put that together in February and I found out this month that I was going to win.”

Whidden says she was happy, yet surprised she won.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” she said. “Just getting nominated was enough for me, just to be the representative from the college.

“Given that it’s only my second year here, and given how many great instructors are at the college and in Alberta — I’m just really honoured.”

The award is given every year to an instructor who connects well with their students and shows innovation in their field.

“I think a big part of it was connection with students, but we also connected with the community — in my music and drama course we did an actual musical,” she said. “Even though these fourth-year students were not drama or music majors, they were singing and dancing and also did all of the direction as well.

“There’s some amazing teachers here, and I think I was just the one who got put up for the award, but I do try very hard to work one-on-one with the students and connect with them individually.”

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