Dr. DeRionne Pollard, President of Montgomery College, delivered the keynote address at QM ConnectLX 2020. Pollard started by talking about the impact of Quality Matters (QM) and how education is “about the experience and dignity” and this resonated. Pollard talked about how much aid Montgomery College gave to students during the pandemic. The impact of inequalities, especially for community college students, was stressed by Pollard through a series of examples, national statistics, and student stories.
The fear and uncertainty experienced by so many students has driven Pollard and Montgomery College to talk openly about micro aggressions, equity, unrest… and quality educational experience. Pollard connected the lived experience of students to how this can be addressed by intentional digital equity through QM. Using QM standards, Montgomery College has expanded structured remote, distance learning, and hybrid course offering to promote equity in the student experience. Pollard also explained how their institution used Ally to check for accessibility and Open Educational Resources (OER). Over five-hundred sections of Z-courses offer zero cost to students! This is truly impressive! Pollard went on to talk about the lessons learned: they needed to provide academic and technical support to assist students in the transition to remote online instruction. Despite the tremendous efforts by their institution, students lost jobs or were not eligible for CARE funds and had to leave college!
The Montgomery College modes of online instruction Pollard discussed were infused with UDL and equity elements. Pollard also warned that the digital divide may have effects we won’t notice immediately. I had not considered this! Pollard had a call to action for the audience:
The Digital Divide is more than just about internet connections; it is about well-trained faculty behind those connections. It is about instructional design that inspires engagement… it is about presentations that students with all kinds of learning styles can use… it is about growing an awareness of our students’ socioeconomic conditions.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard, President of Montgomery College. QM Connet LX 2020
Pollard asked several questions and urged high-quality transformational education for all. Showing statistics from Montgomery College and extrapolating to community colleges nationwide, Pollard warned of the impact of reduced enrollment. During the question and answer session, Pollard emphasized the importance of faculty development to design and teach with equity in mind. I loved how Pollard spoke about empowering students to evaluate course quality and work with faculty to develop tools to be successful. An audience member also pointed out that adjunct faculty and staff are challenged by digital inequities. Montgomery College lent devices and even office chairs! Pollard ended by explaining how they crafted guiding principles that emphasized communication methods that were established to reach members of their multicampus institution.
