eLearning

Beverly Bondad-Brown, PhD, is a self-described technology trainer, faculty developer, and active learning advocate. She has worked for over 20 years integrating technology into K-8 classrooms, teaching and training in universities, and as a corporate instructional designer and software trainer. She spent 10 years as Cal State LA’s Director of Academic Technology, managing the instructional design team and overseeing support for the campus LMS and ed tech tools. She is currently the Manager of Instructional Design and Learning Development at Western University of Health Sciences where she oversees the development of eLearning cases and modules used in Western U’s courses.

Dr. Bondad-Brown has a BA in Communication from UC San Diego, an MA in Instructional Technology and Media from Columbia University, and a PhD in Communication from UC Santa Barbara. She is also a QM-certified facilitator and has presented at various conferences throughout California.

Reza Boroon is the academic technology director/ATO at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He has over 20 years’ experience in higher education and the instructional technology field. Part of his responsibilities include but are not limited to conducting face-to-face and online sections of training on the pedagogy and technology ‘Best Practices’ related to online teaching, digital media, and virtual classrooms as well as customizing and maintaining the learning management system used as the eLearning platform by on-campus and distance education faculty and students. Boroon is also an adjunct faculty who teaches online and hybrid courses. He has over 18 years' experience in teaching at college level.

Ashley Lonie, MEd, is the founder and CEO of Teamed, a staffing agency that specializes in eLearning professionals. She has a background in K-12 teaching, instructional design, and leading online learning design and development at the university level. She is known as an innovator who established the first university partnership with Audible (an Amazon company) to bring custom audio learning solutions to busy MBA students and helped to establish a high-end story-driven production studio that creates custom, engaging learning, SEI Studios. Lonie is currently focused on connecting professionals across the globe to reimagine, modernize, and improve learning. She holds a MEd in Curriculum and Instruction and a graduate certificate in Instructional Design and Technology.

Alexander Plachuta brings over twenty years of experience from both the corporate and higher education world, with respect to teaching and learning with technology. Dr. Plachuta has been teaching online since 2003 and has been instrumental in online course and degree development, faculty guidance, and student support. In addition, he brings a change agent mentality that is proactive and innovative, which has resulted in the early adoption of practices and policies that have become standard today.

Dr. Plachuta is a graduate of the CSUEB M.S. in Online Teaching and Learning from 2008 and has earned additional degrees from Northeastern University (Ed.D.), Kean University (M.S.) and West Chester University (B.S.).

Angie Portacio is a senior instructional designer from the University of San Francisco and worked in higher education for over 20 years. Her expertise ranges from leading and developing faculty development training to online courses. She works with faculty on how to strategically and intentionally incorporate different teaching and course design strategies to enhance teaching and learning in any course modality.

Portacio completed her MA Ed in Instructional Technology and BA in Industrial Design at San Francisco State University. She has experience in teaching online courses for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty. She’s presented at several conferences. She’s currently a member of the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) Annual Meeting Program Committee, and a certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewer.

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.

Ashley Skylar, PhD works as manager of the Online Course Services Program with the CSU Chancellor’s Office, Academic Technology Services (ATS) to support campuses in leadership efforts to develop online and hybrid courses. She serves as the CSU Institutional Representative for Quality Matters, manages CSU QM & QLT Formal Course Certifications, and holds various Quality Matters certifications including: Peer Reviewer, Master Reviewer, Course Review Manager, Applying the Quality Matters Rubric Facilitator (F2F & online), and Improve Your Own Course Facilitator. She also leads and facilitates systemwide QM and QLT training for the system. In this role, she also manages campus groups including CSU QA campus leads, instructional designers, and Student Quality Assurance Impact Research (SQuAIR) in online courses. Previous to this role she served 2.5 years as the Director for Online Education for Cal State Online, 8 years as an Associate Professor in Special Education, and 2 years as a Faculty Associate in the Technology Center at CSU Northridge. She has been teaching online since 2001 and previous to higher education was a special education secondary teacher for 8 years in Las Vegas, NV. Dr. Skylar’s expertise areas are in UDL, ATI, Distance Education, Strategic Planning, and Instructional Design.

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.

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.

As a working adult who earned two degrees fully online, Dr. Sheila A. Thomas is well acquainted with the opportunities and challenges facing working adults today. She has provided institutional leadership in a variety of areas, including Cal State Online, state authorization, program and policy development, and strategic communication. Dr. Thomas is an experienced facilitator and mentor and completed the Introduction to Teaching Online Using QLT certification through CSU.

She holds a master’s degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills and a Doctor of Education degree in Higher Education Leadership from Northcentral University.

Dr. Thomas has published Women in Higher Education Leadership and the Role of Institutional Support, a book chapter in Research Anthology on Challenges for Women in Leadership Roles, IGI Global, May 2021.

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 Canvas (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. 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.