A warm welcome is extended to Dr. Clayton Alford who has joined our distinguished team of mentors. Here is her brief profile:
“It gives me great pleasure to join Warnborough College, with its roots in England’s historic cities of Oxford, Canterbury and Dublin, and I look forward to learning from my new colleagues and teaching my new learners. I am thrilled to be a part of this global educational community.
As an online facilitator and mentor for adult learners, I will use best practice techniques to engage learners in discussions on current day trends in education. I take my mentoring role seriously and focus on helping my students never quite quench their thirsts for knowledge. I will encourage my students to collaborate in finding the right mix of skills and knowledge for their personal and professional development.
A little about me:
My most recent experience includes facilitating online graduate courses in the school of education at Concordia University-Portland for those writing their Master of Education Thesis. In addition, I supervise Special Education teacher candidates working on their student teaching (in-service) training through Walden University.
I hold a Doctorate of Education from the University of Phoenix, a Master of Science in Education (MSED) from the City University of New York, and a Bachelor of Education (Psychology) from Pennsylvania State University. My research interests include Special Education, Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction, Cognitive Dissonance, Literacy, and Elementary Education.
My educational philosophy encourages students to become lifelong learners and partners in literacy. I often meet 21st century educators who recognize that literacy encompasses collaboration between higher education institutions, libraries, and information technology (IT). They recognize that IT strengthens and improves the global significance of discussions on education.
I believe the best educational results occur when students share ideas in a collaborative environment. Such ideas need not command universal respect or agreement; a diverse community of learners helped by a focused facilitator, can enrich their learning through open discussion of ideas and theories. For learning, rational thought is a means and an end. Scholarship thrives when ideas and theories grow or shrink in an open forum of scholarly debate.
In studying for my doctorate, I leveraged my special education background into a thorough understanding of educational leadership and curriculum development. In researching for my dissertation, I focused on the risks and consequences of cognitive dissonance experienced by secondary general educators who teach diverse students with special-needs.
I believe universities should encourage interactive participation in intellectual pursuits by a diverse global student body that includes potential Nobel laureates and learners with special-needs. I consider a policy of inclusion in higher education can lead to comprehensive scholarly growth. As an online facilitator, I encourage respectful intellectual debate that leads participants to a greater sense of enlightenment and enrichment. Allow me to close with this quote from Tennyson – And let thy feet, millenniums hence, be set in midst of knowledge.” Dr. Clayton Alford (Ed.D.)
