Professional Development & Training

"Simone’s vision and design skill elevate the series promotion and support materials to a higher professional standard."

Notre Dame of Maryland University: Lunch & Learn Series - Tech Tools for Professors, highlighting the multimedia resources that make the most of hybrid and online best practices; including virtual meeting rooms and discussion forums. (2019)

Morgan State University: Faculty Institute - The twice-yearly Faculty Institute promotes faculty excellence, and best practices in teaching and learning through dialogue and hands-on experimentation with the University. (2017)

Loyola University Maryland: Digital Pedagogy Workshop - An intensive 9-day learning experience designed to help educators develop an online or hybrid course rich with student engagement techniques based in best practices in pedagogical research. Faculty gain an understanding of the course design model, Understanding by Design (UbD).

* 2012-2019. In 2016, I attended the workshops as a participant

My Development Process:

I use proven research to design my professional development sessions. Workshops and sessions offer timely content, learner-centered instruction, professional course materials, and follow-up evaluations. As is course development, the ADDIE Framework is applied to guide my process, and Kirkpatrick's Model of ongoing learning evaluation. This is a loose outline:

Conduct topic, market, and audience research,
Set measurable learning objectives
Script and storyboard each session,
Develop session outlines, case studies, and materials,
Market and facilitate a variety of PD and training.
Develop online or supplemental materials (recordings, tutorials, documentation),
Conduct routine post-training evaluations.

These are a few of my most popular professional development workshops:

Effective Educational Video
1-2 hour Workshop for Students & Educators
Creating effective educational video need not be difficult. In this informational session we take an in-depth look at the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and it's implications for multimedia in education. Educators get the tools to create engaging educational video for students: from course introductions to walk-throughs and mini-lectures.

The Neuroscience of Learning
2-hour Introductory Session for Educators

For optimal learning to occur, the brain needs conditions under which it is able to change in response to stimuli (neuroplasticity) and able to produce new neurons (neurogenesis). The most effective learning involves recruiting multiple regions of the brain for the learning task. These regions are associated with such functions as memory, the various senses, volitional control, and higher levels of cognitive functioning.

Online Portfolio Workshop (3 hour)

This hands-on workshop takes the educator from the planning stages to production of their professional online portfolio. It employs tested methods of online communication, media writing, and Mayer's Multimedia Principles.

Ensuring Academic Integrity (1 hour)

Explore available online tools and resources: Respondus’ Monitor and Lockdown Browser, SafeAssign. Experiment with formative assessment strategies that limit reliance on choice-only online assessments.

Powerful Presentations: A design and communications-based approach to presenting to groups. Participants learn to use PowerPoint to enhance their message rather than lull their audience to sleep.

Podcasting Basics: This two-part workshop takes you from idea to inception; begin with your idea, schedule and script, followed up with a plan for hosting, then record and edit your podcast before hosting it online.

Your Course Introduction Video
3-Part Faculty Development Series
In this session faculty participants review best practices, polish and practice their scripts, then produce their 3-5 minute video. The end product serves to promote teacher presence in an online environment. Each video is useful, instructive, and comprehensive; and highlights each educator's personal style:

Online Portfolio Workshop:
This hands-on workshop takes the student or educator from the planning stages to production of their professional online portfolio. It employs tested methods of online communication, media writing, and Mayer's Multimedia Principles.

Creating Accessible Course Materials: Providing course materials that are accessible to learners with documented disabilities is required by federal law (ADA 504 & 508). This hands-on workshop shows educators how to create ADA compliant course materials, and update existing.

H5P: Online Interactivity & Accessibility: Build a more engaging, interactive student learning experience…employ tools to help ensure ADA accessibility in online course materials… Tour H5P, experiment with different content, and learn how to incorporate interactive video, student self-assessments, and learning games.

Universal Design for Learning
1-hour Workshop for Educators
Universal Design for Learning is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences. This session gives an introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and strategies for implementing it in courses.

Moodle Course Cleanup - A refresher course in developing Moodle LMS based course content, materials and engagement. The focus is on applying graphic design principles to create an intuitive online experience for learners.

Joule Course Cleanup - A refresher course in developing Joule LMS based course content, materials and engagement. The focus is on applying graphic design best practices to create an intuitive online experience for learners.

Brightspace Course Layout - A refresher course in developing Brightspace (D2L) LMS-based course content, materials and engagement. The focus is on applying online engagement best practices to create an intuitive online experience for learners.

Development & Promotion:

In addition to developing these sessions, I also design print, online, e-blasts, and multimedia promotions for each. These 30-minute to 4-hour sessions offer hands-on exploration, demonstrations, and relevant materials or handouts to help enforce the teaching and learning principles covered.