What is your professional background, and what led you to join CDIL? 

If I had to look back on my career, starting from the first day I entered the field of education, I have always had an interest in teaching, communicating with students, and the interactive classroom experience.

Previously, I was a behavioral interventionist, where I helped to support students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. That’s where I started to pick up on inclusion and accessibility and to think about how we can make those things part of the learning process. During my time as an interventionist, I realized I’m more drawn to work focused on the system as a whole rather than at the individual level. Curriculum design is something I always enjoyed, so I decided to pursue learning design, which I hadn’t known existed before! I saw the CDIL hiring post at just the right time- I had just finished my last position as an online learning fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I collaborated with a variety of teams in the Learning Design sector to build and support online courses in Canvas. This included making sure all of the content was accessible and that the course ran successfully. 

It felt like a really nice transition. The CDIL Learning Design team helps in all areas of design, not only for individual courses, but across programs and disciplines. That means I get to use my skills for a range of disciplines, which is something that I’m looking forward to growing and building on in my professional career. 

For someone new to campus, how would you describe what CDIL does and why that work matters? 

Well, my day-to-day usually involves two through lines. One is a more consistent project development cycle, in which, in the spring, summer, and fall, we take on projects from different programs to redesign or build new courses. That involves extensive consultation with faculty to understand their needs, brainstorming design strategies, and then implementing them on Canvas sites. For the second strand, I participate in special projects. For example, I’m now leading the professional development initiative within the Learning Design team. That includes figuring out how to build professional development focused on the design process, more systematic thinking about design, and onboarding faculty to that design process as well.

For someone new to the campus, if I had to describe what CDIL does and why our work matters, I would say we combine pedagogical thinking and knowledge of education in general with the ability to put that into practice in an online environment. Our goal is to find that sweet spot of what’s right for you as an educator. But then how do you translate that online in ways that are effective, interactive, and engaging? That’s how I see our work come together. Beyond the Learning Design team, we work with the Media Technology and the Faculty Development and Innovation teams to build more engaging, comprehensive courses. 

You are also part of the Inclusivity and Accessibility Working Group for CDIL. Can you say more about that? 

Yes! Additionally, I participate in the Inclusivity and Accessibility Working group, led by my fellow Learning Experience Designer Kyle Carr. Having worked in special education, I want to carry forward accessibility in my current work, even though it’s online. So digital accessibility is a big part of that. I was really happy to learn when I first joined the team that there was an initiative where I could leverage my experience in special education and working with learners with varied ability levels, as well as my technical knowledge of digital accessibility. Joining the group allows me to expand on that work, either by helping faculty build more accessible courses or by helping CDIL teams create more accessible content internally.

Last year, Kyle and I collaborated with HR on an accessibility training session open to faculty and staff. That was something I didn’t expect when I first joined the team: being able to participate in this campus-wide initiative. But whenever an opportunity for good collaboration arises. I’m always happy to help extend our impact beyond the faculty that we work with for the design process. 

What part of your work at CDIL excites you most, and what is something people might be surprised to learn about your role?

It has a lot to do with just having conversations with people who are experts in their fields. Through these conversations, our hope is to share our expertise on pedagogical aspects, cognitive science, or the design aspect of our work to really make it better. I enjoy pulling different ideas together and exploring how that works for a particular course, and doing a sort of trial-and-error process with different designs. It’s interesting, when people ask what I do, it’s really hard to explain! But much of it involves applying my expertise in teaching and learning. It is really a combination of building that relationship with those faculty experts and using literature and research to back up your ideas and design.