OLC & MERLOT Awards Breakfast and Panel
Brief Abstract
One of the things we love most about our conferences is the opportunity to gather and amplify the work of truly amazing colleagues from across the field of online, blended, and digital learning. Join us over breakfast for the OLC & MERLOT Awards panel. Hear from our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion scholarship winner, as well as the Effective Practice Award winners about their award-winning contributions. Leave inspired to submit to upcoming award opportunities for OLC Accelerate 2022 (and learn more about our awards process).
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Presenters
Angela Gunder is the Chief Academic Officer and VP 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. Prior to her position at the OLC, Angela served as the Director of Instructional Design & Curriculum Development for the Office of Digital Learning, managing and mentoring the team that builds the fully-online programs for The University of Arizona. Her over fifteen-year 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. She is an Associate Editor for the Teacher Education Board of MERLOT, and the recipient of the 2018 MERLOT Distinguished Service Award, the organization’s highest honor. She is also the recipient of two Online Learning Consortium Effective Practice Awards for the creation of a framework for personal learning networks, and for the creation of exploratory installations of education technology, respectively. In 2019, Dr. Gunder was named an OLC Fellow for her dedication to service, innovation, and scholarship in support of student success in online learning. Her research interests include 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 completed 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.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D serves as the Chief Executive Officer at the Online Learning Consortium. In this role, she provides the strategic direction for the organization and supports the development of key projects and programs to support OLC members. Dr. Mathes has 25 years of experience in both public and private education where she has continuously supported digital learning initiatives. In addition, Dr. Mathes is the author of the ICDE Report Global Quality in Online, Open, Flexible and Technology Enhanced Education: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (2019) and co-editor of the OLC Quality Scorecard Handbook: Criteria for Excellence in Blended Learning Programs (2017). She continues to write and present on key topics in online, blended and digital learning.
Gerard L. Hanley Ph.D. is the Executive Director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, www.merlot.org) and SkillsCommons (www.skillscommons.org) for the California State University, the Director for the Center for Usability for Design and Accessibility and Professor of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach. At MERLOT and SkillsCommons, he directs the development and sustainability of the international consortium and technology strategy to provide open educational services to improve teaching and learning and continues to development the US Department of Labor's open repository of educational resources for workforce development. Gerry's previous positions include Assistance Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology Services at the CSU Office of the Chancellor, the Director of Faculty Development and Director of Strategy Planning at CSU, Long Beach.
Jane Moore is the Director of MERLOT Editorial and Professional Development Services. She also serves as Editor for MERLOT's Teacher Education Board. Jane has taught online since 2002, and after 27 years in the elementary classroom and 16 years in higher education full time, has embraced online learning with a great deal of enthusiasm.
Dr. Cynthia Pascal is the Director of Student Services at Northern Virginia Community College’s online division. With over 45 years of distance learning experience, NOVA Online couples world-class online instruction with holistic student support services.
When not serving the NOVA community she is a consultant with NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, the Advising Success Network, and Student-Ready Strategies.
Carolyn Stevenson teaches the bachelor's capstone in the professional studies degree program and also serves as a faculty advisor. She oversees numerous innovations in curriculum, including competency-based degree programs. She previously worked in publishing for 5 years before going into higher education teaching and administration. She has been cited for her expertise in online learning, open educational resources, and prior learning. Stevenson is also a reviewer for conference papers and has served on various offices and committees for the American Education Research Association.
Research Interests: Dr. Stevenson was the recipient of the 2016 Bruce Chaloux Scholarship (Online Learning Consortium), 2008 Best Paper Award (Distance Learning Administration), and received several professional development awards from Kaplan University. She volunteered as the Director of Education and developed an environmental education program for high school students in Chicago Public Schools for SeaTurst, an environmental NGO, and attended the UNFCC meetings in Warsaw and Lima. She also developed and In addition to environmental education and sustainability, her additional research are forced migration and refugee economies, social integration, and qualitative research. Dr. Stevenson also currently serves as Associate Editor International Journal of Technologies and Educational Marketing (IJTEM) and International Review Member for Advances in Educational Marketing, Administration and Leadership. Past involvement in professional organizations include: Serving as Co-program chair (2010 – 2013): Qualitative Research Special Interest Group for the American Education Research Association; a committee member for AERA Division D: Research Methods for the Early Career Award (2013- 2014); Member: NAGC (National Association of Gifted Children), 2003-2005; member Association for Women in Communications (2007-2014); served as Clarion Awards Judge 2008 -2010 and member of the national marketing committee.
I am an educator, scholar, online learning enthusiast, community college leader, and champion of Open Education. With teaching experience from middle school to community college, I bring a myriad of skills and career's worth of perspective to my online course design and work with faculty in professional development workshops. My most recent work with Regional Leaders of Open Education (RLOE) has connected me with colleagues from across North America and Canada who are committed to using Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy (OP) as a means to center, empower, and amplify the voices of our students, especially our underserved students. I have also worked with CCCOER and the College of the Canyons in California on a grant-funded project called Open For Anti-Racism (OFAR), which facilitates faculty use of OER and open pedagogy to create antiracist curriculum and pedagogical approaches in their California community college learning spaces with their students.
Extended Abstract