Forth Valley College staff who have helped develop a slick online digital community have gained further recognition recently.
Engineering and Science lecturer Nader Jarmooz, has been awarded Microsoft Innovative Education (MIE) Master Trainer status for teaching more than 650 FVC colleagues and staff from other colleges and organisations such as the NHS, in the use of the Teams application.
His expertise and that of fellow FVC trainers Bill Crawford - who has attained the grade of ‘MIE Expert’ – Jasmin Hodge, currently progressing towards her ‘Trainer’ and ‘Expert’ titles, and Jim Davidson who is also certified in MIE, along with Laurence Ferguson and his colleagues who have been an essential support to the team, has been widely sought after from national bodies such as College Development Network and Jisc, to deliver national webinars on Teams for their staff.
Nader, who has been a champion of online and distance learning at the College for the last eight years, has been sharing his Teams expertise to professionals across Scotland, which has been so useful during the lockdown.
Modest Nader, said: “It is great to achieve my Master Trainer status, but I have to say that when we are talking here about me, we are really talking about Forth Valley College as a whole including our fabulous IT team, because in my opinion I have realised that we are leading the sector in terms of eLearning and remote delivery.
“I really enjoy it to be honest and we are all very proud that a lot of our colleagues are now very competent in using Teams. I can sort of gauge where we are in relation to the other colleges by the basic level of questions I receive at times. But it is also great that my reputation is spreading through these national webinars and our peers in other colleges are catching up quickly.”
Barkha Pabra, Curriculum Manager in the Department of Engineering and Science, said: “I am blessed to have Nader Jarmooz and Bill Crawford in my team. They are always ahead of the game and are looking for innovation. Engineering is all about improving and embracing new technologies and I am so proud that they are always keeping up with this. Becoming an MIE Expert is another milestone and am sure we will see lots more happening in future.”