I was fortunate to start my professional experience as an elementary teacher in a unique Stillwater, MN public school that practiced interdisciplinary curriculum planning, multi-age grouping, and personalized learning enriched by the arts, nature, and peace education. I learned in that school that how we teach (the power of positive school culture, the importance of relationships, social emotions learning, etc.) is as important as what we teach.
My career led me to teach in a teacher licensing program at Bemidji State University, provide instructional design and faculty development services at the Center for Teaching and Learning at Hamline University, and serve as director of an instructional design team at the University of Minnesota where I guided the design, development and review of online courses and programs to align with evidence-based practices. My focus in all these endeavors was guided by a learner-centered paradigm and the promise that authentic learning experiences hold to make learning more meaningful for learners.
All the while, I was earning a Master’s degree, then a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and Learning Technologies — reading the research, conducting studies, publishing findings. And the deeper I went into the scholarship, the more clearly I could see the gap. Valuable research that could help teachers was sitting in journals that teachers would never read. The evidence that could guide school leaders was buried in academic language that school leaders could not use. And the practitioners who understood educational challenges best— had no seat at the research table.
As someone who has become a living bridge between research and practice, I was called to this work. I founded reDesignED to bring together researchers, learning scientists, instructional designers, educators, students and community partners to collaboratively solve both entrenched and emerging education challenges through the inclusive R&D process inherent in education design research (EDR).
I am excited about the potential impact that collaborative efforts such as EDR and other improvement science approaches have to serve the field that I love.
For research and scholarship, please see my curriculum vita.