James McConnell II

Bio

On the 1st day of October in the year of 1968, I was born unto this world in the fine city of Rome. That would be Rome, New York. My father was a combat photographer in the Air Force so we moved around a bit: Andrews Air Force Base in Washington DC and then in 1973 we moved to Panama. I spent 5 formative years there and they ended up being the reason I learned Spanish and decided to make it a career. In 1978 we were forced to leave Panama and we drove through Central America to Arizona where I would live for the next 22 years. I attended the University of Arizona for both undergraduate and graduate school and in the meantime, I taught scuba diving on the weekends in San Carlos, Mexico. After receiving my MA in Hispanic Literature I taught for three additional years at the University of Arizona before accepting a position as Caribbean Operations Director for an adventure travel company for teenagers called Broadreach where I taught scuba diving and experiential education before running the Caribbean operation. The years I taught for them afforded me to travel to Mexico (Baja and Oaxaca), Ecuador, Fiji, The Solomon Islands, and nearly all of the Leeward and Windward Islands in the Caribbean. I was employed as a lecturer at NC State from the Fall of 2005 through Spring 2013 and in the Fall of 2013 I was made Senior Lecturer and eventually appointed as Graduate Teaching Supervisor. I love teaching at NC State and working with both undergraduate and graduate students. There is genuine camaraderie within our department and I enjoy coming to work every day. I am afforded many opportunities here such as teaching an online course and running a summer study abroad program. I directed a program in Segovia, Spain from 2007-2019 but then the pandemic hit. In 2023 I moved the program to Sevilla, where it continues today. In the spring of 2012, Dr. Shelley Garrigan and I started a program called VOLAR (Voluntarios Ahora en Raleigh) and in May 2012 we won a seed grant of $10,000 to help jump-start the program and it blossomed into a student organization that has received multiple awards under varied leadership. More importantly, it’s given our Spanish-speaking students the opportunity to work and interact with the Spanish-speaking community in Raleigh and beyond. I was named a DELTA Faculty Fellow for the calendar years 2018-19 and 2019-2020 and was honored to receive this and the opportunities to offer workshops and attend conferences which were invaluable for my professional development. In the fall of 2023 I was named Spanish Section Coordinator for our 100-200 level courses. Among the courses I especially enjoy creating and teaching are conversation, introduction to culture and grammar through the use of film in addition to constantly improving on my study abroad program.

Research Publications

McConnell, James, et. al. DELTA Faculty Fellows Share Ways to Plan Breaks for Students this Spring. Digital article. 11/30/2020.

McConnel, James, et. al. Educating Globally Competent Engineers in Segovia, Spain. Presented at Globalizing Engineering Education II: Best Practices.

Presentations

McConnell, James. DELTA Summer Shorts Conference. Faculty Fellows Panel. 2019 and 2020.

McConnell, James. (2020) Managing Active Learning in Large Classes. Workshop given at the DELTA Summer Shorts Conference. (August 2020).

McConnell, James, and Judge, DeAnn. (2020) On My Own: How to Reduce Cheating and Plagiarism in Online Classes. (Assessing an Online Class) Access Password: 9r^#3&3% Zoom presentation to CHASS while an Academic Continuity Mentor during the pandemic. (June 2020).

McConnell, James, and Lewald, Carol Ann. (2020) Synchronous or asynchronous? Flexibility in the Online Classroom. (Teaching and Online Class). Access Password: 0b@+V916 Zoom presentation to CHASS while an Academic Continuity Mentor during the pandemic. (June 2020).

McConnell, James, and Mitin, Dmitri. (2020) Tools for Online Teaching: Technology A-La-Carte. (Building an Online Class). Access Password: 2R%@a80F Zoom presentation to CHASS while an Academic Continuity Mentor during the pandemic. (June 2020).

McConnell, James. Teaching Online in FLL. Workshop given to 20 colleagues who teach online courses for the department, focusing on best practices and plagiarism. December 2019.

McConnell, James. Activate Student Engagement: How to Promote Meaningful Learning. Workshop given through DELTA. October 2019.

McConnell, James. Mission Possible: Apps and Other Technology to Engage Learners. Workshop given through DELTA. October 2019.

McConnell, James. (2014-19) TA Orientation and Workshop: August, September, October & November

McConnell, James. (2019) Engaging Language Learners in the Digital Age. Workshop given to Lebanese Fulbright Scholars at NC State, August 2019.

McConnell, James. (2019) Mindtap Workshop: switching over from Quia. Workshop given to colleagues to assist in the transition to a new online platform. May 2019.

McConnell, James. (2019) Investing in Your Students: How to build a Great TA Partnership, April 2019

McConnell, James. (2019) Free Web 2.0 Tools. Workshop given through DELTA. April 16th & 25th 2019.

McConnell, James. (2019) Free Web 2.0 Tools. Workshop given through DELTA. January 2019.

McConnell, James. (2018) Mission Possible: Apps and other tools to encourage students to speak more. Presentation given at FLANC and ACTFL in Fall 2018.

McConnell, James. (2016) Technology You Can Eat: Using Apps to Create a Menu to Organize your Class. Interactive presentation given at FLANC and ACTFL.

McConnell, James. Tharrington, Karen. (2016) Engaging Language Learners in the Digital Age. Workshop given to Lebanese Fulbright Scholars at NC State.

McConnell, James (2010). Gmail and Beyond: Google applications and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Workshop given at the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (FLANC)

Area(s) of Expertise

Communicative courses that focus on language production in familiar environments outside of a classroom setting.