Meet our staff!

UCO's distance education team continues to grow to better serve our distance education faculty and students.  Meet our team members and learn more about quality eLearning at UCO!

Tracy Fairless - Instructional Designer

Hello, my name is Tracy Fairless.  I have been an Instructional Designer with CPDE since the fall of 2007.    Working with faculty is the absolute best part of my job.  It is particularly gratifying to begin a project with a professor who is somewhat apprehensive about technology and the whole concept of teaching online. To watch the initial level of apprehension dissolve and be replaced with excitement and a sense of accomplishment, gives me great joy.   

There have been so many memorable courses and instructors but one that stands out for me is a Trigonometry course designed by Lee Ann Brown.  Using a Wacom tablet and Camtasia, Lee Ann spent countless hours creating video tutorials and detailed, interactive lessons for her online course.  The tutorials allowed students to see and hear their instructor explain examples as many times as needed.  Her hard work proved to be worthwhile when her face-to-face students started requesting access to the online lessons.  It should not be a surprise that Lee Ann Brown is recognized as one of UCO’s Online Quality Award Winners! 

Milissa Copeland - Instructional Designer

The best part of my job is the creative freedom we have in designing dynamic online courses.  The second best part of my job is sharing those ideas and creative tools with my faculty members and having them get excited about the endless possibilities available to create their online courses.

One of my favorite courses that I have worked on was MUS 1113 with Dr. Magrill.  We used several cool tools to assist the students, including a piano widget  we loaded right into WebCT. We also found a free piano app for the iPad and iPhone. 

One of my favorite tools to use to assist faculty and students is Screenr. It allows me to create quick instructional videos on how to perform a certain task and share it or link it.  It certainly makes it easier than telling someone how to navigate, and best of all it is FREE!

Lacretia Mitchell - Instructional Designer

I love using new and innovative tools such as: mixbook, screenr, glogster, and blogger in the online environment. I think the reason I like “cool tools” is because it makes the class more interesting and fun for the students. As a recent graduate, I remember what it was like being in a class where all you do is read boring text and how much it made me hate the learning process. 

Maybe it is the mother in me, but I want to make sure our current and future students enjoy, not dread, online courses. As an instructor who uses these tools in my Success Central class I know from experience how much they can enrich the learning process.  

Bucky Dodd - Assistant Director

One of the exciting aspects of my job is that I have the privilege of working with some of the most creative, innovative, and student-focused individuals at UCO. 

Flex-Ed is currently undergoing major innovation and change as we transition to offering self-paced online courses and expand interactive video education learning options to create the most flexible courses available to UCO students. 

We completed our first Advanced Course Design which involved much collaboration and introduced several new instructional design techniques that will be expanded to other online course design projects. Our second Advanced Course Design group is in the process of designing courses that focus on 3D virtual environments and mobile learning. 

The eLearning Developers’ Community of Practice is meeting monthly and discussing what’s new in eLearning development. 

Finally, through a collaboration between CPDE and the Office of Enrollment Management, UCO has its first Distance Learning advisor. Not only can students learn anywhere, they can access advisement services no matter where they are at in the world.

Andrea Stone - Instructional Designer

The best part of my job is collaborating with faculty to take their ideas to the next level. They have great ideas, but often they don’t know about all the options available for online classes, especially since great new tools come out daily it seems! I love to listen to what a faculty member wants to do or is currently doing in face to face classes and brainstorm with them on ways to create great online learning activities. 

New things like iPad apps for providing feedback, VoiceThread, and Google+ video chat offer great benefits for teaching and learning. Seeing faculty excited about implementing new ways of teaching makes my day!

Michael Willis - Instructional Designer

What I love best about online learning, as well as developing online courses, is the ability to be creative.  As a student, I feared being stuck in a classroom with “THE” professor….you know, the professor that epitomized dry and monotone teaching.  It is for that reason I try to create fun and interactive online courses using tools like comic strips, digital stories, and Prezis.  I guess you could say I am committed to fighting boring and monotonous learning one eCourse at a time. 

Rhonda Barnett - Flex-Ed Coordinator (IVE)

The future of Interactive Video Education (IVE) is endless, and, that excites me! Here’s why:  

1. the student base can range from urban, suburban, metropolitan, rural, international, and incarcerated populations, 
2. teachers and lecturers from all over the world can be brought to the local classroom in a 2-way communication platform, 
3. the technology can be used to pool resources and teach courses which otherwise may not be offered, and
4. students can realize their goals and dreams from anywhere in the world!  

John Gillmore - Assistant Director

Hello there! My name is John Gillmore. I am the Assistant Director of Instructional Technologies in the Distance Education Department. I recently attended the Institute for Emerging Leaders in Online Education which is a collaboration between the Sloan-C consortium and Penn State University. This program really lit a fire under me, prompting me to reach out, promote collaboration and seek opportunities to lead our campus into new areas of technology and innovation. 

Shortly after our on-campus Penn State session, I had the opportunity to attend the Retaining Students in Online Education workshop. This seminar put forth some excellent ideas about student retention including improving online student services, student orientation and identifying problem areas using advanced analytics displayed via an online dashboard. These are the things I am very excited about! If you are interested in any of these things, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Laura Rash - Flex-Ed Coordinator (SPOC)

The best part of my day is when students tell me they would have had to quit school if Flex-Ed were not available. Making education more accessible is what Flex-Ed is all about. That’s why I am so excited about all of the changes coming to UCO’s Flex-Ed program!  

All of our current paper delivery correspondence courses are being converted to Self Paced Online Courses (SPOC). The new online format will allow quicker turnaround on student work and more direct student/faculty interaction.  For the first time Flex-Ed students will also have access to online enrollment, online advisement and online tutoring. Initially we are converting current Flex-Ed courses to SPOC, but we hope to expand the course offering significantly over the next year. 

Liz Crowell - Instructional Designer

“Hi, my name is Liz and I’m addicted to Facebook.” OK, I’m not addicted, but I do love social media! I “like” (get it?) finding ways to communicate with students where they are at and encouraging informal learning through tools students already use. 

However, my favorite part of my job is meeting with faculty members to discuss teaching and building online classes. I enjoy the enthusiasm and creative nature of UCO’s faculty, whether it is completing a task or brainstorming creative ways to engage students. Their dedication to students inspires me to design the best online experiences for our students.