eLearning Technology

Recognized for creating innovative tools, processes, and protocols to facilitate student-centered initiatives that provide accountability and scale to student services teams, Jesse Boeding has twenty years’ experience developing and running programs in higher education as well as in the corporate environment focusing on training, outsourced support, and research management. With an eye on data, she is now exploring how emerging technologies can provide a personalized experience for students, while simultaneously creating the space for personal, high quality one-on-one engagement with professional student services professionals.

David Dodick, Ph.D. is an educator specializing in language, literacy, and technology who has studied the implications for native and non-native speaking students of teaching and learning in the digital era. He created one of the first cross-cultural learning projects on the Internet, linking 171 students and teachers in four countries and two languages.

Prior to joining Cal State East Bay, Dr. Dodick worked with clients including the Stanford Graduate Schools of Education and Business, and Silicon Valley technology firms. He has taught at San José State University, Stanford University, and Carnegie Mellon University - Silicon Valley.

Professor Dodick holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Toronto, an M.S. in education from the University of Rochester, and a B.A. in commerce from the University of Toronto. He obtained his K-12 teacher certification in New York State and Ontario, Canada.

Anne Guptill, Ph.D. is an instructional design consultant, multimedia development, online developer, and teacher. With many years of experience in systems design, development, integration, management, and training, she has been dedicated to technology-based training and education, developing custom web-based training and education courses. She has been developing web-based courses since 1998 and has been teaching online since 2001. Professor Guptill  lives in the SF Bay Area and teaches in the MS. Ed. program (online teaching and learning option) at Cal State East Bay.

Professor Datt Khalsa holds a Masters of Education with a specialty in Online Teaching and Learning from Cal State East Bay.  She has been teaching for this program since her graduation in 2001. Professor Khalsa went on to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the field of Language, Literacy and Culture. She has been involved with administration, program development, and teacher training for over 35 years and has K-12 and extensive higher education teaching and administrative experience.  Her conference presentations and publications include research on social media in the classroom, assessment, online education, virtual teamwork, global online communities, and cross-cultural communication in multidisciplinary K-12 curriculum.

Brenda McDorman embraces life long learning, no matter the delivery. She has been involved with designing online course delivery and teaching online since 2006. She has also led instructional design for staff at William Woods University (Fulton, Missouri) in converting courses to an online environment. In addition to teaching online, she was involved in developing online courses for the MED Teaching and Technology program.

Prior to joining the online environment, she was an elementary teacher and also taught gifted learners in the K-12 program. Before her retirement from public education, she was the district instructional technology coordinator, leading professional development workshops supporting integrating technology into the curriculum. She is a Certified eMINTS Educational Technology Specialist.

Sherry McCarthy, Ed.D. is a retired professor of education and vice president of Academic Affairs at William Woods University in Fulton, MO, where she helped develop the online learning programs.

She currently serves as an online instructor, consultant, and peer evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission. Dr. McCarthy has been an educator for over 40 years serving in roles from high school biology and English teacher to director of assessment to graduate education online courses. She received an Ed.D. in Higher Education Curriculum Development from University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Monica Munoz is a Senior eLearning Specialist who has worked within the CSU system for the past five years. Currently, she works in the Office of the Online Campus at Cal State East Bay supporting faculty in implementing quality standards. Her passion lies in reducing the cost of instructional materials for students and continuously improving online courses to increase student success. She has contributed to the field of online learning by co-authoring “Reenvisioning an Instructional Design System for Higher Education”, which provides an alternative, comprehensive instructional design model for online architects. Munoz has also presented at several education conferences including: UPCEA, eLearning and Innovative Pedagogies conference, Blackboard World, Textbook Affordability Conference and Quality Matters.

Cheryl Saelee has worked as a program development coordinator and a distance education manager for a small vocational college before coming to California State University, East Bay as a Senior eLearning Specialist. For the past eight years, she has worked with online faculty to enhance instructional delivery, improve learner assessment strategies, and mitigate the inherent barriers of online learning. Saelee obtained her Masters in Public Policy from Mills College, Oakland, CA. She has co-authored “Reenvisioning an Instructional Design System for Higher Education” which describes best practices developed at Cal State East Bay for developing online courses. Saelee has also presented at numerous conferences including Quality Matters and eLearning and Pedagogies conference, and she recently accepted a Catalyst Award for Leading Change at the Blackboard World conference.

Melanie Shaw has spent the past two decades teaching and serving as an administrator in online higher education settings. She serves as an adjunct faculty at several institutions and facilitates webinars for the Online Learning Consortium. In addition to her teaching roles, she trains faculty to develop and deliver courses online, conducts research on topics related to nontraditional education, and is involved in strategic leadership relative to the vision for online education.

Shaw’s primary research interests include online teaching and learning, organizational leadership, and distance learning instructional practices. She is the author of several books, articles, and chapters including: An Evaluation of Student Outcomes by Course Duration in Online Higher Education; Establishing an Online Professional Development Community to Promote Faculty Engagement and Excellence; Distance Learning Courses: A Survey of Activities and Assignments; and Online Course Activities: A Survey of Assignment and Assessment Types. She is the winner of the Wagner Award for Outstanding Instructional Support and the Online Learning Consortium’s Effective Practice Award.

Shaw received a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Curriculum and Teaching from Northcentral University, a master’s degree in Education Administration from Grand Canyon University, and a second master’s degree in School Counseling from the University of West Alabama. She received her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies and Music from Excelsior College. She holds teaching certificates in online teaching, elementary education, and guidance counseling. She is married to a fantastic jazz musician and has two adult daughters.

Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” The mastery of a good teacher is not only to express a concept simply but to find multiple ways to express it. This can include being open to the co-creation of expression in a constructive learning environment.

Meg Taggart obtained an MS in Education with a concentration in Online Teaching and Learning at California State University, East Bay in 2011. In 2006, she completed a Multimedia Design Certificate Program that inspired her passion for creating engaging eLearning content.

In addition to teaching, Taggart is an instructional designer, academic technology consultant, and learning management system administrator at CSUEB. She is a certified Quality Matters higher education teacher training facilitator.

Her prior roles in education included the design of an Early Childhood Environmental Education program for teachers, as well as operations management and marketing functions.

Dr. Martins Shinkut is a tenured professor of Technology Education/Computer Information Systems (CIS), graduate coordinator of MBA in Management Information Systems (MIS), and coordinator of an internship program. He served as technology coordinator for a public school district in Missouri and helped in developing online teacher education curriculum.

Dr. Shinkut holds a Ph.D. in Business Technology Education with a concentration in Business Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research and research interests include job satisfaction of business education faculty of higher institutions, influence of information technology on the 21st century schools, online vs. traditional education, information technology risks, security and disaster recovery, influence of technology in social networking, enhancing portfolio with computer graphic design using Adobe Photoshop, cloud computing, and computer application using Microsoft Office, among others. Dr. Shinkut was also nominated for the Governor’s award for excellence in teaching/education.

James W. Thomas, PhD is a tech writer, college instructor, developer, and researcher with interests in learning design, evaluation, arts and technology, hardware UX, and human performance (human factors).

His PhD is from Arizona State in Educational Technology with a concentration in Arts, Media, and Engineering. His first ecomm site went live in 1997. He is also a musician who's either performed or shared a stage with an eclectic group of musicians ranging from Jazz great Sarah Vaughn to Metal icons Testament, to pioneering performance artist Rachael Rosenthal.

He developed and taught several music and media classes at ASU.

Dr. Roger Wen is the founding Sr. Director of the Online Campus at California State University, East Bay. He oversees the campus online teaching and learning operation. Part of his duties include but not limited to the learning management system (LMS) and third-party tools that connect with Blackboard (e.g., Zoom, TurnItIn, Panopto, Smart Sparrow, SoftChalk). Dr. Wen was previously the funding dean of the online campus at a private university in Missouri. He was also a tenured professor with educational training in Business Administration, Human Resource Development, and Instructional Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Technology Teaching/Information Science from the University of Missouri - Columbia.

Dr. Karen Yoshino is a subject matter expert in competency-based education program design, outcomes assessment planning and design, online program strategy, and analytics for program improvement. In addition to her consulting experience in US higher education, corporate and government sectors, she has worked with clients in Hong Kong, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. In addition to consulting, Dr. Yoshino has served on accreditation teams for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has served as the Executive Director of the SAT at the College Board in New York City. She earned her doctorate in Education (Higher Education Leadership) at Claremont Graduate University.

Dr. Olena Zhadko is a dynamic digital learning strategist devoted to advancing the human capital through eLearning. In the last fifteen years, she has provided leadership in designing online learning experiences, infusing best practices into curriculum development, delivery, and assessment through the effective use of technology. Zhadko consults on the topics of strategic growth and scaling of online programs, building capacity and infrastructure for online education, quality assurance and assessment, regulations and compliance for distance learning, instructional and course design, online faculty development and preparation for teaching online, online mentoring, open educational resources, and digital learning.

Zhadko earned her Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Teaching and Learning and a Master of Education in Adult and Higher Education from the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

Some of Zhadko’s recent publications include the Routledge’s book "Best Practices in Designing Courses with Open Educational Resources (OER)" (2019), as part of the Best Practices in Online Teaching and Learning Series and two chapters for the edited book, "The Learner-Centered Instructional Designer: Purpose, Process, and Practicalities of Creating Online Courses in Higher Education" (Quinn, J., ed. , 2020) with Stylus Publishing.