AIU Online Alumni in the News

Shawndra Fauchier
Making the Lives of Students Easier

It was while a student herself-in the Master of Education degree program at AIU Online-that Shawndra Fauchier developed a project chosen by the National College of Teaching and Learning as one of 10 outstanding proposals that "demonstrate successful practice and research to improve higher-education learning."

From the 10 projects, one "Award-Winning Conference Proposal" will be selected. The winning project's creator will be awarded $5,000 and a paid registration to the 2006 National Educational Computing Conference.

This news was reported by Shawndra's employer, Bethany College, in a newsletter sent out shortly after Shawndra's project was recognized and selected as a finalist in late 2005.

Shawndra's project, "Creative Campus Connections," uses principles she learned during her M.Ed. with a concentration in Instructional Technology degree program at AIU Online. The project is an online supplement to a college's existing on-campus freshman orientation. The module is sent to entering students before they arrive on campus and teaches them about different services and resources in and around campus. After students have completed the module, they fill out an online assessment, scoring the areas they just learned about; these scores are sent to the institution. By the time students arrive at school, their on-campus orientation has been designed to include sessions on low-scoring topics.

The project both educates students and reduces institutional costs.

Shawndra has worked in the Office of Residence Life at Bethany College for a year. When not developing "Creative Campus Connections," Shawndra serves as area coordinator for three of Bethany's residence halls. In addition to her M.Ed through AIU Online, which Shawndra graduated with in the summer of 2005, she is a certified instructional designer through Southern Methodist University.

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