User:Kehurd

I’m in my third year of employment at SUNY New Paltz working as part of the Academic Computing department. Though I’m in the larger “computer services” area, the majority of my responsibilities lie specifically within the Teaching and Learning Center where I primarily assist faculty with using Blackboard, as well as other types of technology, within various teaching environments. Despite my ongoing focus on Instructional Design and classroom technology, my initial educational background is actually in English and Literature (I have a BA and MA in English) and I have taught online (via Blackboard) for over a decade at Pace University. A few years ago I decided to refocus my career and so I began the IST program to get my MS.ed in instructional technology. I’m really grateful that the fully online program exists, because it gives me the opportunity to work towards this new degree without the necessity of uprooting my family in the process. Additionally, being in an online program has been an asset to my work because I now know what it is like to be an online student in addition to being an online instructor: I feel that the combination of these perspectives has really informed my own approach to designing course materials for online use!

On a personal note, I live in the Hudson Valley area of New York (about 90 miles north of NYC) with my husband and two children (both girls, 6 and 8) and try to find time for yoga/Pilates, reading, watching semi-obscure BBC shows, and gardening (badly)!