About me – Pat Reid
Higher education (or tertiary education) and technology are both changing rapidly – with direct influence on each other. My interest is in the quality of education in higher education.

Instructional design is the intersection of educational theories, sometimes with technologies. How do we apply the various theories such as transformational learning, taxonomies of learning, student epistemological growth, learning models, etc. to support and improve every student? It is a very real and very large challenge.

While higher education has a reputation for resistance to change, the last few years have forced new approaches to education and uses of technology.

On this site, you will find links to my articles and presentations and links to other authors’ resources. Also, short blogs on topics impacting teaching in higher education.

Although I am officially retired, I enjoy reading, thinking and chatting about the quality of higher education. I have written articles (see Articles for a list and some links) and am working on a book about how we can improve.

Education

BA, English, Case Western Reserve University, 76
MA, Adult Learning and Development, Cleveland State University, 94
Ed.D. Higher Education Leadership, Nova Southeastern University, 02

More professional development courses than I care to list, but these include the EDUCAUSE Leadership Program, Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, various project management courses, communication skills, etc. I have a list of programs that at one time or another I was certified to facilitate.

Work history

In brief (dates are approximate as I am past-time orientation challenged):
1976 – Graduated CWRU, teaching certificate in communication
1976 – 1985 – Blue Cross of Northern Ohio, Cleveland, OH, Information Center Trainer
1986 – 1987 – Pioneer-Standard, Cleveland, OH, M.I.S. Training And Documentation Specialist
1987 – 1997, Centerior Energy Corporation, Cleveland, OH, Training Manager
1997 – 1998, KeyCorp, Cleveland, OH, Training and Development Manager
1998 – 2006, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, Manager, Technology Training and Communications
2006 – 2008, Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology), Hamilton, NZ, Manager, Learning and Teaching
2008 – 2010, NorthTec (Northland Polytechnic), Hamilton, NZ, Manager, Learning and Teaching Development
2011 – 2015, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, Manager of Instructional Technology
2015 – 2018, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, Dir., Instructional Innovation – IT/Asst Dir., Instructional Innovation – CET&L

In More Detail

I started out as a secondary school teacher because that is what girls in my family were meant to do until they got married. Although I received a BA  and certificate in secondary education from Case Western Reserve University in 1976, I never got a full time job as a teacher, which was probably very lucky for me because, reflecting back, I think I would have been very unprepared and bad.

Instead, I started work at Blue Cross in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, moving over 10 years from a mail clerk to an application processer to a procedures analyst and, finally, to trainer and information desk analyst (the early Help Desk). Along the way I learned a HUGE amount about process development, project management and training. I developed some of the first computer-based training (award-winning), using a mainframe.

When I moved to Centerior Energy (now FirstEnergy) as a training manager, I was in the IT department creating computer-based courses and later in human resources. Here I started facilitating many ‘canned’ programs such as Franklin-Covey’s Project Management, Seven Habits, Time Management, and Four Principles of Leadership, Prism’s Problem Solving and Decision-Making, and many more. I learned a LOT!! And I developed my first webpages and first web-book. I also edited a monthly newsletter for staff. During this time, I completed my MA in Adult Learning and Development.

I was lucky enough to move to Cleveland State University as technology training manager and was in that role for almost 10 years. This included setting up and managing the IT Help Desk and managing the computer labs. With a small team, we were responsible for teaching the entire campus how to use PeopleSoft, Blackboard, Microsoft Office, etc. I was also able to facilitate some project management and time management types of classes. I edited and mostly wrote the monthly IT newsletter targeted at faculty and staff. I also taught a few for-credit courses in education. (Consider the difference between business ‘facilitating’ and education ‘teaching’ terminology.) While at CSU, I completed my Ed.D.​

I then took a big leap – I moved back to New Zealand with my younger son (he was an adult) and was manager at Wintec (managing managers and managed by a manager) of the instructional development, libraries, childcare, research, student disability services, and student study skills. (I joked that my qualifications were not the best: I was the manager of the childcare center because I had a couple kids and of the libraries because I had read some books). I collaborated with several people to develop Signposts, a short guide to instructors on course development, still available at the Ako Aotearoa website. I also edited a monthly newsletter for faculty and staff.

At NorthTec, I learned a great deal about valid assessments. At tertiary schools in NZ, a national organization reviews programs and assessments to ensure they are meeting the requirements of the program qualifications. This is a very different animal to higher ed where the instructors largely determine the course goals and how to measure student success. Here I created the first draft of a course design model for instructors. I also edited a monthly newsletter for faculty and staff.

At Purdue University, I was manager of innovative instruction in IT, partnering with the manager of the technology support group. Both groups consisted largely of educational technologists. Instructional design was a relatively new term. I was one of the developers of the IMPACT program which incentivized instructors to improve their courses by providing financial support in exchange for both attendance at a series of workshops and meeting with a small team (a member from each of learning & teaching, instructional innovation, and libraries) for a year. This was really fantastic! I also worked with Frank Dooley (then AVP) to revise the course design model for use in the IMPACT program. I also edited a monthly blog (not a newsletter any more) for faculty and staff.

At University of Cincinnati, as part of the IT department, I directed a team of instructional designers, supporting faculty in both course design and effective use of technologies. I worked with the CET&L team to revise the instructional design model to make it more specific to UC. We offered workshops for faculty including several series which combined effective teaching theories with effective technology use. I don’t remember doing blogs or newsletters!

I am now semi-retired. I work with a partner at the Curriculum Design Group, do a lot of reading on educational theories and practices, and still write.