News & Events

New Staff Help to Keep Courses Engaging

By Joshua Blount, Senior Editor

The ongoing pandemic has complicated operations for many businesses and organizations, but eLearning & Academic Partnerships understands the necessity for education to continue. With the addition of so many new students, eLearning has added new staff to accommodate the educational needs of students. Jennifer Crosthwait and Macy Skipworth both hope to make an impact with eLearning to meet students' needs head on.

Jennifer joins as an instructional designer for the division. In her new role, she will help facilitate quality online course-building with K-12 course authors and instructors. Currently, she is helping to create social studies courses by updating content, ensuring accessibility and quality testing assessments. Prior to her role at eLearning, Jennifer was a teacher with Lubbock ISD.

"I loved teaching and being with students. My favorite part of the process was the curriculum-building and design piece of instruction. I saw an opportunity to make that my central focus [with eLearning & Academic Partnerships] and couldn't help but jump at the opportunity!"

Jennifer hopes to use her classroom experience to help course authors and professors create meaningful e-learning experiences and believes the e-learning component will strengthen the connections and relevance of course content for students.

"I am so excited to be part of the TTU eLearning team," she said. "It's quite a time to join the ranks, but I have already learned a great deal."

Macy also joins eLearning as an instructional designer to assist TTU K-12 and higher education faculty in building engaging online courses. She brings her experience of online teaching to help maximize her approach to creating effective courses.

"I have a background of teaching college courses online, and I've always enjoyed researching and implementing engaging and innovative learning strategies for my course," she said. "As an instructional designer, I get to continue working with online course design, and I get to share the most effective strategies with faculty at TTU. It's a dream come true!"

Macy hopes to open the minds of faculty and students to the opportunities and innovation that an online environment can provide.

"In my new role, I hope to introduce faculty and students to the endless opportunities that online learning provides," she said. "To some, an online classroom can seem daunting, but once we get going with step-by-step strategies for success, both faculty and students find that online classes are intuitive, innovative, and inviting spaces for learning."

eLearning & Academic Partnerships is fortunate to have two great additions to the team. Their continued efforts help to support the mission of our division and the students who rely on us.