Faculty

Tutaleni I. Asino

Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Director of the Emerging Technology and Creativity Research Lab

Oklahoma State University

Speaker Bio

Tutaleni I. Asino is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Director of the Emerging Technology and Creativity Research Lab in the College of Education and Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University. His research agenda includes Comparative and International Education, mobile learning, diffusion of innovations, Open Education and how culture, agency and representation manifest themselves and interplay in education settings. He is an active member of AECT, CIES (where he has served as Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Special Interest Group) and SITTE (where he served as Co-Chair of the African Perspective Group).

Areas of Expertise

Comparative international education; diffusion of innovation; educational research, educational technology, equity and representation; learners as design partners; mobile learning; open pedagogy/open educational practices; systems thinking

Bob Awkward

Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Speaker Bio

Robert J. Awkward is the Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness. In this role, he directs two statewide programs for public higher education: a) increasing the adoption, adaptation, and creation of open educational resources, and b) advancing and deepening the culture of learning outcomes assessment in order to increase student learning. Bob graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and a M.S. in Economic Policy & Planning from Northeastern University; a M.Ed. in Human Resources Development from Boston University; and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Areas of Expertise

General business; institutional change; management, especially human resource management; OER adoption, adaptation, and creation; student learning outcomes assessment

José Antonio Bowen

Former College President

Goucher College

Speaker Bio

José Antonio Bowen has won teaching awards at Stanford and Georgetown, was Dean at Miami and Southern Methodist University and President of Goucher College. He is the author of Teaching Naked and was honored as a Distinguished Alumni Scholar from Stanford with the Ernest L. Boyer Award. His new book, Teaching Change, will be released in 2021 (John Hopkins University Press).

Areas of Expertise

Course, curriculum, and general education redesign; cultures of change; educational research; faculty development; higher education leadership; institutional change

Erik N. Christensen

Dean of Applied Sciences and Technologies

South Florida State College

Speaker Bio

Erik N. Christensen is Dean of Applied Sciences and Technologies at South Florida State College. A staunch OER advocate, Erik has been an ISKME OER Fellow and has taught physics and astronomy exclusively with OER since 2008.He led an institution-wide OER initiative that saved students almost $1 million in the first five years and was awarded the Florida Chancellor of Higher Education’s Best Practice Award in 2016.Erik leads faculty development programs focused on high-engagement active learning and OER.

Areas of Expertise

Active learning; faculty development; flipped learning; OER adoption strategies; online teaching and learning; STEM

Robin DeRosa

Director of Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative

Plymouth State University

Speaker Bio

An advocate for open and public architectures for higher education, Robin DeRosa has worked with faculty and staff at dozens of institutions as they strive to make their learning environments more equitable and engaging. Robin was a high school English teacher and then an English professor for many years before she became the director of Plymouth State University’s student-driven customized major program. Today, she is the director of Plymouth State’s Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative, which is a center for innovative pedagogy and critical instructional design.

Areas of Expertise

American literature; Interdisciplinary Studies; open pedagogy; institutional OER initiatives; Critical University Studies; statewide Open Ed partnerships

Jeff Gallant

Program Director for Affordable Learning Georgia

University System of Georgia

Speaker Bio

Jeff Gallant is the Program Director for Affordable Learning Georgia, an initiative of the University System of Georgia to reduce the cost of textbooks for students system-wide with strategies including grant programs, pilots, training programs, repositories, publishing partnerships, and cross-institution collaborative projects. Jeff often represents Affordable Learning Georgia externally at meetings, conferences, and site visits, and has guided and mentored Affordable Learning Georgia Champions from each state institution in Georgia.

Areas of Expertise

Data analysis and reporting; educational resource accessibility; OER grant programs; open licensing and copyright; resource hosting and discovery; system-level and consortial program leadership

James Glapa-Grossklag

Dean of Educational Technology, Learning Resources, and Distance Learning

College of the Canyons

Speaker Bio

James Glapa-Grossklag is Dean of Educational Technology, Learning Resources, and Distance Learning at College of the Canyons. He is past president of CCCOER and Open Education Global and was Global Ambassador for OER for the International Council for Open and Distance Education. He co-coordinated the California Community College ZTC grant program. In 2019, he received the President's Award from OE Global for "advancing open education around the world through exceptional dedication, outstanding contribution, and exemplary service."He earned tenure as a faculty member in history and has taught online since 2000.

Areas of Expertise

Accessibility; funding models and grants management; OER adoption strategies; OER advocacy; ZTC pathways

Regina Gong

OER and Student Success Librarian

Michigan State University

Speaker Bio

Regina Gong is the OER and Student Success Librarian at Michigan State University. She provides overall leadership of MSU’s OER program, including the OER award and open textbook publishing initiatives. Before joining MSU, Regina was a librarian and OER Project Manager at Lansing Community College. She also spearheads the Michigan OER Network, a statewide coalition of open education advocates from K-12, community colleges, and four-year universities.

Areas of Expertise

Community engagement; community of practice; faculty development; open pedagogy; open educational practices; scholarly communication; strategic planning, student advocacy

Sophie Haci

Chair of the Economics Department

Houston Community College

Speaker Bio

Sophie Haci is the Chair of the Economics Department at Houston Community College. She adopted OER early on and authored several ‘HCC certified’ courses. She participated to the Z-Degree program at HCC which allows students to complete their degree with zero textbook cost. She promoted OER amongst Economics faculty and recently received a grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop OER content.

Areas of Expertise

Content development, course design (QM certified), faculty development

DAvid Harris

Editor-in-Chief

OpenStax at Rice University

Speaker Bio

David Harris is the Editor-in-Chief for OpenStax at Rice University. David has worked with OpenStax since 2011 and has beenresponsible for the editorial developmentof resources that are used by over 4.4 million students annually. David has worked extensively with the post-secondary community on issues dealing with access, adoption, and adaptation of emerging OER solutions. Prior to joining OpenStax, David was the President of WebAssign which, at the time, was the largest independentonline homework provider in the post-secondary market.

Areas of Expertise

Courseware; national OER landscape; OER adoption strategies; OpenStax; publishing; textbook editorial practices

Barbara Illowsky

Co-author of “Introductory Statistics” and “Introductory Business Statistics”

Published by OpenStax

Speaker Bio

Barbara Illowsky is co-author of “Introductory Statistics” and “Introductory Business Statistics”, published by OpenStax. The OpenEd Global organization awarded her its 2013 International Educator ACE Award for OpenCourseWare Excellence, the first community college person worldwide to receive it. She later served on its Board of Directors. She was the initial Project Director for the Community College Consortium for OER. Barbara was also the first OER and Innovation Fellow for the Michelson 20Million Minds Foundation.

Areas of Expertise

Developmental mathematics co-requisite integration; faculty development; OER authorship; OER leadership; OER policy; online teaching and learning; ZTC pathways

Caleb Keith

Director of Institutional Improvement

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis

Speaker Bio

Caleb J. Keith is Director of Institutional Improvement at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Prior to IUPUI, Keith served as Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Priorities at University of the Ozarks, where he oversaw the institution’s one-to-one iPad deployment. He also planned and implemented faculty development opportunities focused on the effective use of educational technology, OER, and innovative teaching and learning techniques.

Areas of Expertise

Assessment; educational research; higher education leadership; strategic planning; student affairs; survey research

Jonathan Lashley

Associate Chief Academic Officer

Idaho State Board of Education

Speaker Bio

Jonathan Lashley is Associate Chief Academic Officer for the Idaho State Board of Education and coordinates open education initiatives across the Gem State. He is a co-editor and -author of OER: A Field Guide for Academic Librarians, a reviewer for the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, and an advisor to postsecondary leaders across the United States regarding topics in technology-enhanced teaching and learning. His scholarship focuses on design-based strategies for promoting experimentation, scaling collaboration, and sustaining open and distributed educational practices.

Areas of Expertise

Education policy; faculty learning; institutional management; OER efficacy research; multimodal composition; open pedagogy; universal design

Kate McConnell

Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Executive Director of VALUE

Association of American Colleges & Universities

Speaker Bio

Kate McConnell is Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Executive Director of VALUE at AAC&U. An educational psychologist by training, Dr. McConnell has written extensively on the reliability and validity of assessment methodologies. Her other research focus on using course-embedded assessment to improve teaching and learning while also addressing accountability and accreditation requirements. Before joining AAC&U, Kate spent ten years at Virginia Tech working in assessment and evaluation as well as serving as affiliate faculty in Virginia Tech’s graduate program in educational psychology, teaching courses on cognitive processes and effective college teaching.

Areas of Expertise

Aligning pedagogy with assessment efforts; course-embedded assessment; faculty development; leveraging the learning sciences in the classroom; institutional change

Jess Mitchell

Senior Manager, Research + Design at the Inclusive Design Research Centre

OCAD University in Toronto

Speaker Bio

Jess Mitchell is Senior Manager, Research + Design at the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD University in Toronto. Her work focuses on fostering innovation within diverse communities while achieving outcomes that benefit everyone. She applies this perspective to managing large-scale international projects, focused organizational initiatives, and everything in between. Jess has worked on a number of complex distributed projects, including building the Ghana Internet Exchange Point in West Africa, teaching at the University level, facilitating workshops with government, industry, and non-profit partners, and working to make the Internet accessible and inclusive to all.

Areas of Expertise

Accessibility; critical pedagogy; critical thinking; diversity, equity, inclusion; ethics

Brandon Muramatsu

Associate Director for Projects in MIT Open Learning

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Speaker Bio

Brandon Muramatsu is an Associate Director for Projects in MIT Open Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He builds connections at the intersection of learning, technology, innovation, and scale. His work includes developing learning technologies, curriculum and courses, and educational digital libraries. Brandon has worked in open education for over 15 years; he helped found OE Global and an OER high school and organized open education conferences. Currently he provides strategic consulting and leads implementation for national governments developing new programs and institutions in K-12 and higher education.

Areas of Expertise

Co-design; course development; learning technologies; professional development; STEAM and engineering education; strategic consulting for institution / program building

Jennifer Pate

Open Education Resources & Scholarly Communications Librarian

University of North Alabama

Speaker Bio

Jennifer Pate is the Open Education Resources & Scholarly Communications Librarian at the University of North Alabama. She co-leads the campus OER initiative, which provides funding for faculty to find, assess, and develop OER for use in their courses. She has developed faculty training modules, led OER campus workshops, and works with individual faculty to find OER to complement their courses. Jennifer has completed the Open Education Network’s Certificate in OER Librarianship, Creative Commons Certification, the Library Copyright Institute, and is pursuing a second Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology and Design.

Areas of Expertise

Building campus partnerships; faculty assessment; faculty development; open licensing; scholarly communication

Lisa Petrides

CEO and Founder

Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME)

Speaker Bio

Lisa Petrides is CEO and Founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). As a scholar and international open educational resources (OER) expert, she leads research, policy, and practice to support the field of open education with the goal to make learning and knowledge-sharing participatory, equitable, and open. This includes the creation of OER Commons, a public digital library collaboration platform that offers a comprehensive infrastructure for educators to identify high-quality curriculum and to collaborate around OER use, improvement, and evaluation, to address local learning needs.

Areas of Expertise

Continuous improvement; design thinking; educational research; knowledge sharing; information systems; K-12 and higher education; organizational change

Jasmine Roberts-CREWS

Professor of Communication

The Ohio State University

Speaker Bio

Jasmine Roberts-Crews is a renowned open education leader and professor of communication at The Ohio State University. Professor Roberts-Crews specifically teaches strategic communication classes and her advocacy work centers on the experiences of people of color, women, and queer communities. She has delivered numerous talks across the nation on the subjects on social justice in higher education, digital activism, and inclusive pedagogy/communication.

Areas of Expertise

Digital activism; inclusive and equitable educational practices; social justice in higher education; strategic communication; student development

Elaine Thornton

Open Education & Distance Learning Librarian

University of Arkansas

Speaker Bio

Elaine Thornton is the Open Education & Distance Learning Librarian at the University of Arkansas. She leads campus OER initiatives, including a faculty funding program, workshops, and OER publishing. As the liaison to the University’s Global Campus, she also advocates for OER adoption in online and distance learning. Elaine has been a SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellow and program mentor and is a past co-chair of the ACRL Distance and Online Learning Standards committee.

Areas of Expertise

Building campus partnerships; distance and online learning, faculty development; OER publishing; open licensing; student government engagement

C. Edward Watson

CIO and Associate Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation

Association of American Colleges and Universities

Speaker Bio

C. Edward Watson is the CIO and Associate Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation at AAC&U. Prior to joining AAC&U, he was the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia (UGA). In addition to overseeing faculty development, student learning outcomes assessment. and learning technologies at UGA, he launched and led the university’s OER initiative. His research foci include OER, faculty development, institutional change, and evidence-based teaching and learning practices.

Session Overview

Course redesign; diffusion of innovations; educational research; faculty development; general education; institutional change

Lisa C. Young

Faculty Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning

Scottsdale Community College

Speaker Bio

Lisa C. Young is the faculty director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Scottsdale Community College, a Maricopa Community College.She is a founding member of the Maricopa Millions OER project which leveraged OER and low-cost materials to provide cost savings and increased access to learning materials. She has served on the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources Executive (CCCOER) executive council since 2015, serving as Vice President of Professional Development (2015-2017), Outreach (2017-2018) and currently Co-President. She has also been involved in OER policy through Regional Leaders of Open Education Initiative and the White House’s Open Government Partnerships discussions of 2014.

Areas of Expertise

Active learning; faculty development; leadership; OER policy; predictive analytics