Designing for Learning: What is Meaningful Learning?

About the Author

Judith V. Boettcher is an author and consultant in online and distance learning with a focus on faculty development, learning theory, and instructional design. Her career evolved from a decade of work on computer-assisted instruction in the 1980s, to supporting faculty at Penn State University and Florida State in the 1990s—creating faculty development programs for effective use of instructional technologies and designing online and distance degree programs for those institutions. Boettcher served as the Executive Director of CREN from 1997-2003 where she also produced and co-hosted the CREN audio webcast TechTalks—the first webinars—for six years. She launched her own consultancy, Designing for Learning, in 2003 and has been supporting online and distance programs for the University of Florida and Duquesne University through that organization as well as maintaining an extensive schedule of other consulting, speaking, and writing commitments. Boettcher is one of the original Syllabus Scholars and currently serves on advisory boards for Campus Technology and the Conference on Distance teaching and learning. Throughout her career, Boettcher has facilitated workshops for hundreds of faculty and administrators on planning and designing for online and distance learning. She is the lead author of the newly released The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips (2010) with Rita Marie Conrad as co-author. She also collaborated with Conrad on two editions of the Faculty Guide for Moving Teaching and Learning to the Web (1999, 2004). Boettcher is also one of the editors of the second edition of Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, 2009 and has written numerous other articles and columns for various publications. A library of e-coaching tips and other resources can be found on her Web site at www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/index.htm.

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