Brielle Plump

My name is Brielle Plump, and when it comes to supporting education technology, instructional design, and distance education management, I am on board and ready!

When the spring semester of 2020 began I thought I was in for another semester as a loner, part of the small percentage of faculty teaching online, while my peers lead face to face courses. I had transitioned to teaching full online the year prior, in order serve a larger community of underserved, non-traditional students.

Sure, I missed the buzz of college campuses, engaging with colleagues and students face to face, and the security of my tenure track position; but for me, the shift to teaching fully online felt smooth. By then I had 7+ years of experience as a remote manager and consultant in higher education; furthermore, I knew the impact I was having online was unparalleled. Now I got to work with adult learners from across the globe, without location constraints, increasing equity and access through the Canvas Learning Management System. I leaned on my years of experience as an instructional designer and front end web developer, and I thrived reimagining my course content through a multi-media lens.

I also had a lot more time! Without commuting, and looking for parking, I could spend time giving individualized feedback for all assignment submissions. I was able to build richer content, where I drew on the most recent pop culture topics or global issues to illuminate the relevance of course concepts. During 2019 I took a handful of professional development courses with @One, the Online Network of Educators, and being an online student again further enhanced my skills as an online teacher.

So there I was, at the start of 2020, enjoying my synchronous and asynchronous classes. I was looking into to more opportunities to share my skills with peers as a instructional designer; I was eager to support other faculty discover the benefits of online courses through participation in Distance Education committees. I was letting my career as an instructional designer evolve one semester at a time.

Then the coronavirus hit the United States, and suddenly my desire to share skills and best practices in online instruction had a whole new sense of urgency.

Fast foreword to now, fall 2021, and I have these new titles added to my resume:

• Distance Education Coordinator (College of Alameda & Peralta Community College District)

• Online Equity Course Designer (Moreno Valley College)

• Education Technology Coordinator (Peralta Community College District)

• Instructional Design Trainer (College of Alameda and Moreno Valley College)

It is devastating that it took the COVID-19 pandemic for students and faculty to enhance their technological literacy, and for online equity to become a standard in education. But here we are, and we cannot turn back the clock.

I am so incredibly grateful that my 10+ years working in online education management, my 6+ years as an online educator, 3+ years as an instruction designer can lend support and provide light during these unprecedented times.

Please check out my curriculum vitae for more detailed information about my journey.