Speaker: Tisha Radcliffe

Tisha Radcliffe, M.S. Ed. specializes in instructional design for online learning. She has several years of experience in I.D., eLearning course development & management, and faculty development in higher education. Since joining CTDLC, she has expanded those skills to include K12, state agency, and small business sectors. She is knowledgeable about the implementation of online courses from both student and facilitator perspectives.


Speaker: Jennifer Rafferty

Jennifer has worked in the field of distance education since 1999. She first started as a blended learning instructor for immigrants and refugees studying English in the state of Massachusetts. Her passion for equity in education eventually led her to UMASS-Boston where she assumed the position of director for the Massachusetts Adult Basic Education (ABE) Distance Learning Project. In this leadership role, she worked with the Massachusetts Department of Education to research best practices in ABE distance education and she collaborated in developing policy for distance education programs.

Jennifer has worked at Quinnipiac University Online since 2008 in an instructional design capacity where she provides faculty development and guidance for online faculty and programs. Jennifer is the editor of Digital Pedagog, QU Online's instructional design blog, and she also works with faculty who are pursuing the Quality Matters seal of approval for their online courses. An area of concentration for Jennifer is the use of emerging technologies in foreign language instruction. Jennifer developed the first online Spanish course for Quinnipiac's School of Nursing and she presents both regionally and nationally on language instruction in the virtual classroom. Jennifer holds an AB in Romance Languages from Mount Holyoke College, an MA in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a M.Ed. in Instructional Design from UMASS Boston.


Speaker: Frances Rowe

Frances is Director of Instructional Design and Technology Support for online programs at Quinnipiac University (QU). Prior to QU, Frances worked as Assistant Director for the Instructional Media Center in the School of Education at Boston University and as Media and Technology Specialist for Showa Women's University. Frances has taught courses in writing, video production and computer information systems at the undergraduate level and educational technology at the graduate level. Frances holds a BS in Industrial Technology from the University of Southern Maine and a MEd in Instructional Technology from Utah State University. Frances is currently a doctoral student at Nova South Eastern University where she is examining methods to enhance learning outcomes in the virtual classroom; specifically, she is measuring the effect size of instructional interventions that support students cognitive, metacognitive and motivational processes, also known as self-regulated learning (SRL). Her research aims to provide a synthesis and interpretation of how SRL interventions could be applied to the design of E-learning environments. Frances is a recipient of the Learning Effectiveness Award from the Sloan Consortium.


Speaker: Carrie Saarinen

With 14 years of experience in educational programs serving many different learner groups, I have a broad body of knowledge in academic technology, web development, and social media. I possess a solid history of successful program development and project management, and demonstrated ability to support faculty, staff and students.

I am currently working on a doctoral degree in educational leadership at Endicott College. I acquired a bachelors degree in management from Curry College and earned a masters degree in education at Salem State University.

As an active member of NERCOMP, I participate on the Community & Member Relations Committee and manage the NERCOMP Linkedin and Twitter accounts.


Speaker: Sarah Walkowiak

Sarah Walkowiak is an Instructional Designer in the Learning Innovation & Technology group at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She has over ten years of experience working in educational technology. Her main areas of interest are teaching and learning, distance learning, and faculty development. Through the years, Sarah has worked with faculty, staff and students on meeting their teaching, learning and research goals in a variety of ways. Prior to joining Wentworth, Sarah worked at Brandeis University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She has presented at local and national conferences on instructional technology and faculty support topics.


Speaker: Lory Woods

Lory Woods, M.S. is an instructional designer with CTDLC and has worked extensively with the CT Bureau of Rehabilitative Services to build an online course curriculum to meet the needs of the disabled population. These courses train individuals with disabilities to become more independent and also train vocational rehabilitation counselors to service and support their clients who have a variety of disability related needs. All courses are required to be fully ADA Compliant / 508 Accessible. In addition to her work at CTDLC, Lory taught Educational Technology at Central Connecticut State University, has supported assistive technology needs in the K-12 classroom and has many years of experience designing, developing and supporting Financial Service and Healthcare systems.