MCC Offers Remote Courses to Community Partners

Middlesex Community College’s Corporate Education & Training (CET) partners with local businesses and organizations to provide professional development to employees. During this COVID-19 pandemic, MCC transitioned courses to remote, virtual and limited contact systems, including CET. As more people work from home or are furloughed, this is the perfect time to take classes, gain knowledge and skills, and work towards career advancement.

A leader of online education for over 20 years, Middlesex is adept at providing its courses and instructors with the tools needed to transition classes to remote learning.

“This is a perfect example of how MCC supports our employer partnerships – and has done so for over 30 years,” said Judy Burke, MCC’s Executive Director of Institutional Advancement. “Even throughout the pandemic, we continue to support our employers with cost-effective, flexible and customized education and training so they can continue to flourish – despite the difficult circumstances.”

Tim Scanlon, MCC’s Program Manager of Business & Industry, collaborated with Marci Barnes from Juniper and instructor Chris Soucy from Innate Forces to transition the Essentials of Communications and Interpersonal Skills courses to Zoom.

“The three of us had a few meetings as a team to develop a plan to move forward that is mutually beneficial for Juniper, MCC and the training provider, and worked through any kinks along the way together,” Barnes said. “They have both been very flexible and easy to work with to make this experience the best it can be for our employees.”

Soucy’s in-class format of the course is a single half-day delivery. For the remote version, the workshop is delivered once a week for three weeks. Although there were challenges involved – including missing face-to-face interaction – Soucy enjoys witnessing the improvement of an employee’s skills grow over time rather than just working with them for one day.

“My sense is this helped deepen the learning,” he said. “We studied it and practiced during the workshop and then shared how we applied it at the start of the next session.”

Barnes believes Zoom allowed for a smooth transition as the instructor was able to interact with the employees, and employees could interact with each other. Having a video component aided in employees’ comfort levels and created a cohesive environment of learning.

“Middlesex’s flexibility to adjust and move the classes to a virtual platform was imperative to the success and completion of the grant,” Barnes said. “I am impressed that MCC was able to shift so quickly to make these content areas and classes available to our teams.”

In the transition, Soucy added content to his learning materials – a participant guide and slide deck ­­– ­to include more written detailed information. In the learning exercises, he uses small group discussions and partner exercises. A benefit to using Zoom, Soucy believes, is being able to record the sessions for employees to view later.

“Given near-universal closure of non-essential businesses, the main benefit of online learning is that it allowed the training engagement to happen in April, versus needing to postpone or cancel,” he said. “The interpersonal communication skills sessions are an ideal topic. We are all experiencing a strain in communicating with others so that any skills can be immediately applied.”

Soucy related the content of the Essentials of Communications course to working from home and Barnes said feedback from the employees was positive. As working from home is new for many, being able to discuss these skills provides employees with the strategies needed to perform better.

“We are all being challenged and stretched right now, and that is a primary way for us to grow,” Soucy said. “What cements this growth is how well we can apply what we’ve learned right now in isolation and then when physical distancing ends.”

To learn more about MCC’s professional development courses, contact Lisa Tuzzolo, MCC’s Program Manager of Corporate Education & Training at tuzzolol@middlesex.mass.edu or 978-656-3109.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, MCC has been a proven leader in online education for more than 20 years. We educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners, offering more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!