Resume/Vita

Profile

Passionate about supporting faculty as they create learning environments that empower next-generation higher education students to become lifelong learners

• Effective faculty development program designer, adept at creating learning activities that model best teaching practices, providing workshops, peer mentoring, online training and support of faculty learning communities.
• Course and online program and curriculum designer experienced in working with faculty from various disciplines to implement learner-centered principles in the use of academic technologies.
• Accomplished instructor, attuned to the needs of adult learners in face-to-face, hybrid and online environments.
• Analyst who is both data-driven and intuitive, with the ability to understand the complex, changing environment of higher education and emerging technologies which are transforming teaching and learning.
• Researcher skilled in building conceptual frameworks for bridging educational research and practice in teaching methods, course design and use of teaching and learning technologies.

                                                                     Education

Ed.D. in Learning Technologies

Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University, 2011

Dissertation topic: “Sense of Presence and Implications for Virtual World Design in Second Life”

Masters of Business Administration, MIS and Accounting

Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis

Bachelor of Arts, Economics

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

Experience

Director, Center for Learning and Technology, Marylhurst University                                          2011-present

Marylhurst University is a private, co-educational, liberal arts university just south of Portland, Oregon, dedicated to excellence in educating adult learners with diverse backgrounds, offering nearly 50 accredited undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs.

• Served as project manager, leading and participating in the evaluation of academic technologies:  learning management systems, web conferencing systems, Google Apps for Education, collaborative software, file repositories and assessment applications such as ePortfolios. Piloted applications, made recommendations, and implemented systems.
• Managed staff developing faculty development program which provides online tutorials, just-in-time training, and workshops in the appropriate use of learning technologies (adjunct and full-time faculty).
• With directors of new online English & Digital Humanities and Food Systems & Society programs, assisted in program design to identify appropriate teaching methods and technologies.
• Led university-wide consultative process to explore the place of ePortfolios in teaching, learning and assessment, involving over 50 faculty, staff and employers. Designed portfolio framework for general education requirements, evaluated and recommended applications, and designed series of pilots.
• Collaborated with the Dean of Assessment to develop technical requirements for assessment management systems, and helped select, support and integrate technologies for academic assessment at all levels.
• Led development and operation of highly-functional faculty advisory group for decisions regarding instructional technologies such as learning management systems.
• Built relationships with 16 chairs, three deans and university librarian to facilitate communication, learning, collaboration and innovation, plan new policy and service changes to improve student experience, and set standards for quality in online courses.
• Chaired the Faculty Development committee, and served on the Assessment and Institutional Review Board committees.
• Served on THATCamp planning committee, designing, planning and implementing innovative new type of national “unconference,” with participation by leading thinkers in digital humanities and hybrid pedagogy.
• Taught topics in the School of Business (information technology) and in Communication Studies (topics including virtual teams, collaboration, and building community).

Director, California Virtual Campus (CVC)                                                                                                        2009-2011

Butte College (California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Project)

The California Virtual Campus (http://cvc.edu) provides complete, timely, and accurate information about online courses and programs in California higher education, and serves as the authoritative guide to students as they navigate through the complex world of distance education in California, by offering a full suite of system-wide distance education student and faculty services.

• Provided leadership in the design and development of conferences and activities to promote effective use of interactive multimedia, audio/visual technologies, ePortfolios, Web 2.0 and other tools by California Community Colleges faculty and staff.
• Led team on statewide ePortfolio CA Project (http://ePortfolioca.org) to complete pilots at 21 sites (community colleges, universities and K-12 schools),to  build and sustain communities of interest, and to design and implement ongoing, sustainable faculty and student support services.
• Conducted gap analysis for faculty and staff support for online teaching and created new theme-based dynamic resource to focus on emerging technologies such as social media.
• Served as California Virtual Campus representative to MERLOT, Online Teaching Conference Committee, and joint Sloan-C, MERLOT and Moodle Conference.
• Supported and expanded inter-segmental collaborative efforts between California Community Colleges, K-12, California State Universities, and University of California to further the expansion of statewide educational technology initiatives.
• Managed budget and staff.  Developed and managed successful $2M grant.                               

Graduate Assistant/Graduate Student, Pepperdine University                                                             2004-2009

Learning Technology program, based in Malibu, CA, is an innovative, international hybrid doctoral program. Research team was led by Dr. Linda Polin, dissertation committee chairperson.

• Completed coursework (3.9 GPA) on learning and design, human-computer interaction, research methodologies, data analysis and communication, cultural dimensions of learning, and using social media and other emerging tools. Graduated June, 2009, completed APA clearance May 2011.
• Dissertation topic: Sense of Presence and Implications for Virtual World Design in Second Life.
• Served as member of doctoral advisor’s two-year university-funded research team exploring learning through virtual worlds and games.
• Served as lead consultant for conversion to online classes held in Second Life, supporting the use of this virtual world as a collaborative learning environment. Designed and implemented “Malibu Island” in Second Life as a formal learning space used for doctoral and masters’ classes in educational technology.

Director, National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, EDUCAUSE                                                           2000-2005

The National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) was an initiative of the higher education association, EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit organization (see http://www.educause.edu whose mission is to advance higher education through the intelligent use of information technology. NLII memberships included several hundred colleges, universities, community colleges and educational service and software companies, including international organizations.

• Designed professional development programs for faculty and staff in the use of instructional technology in all higher education sectors.
• Designed, developed, implemented and evaluated NLII annual conferences (300 attendees), three annual focus group sessions (30-45 attendees) and delivered presentations to large audiences (100 attendees).
• Restructured annual face-to-face conference format from stand-alone presentations to new hybrid model that incorporated blogs, wikis and synchronous discussions to facilitate online conference participation.
• Designed and taught the first online workshops produced by EDUCAUSE, testing and selecting the use of collaborative and communication software, developing curriculum with distributed teams, and creating instructional materials.
• Led distributed applied research teams of faculty and staff from wide range of universities, colleges and community colleges on the following topics, resulting in print and online reports on best practices:
  • Tools, practices, methodologies and models that make assessment and evaluation of student success and learning outcomes into integral parts of institutional practice.
  • Online communities and their role in the transformation of the academy, and in the professional development and support of faculty and instructional technology staff.
  • Exploration of emerging technologies such as electronic portfolios, collaboration/communication software, social media, and mobile technologies. International electronic portfolios community of practice evolved out of NLII’s work.
• Managed online communications with NLII membership, including online discussion boards, interactive applications, online newsletters and web portal.

Project Manager and Analyst, University of California, Davis                                                                 1986-2000               

• Created new instructional program for faculty, with seminars directed toward instructional uses of technology. Created faculty support program and coordinated with Teaching Resource Center for faculty development in use of technology for instruction.
• Assisted faculty in development of educational objectives and learning outcomes and conversion of face-to-face instructional content to online media.
• Promoted the use of technology in instruction and consulted with campus community on appropriate use of current instructional technologies, as well as implications of emerging technologies.
• Managed instruction and publications unit, designing instructional technology program for UCD faculty, staff and students, teaching, and supervising and training other instructors.
• Wrote successful grants to Caltrans, CPB/Annenberg and the Department of Education, to support research on telework, videoconferencing, distance learning, e-commerce, and electronic democracy, and to develop a test bed research environment for analyzing wide area networking technologies and the attributes of “smart communities.” Served as University of California, Davis principal investigator, project and contract manager on three-year (1993-1996) inter-segmental research contract.
• Conducted needs assessments and functional evaluations and generated technical reports.

Publications

Presentation at AERA, 2007 (“Learning and the sense of presence in Second Life,” see http://www.slideshare.net/vsuter/suter-aera-presentation-post)

McGee, P., Suter, V., & Gurrie, J. (2005). Over the Rainbow: Waking up in Tomorrow’s OZ. In P. McGee, C. Carmean, & A. Jafari (Eds.), Course Management Systems for Learning: Beyond Accidental Pedagogy (pp. 147–170). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.

Suter, V. and Cambridge, D. (2005). Community of Practice Design Guide: A Step by Step Guide for Designing and Cultivating Communities of Practice in Higher Education. See http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0531.pdf

Suter, V., Alexander, B., & Kaplan, P. (2005) Social Software and the Future of Conferences – Right Now. EDUCAUSE Review (40) 1, p. 46-59. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/social-software-and-future-conferences%E2%80%94right-now

Suter, V. (2003, 2004, 2005) NLII Annual Review, (2003: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/html/nlii_ar_2003/index.asp; 2004: http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/nlii-annual-review-2004)

Suter, V. (2003). Putting the Learner at the Center: Next-Generation Innovation Emphasizes Enabling Learning in Classrooms and E-Learning Environments. NLII 2002-2003 Annual Review. See http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0359.pdf

Brown, G., Ehrman, S.C., Suter, V. (2003). Transformative Assessment Conceptual Framework. EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Report. See http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0348.pdf

Suter, V. (2001). Managing Complexity in a Transforming Environment. In C. Barone & P.R. Hagner (Eds.), Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning: Leading and Supporting the Transformation on Your Campus (pp. 25–34). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Suter, V., (1997). Implementation Guide for Building Smart Communities: How California’s Communities Can Thrive in the Digital Age. International Center for Communications, San Diego State University. (Lead author and editor). See http://www.smartcommunities.org/guide/index.html