Margaret Brooks
Dr. Margaret Brooks is Professor of Economics and the faculty Director of Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy at Bridgewater State University. She uses FlipGrid in innovative ways to facilitate student engagement in her online Economics of Innovation class. In particular, she creates a class Shark Tank in which students can introduce themselves and present verbal "pitches" of their innovation projects to their classmates. Her students are encouraged to compete in BSU’s campus Shark Tank as well, and to utilize BSU campus resources such as Makerspace.  In 2019, Dr. Brooks’ Economics of Innovation course was recognized nationally with a Leavey Award. In 2016, Dr. Brooks was also honored to receive the national 2016 EIFLE (Excellence in Financial Literacy Education) Educator of the Year Award.

Dr. Brooks was an early advocate of online learning at Bridgewater State University, starting with the successful E-Teaching and E-Learning  Conference that she organized at BSU’s Moakley Center in 2001 with more than 180 participants from 30 colleges and universities. In addition, she published a highly-cited Chronicle of Higher Education article on online learning in 2009, and in 2010 she was invited by Carleton College to serve as a keynote speaker on the value of online learning.  Throughout the years, Dr. Brooks has continued to promote online teaching and technology through multiple webinars she has co-developed for Massachusetts educators and superintendents.  She created and currently actively manages 10 Twitter accounts with a combined total of more than 35,000 followers, including BSUEconomics and BSUFinLit, which amplify the impact of BSU programs across multiple online communities.

Susan Eliason

Dr. Susan Eliason is an Associate Professor in the Elementary & Early Childhood Department working primarily with students majoring in Early Education & Care. She is an educator with over 30 years of experience ranging from teaching in a preschool classroom, administering programs, and teaching at the college level.  At BSU, she engaged in faculty development as a fellow for the Office of Teaching and Learning and in the Teaching and Technology Center.  Her research interests include educator preparation, curriculum development, and Open Pedagogy. She teaches and develops courses for Childhood Studies as well as the Early Education and Care program and creates texts used in these courses.  Recent presentations include: Creating a Video Explanation to Improve Teaching & Learning, Upcycling Learning With Open Pedagogy, and Increase the affordability and accessibility of your college course with Open Educational Resources (OER).

Jeanne Carey Ingle

Dr. Jeanne Carey Ingle is Associate Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education. She is the faculty coordinator for Student Teaching and the incoming coordinator for the Adrian Tinsley Program Undergraduate Research Grant. Dr. Ingle’s professional commitment has been to creating engaging learning experiences for her students since her days as a 4th grade teacher! She teaches courses in elementary education, inequality in education and educational technology. Her research includes PK-12 teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching in a multilingual classroom, closing the achievement gap for all students and using immersive technologies to prepare pre-service teachers. 

Her Course, Digital Media in the K-12 Classroom won the 2019 Course of Distinction award from the Massachusetts Colleges Online and was noted for its innovative use of engagement tools such as greenscreen, Flipgrid and Remind. Her work on teacher preparation using mixed-reality simulation was awarded the Bridgewater State University, 2019 Presidential Award for Excellence in Collaboration to Improve Teaching.  Dr. Ingle also was recently honored with the Bridgewater State University 2020 Honors Outstanding Faculty Award.  

She is a frequent contributor to eSchool News and has recently written an article entitled – Has the COVID-19 Quarantine Made Me a Better Teacher? Dr. Ingle received her BA from Boston College and her Ph.D. in education from the University of Connecticut. 

Eric LePage (Moderator)

Eric LePage is the Executive Director of the Teaching & Technology Center at Bridgewater State University, coordinating educational technology professional development and support for faculty teaching face-to-face, blended online, and fully online courses.  Eric collaborates with regional partners on academic technology projects and workshops, provides academic technology consultation services to faculty, researches and promotes emergent academic technologies and related teaching practices, and oversees the administration of the Blackboard Learning Management System.

Eric is also a part-time instructor of blended and fully online courses at BSU.  He received a Massachusetts Colleges Online Course of Distinction (COD) award for hybrid online teaching at BSU in 2012.

April Megginson 
Dr. April Megginson is an Assistant Professor at Bridgewater State University in the Counselor Education department.  She has experience teaching in-person, hybrid, and fully online courses for both foundational as well as counseling skills classes.  In 2019, Dr.  Megginson was awarded the Hybrid Course of Distinction by Massachusetts Colleges Online.  Previous to being a Professor, she spent 14 years in the K-12 school setting as a Title I Guided Reading Specialist, high school counselor, and middle school counselor.  As part of her scholarship activities, she has presented at state, regional, national, and international conferences on a wide variety of topics.  Her research and scholarship areas of interest include assisting school counselors in implementing a comprehensive, data-driven school counseling program that advocates for and meets the unique needs of special populations; utilizing play therapy and expressive arts therapy in schools; and incorporating technology into the classroom to provide effective and meaningful learning experiences.