Christine Baumgarthuber
Christine Baumgarthuber has a PhD in English Language and Literature from Brown University. She has eight years’ experience in instructional design and currently works for Brown’s Digital Learning and Design team. Christine also writes about food history and has a book forthcoming on the history of fermented food and drink.  

Melissa Kane

Melissa Kane is an Instructional Designer at Brown University, where she partners with faculty on innovative pedagogy, learning experience design and inclusive course design.  Melissa has 15 years of experience in the fields of curriculum, assessment and instructional design both in K-12 and higher education. She consults and presents on learner-centered design, data-driven instruction and assessment, and inclusive teaching and learning in higher education. Melissa holds an Ed.D. from Northeastern University in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership, and her research interests focus on the promotion agile teaching methodologies and learner-centered design through the use of design thinking processes in faculty development.

Heather Richards
Heather Richards, is the Academic Instructional Designer at Nichols College. Coming from the Pharmaceutical Industry and QA/Compliance, she audits course designs and redesigns using the Backwards Design Model. Heather leads the Canvas implementation for faculty adoption and support as well as the OER initiative. She teaches and designs courses in the Day, Undergraduate Adult and Graduate Programs.  Heather is in the dissertation phase for her Ed.D from Northeastern University where she is focused on student engagement in the online learning environment using the Community of Inquiry.

Andrew Smith
Andrew is an assistant professor of sport management and history at Nichols College. He has also designed and taught courses for Indiana University and University of Wyoming, and works as a Scoring Leader and Exam Judge for Educational Testing Services.

Rebecca Taub
Rebecca Taub is an Instructional Designer on the Digital Learning and Design team at Brown University. She has an M.A. in Education and Communication and is certified to teach Spanish in grades 7-12 in MA, RI, and IL. At Brown, Rebecca works with faculty from a variety of departments to develop and deliver for credit and non-credit online courses and blended (partially online and face-to-face) programs. Rebecca loves instructional design because of the student-centeredness and collaborative nature of the projects.