Contributors

Amy Burns is a professor and dean of the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her previous role was as associate dean of the Undergraduate Programs in Education with the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. She is currently the president of the Canadian Association for the Study of Women in Education.

Katy Campbell is a professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Alberta. She joined the Faculty of Extension at the university in 1996, served as the dean from 2007 to 2019, and facilitated a new academic plan for the faculty, emphasizing university-community engagement and the scholarship of engagement.

Lorraine Carter is the former director of McMaster University Continuing Education. From northern Ontario, she has worked in distance and online education since 2000, principally in health-related education contexts. She is also a champion of educational initiatives serving the general public, including equity-deserving groups.

Elizabeth Childs is a professor and the head of the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University in Colwood, British Columbia. Her research focuses on exploring open education practices, online learning communities, and design thinking. Recent publications include co-authored essays in distance education and chapters in the Handbook of Distance Education (4th ed.) and Open(ing) Education: Theory and Practice (2020).

Lynn Corcoran is a registered nurse and an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Disciplines at Athabasca University. She occupied leadership positions in the Bachelor of Nursing Program at Athabasca University for six years. Her research and scholarly interests include issues related to women’s health as well as innovations in teaching and learning in nursing education and the digital environment.

Kristine Dreaver-Charles is a member of the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak Nation located in Saskatchewan. She grew up in Prince Albert and taught in northern Saskatchewan and online. She is a PhD candidate focusing on decolonization in distance education. Kristine has worked at the University of Saskatchewan since 2013 as an instructional designer, a sessional lecturer, and currently an academic innovation specialist.

Patti Dyjur is an educational development consultant at the University of Calgary. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she led a team of instructional designers and educational developers tasked with supporting the campus in the move to emergency remote teaching. She took her first distance learning course about 25 years ago and has been teaching online for over a decade.

Cynthia Eden is a daughter, sister, life partner, mom, aunt, friend, and scholar-practitioner who has 28 years of experience working in Canadian and Asian higher education contexts. She has experience in international education, international student equity, online quality assurance, and program and curriculum development.

Margaret Edwards is a registered nurse and professor in the Faculty of Health Disciplines at Athabasca University. She has provided leadership within the faculty as a Graduate Program director, associate dean, and dean. Her leadership is recognized through awards from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, the Alberta Nurse Educators Association, and the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta.

Natalie Green has worked in higher education for 20 years. She is passionate about working with teams and collaborating with educators and industry experts to create high-quality learning experiences that effectively leverage technology and visual design practices. Natalie holds a Master of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia and is a certified instructional designer with the Canadian Association of Instructional Designers.

Michelle Harrison is an associate professor of practice, instructional design, at the Learning Design and Innovations department at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. Her recent research has focused on exploring the role of open educational practices in various contexts, including institutional perspectives, textbooks, and care.

Jenni Hayman is a consultant and curriculum designer at the Waterloo Climate Institute. Prior to this she was chair of the School of Business (Online) at Conestoga College in Ontario. She has spent the past 15 years exploring research and practice in open and online teaching and learning with colleagues across the globe.

Rebecca E. Heiser is an adult and distance educator and recipient of the 2024 Governor General Gold Medal at Athabasca University for her academic achievements in the Doctor of Education in Distance Education program. Her leadership experience spans diverse educational contexts and emerges from learning design and evidence-based approaches to inform local, national, and international policies and practices. She serves as the interviews editor for the American Journal of Distance Education, and her research interests include quality dimensions in transnational distance education, internationalization strategies, and systems perspectives of online and distance education.

Christina Hendricks is a professor of teaching in philosophy at the University of British Columbia and the academic director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. Her recent research focuses on open educational resources and practices. She has participated in designing and facilitating several open online courses and has been a learner in many more.

Sandy Hughes has almost 40 years of experience working in educational leadership and online course development. Currently, she is an educational consultant, working in online course development and project management with various postsecondary institutions.

Cindy Ives is a distance educator with academic and administrative experience at four Canadian universities. During her career at Athabasca University, she inspired and supported innovative online and open initiatives, including MOOCs, open educational resources, course and program development and evaluation, new learning designs, digital learning resources, and learning analytics. She is now a retired professor emerita of distance education, still teaching and supervising graduate students and conducting research on organizational and learning issues.

Diane Janes is a tenured faculty member of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. In her role, she coaches and mentors faculty, especially in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her career has spanned five provinces, incorporating teaching, administration, and leadership in both in-person and online environments (well before the pandemic).

Erin Keith is an assistant professor at Cape Breton University who obtained her Doctor of Education from Western University. She has worked for over 16 years in public education. Her teaching and research focus on decolonizing inclusive and educational leadership, equity literacy related to well-being and heartwork, and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogies.

Victoria Kennedy has worked in roles supporting course design and development in higher education since 2018. Leveraging her PhD in English Literature and Film Studies, she is passionate about using narrative and visual design to create impactful learning experiences.

Jennifer Lock is a professor and the vice-dean in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Her area of specialization is in the learning sciences. Her research interests are learning in technology-enabled learning environments, change and innovation in education, scholarship of teaching and learning, and learning in maker spaces.

Sarah MacRae is interim assistant dean in the School of Arts and Social Sciences and a senior lab instructor in the Department of Communication and Languages at Cape Breton University, where she also coordinates the Dr. Mary A. Lynch Communication Lab and teaches in the Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport.

Kathleen Matheos has been involved in distance and online learning for over 35 years in college and university systems. She is the director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Development at the University of Manitoba, having served as the associate dean of Extended Education for 11 years.

Michelle Mitchell is the dean at Northern Lakes College in Canada. She is passionate about supporting faculty members in providing quality online student experiences. Most of her 25-year career has been focused on distance education. She leads the Centre for Teaching and Learning and serves as chair of the Educational Technology Committee at her institution.

Tannis Morgan is the associate vice-president of academic innovation at Vancouver Community College. Her research and publications have focused on open education practices, educational technology, and distance education.

Kim Myrick is the co-director of the Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at Memorial University. She is responsible for the planning and oversight of the centre. She is also an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial. With a doctorate in business administration, her research interests have focused on vision and leadership in strategic management, co-leadership in higher education, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Sophia Palahicky is the executive director of online learning and educational resources with the Ministry of Education and Child Care in the BC Public Service. She is also an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University in Colwood, British Columbia. She teaches entirely online in the School of Education and Technology in a sessional capacity.

Jasmine Pham is a PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She studies educational leadership and policy in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. Her MEd is in educational leadership and policy.

Megan Pickard is an instructional designer who has worked with faculty, instructors, and authors to create engaging, inclusive, and meaningful pedagogical experiences for over 15 years. She is currently the Manager of Digital Learning Design and Innovation at the University of Guelph.

Sherry Rose is an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick. She teaches critical studies, early literacy, feminist theories, assessment, and curriculum. With Dr. Kim Stewart, she is a founding member of the university committee that developed and orchestrated the online, asynchronous Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education designed to create educational opportunities for early childhood educators with an early childhood diploma from an accredited community college.

Anne-Marie Scott is vice president at the Commonwealth of Learning. She is an internationally recognized expert in digital, online, and open education, with over two decades of leadership experience across higher education and the non-profit sector, including senior roles at Athabasca University and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, where she led major digital and open education initiatives.

Afsaneh Sharif is a researcher, consultant, instructional designer, e-learning specialist, and senior project manager and faculty liaison at the University of British Columbia. With over 25 years of experience in project management and instructional design, she brings extensive expertise in online and blended learning. She currently serves as co-chair of the BC Digital Learning Advisory Committee.

Tammy Soanes-White completed her EdD in distance education at Athabasca University. She is a researcher and adult learning specialist in the Centre for Learning and Teaching Innovation at Aurora College in the Northwest Territories. She makes and sustains connections with women in remote communities interested in sharing stories about their journeys and development as learners and leaders.

Kim Stewart is an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick. Through the theoretical frameworks of new materialism, posthumanism, and critical feminism, her research investigates ways to reconceptualize literacies and early childhood teaching and learning. With Dr. Sherry Rose, she is a founding member of the university committee that developed and orchestrated the online, asynchronous Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education designed to create educational opportunities for early childhood educators with an early childhood diploma from an accredited community college.

Denise Stockley is a professor and scholar of higher education at Queen’s University, in the Office of the Provost (teaching and learning portfolio) and the Faculty of Health Sciences. With a doctorate in educational psychology, she studies how people learn across the lifespan, with a focus on adult learning, professional education, and inclusive teaching. Her work advances access through distance and blended learning, particularly for non-traditional and equity-deserving learners.

Lori Wallace is a dean emerita and senior scholar at the University of Manitoba. Her previous roles included professor and academic administrator (dean of Extended Education, director of Distance and Online Education), and senior instructional designer. She remains active in program design and evaluation, quality assurance and governance.

Pamela Walsh has worked in the post-secondary education sector for over 35 years, holding senior leadership positions at two Canadian Colleges and serving in an executive leadership role at Athabasca University for six years. A distance educator with AU since 2008, she retired in 2024 and continues to contribute to the academic community as an adjunct professor.

Connie (Levina) Yuen is an associate professor in FHSS at Athabasca University. She has a decade of experience in educational technologies and learning assessments. She previously served as a K–12 educator, instructional designer, technology analyst, program evaluator, and lecturer in higher education.