Distance Education Coordinator, Modesto Junior College, 2012 to present

• Oversee approximately 350 online and hybrid courses per semester. This is approximately 20% of the courses offered at MJC, which has approximately 15,000 FTES.

• Coordinated a three-semester transition from Blackboard to Canvas, including multiple in-person and online faculty trainings, 2016-2017.

• Certified over 200 faculty to teach online.

• Chair the Distance Education Committee. Important projects include working with colleagues to re-write Area II of the MJC 2012-2017 Distance Education Plan to reflect improvements in faculty online training and certification; and creating a course approval process and course design rubric for new online instructors. Wrote the 2016 DE Program Review.

• Developed and taught three online courses: Introduction to Online Instruction, Introduction to Canvas, Advanced Canvas, rigorous, four-week, 40-hour courses geared specifically for MJC instructors and that are taught entirely online through Blackboard.

• Organizer and host MJC 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Summer Online Academy, an all-day event with eight faculty and District IT members presenting on instruction techniques and issues specific to online instruction. The event is designed to thank veteran online faculty for their hard work and to help them stay current with online teaching theory.

• Created Canvas (and previously Blackboard) Minishops where instructor trainings are held in a faculty office and attended by two or three faculty. This approach helps create a community of instructors who can get to know and help each-other navigate similar instructional needs.

• Initiated use of “Join.me,” a free and simple desktop sharing platform now being used by the MJC Blackboard Help Desk. It is also being piloted by the Counseling Department in response to accreditation concerns. The MJC STEM Tutoring Center and Library has also had success with Join.Me.

• Responded to a daily high volume of faculty questions related to Canvas and Blackboard via email, telephone, and in one-on-one meetings, almost always within 24 hours of initial contact

• Worked with and guided MJC Online Help Desk

• Hosted faculty trainings and workshops for full and part-time faculty new to Canvas and Blackboard

• Oversaw pilots with Moodle and Canvas, including gathering student comparison feedback

• Represented Distance Education on the MJC Campus Technology Committee and at YCCD Web Group, and MJC Professional Development Coordinating Committee meetings

• Helped push for an online forms solution

• Collaborated with the DE Coordinator at Columbia College on numerous Blackboard related issues, including Service Pack upgrades

• Hosted with Columbia College a District-wide meeting in Oakdale on distance education, with faculty presentations and discussion.

• Presented a globally-viewed BITS (Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series) webinar, “Teaching an Online Writing Class: Assessment & Technology”

• Represented MJC at monthly California Community College DE Coordinators meetings

• Served on the Assistant Chancellor for IT Hiring Committee

Professor of English, Modesto Junior College, 2000-2012

• Taught all levels of English composition, from beginning developmental and basic skills to advanced composition and critical thinking. Also taught a variety of literature courses.

• Served as beta tester for Blackboard 9, an early and “buggy” software release. I mentored other instructors who came after Blackboard released version 9.1

• Co-created MJC @One Cohort, a group of twelve faculty who went through the @One Project. The cohort took my Advanced Blackboard course in summer of 2012. The cohort resulted from training I received from the @One Project. I helped negotiate compensation and professional improvement options for participants, and I co-led the group as we helped work through accreditation issues with our online program. Program graduates now serve as DE Committee members and as mentors for new online instructors.

• Started the Online@YCCD Facebook Group, a way for MJC and Columbia College instructors to help support one another but soon expanded district-wide to include Columbia College. I am the administrator for the group that now has approximately 200 members.

• Held regular faculty training workshops on web-page development, using Turnitin, screen-capture video, and other technologies.

Earlier Teaching Experience

English Instructor (sabbatical replacement)

College of the Sequoias, Visalia, CA (2000)

Taught four different preps across two campuses; served on the campus technology committee; introduced students to smart-room teaching techniques

English Instructor (sabbatical replacement)

Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA (1999-2000)

Taught four courses, worked in Writing Lab, developed personal website for course materials including syllabi, handouts, and other course information

Professor of English

Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador (1998-1999)

Taught English, ESL, and Philosophy courses. USFQ is a private, English-speaking college designed to give Ecuadorians a college experience equal to what they would find in the United States or Europe. I created an email blog to chronicle my experiences teaching and traveling.

English Instructor

Fulbright Commission, Quito, Ecuador (1999)

Taught higher-levels of English as a Second Language, incorporating music to help teach English grammar.

Teaching Assistant, Department of English

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (1992-1998)

Taught two and often three courses per semester of composition, literature, and technical writing while working as a graduate student. Also taught English in the Math, Science, and Engineering summer bridge program, designed for Hispanic and Native Americans who intended to declare as engineering majors.