Innovation Lab

Venessa Ball, The University of Arizona

Venessa Ball is the Senior Graphic Designer for the Office of Digital Learning at The University of Arizona. She studied Graphic Design at Utah State University – during that time, she studied abroad in Switzerland where she learned the power of gathering inspiration from everything around her. Following her graduation, Venessa served as a Senior Product Designer for an industry-leading scrapbook company in Utah. It was there that she learned how the design thinking process, when applied to a product development timeline, could foster stellar results through collaborative ideation, industry research and numerous prototypes.  Venessa’s enthusiasm and passion for all things design led her back to her home state and The University of Arizona. At the UA, Venessa works with a team of instructional designers, utilizing design thinking to produce course visuals for UA Online. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design.  When she’s not designing, she’s exploring the best of Southern Arizona with her boyfriend and two dogs.

Phylise Banner, Phylise Banner Consulting, LLC

Phylise Banner is an online teaching and learning consultant with extensive experience in planning, designing, developing, delivering, and evaluating online courses, programs, and faculty development initiatives. Her work focuses on aligning institution-wide approaches to program, course, and professional development with teaching and learning effective practices and the Community of Inquiry framework. As an online learning evangelist, she actively seeks out opportunities to experiment with emerging technologies in order to best serve faculty and students, and to create communities of lifelong learners.  She is featured regularly at regional, national and international conferences, speaking on the topics of online teaching and learning, faculty development, instructional strategy, experience design, social media, information visualization and GIS technologies. She also teaches Digital Storytelling online for SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and in person for the Academy for Lifelong Learning at Empire State College.  She is an Adobe Education Leader, STC Fellow, performance storyteller, avid angler, aviation enthusiast, and currently training to be a private pilot. She is also the proud owner of a 1967 Amphicar.

Steven Crawford, Arizona State University

Steven has over 20 years of higher education and distance learning experience and is the Associate Director of Academic Innovation at Arizona State University’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation. His role is to collaborate with the College’s programs to implement pedagogical and technological strategies that increase student outcomes in face-to-face, blended, and online courses.

Rick Franklin, Northern Virginia Community College

Rick is a Computer Operations Tech that also works as a Student Technology Support Specialist for the Extended Learning Institute of Northern Virginia Community College. Rick has over 30 years of customer service, training, voice and data experience. Rick also has over 30​ ​y​ea​rs of experience performing Acoustic Finger-style Blues with vocals.​ ​Feel free to ask RIck about use of PC, Mac, iPad, iPod, Android, Tele-Presence devices and applications used with Education Technology, Piedmont Blues style and technique, and Resophonic Guitars.

Dave Goodrich, Michigan State University

Dave began working at Michigan State University in 2012 where he leverages effective active learning strategies while using emerging technologies. Dave works in The Hub for Innovation for Learning & Technology where he collaborates with faculty to develop new courses, redesign existing courses, and consult on instructional learning object projects. He also enjoys facilitating faculty workshops and being a guest instructor from time to time for MSU’s College of Education.

Dave began as an Instructional Designer in the Office of Academic Technology Spring Arbor University in 2008 where he was elected the Faculty Representative for the Staff-Administration Personnel Association. He also helped in the early stages of starting up the MyBlend program at Michigan Virtual University. Before this, he was a high school science and physical education teacher. He has a Masters degree in Education specializing in Instructional Design for Online Learning from Capella University.

Dave is a musician and photographer. He enjoys being active outdoors in his spare time. Dave and his wife live in Jackson, Michigan. Together they own Meadow Lace Photography and have three boys.

Keegan Long-Wheeler, University of Oklahoma

Keegan Long-Wheeler is an educational technologist in the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Oklahoma. Keegan uses his background in science, pedagogy, and technical expertise to provide instructors with holistic solutions to their instructional and technological needs. Additionally, Keegan passionately creates open source professional development curriculum to engage faculty in digital literacy, experiential learning, game design, coding, and more! In particular, Keegan is currently immersed in GOBLIN and eXperience Play.

Ann Musgrove, Florida Atlantic University

Ann is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Florida Atlantic University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate course online and F2F. She embraces the philosophy of pedagogy before technology. She has a Certification in Online Learning from the Online Learning Consortium and develops and facilitates workshops including Multimodal Design, Exploring Interactive Videos Tools, New to Online – Introduction to Online Tools, and Converting your Course Content. Dr. Ann Musgrove enjoys working with faculty and administrative teams to create, administer and deliver meaningful and flexible learning environments. She develops and creates curriculum for faculty transitioning to online and blended courses. Ann has developed 2 courses that have been nationally recognized by Quality Matters (QM). She has extensive QM experience serving as an Institution Representative, Active Peer Reviewer in Higher Education, K-12, and Continuing Education, and is an online facilitator for the QM foundation course “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric”. annmusgrove.com

Adam Nemeroff, Dartmouth College

Adam is an Instructional Designer at Dartmouth College. Adam helps faculty across the undergraduate college to develop student-centered learning experiences. At Dartmouth, Adam is the instructional design lead the Experiential Learning Initiative. Adam has experience with using iPads in the classroom, student media projects, student portfolios, and both MOOCs and distance learning projects.

Ben Scragg, The Ohio State University

Ben works in the Office of Distance Education and eLearning at The Ohio State University, where he is the Program Manager for College Ready Ohio, a state-funded grant initiative aiming to bridge the worlds of K12 and higher education through teacher professional development, strategic technology implementation, and online/hybrid learning. In addition, Ben coordinates OSU’s GE Online initiative, which aims to develop beautiful online sections of high-enrollment general education courses. Ben has master’s degrees in educational philosophy and psychology and in business administration, both from The Ohio State University. A former high school educator and learning specialist with OSU’s student athletes, Ben is also an Associate Director with the non-profit iBELIEVE Foundation, which promotes leadership development in Appalachian youth.

John Stewart, University of Oklahoma

John Stewart is the assistant director for digital learning in the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Oklahoma. John is interested in using games in the classroom promoting digital literacy and opportunities for undergraduate research. Before joining the center, John lectured on history of science at the University of Oklahoma and Missouri University of Science and Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the University of Oklahoma.

Ryan Straight, University of Arizona, South

Dr. Ryan Straight is currently Senior Lecturer of Educational Technology at the University of Arizona, South. He holds a PhD in Instructional Technology from Ohio University, where he also earned his MEd in Cultural Studies in Education and a BS.Ed in Integrated Language Arts. He teaches fully online at the undergraduate and graduate levels in topics like serious game design, human-computer interaction, designing online learning environments, and the classroom integration of technology. In addition to teaching, Dr. Straight is Principle Investigator on an ongoing Innovative Learning Project grant at the University of Arizona (2016-2018). He writes on mobile learning technologies, augmented reality, and social presence in online education, and has been invited to present at international conferences and a variety of learning symposiums. He lives in Tucson, AZ with his girlfriend and their two dogs.