Program Design:
BIS Media Entrepreneurship
I am currently redesigning the Media Entrepreneurship program at the Creative Media Industries Institute at Georgia State University. My work has lead to the development of two new courses in the curriculum: Student Orientation & a Portfolio 1 course that all CMII students will be required to take. Additionally my work focuses on designing faculty development workshops, curriculum alignment, interdisciplinary course sequencing, pathway creation and designing relevant, meaningful and effective learning strategies that provide real-world, practical learning experiences for students interested in careers in creative media and entrepreneurship.
Master of Taxation
I developed the online MTAX program for GSU Online at Georgia State University. Working closely with admin and faculty, I transformed 12 brick and mortar courses into engaging, student-centered, online learning experiences. Designing at the program and course level allowed me to effectively integrate program competencies, goals and learning outcomes across all the courses. I leveraged opportunities for program evaluation at the course level by designing multiple feedback opportunities for students. This provided actionable, qualitative data for admin and meaningful feedback opportunities for students. Authentic assessments, relevancy and the practical application was a key aspect of the design. My collaboration with SME’s who were working tax professionals allowed me to develop learning strategies based on current, real-world applications of tax practice and procedures. This program is distinct in its field by offering tax research and tax analytics capstone course, an experience offered by only one other program in the country.
Narrative Strategy
A main goal of MTAX project was to increase learner engagement. Developing a narrative strategy became a key aspect of the learning strategy for the program. All courses in the program developed individual course narratives. Some followed linear stories, others integrated sequential narrative elements by threading a central problem or process that unfolded throughout the course as a case study.
Key Features:
Narrative extends through each module - Explores central questions and problems - Connects learning objectives, activities, and assessments
Comics
Faculty teaching Tax Practice & Procedure and Tax Crimes & Forensics used drab voiceover powerpoint slides in class yet shared intriguing anecdotal stories during their lectures. I partnered with the faculty and our multimedia team to transform their anecdotes into comics. Comics were threaded through each module of the two core courses.
We created a narrative about a tax advisor at Beans & Counter and her client at Worldwide Widgets. Students learn the inner workings of the tax system through the characters they meet in the story. I developed the initial scripts with the faculty, then partnered with our multimedia team to create the final drafts and art.
Curse of Silla: Unreal Engine
A life-long learner, I participated in Professor Jeasy Sehgal’s three-day intensive Virtual Production Bootcamp designed for faculty and staff at GSU. The bootcamp was a hands-on deep-dive into virtual production using Unreal Engine 5. Under Sehgal’s mentorship I produced my first Unreal clip.
The Iceberg Principle
What we see above the water is what students see. A beautiful course. However, a lot is going on beneath the surface of a course. What we see below the surface is all of the strategy and intentional pre-planning that goes into designing a successful course.
Program Design Highlights
Research
Course observations
Focus groups
Student Personas
Data Analytics
Alignment
Curriculum mapping
Learning Strategies
Needs Analysis
Faculty Development
Faculty workshops
Onboarding
Technology training
Evaluation
Data Strategy
Focus groups
Qualitative Data
Project Management
Partnering with Specialist:
Multimedia
Data Analytics
Learning Technologists
Design Strategy
Engagement Strategy
Narrative Strategy
Active Learning
Flipped Model
Authentic Assessments