2020 Stewardship Committee

University of Windsor

Chair

I believe wholeheartedly in the value of this community, and am very glad to be able to contribute to its development and resilience in the coming years. OUCeL is a community that opened its arms and welcomed me when I moved to Canada almost a decade ago, and I feel at home when I am with my colleagues from this group. I have contributed to the planning of our annual meetings for several years, and have hosted OUCeL at Windsor, so I'm comfortable supporting the community in this way. I am very active in online, open and technology-enhanced education in the province as a member of the eCampus Ontario Board of Directors and through involvement in many other aspects of eCampus' activities, as well as international organisations in the field. Above all, I want to see our community continue to thrive, to maintain its unique connections to the people who share our space in post secondary education, and to collectively share our wisdom so that we can advocate effectively for the people we serve in our institutions. I am excited to see how our community continues to evolve, and to play an active role in that development as chair of the OUCeL Stewardship Committee.

University of Toronto

Past Chair

As an active member of OUCeL since 2007, I highly value the community of practice we have developed over the years. In my experience, this professional network is a great source of timely and relevant information that informs my work and also provides unique opportunities for cross-institutional collaboration. As Director Online Learning Strategies at UofT, I find that conversations with other leaders in Ontario on all aspects of design, development and research related to digital learning innovation is extremely helpful inform my work at my own institution and for our collaborative work in the province. I'm pleased to continue to support the OUCeL Stewardship Committee as Past Chair, and I am also a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for eCampusOntario.

Lakehead University

I have been involved with and participated in OUCeL events since its inception and welcome the opportunity to expand my involvement in a more formalized fashion. With over 25 years' experience in distance education and e-learning at a university in northern Ontario, I am very familiar with the challenges of providing access to educational opportunities in rural and remote communities. I have significant experience in e-learning initiatives (e.g., online programming, strategic planning, funding proposals) and implementing and supporting educational technologies. I am a long-standing member Canadian Association of University Continuing Education, Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, Contact North, Ontario Council of University Lifelong Learning, and eCampusOntario. Also, I sit on several institutional committees concerned with technologies in teaching and learning environments. I look forward to serving on the Stewardship Committee to advocate for technological innovations that support teaching and learning in higher education.

University of Waterloo

I have been a part of OUCEL since it began in 2007. It has been a tremendously valuable and fulfilling experience, both personally and professionally, and I feel a strong commitment to the organization. As part of the Stewardship Committee, I want to help ensure that it continues to be a nexus of information sharing, collegial collaboration, and mutual growth for all participants, as we collectively provide leadership and wisdom around e-learning in the province.

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

I'm new to OUCEL, having attended my first meeting in the Fall of 2018. At this meeting, I volunteered to be part of the interim Stewardship Committee as I recognized the importance of formalizing OUCEL in order to garner better recognition on the post-secondary landscape, as well as supporting others in their work at their respective institutions. I'm honoured to be part of this organization and look forward to learning about and contributing to eLearning. Additionally, I serve on UOIT's Student Success Committee and see a strong synergy between the work of OUCeL and supporting students. I also think my background allows me to bring an interesting perspective and skill set to the Stewardship role.

Laurentian University

I have been part of OUCEL since its inception in 2007 and have actively participated in the summer and winter meetings over the years. I have come to rely on my colleagues across Ontario in matters of learning and teaching with Technology and value the opportunity to be part of the stewardship committee to contribute the bilingual and tricultural perspective as we continue to navigate the opportunities and challenges that the pivot to remote learning has brought over the last few months.

McMaster University

My interest in serving on OUCEL’s Stewardship Committee is primarily based on giving back to a group that has provided so much to me professionally. My experiences in multiple teaching and learning-centered roles at McMaster University and in working and collaborating with eCampusOntario, has provided me with both institutional and system-wide perspectives on how to foster the creation and support of enriching tech-enhanced teaching and learning experiences. My background is rooted in many areas‚ including learning design, technology platform evaluation, acquisition and thoughtful use, faculty development programming, open education and open pedagogies, inclusive teaching practices and cultivating digital literacies for post-secondary communities. I have experienced the countless benefits collaborating across institutions can provide, and work on OUCEL’s Stewardship Committee will feed into my belief that this collaboration across our institutions is key to shaping our collective future. OUCEL represents to me a group that strives toward a shared purpose of cultivating excellence in tech-enhanced teaching and learning as we look past our own institutional and structural constraints and focus on continuing to build this excellence.