Dr. Risa Balir
 
Educational Background:
Ed.D. Instructional Technology and Distance Education - Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL Doctor of Education with a concentration in Instructional Technology and Distance Education Designed to prepare students who desire to lead education and training organizations in improving teaching and learning through the scientifically valid application of instructional technology Curriculum provides experiences in distance education, instructional media, instructional technology, instructional design, and research-based instructional decision making, serving as a model of best practices for distance teaching and learning M.S. Organizational Behavior - University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT Curriculum aimed at addressing critical leadership skills required to enhance organizational effectiveness Provides students with a theoretical framework in organizational behavior and the opportunity to improve their own skills in research design, data collection and analysis, communication, facilitation, and interpersonal, group, and organizational issues Integration of theory and practice prepares graduates to lead, manage, and/or consult with dynamic and diverse organizations operating in a global environment B.A. Communication Arts, Minor in Business Administration - University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT Communication Arts is designed to enhance students’ skills in group collaboration and leadership, conflict management, team presentations, and adapting to communication media Provide valuable for entry-level positions and beyond in corporate training, human resources, sales, corporate and employee communications, and management as well as being in demand at non-profit organizations and agencies Focused on helping students understand essential processes such as verbal and nonverbal communication, conflict, and persuasion.
 
Research and/or Professional Experience:
Passionate leader and trainer with extensive experience in higher education and corporate settings, including project management, curriculum development and delivery for face-to-face and online settings. Exceptional skills in facilitating content delivery to meet the needs of the client. Strong proponent of utilizing real world experience and technology to promote and reinforce learning, as well as to meet required outcomes. Easily able to deliver technical content to non-technical audiences. Quality Matters trained online course reviewer. Managed and supported 50 faculty members in terms of onboarding training, Learning Management System training, course development and revision; collaborated face-to-face and online to ensure quality standards and desired outcomes. Commitment to staying current in the field in terms of hardware, software, and new technologies applied in distance learning. Special interests in mobile learning, millennial populations, and adult learners. Instructional design experience using the Agile model, ADDIE model and Adult Learning Theory. Computer literate: Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, eCollege, ANGEL, Salesforce.com, Sharepoint, Captivate, Camtasia, Pinnacle Video Editing Software, Premier Video Editing Software, CoolEdit, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Microsoft Office.
 
Dr. Tina Serafini
 
Educational Background:
Robert Morris University D.Sc., Communications and Information Systems 1999 – 2002 * Dissertation titled “Electronic Commerce Issues in Rural Manufacturing”, 2002. Published and copyright, January 2003. My research focused on the Powdered Metal Industry in Northwestern Pennsylvania, which is considered the ´Powdered Metal Capital of the World´ with over 40% of all powdered metal produced in this region. Activities and Societies: * Dissertation presented and defended without any challenges in December of 2002. Robert Morris University Robert Morris University M.Sc., Information Systems and Communications 1996 – 1998 Part of completing my degree included an internship and I was part of a team working on Y2K readiness for a clothing manufacturer. My main responsibilities included: design, develop, and implement a database to track progress on editing over 1,000+ customized programs in COBOL; weekly updates to management on project progress; full documentation of database design and structure for future maintenance; coordinated assessment of programs with 3-5 in-house programmers to ensure project completeness; developed an Access database with customized reports and Excel worksheets for track and updating the project progress; maintain project responsibilities and scheduling hours worked in Lotus Notes for the entire team. Activities and Societies: Capstone course for the degree program included Harvard University case studies that were utilized to develop real-world solutions in a strategic plan format. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana University of Pennsylvania B.S., Management Information Systems 1981 – 1996.
 
Research and/or Professional Experience:
Business, education professional with the following key skills: * Working on teams in fast-paced environments * Mentoring faculty and students * Leadership roles for committees and organizations * Developing relationships with external and internal customers * Project management * Curriculum development and strategic planning * Solution-based problem solving * Conflict resolution * Developing policies or procedures * Meeting or exceeding deadlines It is my goal to continue development of my career in education management utilizing my experience with project management and developing technologies. Specialties: Curriculum development, management of teams, leadership, structured programming and database design, documentation/procedure development, program roll-out development and implementation, and organizing/leading boards.

Any educator today will tell you that the strategies used in the classroom have evolved and changed with the access everyone has to technology. In a world with constant changes and shifts because of immediate access to information, the way course content is delivered must evolve and adjust to the new ways students learn.

Engagement of students in course content and reaching learning objectives are the key elements educators strive for in every course. Enter social media networks and the ability to leverage the user activity with these applications in education. Now, educators can provide content which engages students and meets learning objectives the way students want to learn. By reviewing social media networks: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogs, Twitter, and Evernote, educators can position themselves to be as technology-savvy as today’s students.