About Dr. Shannon Mersand

Best Viewed Full Screen

Dr. Mersand is a Professionally Licensed School Media Specialist in New York State. She is also certified in English Language Arts 7-12. She has worked in the education field for more than 19 years, and prior to that as a public librarian and in journalism.

Dr. Mersand attended Dutchess Community College, where she received a Music Performance Certificate before she discovered her desire to be a part of the education universe. She later attended the University at Albany, State University of New York where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Information Science and Policy with minors in English and Education Studies in 2003, as well as her Masters of Library Science, with a concentration in School Media in 2004 and a Masters of Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology in 2009.

From 2002 to 2004 Dr. Mersand served as the Director of the Philmont Public Library, located in Columbia County, New York. She held this position for two years, in which time she moved the library to a new location, ran two successful Summer Reading Programs, built a Young Adult section, offered reader’s advisory services to patrons young and old, and overall reformed the library into a community centerpiece.

From 2004 to 2007 Dr. Mersand served as the School Media Specialist for New Lebanon Jr/Sr High School. During her time at New Lebanon, she was a key member of the district Technology Committee and served as the adviser to the Yearbook Committee. She helped to plan and implement two Superintendent’s Conference Days which focused on technology and its implementation in the classroom. She was the webmaster for the district web page, which she revamped in 2005. She also taught multiple technology related workshops. Also during her time at New Lebanon she served as a liaison to the Questar III BOCES School Library System and was a key member of a committee to develop a Regional Information Literacy Skills Curriculum for the Questar III BOCES. She presented the curriculum in March 2007 at the Capital Area School Development Association Librarians and Administrators Conference.

From 2007 - 2011 Dr. Mersand was employed at Pawling High School as a School Media Specialist. At Pawling, she actively worked with classroom teachers on projects that incorporate both information literacy skills and technology skills. She also developed and taught an online course that blends information literacy skills with contemporary literature which prepares students for rigorous college level research. Dr. Mersand served on the district Technology Committee in Pawling and as the adviser to the student newspaper. She designed and taught two summer institutes on technology for the district in addition to teaching workshops after school and during conference days.

Dr. Mersand was a participant in the Mid Hudson BOCES Consortium's TELL (Technology Enhancing Literacy Learning) conference in 2008, and returned as a presenter in 2009. In 2010, she participated in their e3 (Electronic Enhance Environments) project, where she was a co-lead author of a completely online research skills course that blends information literacy skills with social studies and historical fiction.

From 2011-2017 Dr. Mersand worked at Yorktown High School in 2011 as the School Media Specialist. She worked with students and teachers on the integration of technology into the curriculum. She was a member of the District Technology Committee and Chairperson of the High School Technology Committee. 

In November 2011, Dr. Mersand was named the Lee Bryant Outstanding Teacher of the Year by NYSCATE, and presented at the 2011 New York State Computers and Technology in Education (NYSCATE) Hudson Valley Regional Conference on the realities of teaching in an online environment, and on the process of designing courses for the e3 project. In 2012, she became Individually Qualified in Google Apps for Education.

In 2012, she presented a comparison between the Learning Management Systems Schoology and My Big Campus. In 2013, Shannon presented "Take out your cell phones: 10 easy ways to incorporate cell phones into your curriculum." 2014 brings three presentations "Increase your hAPPiness with Google Drive," "What color is your AuRa: Augmented Reality in Education," and "Anything you can do, I can do better: PowerPoint Vs. Prezi."

In the fall of 2012, she was part of a group of School Media Specialists and the Technology Department that pushed to begin using Google Apps for Education in the district. She was a key trainer for faculty and students in implementing the many resources Google Apps offers for education, as well as part of a Model Classroom Team to pilot Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) to the classroom. 

For the 2013-2014 school year, Dr. Mersand was the lead consultant on a Blended Learning Pilot at the High School, working with teachers and students to make Blended and Online Learning a reality at Yorktown. She offered whole class, as well as individual training in technology resources for both faculty and students. 

In 2013, Dr. Mersand also worked with Dutchess County BOCES to facilitate two online professional development courses, one on internet safety, the other on teaching reading strategies in online courses. She also entered into an agreement with Creative Teacher Education Institute, where she designed and now teaches eleven online professional development courses for Inservice and Graduate credit.

2014 brought new and exciting challenges, as Dr. Mersand presented at the New York Library Association SSL conference on mobile learning in the library, as well as began work with Intel Teachers Engage, writing a blog on the Common Core Standards and Technology and began writing product reviews and articles for Tech&Learning Magazine. She also became a certified as a Google Educator, receiving her Google Education Trainer status in August. She also completed a Professional Development Certificate in eLearning and Online Teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Stout.

In 2015 Dr. Mersand continued to present at local, regional and statewide conferences, with appearances at Hudson Valley NYSCATE, Lower Hudson Council of Administrative Women in Education, and NYLA SSL Spring Conference 2015. She also accepted a position as an Associate Lecturer with the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University at Albany. She built a Genius Bar program in her library, and established one of the first in the nation makerspaces in a school library. She was invited to lead many workshops and conferences throughout the state on the topic of technology and makerspaces in education.

In 2017 Dr. Mersand returned to school to pursue a PhD in Information Science at the University at Albany to study the effects of makerspaces and maker style learning activities.

From 2017 to 2021 she served in various roles in the Information Science School Library program, including adjunct lecturer, full time lecturer and assistant director of the program. 

In 2022 she returned to public school education, and served as the school media specialist at Marlboro Central High School. Charged with revitalizing the school library program, Dr. Mersand transformed the library from an unused space to a sought after student destination by creating a welcoming and safe environment for all students. 

In 2023 Dr. Mersand joined Poughkeepsie City Schools as the High School Media Specialist, again charged with revitalizing an under-utilized library.

Dr. Mersand has an avid interest in the areas of technology in education and online learning. She is a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, and does not shy away from the opportunity for a challenge.