EXTERnAL Advisory Board MEMBERS

Maha Bali is an Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She has a PH.D. in Education from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org (a grassroots movement that challenges academic gatekeeping at conferences) and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound (an equity-focused, open, connected intercultural learning curriculum, which has also branched into academic community activities Continuity with Care and Socially Just Academia). She writes and speaks frequently about social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She blogs regularly at http://blog.mahabali.me and tweets @bali_maha

Sang Joon Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development at Mississippi State University (MSU). At MSU, he teaches multimedia, learning technologies, project management, and web design courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Prior to joining MSU, he was an Instructional/Multimedia Developer at the Office of Educational Technology and Assessment in the College of Public Health and an Adjunct Faculty of Instructional Technology program at the University of South Florida. He received a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the University of Georgia (UGA). During his doctoral study at UGA, he worked for the Case-Based e-Learning Group and the Learning and Performance Support Lab. His research focus has been on improving students' learning experiences in constructivist, student-centered learning environments.

Dr. Lee has published articles in Teaching in Higher Education, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Tech Trends, Active Learning in Higher Education, The Internet and Higher Education, British Journal of Educational Technology, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, and Educational Technology. Also, he has presented his studies at international conferences including AERA, AECT, E-Learn, EDUCAUSE, and ED-MEDIA.

Olysha Magruder is the Assistant Director of the Center for Learning Design, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University. In her role she manages the instructional design and course support team as well as directs the Faculty Forward Academy. She has over 12 years of experience in teaching and working in higher education.

Olysha has a doctorate in education. Her research interests include best practices in online teaching and learning and the adoption of strategies, technologies, and innovations. Her work has been published in books and journal articles. Olysha frequently presents on her research and instructional design/faculty development projects at professional conferences.

Prior to her doctoral work, Olysha obtained a master’s degree in Media Studies from The New School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in Fine Arts. She works remotely from her home office in Gainesville, Florida. Outside of work, Olysha enjoys volunteering, reading, writing, and spending time with her family.

Alexandra M. Pickett (@alexpickett) is the director of Online Teaching for SUNY Online, at the system-level of the State University or New York (SUNY). She is the former the director of the Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence, and the former associate director of the award-winning SUNY Learning Network (SLN). Working with the 64 SUNY institutions, she has directly supported or coordinated the development of 300+ online instructional designers and more than 6,000 online faculty and their web-delivered courses. She taught Introduction to Online Teaching in the online CDIT master’s program and the COLT certificate program at the University at Albany from 2006-2014. She was the principle investigator on the SUNY/SLN NGLC grant-funded project, an elected member of the former National University Technology Network advisory board, and on the steering committees of the OLC Accelerate and OLC Innovate conferences.

She is the co-recipient of a number of national awards recognizing excellence in online faculty development, distance learning innovation, online effective practices, and institution-wide programming and systematic progress from Sloan-C, USDLA, OLC, NUTN, and WCET. She was recognized as a Sloan Fellow (2012), an honor conferred by the Sloan Consortium Board of Directors, also served on the Campus Technology Advisory Board for 2013-2015, and the advisory council for the 2013-2016 UPCEA Center for Online Leadership and Strategy. She was appointed by the New York State’s Governor’s Office to the NYS Education Department’s Online Learning Advisory Council from June 2015 to November 2015, which produced recommendations for the NYS Governor, Legislature and Commissioner of Education on K12 Online Learning, served as an expert panelist for the Horizon Reports for 2017- 2019 higher education editions; and was most recently Invited to be a Middle States Commission on Higher Education peer evaluator in March 2020.

She has co-authored a number of research publications, and consults and speaks nationally and internationally on effective online teaching and learning, large-scale online faculty development, badging and online community building, online instructional design, and using web technologies to enhance instruction online. Learn more: https://online.suny.edu/onlineteaching/

Judy Somers has served at Florida Atlantic University as an Adjunct Instructor for the College of Education for almost 13 years. She has also served the Center for Online and Continuing Education as an Instructional Designer/Professional Development coordinator for 8 years and is a Quality Matters Reviewer.

Her educational/research interests are in the areas of brain-based learning, metacognition, visual literacy, emotional intelligence, and the learning process. She likes to encourage others to “Think Outside the Box.”

As an adjunct for the College of Education at FAU she has taught several Masters and Doctoral level courses as well as Introduction to the Teaching Profession; an undergraduate survey course for preservice teachers. She has also presented at several Florida and National conferences.

Outside the University setting, her interests include nature photography, cooking, traveling (although a bit limited currently), gardening and various crafting hobbies, and anything involving her granddaughter.

Sandhya is the Director of the Educational Technology and Assessment office. She has Masters Degrees in Instructional Technology and Public Health from the University of South Florida. She has worked at COPH for over 22 years and has extensive experience working with faculty in transitioning public health programs and courses to an online platform.

Her areas of specialization include classroom technologies, quality assurance, student interaction, and engagement. She is also involved in the College’s effort to provide continuing professional education programs to working professionals. She currently participates in University and National technology work groups.

Elisabeth Stucklen is an instructional designer in the Online Learning Consortium's Institute for Professional Development, providing course design/production and facilitation support for the Instructional Designer Certificate Program, and serves as the instructional designer in the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL) program. She has worked in online higher education and instructional design for over 18 years.

Before joining the OLC, she worked as the senior instructional designer at Mount Washington College, where she was responsible for creating new online courses, providing training and support for faculty, and assisting the director in monitoring the course development process. Before MWC, she worked at Lesley University, providing professional development and course design assistance to faculty.

In addition to her role with the OLC, Elisabeth teaches online for Brandeis University in their Masters in Learning Experience Design program and has also served as a mentor in the Educause ID2ID cross-institutional peer mentoring program for the instructional designer.

Elisabeth holds a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology from Emporia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication Technology from Lesley University. She is also a graduate of the 2020 cohort of the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL).

Elisabeth Stucklen is an instructional designer in the Online Learning Consortium's Institute for Professional Development, providing course design/production and facilitation support for the Instructional Designer Certificate Program, and serves as the instructional designer in the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL) program. She has worked in online higher education and instructional design for over 18 years.

Before joining the OLC, she worked as the senior instructional designer at Mount Washington College, where she was responsible for creating new online courses, providing training and support for faculty, and assisting the director in monitoring the course development process. Before MWC, she worked at Lesley University, providing professional development and course design assistance to faculty.

In addition to her role with the OLC, Elisabeth teaches online for Brandeis University in their Masters in Learning Experience Design program and has also served as a mentor in the Educause ID2ID cross-institutional peer mentoring program for the instructional designer.

Elisabeth holds a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology from Emporia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication Technology from Lesley University. She is also a graduate of the 2020 cohort of the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL).

Karen Watte has worked for Oregon State University-Ecampus for 14 years. She currently serves as the director for course development and training, overseeing a team of 40 professionals including instructional designers and multimedia developers. OSU currently offers over 70 fully online degrees or certificates and the course development team coordinates and facilitates the development and re-development of all online courses offered through the institution. Karen was instrumental in the development of the Ecampus faculty development program that previously received the Online Learning Consortium’s Award for Excellence. She is also a Quality Matters (QM) coordinator for OSU and regularly facilitates QM professional development workshops.

Her areas of focus include faculty professional development, organizational behavior, and online program management. She holds a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Oregon State University and previously received a Sloan-C Certificate in Online Teaching. She has presented at various regional and national conferences in the past on topics related to online teaching and learning.