MCC Campus Connections Podcast: Episode 12

# MCC Campus Connections Podcast - Episode 12: Hamza Mahmood & Dr. Adriana Sabau
# Campus Connections Podcast - Episode 12
## *Podcast Transcript*
**Geovanny Mayorga 0:08**
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Campus Connections, a podcast dedicated to getting to know one another. We are recording from our 203 North LaSalle campus in downtown Chicago, and as always a reminder to follow us on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music and any other site that you'd like to follow. You can always contact us at podcast@mccollege.edu, we look forward to hearing from you. So today we have two wonderful guests. We have with us, Hamza Mahmood, who is our lead instructor for IT programs. Hello, Hamza, how are you?
**Hamza Mahmood 0:52**
I am doing good. How are you?
**Geovanny Mayorga 0:54**
Wonderful. And we have Adriana Sabau, who is our lead instructor for foundation courses for health. Did I get that correct?
**Adriana Sabau 1:09**
Yes, healthcare programs.
**Geovanny Mayorga 1:11**
That's correct. Wonderful. It's great to have you. I know we took some time to get all of us together because we were supposed to record a while ago, but then obviously summer and life and everything happened. So I'm glad we were able to get this together. One of the main reasons why I want to speak with you was because you both do work with IT relatively. Hamza, you're the IT really coordinator with IT. Would you be a coordinator?
**Hamza Mahmood 1:40**
You could say that. So I help with not just the program, with some admin work, and then we're also managing other programs in our other branches.
**Geovanny Mayorga 1:48**
Right? And Dr. Sabau, you do a lot of online classes, yes?
**Adriana Sabau 1:53**
Yes.
**Geovanny Mayorga 1:54**
And really, this topic came about because you and I had a conversation about doing online courses, and that really spurred what I would like, you know, this conversation to be about. Before we get there, we're going to get to know a little bit more about you and what you do at MCC because one of the interesting things, specifically when we're talking about technology, is not only how we handle technology today, but how we were initially introduced to technology and our comfort level with technology. So we'll get to all that. Dr. Sabau, where are you from?
**Adriana Sabau 2:35**
I'm from Romania. I was born and raised there. I went to school there. I finished medical school in Romania. I finished my post graduate training in rheumatology there. I also had a PhD in medical science from there, and I came here in the United States following my husband. My husband got a job here, and after I came here, I started all over from the beginning. Passed my USMLE exams for foreign doctors, and here I am teaching. I used to teach in Romania as well. Even though there, I worked mostly as a clinician, but I used to teach there as well. And after I came here and I passed my exams and everything, I was mostly focusing on teaching. So I used to teach for all kind of students, medical students, nursing students, healthcare students, and I really, I really enjoy doing this, and I've been here at MCC for several years now, like more than seven, I guess, and I am in this role of lead instructor since last year. And beside teaching, I'm doing also curriculum development. This is an activity that I really, really enjoy, because I can use my, you know, my medical knowledge, my background and everything, to create and create content, create courses that you know, they really benefit our students. So I think this is short story about me.
**Geovanny Mayorga 4:26**
It's wonderful. One of the interesting things is growing up in Romania, the time that you grew up, what was that life like?
**Adriana Sabau 4:31**
Well, I was growing up in Romania in a very difficult period of time during the Ceaușescu regime. But, you know, a child doesn't need many things to be happy. So I had the love of my family, and we had everything we need. So I didn't know too many things about how difficult it was to grow up in Romania in that regime, the Ceaușescu era, but I know that the parents struggled a lot to give their children a good life, and it was a difficult time.
**Geovanny Mayorga 5:12**
For sure, I'm sure it was a difficult time. And Hamza, you have an interesting background, because you moved out, moved about a little bit, and we'll get to that. But where were you originally from?
**Hamza Mahmood 5:25**
So I'm originally from Pakistan. I did my elementary, my middle school there, then I followed my mom and my family. My mom, pretty much, was a doctor that was going through different countries. And one of the other countries I had the pleasure of visiting was Saudi Arabia. We lived in the capital Riyadh, and that's where I did my high school. In 2016 I immigrated here to the US. Started my college. I started as a computer science major and then changed to IT because it was still kind of new at the time. Personally, for elementary and high school, a lot of my life was just pretty much on education and things just growing up. But I feel like my life really started in 2016 when I got here.
**Geovanny Mayorga 6:12**
In the US, yes. How was it because you moved out, moved about a little bit, mainly, was it Middle East that you moved about, right? How was that different cultures?
**Hamza Mahmood 6:22**
It was very interesting, because when I went there, the king has changed in the country now. So the old king that was still alive during that time, I was in that era, that was very restrictive era. So a lot of times the activities are mostly indoor. I remember snippets here and there, a lot of just going to high school. Our high school started at six o'clock and would end about five.
**Geovanny Mayorga 6:50**
6am?
**Hamza Mahmood 6:51**
Yes.
**Geovanny Mayorga 6:52**
Jeez.
**Hamza Mahmood 6:53**
So it was a very long time of just being in school, coming back, tutoring, learning. We didn't really have outdoor activities, just because of the heat. A lot of people would go out, you know, past seven o'clock and it was normal. I've noticed a bit of culture difference when I came here, that everything would close at 9 or 10, but over there, everything would be open till two to three.
**Geovanny Mayorga 7:11**
Right? Yeah, yeah. I've heard that from stories. Do you remember how you got introduced to technology?
**Hamza Mahmood 7:19**
Yes, I still have very vivid memories of my first computer. So my mom, being a doctor, she had to stay relevant with technology, so she bought her first computer. It was those old computers that had a desktop, a mouse and keyboard, and just the computer was completely white, and it was all like the old TVs. I remember booting it up and just trying to learn. I was fascinated by the computer. It was something new in our house. Prior to that, the only other technology I had experience with was the TV. But with the computer itself, I started learning instantly how this goes. Got into more into reading. I never was into books. But with computers, it was different. I don't know how to explain it.
**Geovanny Mayorga 8:05**
Well, what around what year was it when you got your first computer?
**Hamza Mahmood 8:10**
I believe it was the early 2000s.
**Geovanny Mayorga 8:13**
2000s. Dr. Sabau, how about you? When was the first time you got introduced to technology?
**Adriana Sabau 8:18**
Well, I think it was around 2000 as well.
**Geovanny Mayorga 8:22**
2000, so when you—
**Adriana Sabau 8:25**
2003 or something like that, and I was at work.
**Geovanny Mayorga 8:30**
In the US or Romania?
**Adriana Sabau 8:32**
No, no. In Romania, yes, and I used it for work, yeah, I learned how to use it, you know, small stuff.
**Geovanny Mayorga 8:41**
Yeah, I remember the very first time I got introduced to any type of technology was with video games at the time. It was the Atari 7000 or something, or 2000 whatever it was Atari at the time, yeah. So that was early, probably early 80s, when I got introduced to it, right? And then, so that was the first time when I first got introduced to computers, was in high school, and that was, was it high? Yeah, it was high school. So it was probably around '90 or so, and at the time it was like the very first versions of the Apple Computer.
**Adriana Sabau 9:24**
Oh, interesting.
**Geovanny Mayorga 9:25**
Really huge, like desktops. So that's what I remember. It's not Apple as we know it today, but so those were the first instances of getting to know technology and working with technology. Obviously, everything has evolved ever, you know, since as many years have passed. So as that has transpired, obviously, technology is a very useful tool for education—can be—and it can also not be very helpful. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you guys, because one, you're in IT, and you know how that helps you, Hamza, as preparing the curriculum, the program and how you teach it, and obviously, Dr. Sabau you, you and I talked about how sometimes it's not very helpful for students, because students are basically cheating and not really learning. So Hamza talk a little bit about how you use technology within your curriculum, and how you teach technology to your students.
**Hamza Mahmood 10:25**
Definitely. So I try to prepare the students for the future. One of the biggest concerns I heard in the industry, for institutions, is that we have a gap with the industry—what's happening in IT and what we're teaching. The biggest problem that we faced is that maybe there's a chance that institutions are a little bit behind on what the current technology is, especially in today's topic of AI. We have to prepare students, because when they go to their workspace and they start engaging, AI is going to be a very common thing in the workspace. And I try to go for that ethical way of teaching students how to use AI in an ethical manner, how to work with technology. I have students that are transfers from the business program. I have students that are completely new to IT, and I try my best to accommodate them, inform them and help them learn about it. One of the biggest factors that students have come across with me is they've told me that it's very hard. They don't know how technology is very advanced now, and especially in different workforces, technology is needed. So we try to look into what the new hot topics are. We talk to our OAC members, our Occupational Advisory Committee members, to see what they look for in terms of interns, hires, and then we prepare them directly towards that. I have worked with some students with their job offers to see what the qualifications are. And our program covers all the qualifications in terms of network programming, project management. And we have professionals here that pretty much know how to teach students, engage with students, have prior experience. So that's how we counteract with what's happening in the industry and what we're teaching.
**Geovanny Mayorga 12:10**
How about you, Dr. Sabau? How do you use technology? What do you like? Don't like?
**Adriana Sabau 12:15**
Well, I think let's start with advantages first. So I think one of the most important thing when we're discussing about advantages is flexibility and the fact that it's very convenient. So the classroom is everywhere and anytime available, the materials are there for students. The students can go there, can access them. It offers the students a lot of flexibility. They are able to, you know, keep the balance between, you know, the school, work, family. And this is very important, especially for a school like us, where we have students that are working. And this is a very important thing that we have to keep in mind. For the professor as well, you know, it's flexible. You can teach from the campus. You can teach from anywhere. Another important thing is, I will say, regarding the advantages—the students, they can, you know, work and study at their own pace. There is, you know, of course, a time limit, due dates. But they can go back. They can revisit the material. They can, you know, really, really go over the things until they understand them. This is, you know, a really big plus, I will say. And also, for the professors, you know, they can organize their materials better. You know, these online courses, they—you could have your ideas and put them there. Organize is very nice. And everything is there. It's accessible. This is great. You know, you can communicate to your students through the emails, through all kind of tools that you have. And this is a big plus. Let's go now to some, you know, the other part. Well, I would say the fact that we are missing that social interaction that we find in a regular classroom. When the students, they talk to each other, basically, okay, where they have group activities, they build up friendships—that it's gone now. And I remember my best friends are from school, from the high school and from medical school. They keep in touch even now after so many years. So that element is lost, social interaction. So in order to, you know, kind of supply or fill in for that, an online professor, an online instructor, has a very difficult mission, because even if in that online environment, you have to be able to create that, you know, kind of community, and that could be very difficult. You have to have special activities that actually they will engage the students, right? And that can be time consuming. Yeah, I spend a lot of time interacting with the students during the discussion boards, so it's time consuming. So this could be a disadvantage for a professor, okay? Other disadvantages, you are not always sure if the students actually do what they were supposed to do. They are tempted to, you know, take the short way and not always do what they were supposed to do, and this is something very difficult to actually control, to see if they are actually doing the work they are supposed to or not.
**Geovanny Mayorga 16:11**
So, yeah, all my education was in a classroom. I started taking online classes, probably say around 2008, 2010, maybe somewhere around there, I started taking online classes, and I had such a hard time just trying to learn from the computer. I felt, I always felt like I needed a face, you know, like you talked about the social aspect of it. I felt like I always needed that. And some classes I did well, but other classes that required a little bit more thought or interaction, I just did not do well. In fact, I was taking a program online, and I dropped the program just because I just could not put two and two together. So it becomes a little bit difficult for the student, and obviously with age and how much exposure a student or a person has had to technology will make that difference. How, how are we—what are some of the methods that we use here at—or how you've encountered in the past and how online teaching has been conducted?
**Hamza Mahmood 17:28**
Well, I would say it also goes with technology. As technology is involving or evolving, we're noticing that there's problems in depression, anxiety, hard to convey, not only friends, colleagues, but students as well. A lot of times during my classrooms, our computers, our phones, everything was shut down, and we were focusing on the instructor, whatever they were teaching. I have noticed some pros and cons, just like Miss Sabau has mentioned. Some students, I've noticed they keep their computers on and they follow the presentation, which is good, because we supply the presentation with them. These are advantages that we see in classrooms, where students are able to ask questions promptly, point out anything on the presentation for students that sit in the back row. I remember back in my days, if I was in the back row, it was very hard to see. I had to be in the front row to see what's happening in the presentation and listen to what the instructor is talking about. But now with technology, we are noticing that students can easily ask questions. Difficulties I have is I've noticed that as technology grew and we're getting more accommodated with technology, attention span is going lower. So sometimes I will ask the question, and I'll have a blank classroom, and I'll have multiple times I'll have students ask me, "Can you repeat the question, please? I wasn't paying attention." And then we'll go back and forth. Yes. So that's happened commonly.
**Geovanny Mayorga 18:53**
What about you, Miss—
**Adriana Sabau 18:55**
Well, regarding this attention, you know the students, and this is something that I used to do in my face-to-face classroom, but you can do it in online classes. I have, and I play Kahoot with my students based on whatever material we are doing in that particular day. So then I see if the students got the concept, or they didn't, or they struggle with some areas and they really enjoy it. And more, if they get points right, they like it even better. So it's a way that it can actually interact, and I actually use this during the pandemic, when we had those virtual classes and the students, they were looking forward to that.
**Hamza Mahmood 19:48**
I definitely agree with Kahoot. It helped us a lot to train on some questions. It introduces some fun and activity and engagement with students. Some students are also we notice competitive, so they are very formal when it comes to the questions or trying to get the highest point they can. Definitely in the classrooms, I'm noticing that PowerPoints are becoming more as a discussion than just some information thrown at the students, actively discussing with students, what's what the topic introduces. How do they have personal experience with—having that engagement, as Mr. Mayorga mentioned, it's been lacking, and that's something that our institution does a very high job on—engaging with the student, making sure the student is understanding whatever we're conveying.
**Geovanny Mayorga 20:33**
One of the interesting things you mentioned earlier was how a lot of educational institutions are behind in providing that technology to students. And a lot of times, the student brings in their own equipment because, you know, the institution is so far behind. How do we use video? Or what are some of the things that would help aid aside from, say, you know, smart boards and that type of stuff, what technology would be helpful in the classroom?
**Hamza Mahmood 21:07**
I believe having extra computers for students that don't have access to computers, I had incidents where students' computers were not working, or they had to have repairs done so they didn't really have anything. Especially for an IT class, they do need proper equipment. The most minimum we look for is a laptop and a computer, or we utilize the computer lab rooms if a lot of students are missing their computers. But I will say it's a thing in the industry of IT that technicians and people in the industry in IT commonly say that, okay, the education system is a little behind on what we're working on. There might be working on projects with AI that we're not fully caught up yet. And we're following books with the latest editions, but those books, even with the latest editions, are covering last years of whatever content is—
**Geovanny Mayorga 21:56**
Right, right? What would be helpful for you, Dr. Sabau?
**Adriana Sabau 22:00**
Oh, for us. So because I'm teaching, for example, our foundation courses, anatomy and physiology, we are using, for example, different softwares that what they actually do, they have all kind of simulation. So we do, for example, like a dissection using a software so they simulate a real lab, and we have those 3D models that they move and the students remove layers of, you know, the tissue, and they're really, really amazing, and we can use them in the classroom, and, you know, it makes a lot of difference. So we don't have to go into a cadaver lab, for example. So for example, during the pandemic, I used to teach a cadaver class only using the technology, and the thing was amazing. So the technology really, really evolves very fast. So as instructor, we really have to adapt, and we have to learn every day, because otherwise we are left behind.
**Geovanny Mayorga 23:06**
Yeah, I remember doing cadavers and dissection in person, not with software.
**Adriana Sabau 23:15**
Doing them with the software in the classroom.
**Geovanny Mayorga 23:19**
Yeah, do we use, do you use a lot of video like your personal image on on whatever software we're using to do the class?
**Adriana Sabau 23:31**
Yes, we are using videos as well. Yeah. So for each module, students, they have to see certain videos as well.
**Geovanny Mayorga 23:38**
Well, no, I'm saying, Are you personally on the screen so people can see you?
**Adriana Sabau 23:43**
Oh, okay.
**Geovanny Mayorga 23:44**
Your camera looking at you giving a lecture.
**Adriana Sabau 23:48**
Yeah. Well, I do that as well, and especially like for short videos, like 10-15 minutes, for different topics that they are difficult to grasp or understand. So I would do that as well, so then they can see me, okay?
**Geovanny Mayorga 24:06**
Right. Because I, that's what I felt I lacked, being able to see my instructor talk to me. You know? How do you deal with that?
**Hamza Mahmood 24:15**
So we do a lot of virtual classrooms, and videos are on, and I've noticed that even if students don't turn on their videos and they're talking about a certain topic, the expressions on your face kind of show the student if we're getting what they're talking about, if it's a confusing topic, then obviously you'll see like the confusion phase. But the videos, I do understand that does help the students to feel more engaged. I have noticed, I've conducted two different surveys with students and just by myself, with video on and video off, which one feels more authentic, more like the classroom is being engaged. A lot of students did say that video helps them, and I see more engagement in the chats as well.
**Adriana Sabau 25:01**
Yeah, regarding the videos, because now I remember, because you asked, another way that I'm using it, it's for the feedback. You know, they have assignments, and they have discussions, and they have this small rubric for feedback, and you can actually record yourself or video of yourself. And if I think it's really necessary, then I will do it. Now, I don't do it all the time because it's time consuming, but yes, I would use that for feedback as well.
**Geovanny Mayorga 25:27**
So how do you think? And now we'll touch the topic as to why, you know, I wanted to speak to both of you is, how are we dealing with not learning, because with technology today, it's really easy for someone to go on the computer, and they're pretty good at that and figuring out how to cheat, plagiarize, whatever. How are we working on that? What are we doing with that?
**Hamza Mahmood 25:57**
So we did discuss this a little bit earlier, how we counteract some of these things. And what we noticed is, with chatbots, with Google, it is a lot of information dumping, so if you ask a question, anyone can just go and, you know, just type the question and see the answer. As instructors, we have noticed a pattern with how chatbots reply and how a student does. We started putting especially in our discussion boards and activities, to give students an opportunity to make their own personal statements, not just find something that's on the web, because that's something that we can do too. But a lot of times, you will ask, what is your personal opinion on this topic? What do you think of this matter? How does this impact you? How does this impact your family? And I've noticed the responses from students are more authentic that way. And I don't know about you—
**Adriana Sabau 26:43**
Yes, this is what I'm doing as well—asking about your opinion. Okay, so this is really important. And then when you interact with them, and you say your opinion or your ideas about something else, then they are forced to kind of, you know, interact with you. So I think this is really important. And the way that we are designing the assignments is really important in order to, you know, fight with all of these problems that they may arise. And we are trying to do that. It's a long and difficult process, but we are, you know, trying to do that.
**Geovanny Mayorga 27:24**
Yeah, I mean, like I said, there's certainly a lot of good in technology and how it can help us learn, especially with, say, people with disabilities, and all the technology that is helpful for people with disabilities. And there's also the side of there's too much technology use, and then you're like I said, there's not a whole lot of interaction. There's a lot of, um, I'm not paying attention, right? Short attention span. Obviously now there's a lot of guidelines in terms of youth and how much technology they should be using, and social media and all that stuff. When we get to to that topic of how much is enough and how much is good, in your classes do you talk about that?
**Hamza Mahmood 28:15**
Yeah, we definitely do. We look at how technology not just helps us in our classroom environment, but even in your personal life. A lot of my students were surprised to find out that you can take pictures of emails that you believe might be phishing emails and just put it in a chatbot and have it scanned, and it will let you know that this is either a scam or a real email. Now it's not fully 100% but it has shown more accuracy in detecting false emails. So that's where technology helps. But at the caveat, it does make us a little bit lazy, because, certainly we tend to go online a lot.
**Geovanny Mayorga 28:53**
How do you see it, Dr. Sabau, from when you started, you know, education? Like I said I started, everything was, you know, books and in person, and now a lot of it is online. How has that changed? How do you see that change? Positive, negative?
**Adriana Sabau 29:09**
Okay, so let me get this straight. So I'm a book person. I like the books. I like, you know, that feeling when you have a new book and you turn the page. I really like that, yeah. But technology is here, so we have to adapt. We cannot make it, you know, make it go away. So either we want it or we don't, it's here. It's here to stay, and we have to adapt, and we have to always find a way or a balance between the good and bad. So this is my idea, and that is the thing that I'm doing with my assignments and things that I'm doing, trying to keep that balance, because the technology is here to stay. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. So if we do not educate, and we do not, you know, learn, then we are going to be left behind.
**Geovanny Mayorga 30:01**
Yeah, absolutely. I started coming out of high school, I thought I wanted to be a computer engineer. Took all these number of courses, only to find out that that's not what I wanted to do. Yeah, turned out my brother ended up being in technology, and he's built a career out of it. So what do students need to know about our program, Hamza, our IT program?
**Hamza Mahmood 30:30**
So our IT program covers a lot of different things. We cover from cyber security to programming to even agile and project management. So we cover a lot of different things. The another problem, but the pro about the IT program, is that students have a diverse variety of going in any field if they want to be a project manager, a QA tester, a programmer. We have all these doors open. We talk about white box testing and black box testing. To give you a bit of reference, black box testing is when someone is testing how the functionality works, like how the mic works, or handsets. And then white box testing is how the codes are working behind these different things. So there's a lot of different doors in technology.
**Geovanny Mayorga 31:14**
How about you, Dr. Sabau, with our Health and Sciences? What, how are we helping students? What does the program look like when somebody comes into Health and Sciences? What is it that they're getting from us?
**Adriana Sabau 31:32**
So we hope to be able to prepare them and give them the necessary skills for their healthcare careers. So when I mean that, it's all the knowledge that we get from our classes is going to help them to actually have critical thinking and apply that information in a clinical setting. Pretty much that is our, you know, goal and objective. And actually the technology helps us a lot with this, because now at any workplace where they are going, even though it's healthcare, it's not IT, but they need to have those technical skills. They need to be able to, you know, use technology so that it's even better. So it's a plus. Beside preparing them to be healthcare professionals, very good, we hope they have also, because they take all of these online classes, they have also, you know, the necessary skills regarding the technology, so they will be able to, you know, do very well on their job.
**Geovanny Mayorga 32:39**
Right, right.
**Hamza Mahmood 32:42**
And just to add on to it, not only does the OAC members, but I'm also managing the externship program, so I've sat down with employers and asked them face to face, what difficulties do you see in the students? What is something that you would like them to learn? And the aspects of technical skills, communication skills, like just a whole agenda of things, and a lot of them are very honored to have the students that are working in those externship sites. One of the biggest concerns that right now in the technical field is security, due to all the different attacks that we're seeing, or the cyber attacks we're seeing in the airports, hospitals. So those are main concerns in the industry at the moment.
**Geovanny Mayorga 33:25**
Yeah, I mean, it's always good for students who, obviously, as we prepare students to be prepared to use technology. I mean, there's no two ways about it. You have to know technology moving forward, definitely. And I think that, as you talked about, it's always important for us to know what employers need and want, and for us to tell the student that. I've always said that you're gonna get an advantage at a smaller institution, because you get that one-on-one feel. You get more information fed to you than if you were at a larger institution where it's just like, you know, lecture and go away, lecture, go. So we definitely have to have this balance between what we're doing with technology and then what we do without technology. How do you balance that, Hamza? What do you do outside of technology?
**Hamza Mahmood 34:12**
Outside of technology, I mean, in the institution, or just personally?
**Geovanny Mayorga 34:17**
Personally, personally.
**Hamza Mahmood 34:18**
Personally. I go to fitness. I've recently started doing hikes. I started exploring nature more. I told my students that I never knew how to swim. That's something I'm trying to tackle. Away from technology, I do believe we do need a break from sitting in front of computers. We're getting adapted to that office environment where not only with students, but faculty as well, where we just sit down and focus on our computer. We try to, you know, stand up, go around, walk around. But I think nature is something that's beautiful, even the view behind us.
**Geovanny Mayorga 34:50**
Yeah, absolutely, yes, yeah. How about you, Dr. Sabau? What do you do?
**Adriana Sabau 34:55**
What I'm doing. So I live with my husband. I live in suburbs. So we have a garden. And I help him. He works from home. He is actually a computer engineer, so he does a lot of work outside. And I help him. I have my flowers, and I cook at home. So that's me, and we like to travel. Usually, we travel by car, and then we stop in different places. Unfortunately, we don't have too much time to do that, but we really, you know, enjoy doing that. And actually, I have my family back in Romania, and, you know, I keep in touch with them, and I talk to them weekly, sometimes even, you know, daily. So that's a lot of time as well, of course.
**Geovanny Mayorga 35:53**
Yeah. So as we wrap up, what would be your message to a prospective student, Hamza, to come and join your program?
**Hamza Mahmood 36:01**
Well, we have a variety of different things. If you're ever interested in technology, if you have any questions regarding any different programs, we welcome every single student. We don't really look at what your background is, what your profession is. Our job is to teach you and help you and guide you. That is one of the things I promise to myself, to all my students, we do our best to give you guys mock interviews, help you understand different concepts. And a lot of our, a lot of the instructors in this institution even wait after class for you to come to them and ask them questions. We love to engage and understand what your concerns are and how to help you better.
**Geovanny Mayorga 36:40**
How about you, Dr. Sabau? You also do, or who does, in a different language? Or don't we do something with—
**Adriana Sabau 36:48**
We do well, we do have an ESL program. ESL program. It has a special course that it's ESL for healthcare, where we have international students that they are interested in studying all kind of healthcare careers here in the United States. We have that, but it's part of the ESL program, okay? But they are international students that they are interested in, you know, studying, of course, healthcare programs. For our healthcare programs, we are preparing the students for high-demanding jobs now. MRI technology, radiology, surgical technology, we have great programs and our students, you know, they are highly appreciated wherever they are going, and they are getting jobs. And I think that is, you know, a good thing. And for the students that they are interested to, you know, come to us, please visit us and see our campuses, not only from the Chicago—we have campuses in other places as well, right?
**Geovanny Mayorga 37:58**
In Naperville.
**Adriana Sabau 37:59**
And do we have also Evergreen?
**Geovanny Mayorga 38:01**
Evergreen Park.
**Adriana Sabau 38:02**
So and see us, what we are doing. And I hope we, you know, we could be the best option for you in the future.
**Geovanny Mayorga 38:21**
Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, I've spoken on this regarding this topic, that smaller institutions, you know, there's a place, and everyone has an opportunity. If you're not necessarily someone that's comfortable in a bigger institution with a lot of people, a smaller institution is a little bit more convenient and a little bit more one-on-one feel that can potentially help get the student to where they need to be.
**Hamza Mahmood 38:50**
I do remember during my university and college days that having classrooms that had 20 seats were more engaged, full, than a big classroom where you can't even ask questions probably because you have that anxiety too of so many people in the room.
**Geovanny Mayorga 39:05**
Yes, absolutely. I had plenty of those in college, yeah. And I had some instructors that were not so nice.
**Adriana Sabau 39:14**
Oh, well, oh no.
**Geovanny Mayorga 39:16**
I think it's been a great conversation. Want to thank both of you for coming today and speaking on the issue, on the topic of technology, how we use it, not only here, but how it's being used now. And obviously it's something that people need to, you know, get along with. I mean, my kids probably know more technology than I do at this point. So it's pretty interesting. So want to thank you, Hamza, for coming and speaking on the topic. Dr. Sabau, thank you so much for coming. As we wrap up, I'd like to thank all the listeners for listening again. Follow us on YouTube and all the different podcasting sites. You can follow or contact us at podcast@MCCcollege.edu, and we look forward to speaking to you on our next episode. Thank you so much.
**Adriana Sabau 40:13**
Thank you. Thank you for having us. Bye.
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October 24, 2024