6. Colleagues who contributed to the e-Learning Program: The Team

Tom Braziunas, Terre O'Malley and Joanne Fall in 2007

Consider reading this narrative in the order in which it was composed, starting with Post #1.

I was so proud to work with the e-learning team members!  Our primary goal was simple:  Help students and faculty feel comfortable using beneficial technologies in their campus, hybrid and online classes, and be close by as assistance was needed.  We called our centrally located space "North's e-Learning Support Center" or "NeLSC" (pronounced "Nell-See"...well, like Elsie, the Borden Cow!).  It started as a small room and eventually expanded into several rooms with a bank of computers in the front area for students to sit with us and step through how to start and participate in their online classes, and a bank of computers in a back area for faculty to sit with us and step through how to make the technologies work well for them and, especially, to brainstorm on the best pedagogically useful ways in which specific technologies could achieve what was desired for their classes.

With appreciation, I watched the e-learning team members exhibit patience and kindness along with expertise in welcoming and assisting those who came in for help, often frustrated with a particular aspect of their technology experience.  Very few students or faculty left without feeling relief and knowing that they had specific humans who would be there when they needed more help.  Over the first decade, we were relocated eight times (!) as construction plans reconfigured the campus, but we finally ended up within the confines of the library building, centrally located with our own entrance and easy to find.  About half the students who stopped by during the first two weeks each quarter asked for directions to find unrelated offices or classrooms, and we were glad to get them where they needed to go.  

Carol Howe, Joanne Fall, Tom Braziunas

Shortly after I began as Distance Learning Coordinator when DL was part of Continuing Education, Carol Howe joined as an hourly assistant.  Carol's role changed over the decades as her technological and training skills increased, and she continued past my retirement.  Joanne Fall joined early on as well as a front-desk receptionist, as a steadfast support person for students, and as our "Virtual College" website designer and maintainer.  Joanne tracked enrollments and updated critical quarterly class information so students knew what to expect before and after registering for classes.  Importantly, Joanne was a reliable presence, opening our support center early every morning regardless of the elements. 

Terre O'Malley

In 2006, as our operation grew, Terre O'Malley joined the e-learning team, and she continued through today.  Our technologies multiplied in that second decade, and courses regularly began using more sophisticated integrated coursewares (like Blackboard and Angel) called "learning management systems".  Terre began as a front-desk office assistant and, through her years of ongoing experience and her dedication to additional technological training, Terre advanced to be our courseware (Canvas) administrator.

Over the decades, the e-learning team has had many remarkable members who have joined for a while and brought special skills to our operation.  As our services expanded, our need for a particular workforce grew as well, and I will mention just a couple teammates who "passed through".  Toby Thompson added to our front-desk student assistance and also our "back-desk" technical expertise for more than a year.  As with all our staff, he brought a special service-oriented background, having taught English to business students in Santiago, Chile, a few years prior to joining us. Amy LaZerte also brought her great customer service and communication skills to our operation for more than a year.  Amy came to us with great detail-oriented organization and a commitment to resourceful student support and, as importantly, with much contagious energy!  She quickly built on those skills by completing workshops on emerging technologies and best pedagogical practices for online learning.  She also brought a special passion for sustainability that helped us create a "green" e-learning center.  

Mark Anthoney

From Spring 2012 to Summer 2013, Mark Anthoney served as our operations manager / instructional designer.  With his Masters background in Library and Information Science and in Communications Studies, and his collaboration skills and his expertise in instructional technology, Mark had an immediate impact as demand for our e-learning support services was quickly expanding.  Mark's calm and thoughtful approach fit well with how we conducted faculty workshops and one-on-one assistance to new online instructors.  Mark helped take many waiting tasks off my desk and our "pile of needs", and I really enjoyed Mark's ready adjustability!    However, wearing two hats was indeed a challenge, and Seattle University offered a position that nicely focused on Mark's instructional designer side and took him from us.    

Kathleen Chambers

Starting in March, 2014, Kathleen Chambers began working as our e-learning instructional designer.  What a pleasure it has been to work with Kathleen!  She is a strong team player who contributes hard work and refreshing, constructive ideas to support our team-centric approach to our services.  Kathleen brought a tremendous level of expertise, energy and enthusiasm to our operation and our college.  I greatly appreciated her ability to work independently, effectively, patiently and collaboratively across our entire campus community.  Kathleen is very much goal-oriented but people-focused.  When working with faculty and staff, she made sure to carefully listen to needs as well as share ideas.  Many of Kathleen's ideas advanced our e-learning services in ways not otherwise possible, and specific strategies and projects will be detailed in the history ahead.  Kathleen continued as an unparalleled leader in e-learning at North Seattle College after I retired in 2016.  

Kathleen in off-work mode

5. Colleagues who contributed to the e-Learning Program: The Admins

Consider reading this narrative in the order in which it was composed, starting with Post #1.

I was lucky to have direct bosses, vice presidents and presidents throughout the decades who supported our growth and efforts in distance learning / e-learning.  The distinction between "administration" and "faculty" is often a "soft one" because many administrators originally came from the classroom.  And some few continue to wear more than one hat, teaching part-time while also overseeing a division or program (myself included).  I have appreciated the special support, personal guidance and program advocacy of so many administrators, whether as my direct "bosses" or as higher-tiered college leaders.  

NSC's e-Learning Program (and my own career) benefitted from the leadership of people like Dean Katherine Riley, Dean Tom Griffith, Dean Phil Roche, Vice President Pete Lortz, President Mark Mitsui and President Warren Brown, to list just a few.  Their names will appear many times in the e-learning chronicle posted ahead.  Here I just want to shout out a personal appreciation for several of these dedicated educators (who will also appear in the history shared later as well).

Jacqueline L. Mundell

Jacque Mundell was the "Dean of Instructional and Information Support Services" at North Seattle College in the early 2000s, and she was my direct boss during that time.  Jacque was already a noted leader in library administration when she came to NSC as sort of her career "finale".  Jacque was always thinking "beyond one college", wanting to share out the strategies and techniques for what worked well toward the seamless integration of student and faculty support across a college's services.  With Coryl Celene-Martel, we published "An Organizational Model for Instructional Support at a Community College" (2003, Information Technology and Libraries, Vol.22, Issue 2, 61-67).  Jacque, Jean Kent and I also attended multiple national conferences on pedagogical uses of technology in education, getting together at the end of each day to share notes and brainstorm on how to apply what we had learned in workshops and presentations while it wss fresh in mind.  It was especially fun and effective to "nerd out" in this way!  Even after her retirement, the three of us would periodically have fun lunches together to talk about the latest best classroom uses of technology and, in fact, Jacque and Jean subsequently designed (for the American Library Association) free online workshops on educational technologies like Photoshop Essentials.  Jacque died in 2018 at age 77, and I miss her.  

  

Dr. Ronald Hugh LaFayette

Dr. Ron LaFayette served as North Seattle College's president from 2001 to 2009.  His presidency was just one of his many recognized accomplishments in higher education, especially his efforts toward creating pathways for non-traditional students and those with disabilities (especially the hearing-impaired).  Ron truly was a lifelong learner and a believer in the potential for new technologies to serve campus and distance learners.  After his retirement, he periodically dropped by the e-Learning Center to share with us the latest technologies that he had tested out and thought might be helpful to our faculty and students (and they were!).  He continued to bring forth ideas that went beyond one college or district. Ron was working on a multimedia wiki to anthologize the history of the Seattle College District for a broader sounding board.  He was compiling interviews and documents to form a useful archive and, through the unique technological power of the wiki, he was designing ways to allow others to readily contribute their memories and reflections from their times at the colleges.  Ron passed away in 2014 at age 71 before he was able to launch this project. 

Dr. Mary Ellen O'Keeffe

Dr. Mary Ellen O'Keeffe had several leadership roles, as Executive Workforce Dean, Vice President of Instruction, Interim President at North Seattle College, and Interim Vice Chancellor for the Seattle College District.  In every position, Mary Ellen was at the forefront of system-wide projects that were designed to enhance student access, support and success.  These endeavors harnessed the power of data-driven technologies to create pathways for students toward reaching their specific goals.  Some of these projects will be described later, but here I just want to mention something that Mary Ellen modeled for those of us who were supervised by her.  At a Thanksgiving-week meeting of her deans and directors, Mary Ellen took time to share around the table her gratitude for each one of us, describing a specific quality and work ethic she admired and appreciated.  To be personally valued in front of one's peers had a strong impact on me, and I think it also demonstrated Mary Ellen's deep commitment to share credit with everyone she worked with. 

Finally, a photograph that I treasure from an undated college event long ago.  These three guys loved what they did, and were fortunate to work with so many others who did as well!

Jack Bautsch, Tom Braziunas and Ron LaFayette   

4. Colleagues who contributed to the e-Learning Program: The "Essentials"

Consider reading this narrative in the order in which it was composed, starting with Post #1.

Those who put it all together, who worked directly on student learning ... the faculty.  I felt so fortunate to work with so many dedicated colleagues.  From the first day that I began teaching in 1994 at South Seattle Community College, I knew that I had found the community that I most wanted to be part of.  The number of faculty colleagues whom I later worked with while overseeing the e-learning operation at North Seattle Community College totaled in the many hundreds, and it was a pleasure to collaborate (or just "tag along") with each of them on strategies, techniques and technologies that would help students as they learned.  

I can't begin to name them all here but many will appear in future posts detailing our college's e-learning history.  For now, I will just mention a few "seasoned faculty" whose love of teaching and learning influenced me deeply along the way.  I have left out many other very special friends and devoted colleagues for now, but will come back to them soon.

Art Woodbury

Art Woodbury, a former bassoonist in many orchestras (including the Harry James Orchestra), as well as a former university professor, lent his extensive background and talents (after "retirement") toward developing two richly designed online music classes at North Seattle College.  Together with his wife, Sharon Woodbury, who provided technical and logistical support, Art not only built online course websites of hundreds of pages with many musical clips from his own recordings, but also taught these classes in vigorous fashion with weekly essay work and extensive feedback to his students, receiving the accolades of many of them for his thoughtful approach to their success.  Art and Sharon were always pushing forward with their focus on how to make learning both meaningful and fun for every student.   

Pat Bouker

Pat Bouker was another inspirational educator who jumped into developing online accounting classes as a way to reach more students with busy lives.  Pat created sequences of course websites from a common template so that students could focus easily on the learning while taking sequences of classes containing familiar course layouts.  Whenever a new adjunct or full-time instructor joined the department, Pat brought her or him to our center and asked us to provide copies of his course websites to help the new faculty member get up and running.  He then helped ensure that the faculty member felt supported toward confidently using the technology.  Pat also developed "flex" classes in which students had the option to attend lectures online or in person throughout the quarter depending on their personal schedules.  I admired the generous willingness that Pat showed in sharing his personal work freely as a means toward building the accounting department's reputation for student support.  

Val Donato

Val Donato was an inspirational instructor, developing an amazing online class in early childhood education that was rich in resources for parents, teachers, au pairs and others.  She was one of the first faculty members with whom I worked on online course development and implementation, and her enthusiasm and dedication were invigorating to an uneasy new distance learning coordinator!  Val and her co-instructors (Betsy Bird and then Sandra Looper) were tireless in building extensive new course materials in their "special topics" class such that each quarter it offered additional learning benefits, and students could rejoin the class anew each quarter for years.  Val brought in International class participants who signed up online from around the world, more than any other online class at the college.  Val tragically died from an illness in 2013.  For her tireless work and much-praised service to the early childhood education community of parents, teachers, families and colleagues, a special fund was created such that a stipend in her name is awarded annually to support an educator's professional development toward improving the Parent Education Program.   

3. Colleagues who contributed to the e-Learning Program: The "Dependables"

Consider reading this narrative in the order in which it was composed, starting with Post #1.

Dependables, reliables, stalwarts, mainstays, pillars ... some of the words to use for colleagues who were never "at a distance" when help was needed by the distance learning community.  Two important "mainstays" in all my years at NSC were Jean Kent and Coryl Celene-Martel.

Jean Kent

Jean Kent had many important leadership roles in developing e-learning curriculum and in training faculty and staff to effectively and confidently utilize educational technologies.  Jean started at the college in 1976 and, as the internet sprouted, she began creating and offering workshops across the Seattle College District related to online content development and to teaching strategies that provided countless faculty with the skills needed for pedagogical use of new tech tools whether in online, hybrid or campus classes. I learned so much from Jean!  She was always there, and her energy was contagious.  Her name will come up repeatedly throughout this unofficial e-L history, even past her retirement in 2007.   

Here's a message that Jean posted about the time of her retirement:

 Coryl Celene-Martel ran North Seattle College's Teaching and Learning Center for faculty and staff from 1998 until 2020.   When I began at NSC in November 1997, the TLC was managed by wonderful educator Andreas Brockhaus, and Coryl was the TLC's web design specialist.  Andreas drew in faculty and staff through his enthusiasm, extensive technical knowledge and his skill making everyone comfortable with learning daunting new technologies and having fun along the way.  I was fortunate to be on the same support team as Jean and Andreas at the start!  And, when Andreas departed for the University of Washington the year after I arrived, Coryl took up the challenge of adding the teaching of faculty and staff to her responsibilities.  Under her leadership as well as Jean's, the TLC continued as a solid, ever-present resource for faculty and staff for decades ahead.  I don't know if Coryl tracked her hours but I hardly remember any time when she wasn't available and ready to help in planned and emergency ways.  

Coryl Celene-Martel

2. Colleagues who contributed to the e-Learning Program: First Years

Consider reading this narrative in the order in which it was composed, starting with Post #1.

I cannot truly give the full credit due to the many colleagues who added great value to the Distance Learning / e-Learning operation's growth and success over those first 30 years.  Faculty, of course, are the primary drivers of quality curriculum taught via all instructional modalities (in-person, online, and many combinations of such, and more).  However, supporting those faculty with appropriate training, resources, finances and timely trouble-shooting has, in my view, a critical role in leading to successful student learning.  So it must be clear that, from my limited viewpoint alone, the many colleagues who made a difference over 30 years numbered in the hundreds, including instructors and support personnel.  So here, I want to mention just a few who specifically made a great personal contribution to my own efforts and those of the evolving team of DL/eL support staff at North Seattle College. 

Where to start?  Maybe at the beginning!  Before I started as an inexperienced distance learning coordinator in November 1997, the DL operation was formed several years earlier and was fully underway under the leadership of Continuing Education Dean Katherine Riley and full-time DL Coordinator Parker Lindner.  These two individuals developed a robust operation focused initially on telecourses (classes based on weekly televised content and a limited number of periodic campus meetings).  An online (that is, web-based) course modality was just underway when I took over Parker's role.  Much more will be described of this early DL history in a later posting.  Here I just want to recognize the important roles that these two dedicated individuals had in setting the tone for a DL operation that would deliver a high-quality, effective learning experience.

Parker Lindner

Parker Lindner was already well-known as a state-wide leader in Distance Learning.  This was clear from her prominence not just at the college but in Washington State's Distance Learning Council.  She generously provided me with many suggestions and ideas when I replaced her.  It was a challenging time for her, I believe, because some issues at the college had made her departure necessary.   At the same time, however, she was leading the college and state to ensure that Distance Learning had a strong quality foundation.  She passed enough on to me (as did Katherine) that I was able to jump in and start to catch up.  

I was hired by the dean of North Seattle Community College's library, John Backes, during a time of transition in  the DL operation.  Shortly after I was hired, John moved to Shoreline Community College and the DL operation once more was under the auspices of Continuing Education Dean Katherine Riley.  Katherine was a creative thinker who would "think outside the box" but with a measured dose of practicality.  She was goal-oriented and had outstanding communication skills.  I received important guidance from Katherine who had a firm grasp of details and issues but also gave her staff "breathing space" to experiment and find the faculty and student support strategies that worked best.  She set me on a path through a period of time when distance learning was being challenged while transforming how effective teaching and learning could take place.    

1. A Look Back at a Career at the Seattle Colleges

Distance Learning, or e-Learning, has been part of North Seattle (Community) College’s curriculum for over 30 years, from 1993 until now in 2025.  I have been involved in e-Learning at the Seattle Colleges for many of those years, first as an adjunct instructor teaching the first online lab-science class (Physical Geology) at South Seattle (Community) College in 1996 and then as Distance Learning Coordinator at North Seattle (Community) College starting in 1997.  That role continued up to retirement in 2016, transitioning from Manager to Director and, finally, as Associate Dean of e-Learning at North Seattle College.  And, until 2021, I continued teaching online geology and dinosaur classes even beyond "retirement" as an adjunct instructor at North Seattle College and South Seattle College as well as Green River College. 

What follows are some of my memories and perspectives on how e-Learning grew and fit into the educational mission of the Seattle Colleges during these first 30 years.