🏫 One of my earliest memories is going to school with a shiny new lunchbox and a back-to-school outfit. Returning to school each fall became a routine that I looked forward to and over the years I realized that I loved learning and the process of acquiring knowledge. Fast-forward to today and my career reflects my early childhood experiences: I put my love of learning to use as an instructional designer in higher education, a PhD Candidate, and an online educator.
👩🏫 Instructional designers in higher education are commonly found working one-on-one with instructors or facilitating instructional development sessions. I value these components of my work and welcome the broad set of experiences that my role also provides, such as:
‣ Collaboratively developed the inaugural set of non-credit and non-degree badge standards at the University of Minnesota
‣ Becoming proficient in the seven core skills of digital accessibility practices
‣ Mentoring instructional designers through the ID2ID Ignite program
‣ Unlearning racist practices and understanding my biases
‣ Serving as a panelist for the 2024 Educause Horizon Teaching and Learning Report
🎓 Alongside my instructional design work, the University of Minnesota’s Learning Technology program has been my home base as a doctoral student and online educator since 2015. As a PhD Candidate, my mixed-methods study explores the range of awareness, knowledge, and use of open educational practices by instructional designers. I have taught online undergraduate and graduate courses such as Social Media & Connected Learning, Technology Tools for Educators, and Designing & Developing Online Distance Learning as a community faculty member. As an online educator, I use inclusive teaching practices to create learner-centered spaces that reflect students’ lived experiences and future goals.
🔮My specialties include process improvement, digital accessibility in course design, and creating learner-centered online asynchronous courses and my strength is building authentic relationships to collaboratively solve complex problems.
🌈I step away from my professional life to enjoy time with family and friends, try new restaurants and recipes with my partner, and cultivate our budding array of plant babies.
👋 Reach out if you want to talk about creating accessible online experiences, current topics in teaching and learning, or creating a houseplant jungle. Let’s connect!
