Biography

Marisa Beard began as the Director of Educational Technology at ACU on June 2 2014. She came from Western Illinois University, where she worked for 20 years in the College of Education and Human Services. She developed online professional development for K-12 educators, worked with COEHS faculty, presented at local, state, and national conference, provided face-to-face workshops for educators, managed various software solutions, taught courses on integrating technology into the classroom, and enjoyed learning how technology can enhance the learning experience. She received her doctorate in Learning Technologies (formerly Educational Technology) from Pepperdine University in April 2014.

She is currently the director of Educational Technology and the director of the Innovation Foundry. Her duties not only include managing academic software for the university, but also working with faculty and students on learning some of this software. Her team also provides a space and the knowledge to help students and faculty start and finish research projects that will hopefully impact people inside and outside the university. 

She also enjoys teaching in the Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership program at ACU Dallas. Her experise lies in the Learning with Emerging Technologies concentration where she has been fortunate to teach all the offered courses.