Katie L. Vale
Professional Experience:
Harvard School of Public Health
Director of Digital Learning June 2014-present
Direct team of learning designers and educational technologists creating Harvard’s first blended professional degree program. Advise faculty on curriculum design, online and blended learning programs for degree and executive education programs, e-learning materials, learning space design, and faculty development initiatives. Collaborate closely with leadership of Academic Affairs, IT, Finance, Admissions, Student Services, and others on all issues related to academic programs. Part of Transformation Team creating new and updated degree programs. Liaison to Harvard Initiative on Learning and Teaching and HarvardX.
Harvard University Information Technology
Managing Director for Academic Technology Services (interim) October 2013 – June 2014
Reporting to the CIO and part of IT senior leadership team. Managed a team of 34 FTEs and $8 million budget; responsible for university-wide strategy and central IT services for teaching, learning, and research. Also provided direct services for Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and collaborated with Division of Continuing Education, HarvardX, Harvard Library, Derek Bok Center, Museums and others on coordinated educational and scholarly initiatives. Groups supervised include:
• iCommons, Harvard's IT academic platforms group
• Digital Video Services
• FAS Academic Technology, which manages support, development, and innovative learning spaces for Arts and Sciences and SEAS faculty
• Arts and Humanities Research Computing
• Academic Technology headquarters, including project management and program evaluation staff
Key projects included development of a CRM system for faculty and course support; needs analysis and piloting of campus-wide lecture capture and video asset management systems; development of a flexible learning space with integrated faculty support; migration of homegrown iSites LMS and web publishing system to Canvas and associated open source applications; partnership with HarvardX for blended learning and flipped classroom experiments; Library IT Advisory Board; student IT experience review and service blueprinting.
Director of Academic Technology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 2008 – June 2014
Provided vision and strategy for educational technology support and software development for in-person and online teaching and learning in Harvard FAS. Lead and manage the Academic Technology Group, comprised of 12 FTE and 25 student software developers, instructional designers, media architects, user experience specialists, graphic designers, and business analysts. Act as a liaison to librarians, Deans, Provost’s Office, faculty, museum curators and other academic staff, and advocate for curricular issues including course technologies, blended learning, classroom design, House (dormitory) renewal, digital library resources, and innovative pedagogy for Harvard’s new undergraduate curriculum in General Education. Before HUIT reorganization also managed academic administrative projects such as course placement exams, freshman forms, and study cards, and helped create the College IT committee to streamline College administrative technology work.
Supervised course development for HarvardX courses and other open online initiatives, and assisted in bootstrapping the HarvardX organization as founding course development manager. Oversaw the (now-defunct) Presidential Instructional Technology Fellowship program for FAS, in which students were trained in instructional design, technology, and educational assessment while developing course materials for Harvard faculty. Planned and managed approximately $2 million ATG budget and participate in FAS IT/HUIT budget forecasting and strategic planning. Assist with corporate and foundation relations activities, and co-authored proposal resulting in $40 million donation in support of innovative pedagogy projects. Partnered with Harvard Library on strategic planning project on “e-research” and digital scholarship support across the University. Represented Academic Technology interests during merger between FAS IT and UIS. Co-chaired transition planning team for Academic Technology, developed service catalog for HUIT.
Committee work:
Principal, General Education Curriculum - Instructional Support Services Team, E-Research Support Planning Team
Inaugural Chair, Harvard Teaching and Learning Consortium (HILT); IQSS Technical Advisory Committee
Chair, Learning Spaces Subcommittee of the FAS Pedagogical Improvement Committee
Member, Harvard Academic Computing Committee, Library Transition Planning Group, FAS Faculty Standing Committee on IT, FAS Classroom Committee, 21st Century Classroom Committee, College IT Committee, Committee for Corporate and Foundation Relations, Board of Freshman Advisers, Committee on Learning in Science and Engineering.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Assistant Director
Office of Educational Innovation and Technology 2007 – 2008
Reporting to Dean of Undergraduate Education office - led Educational Technology Consulting group, including specialists in GIS, visualization, and engineering software; consulted and collaborated with faculty, researchers and staff on evaluation of instructional technologies and pedagogical methods; led projects on bringing research tools into the curriculum; conducted outreach with faculty and teaching staff; managed multimedia development facility; managed budget and full-time personnel; hired and trained student consulting staff. Served on implementation and assessment team for Project-Based Learning (e.g. CDIO) in the first year curriculum and on the Academic Computing Coordination (ACCORD) team in conjunction with MIT Libraries.
Manager of Curriculum Integration Support and Senior Instructional Designer
Academic Computing 2004 – 2006
Oversaw staff of academic technology specialists; performed outreach to faculty on best practices for incorporating technology into teaching. Operated campus multimedia development center for video editing, digitization, and visualization. Provided support for MIT iCampus student and faculty initiatives and for Stellar, MIT’s course management system. Managed budget for AC/OEIT Educational Technology Consulting Group.
Co-founder of Ed Tech Partners user group and Crosstalk seminar series.
Manager of Educational Design and Development
Academic Media Production Services 2000 – 2004
Oversaw web, graphic design and technical writing staff for the creation of education-based projects in a cost-recovery organization. Served as instructional designer and project manager for programs utilizing video, multimedia, distance learning and computer-mediated communication. Designed educational software for online and blended medical, public health, and architecture courses. Instructional designer and support coordinator for Stellar course management system. Initiated the first MIT OpenCourseWare video segments and assisted in OCW outreach efforts. Established billing models and salary equity rates.
Senior Faculty Liaison
Academic Computing 1992 – 2000
Acted as consultant for faculty using technology in teaching. Edited educational computing newsletter, organized and delivered training and outreach events promoting instructional technology (including comprehensive January term curricula for all MIT community members), and provided consulting on the use of multimedia by students and faculty. Co-author of MIT’s first official web page. Created and operated campus New Media Center facility. Worked on TEAL (Technology-Enabled Active Learning) project for innovation in physics education as well as other initiatives stemming from Project Athena. Partnered with librarians on a variety of scholarly IT projects.
Brown University
Manager of Computing Help Desk and Faculty Liaison
Computing and Information Services 1989 – 1992
Coordinated in-person, phone, and e-mail consulting for campus clients at central help desk. Managed both professional and student staff. Created role of Faculty Liaison for instructional computing assistance.
Assistant Project Coordinator
Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship 1987-1989
Oversaw classroom integration of Intermedia, a pre-Web networked hypermedia system; wrote user manuals, articles and other documents relating to Intermedia and IRIS research; authored NASA-funded lunar geology software and an Intermedia web, Exploring the Moon; acted as public relations by giving presentations about Intermedia at conferences, trade shows, and invited venues.
Teaching Experience:
Guest Instructor
Harvard University 2010-present
Deliver adjunct lectures on educational technology for popular CS50 course as well as mentoring for student projects in FAS, HSPH, and Graduate School of Education; co-teach independent graduate study class in learning technologies.
Instructor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2000-2007
Designed and taught first-year advising seminars on educational media, including instructional design, reflective practice, web design, animation, video production, and Web 2.0 technologies.
Adjunct Faculty
Boston University School of Education 1993-1998
Designed and taught new course on using the Internet in education, including Web, search engines, portals, push technologies, and creation of online teaching materials.
Education:
2004 Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching, Boston University School of Education. Dissertation title: The Emergence of Network-Based Education, a study of faculty engagement with the development of online courseware.
1993 Ed.M. in Educational Media and Technology, Boston University School of Education, Boston, Massachusetts.
1987 A.B. in Cognitive Science, A.B. in Anthropology/Archaeology, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
Awards and Honors:
2014: Recipient of the EDUCAUSE Rising Star Award for exceptional growth and contribution to the profession of higher education IT
2013 Recipient of the Harvard CIO Council Golden Bit Award in recognition of teamwork in creating Harvard’s first courses and learning objects published through HarvardX/EdX
2012 Selected as Frye Institute Fellow
2004 Steven Wade Neiterman Award, MIT. Given annually to an IT professional who demonstrates collaborative problem solving, coaching, team building, and sharing knowledge.
2004 Pi Lambda Theta international honor society of educators
Selected Presentations and Publications:
SXSWedu 2014 (presentation – From Student Consumers to Multimodal Creators)
“MOOCS, SPOCS, Blended, and On-Campus Learning: Making a strategic plan for your campus.” (With Jennifer Sparrow) Educause Learning Initiative preconference seminar, February 2014
“MOOCs: a traditional or transformative approach to learning?” in Reusing Open Resources, (Ed.) Littlejohn and Pegler, Routledge, New York (in press).
EDUCAUSE 2013 (presentation with Samantha Earp – HarvardX: One Year In)
“The Best Class I Have Ever Taken,” in Game Changers, (Ed.) Diana Oblinger, 2012
EDUCAUSE 2011 (presentation - Fostering Pedagogical Innovation Through IT Partnerships)
Harvard IT Summit 2011 (The Mobile FAS Student – part of panel Mobile Applications to Improve Teaching and Learning)
Annual Projects Report, FAS Presidential Instructional Technology Fellowships. Editor, Harvard University internal publication, 2008-2011.
Symposium on Education and Technology 2011. Technologies to Support Pedagogical Innovation in the Harvard Undergraduate Curriculum. Conference for Spanish and Latin American scholars, sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Real Colegio Complutense.
Open Ed Tech Conference (Barcelona), 2010. Invited speaker on Harvard initiatives in educational technology
NERCOMP 2007-2010 Annual Conferences (Partnering to Build and Support a New Curriculum; Assessing Educational Media Projects; Social Computing Tools for Advising, Instruction, and Admissions; Tracking Our Progress, Planning Our Future)
ED-MEDIA 2006 (with Rachel Or-Bach): Towards a Collaboration Space for Higher Education Teachers – The MIT iLab Project.
“Models for Open Learning”, (with Philip D. Long), in Reusing Online Resources: A Sustainable Approach to eLearning, (Ed.) Allison Littlejohn. Kogan Page, London, 2003.
Copywriter and editor for MIT publications The Athena Insider and The Ed Tech Times, 1992-2007.
Other Professional Engagements:
EDUCAUSE Conference Committee, 2015
NMC Horizon Project – invited expert for 2014-2015 report
EDUCAUSE Conference Reader for Teaching and Learning Track, 2014
NERCOMP Annual Conference Committee, 2010-2014 (2014 track chair)
Editorial Review Board, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 2010 - 2012.
NMC Conference Host, 1998
Member, Boston Area Ed Tech Alliance, Women in Technology Leadership, and Society for Information Management (SIM)
Volunteer Work:
Girl Scout troop leader, 2010 – present
Family Table food bank volunteer, 2009 – present
LearnLaunchX Mentor (advisor to education-related tech startups), 2013 - present