Reimagining Engagement with

The global pandemic and our collective shift online created significant challenges to our approaches to education, positioning us globally to reflect on and identify gaps in our infrastructures. This experience has reinforced the need for intentional collaboration and partnership if we are to move towards connected, equitable, and sustainable futures for online and blended learning. Educators have been presented with a unique opportunity to reimagine how we teach online so we can truly leverage digital modalities to support access to impactful learning experiences.

OLC and PlayPosit have partnered to design a free, one-day virtual event focused on an area for us to collectively reimagine: engagement. Through this Foundry Day, you will:

• Learn directly from innovative educational designers about the diverse strategies they have implemented in their learning spaces that support interactivity and engagement
• Collaborate with others (both synchronously and asynchronously) on the design of creative approaches, responsive to challenges you face.
• Discuss methods to situate these approaches within your local contexts.
• Leave with new, evidenced-based ideas and an action-plan for how to operationalize active engagement practices that center community, equity, and quality in your learning spaces.

We hope you join us in co-constructing visions for the future and naming the ways in which we can move these visions into action.

11 AM EDT | Opening Session: Partnership Welcome Message from OLC & PlayPosit

Session Abstract

Join OLC and PlayPosit leadership as they open the event with storytelling around the futures made possible through partnership. The Foundry Days team will additionally orient you to the day and kick things off with some community building.

Session Facilitators

Sue Germer
Co-founder of PlayPosit
Sue Germer, Co-founder of PlayPosit, graduated from the University of Chicago and Stanford Law School. She practiced law for several years before joining the Teach For America corps and focusing her life and career on educational access and equity. While in the corps and after, Sue’s struggles to personalize learning for her students prompted her and her fellow instructor, Ben Levy, to create PlayPosit and solve that problem. With PlayPosit, Sue and Ben afforded personalized learning to their students asynchronously and synchronously with high-quality analytics to assist them in evaluating the effectiveness of their instruction. Over 10 years, Sue built the current partnership base for PlayPosit which includes 100’s of districts, universities, companies, and colleges that prioritize the quality of their learning experiences for their staff, instructors, students, and community. Today, she continues to drive PlayPosit’s growth and evolution, ensuring that the company meets the needs and vision of its current and future partners.

Angela Gunder
Chief Academic Officer
Angela Gunder is the Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Learning for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she is responsible for gathering, curating, and leveraging the intellectual capital created by and disseminated through OLC. Her decades long career as a designer for higher education informs her instructional design practice, where she leverages her expertise in web design, usability, visual communication, programming, and standards-based online learning. Angela’s research focuses on open educational practices, digital literacies, narrative in online course design, and emerging technology for second language acquisition. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Fine Art from Fordham University, a M.Ed. in Education Technology from Arizona State University. Angela is also completing her Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at The University of Arizona, where in 2020 she was named an Erasmus Scholar by the College of Education for her commitment to the college, the university and to the community.

With Room Moderators:

Madeline Shellgren
Director of Online Engagement
Madeline Shellgren is the Director of Online Engagement for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she serves as the lead innovator, designer, and project manager of the OLC’s portfolio of online engagement opportunities. Known for her love of storytelling, play, and all things gameful, Maddie thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for people to connect, learn, and grow together. She enjoys continuing supporting OLC community building efforts, is committed to sustainable, equitable, and anti-oppressive ecologies within education, and is genuinely excited to leverage her interdisciplinary scholarly and professional backgrounds as she helps lead the OLC towards truly innovative and transformative models for what’s possible for online and digital engagement.

Daniela Blagoeva
Community Manager
Daniela Blagoeva is the Community Manager at PlayPosit. She studied International Relations with a focus on human rights at Florida International University before pursuing a Masters in Policy and Public Administration at University of Colorado Denver. Daniela is privileged to pursue her passions for equity and access to technology as her role at PlayPosit makes it possible to build connections and relationships with innovative educators and organizations around the world to reimagine learning engagement.

12 PM EDT | Designer Inspiration Session: Interactive Video Episode I: Revenge of the Syllabi

Session Abstract

Join the rebellion and together we’ll fight the logical fallacies of syllabus tradition. Since an era long, long ago in a culture far, far away the syllabus has been the primary means for communication of course information. This presentation will look at the old ways we’ve used the syllabus to communicate with students. We’ll also discuss together new ways to incorporate interactivity to improve syllabus communication and understanding.

Session Facilitators

Adam Baldry
Instructional Technologist
Adam Baldry is an Instructional Technologist at Pima Community College. He recently moved there from the University of Arizona where he worked as instructional technologist and lead for PlayPosit. Adam is a PhD student at the University of Arizona, and has more than a decade of in-person and online teaching experience. As a trained humanist, Asianist, technologist, and teacher he seeks to incorporate simplicity, humanity, and mindfulness into all his work. Adam’s investigation of interactive syllabi is driven by a desire to make syllabi more engaging and human-centered.

Adam Davi
Senior Instructional Designer
Adam Davi is a Senior Instructional Designer at the University of Arizona who works with faculty to design engaging online courses. Adam has a Master of Science in Educational Technology as well as a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership. He has experience working directly with students as a teacher and learning specialist before transitioning to his role as an Instructional Designer. He is passionate about developing innovative courses that foster student success and promote ownership over one’s learning. He loves working in a field that encourages collaboration and creativity.

1 PM EDT | Designer Inspiration Session: Silver Linings of Going Online and Engaging Higher Ed and Continuing Ed Learners

Session Abstract

Silver Linings of Going Online and Engaging Higher Ed and Continuing Ed Learners”]Leaders in Higher Ed and adult learning will engage in conversation and storytelling around education and the challenges that they face in their unique environments. Attendees will be invited to join the conversation.

Session Panelists

Diana Fordham
Instructional Designer
Diana Fordham currently works as an instructional designer and as an adjunct History Instructor at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, MO. She is primarily focused on assisting faculty and subject matter experts in designing and developing quality online instruction that meet “best practices” criteria for online education. She assists faculty with the latest technological resources including video, audio, social tools as well as adult learning theory, pedagogy, accessibility, and software applications.

Natasha Medvedev
Instructor
Natasha Medvedev teaches Art History at Santa Monica and LA Pierce Colleges in Southern California. She holds a PhD in Art History from UCLA, where she developed a passion for a global and inter-disciplinary approach to Art History. Natasha is privileged to be at the cutting edge of the Distant Learning adoption in her field. In the classroom (actual or virtual), Natasha’s pedagogical goal is to foster students’ intellectual engagement and interaction. Her research and teaching methods exhibit a strong commitment to equity and inclusion as principles fundamental to student success.

Sarah Smith-Robbins
Director of Learning Technologies
Sarah Smith-Robbins, PhD is the Director of Learning Technologies at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Bloomington where she is also a member of the Marketing faculty teaching courses in creativity and communication. As the learning technologies leader at Kelley, Sarah and her team support over 300 faculty in their use of innovative methods of teaching in learning in residential and online programs for undergraduate, graduate, and executive education students.

With Panel Moderators:

Bill Krasner
Director of Partnerships
Bill was drawn to PlayPosit after 4 years in the video-on-demand space, he has spent almost a decade helping compete for people’s attention online. As education in the 21st century continues to evolve, he sees this as one of the biggest challenges that organizations will need to overcome. It’s not always the best content that wins, it is the best experience. Our partners are doing incredible work redesigning courses from the syllabus up, and he’s excited to present a shared vision for the future of hybrid student learning.

Madeline Shellgren
Director of Online Engagement
Madeline Shellgren is the Director of Online Engagement for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she serves as the lead innovator, designer, and project manager of the OLC’s portfolio of online engagement opportunities. Known for her love of storytelling, play, and all things gameful, Maddie thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for people to connect, learn, and grow together. She enjoys continuing supporting OLC community building efforts, is committed to sustainable, equitable, and anti-oppressive ecologies within education, and is genuinely excited to leverage her interdisciplinary scholarly and professional backgrounds as she helps lead the OLC towards truly innovative and transformative models for what’s possible for online and digital engagement.

2 PM EDT | Designer Inspiration Session: Engagement Outside the Classroom for Success in the Classroom

Session Abstract

General chemistry can be challenging for many students for a variety of reasons. I have used PlayPosit to increase engagement with the course material outside of the classroom to allow for active learning in the classroom which has increased the success of students in my course. While one tool cannot remove all challenges, PlayPosit has played a critical role in this journey

Session Facilitators

Allison Soult
Senior Lecturer and the Director of General Chemistry
Dr. Allison Soult is Senior Lecturer and the Director of General Chemistry at the University of Kentucky, where she has been since 2002. Her main interests are in the area of chemical education specifically relating to issues with student engagement in large lectures and using technology to enhance student learning.

3 PM EDT | Designer Collaboration Session: Moving from Inspiration into Action

Session Abstract

Following a day of inspiration from educational designers around their engagement strategies, we will gather with community during this session for some intentional collaboration and action planning. We recognize that it is not always easy to find the time nor to determine a process for how to operationalize ideas or new strategies into our own practices. So join us for co-building, co-planning, and generative community sharing around what it might look like to bring the new ideas surfaced during this event into your local contexts.

Session Facilitators

Laura Siebers
Account Director & Instructional Design Team Lead
Laura Siebers, Account Director & Instructional Design Team Lead with PlayPosit graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in history and political science and received her M.Ed. from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Laura taught social studies for 6 years before moving into an administrator role with the Hybrid Learning Consortium at the Barstow School. At HLC, Laura worked with partner institutions to develop and collectively resource online courses for independent schools discovering PlayPosit as a necessary platform for creating and maintaining engagement in online learning environments. Laura joined PlayPosit in 2018 and enjoys working with partners to implement new strategies for teaching & learning and professional development.

Madeline Shellgren
Director of Online Engagement
Madeline Shellgren is the Director of Online Engagement for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she serves as the lead innovator, designer, and project manager of the OLC’s portfolio of online engagement opportunities. Known for her love of storytelling, play, and all things gameful, Maddie thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for people to connect, learn, and grow together. She enjoys continuing supporting OLC community building efforts, is committed to sustainable, equitable, and anti-oppressive ecologies within education, and is genuinely excited to leverage her interdisciplinary scholarly and professional backgrounds as she helps lead the OLC towards truly innovative and transformative models for what’s possible for online and digital engagement.

4 PM EDT | Closing Session: What’s Made Possible Through Partnership

Session Abstract

As we close the event, join us for final reflections, storytelling, and most important of all, some future casting as we collectively imagine next steps for advancing our understandings of engagement through partnerships and collaboration.

Session Facilitators

Madeline Shellgren
Director of Online Engagement
Madeline Shellgren is the Director of Online Engagement for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she serves as the lead innovator, designer, and project manager of the OLC’s portfolio of online engagement opportunities. Known for her love of storytelling, play, and all things gameful, Maddie thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for people to connect, learn, and grow together. She enjoys continuing supporting OLC community building efforts, is committed to sustainable, equitable, and anti-oppressive ecologies within education, and is genuinely excited to leverage her interdisciplinary scholarly and professional backgrounds as she helps lead the OLC towards truly innovative and transformative models for what’s possible for online and digital engagement.

Daniela Blagoeva
Community Manager
Daniela Blagoeva is the Community Manager at PlayPosit. She studied International Relations with a focus on human rights at Florida International University before pursuing a Masters in Policy and Public Administration at University of Colorado Denver. Daniela is privileged to pursue her passions for equity and access to technology as her role at PlayPosit makes it possible to build connections and relationships with innovative educators and organizations around the world to reimagine learning engagement.

Sue Germer
Co-founder of PlayPosit
Sue Germer, Co-founder of PlayPosit, graduated from the University of Chicago and Stanford Law School. She practiced law for several years before joining the Teach For America corps and focusing her life and career on educational access and equity. While in the corps and after, Sue’s struggles to personalize learning for her students prompted her and her fellow instructor, Ben Levy, to create PlayPosit and solve that problem. With PlayPosit, Sue and Ben afforded personalized learning to their students asynchronously and synchronously with high-quality analytics to assist them in evaluating the effectiveness of their instruction. Over 10 years, Sue built the current partnership base for PlayPosit which includes 100’s of districts, universities, companies, and colleges that prioritize the quality of their learning experiences for their staff, instructors, students, and community. Today, she continues to drive PlayPosit’s growth and evolution, ensuring that the company meets the needs and vision of its current and future partners.

Angela Gunder
Chief Academic Officer
Angela Gunder is the Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Learning for the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she is responsible for gathering, curating, and leveraging the intellectual capital created by and disseminated through OLC. Her decades long career as a designer for higher education informs her instructional design practice, where she leverages her expertise in web design, usability, visual communication, programming, and standards-based online learning. Angela’s research focuses on open educational practices, digital literacies, narrative in online course design, and emerging technology for second language acquisition. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Fine Art from Fordham University, a M.Ed. in Education Technology from Arizona State University. Angela is also completing her Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at The University of Arizona, where in 2020 she was named an Erasmus Scholar by the College of Education for her commitment to the college, the university and to the community.

Bill Krasner
Director of Partnerships
Bill was drawn to PlayPosit after 4 years in the video-on-demand space, he has spent almost a decade helping compete for people’s attention online. As education in the 21st century continues to evolve, he sees this as one of the biggest challenges that organizations will need to overcome. It’s not always the best content that wins, it is the best experience. Our partners are doing incredible work redesigning courses from the syllabus up, and he’s excited to present a shared vision for the future of hybrid student learning.

Introducing PlayPosit

With PlayPosit, instructors and instructional designers harness the power of interactive video for remote and synchronous instruction easily, accountable, and with data in the driver’s seat. Our comprehensive solutions include a content management system, playlist module application, peer review platform, curriculum development support, custom private video host integrations (e.g. Kaltura, Mediasite, Panopto, etc), sophisticated LMS integrations, and white labeling for custom branding.