Donalee Attardo is Senior Director of Academic Technology in the Office of Information Technology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She provides strategic leadership in central teaching and learning technology (TLT) at Minnesota with a team who work with faculty to support enterprise-level services, design and develop exemplary face-to-face, blended, and online courses, and explore emerging technologies, as well as provide training, consulting, and support of best practices for TLT.
Dr. Attardo is a member of the Online Steering and Provost's Advisory Committees. She is also co-chair of the Canvas LMS Transition Steering Committee and co-facilitator of the University Learning Technology Advisors (ULTA) faculty committee.
The University of Minnesota is a founding member of the Unizin Consortium and Dr. Attardo serves on the Unizin Teaching & Learning Committee.
Dr. Attardo received her PhD in linguistics from Purdue University and has been a specialist in educational technology in higher education for more than 20 years.
The role of the senior academic technology officer (SATO) is crucial in higher education. Those in this emerging profession need to take action to further define the role, mentor future SATOs, and advocate for its importance.
The move to online and hybrid learning environments presents changing needs and new opportunities for faculty development.
Most faculty members are not taught a systematic process to course design and, despite their subject expertise, might lack background in learning theory.
| EDUCAUSE | ELI Primary Representative |