Joycelyn Williams-Green is proud to be both college professor and college student.
Professor Williams-Green is Senior Lecturer of Educational Psychology and Special Needs at Antigua State College. She teaches teachers, mentoring them in how to do their jobs even better, especially in the area of special education. While often standing behind the podium as professor, Joycelyn also spends time sitting in front of the podium—the online podium of her computer screen—continuing her own professional education. In 2017, she completed an MS-Education at Martin Luther College with a special education emphasis.
She’s thrilled about what she’s learned at MLC, and so are her students at Antigua State. They too reap the benefits. “The teachers in my classes are excited about special needs,” she says, “as I often use the approaches I learned while a student at MLC.”
In fact, Professor Williams-Green restructured her entire course outline to include more of the content she explored in her MLC courses. “I support my students’ learning by providing additional resources, something that was critical to my success at MLC,” she says. “I also expect my learners to engage in critical thinking and problem solving, so I teach to facilitate this. Finally, I expose the learners to more literature, and I restructured the course outline to include areas that we explored at MLC. I also use ideas from the MLC courses for assignments.”
“MLC provides you with one-of-a-kind experience. The content is superior, and the professors are supportive and competent. The pace is excellent for working adults, and you will have time to learn and understand the material, which will help you to apply it in the real world.”
Why did Professor Williams-Green, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, choose MLC in the first place? Many universities offer online master’s programs, but she wanted something that only a handful of institutions offer. “I wanted to enjoy a Lutheran education,” she says. “There is always an emphasis on developing gifts and talents with a Lutheran education.”
MLC was also affordable, she says, and highly recommended by others who had gone through the program. But did the program rise to the level of her expectations?
“I had hoped to learn more about special needs,” she says, “to gain practical experiences that would prepare me for a future career in the field, and to grow as a teacher as I gain skills in research and professional writing skills. Those goals were achieved!”
Now she’s the one doing the recommending. “MLC provides you with one-of-a-kind experience. The content is superior, and the professors are supportive and competent. The pace is excellent for working adults, and you will have time to learn and understand the material, which will help you to apply it in the real world.”
Though she’s finished this master’s degree, Professor Williams-Green is still a student. She’s begun another program, an MS-Psychology with an Applied Behavior Analysis specialization, this time at Capella University. “It’s different from MLC,” she says, “as there is no real connection to the professors. The course is for 10 weeks at a time, and it is difficult to internalize the content of one course before it’s time to begin another. MLC offered courses per semester rather than quarter. That was exactly what I needed so that I had time to internalize and process the course content.”
When Joycelyn is not teaching or studying, she enjoys time with her two daughters (23 and 13), goes to the beach, listens to music, and watches movies.
And she has one more professional goal: “One day I hope to pursue a PhD. I wish it could be at MLC!”
Written by Laurie Gauger-Hested
