Whitney Kilgore has an extensive background in educational leadership, educational technology, strategic planning, learning management systems, professional service delivery, and organizational change. Her primary areas of focus are faculty professional development, humanizing online instruction, and increasing learner engagement. She is currently the Chief Academic Officer for iDesign, a higher education service provider. Prior to that she served as vice president, Academic Services Domestic and International for Academic Partnerships (AP). In this role, Whitney was responsible for the planning, development, and assessment of AP's international partner universities' high-quality online degree programs (in the US, Latin America, UK, China, Australia, Spain, and the Philippines). Prior to joining Academic Partnerships, Dr. Kilgore was the director of academic technology services at the College of Southern Nevada, where she led the cross functional expansion of the online campus and upgrades to more than 300 smart classrooms. Under her leadership the online campus grew larger than any of the brick and mortar campuses, serving 46,000 students. She is a member of the Online Learning Consortium, WCET, IMS Global, EDUCAUSE, and is on the panel of experts for the New Media Consortium's Horizon Report. Dr. Kilgore received a post-graduate certificate in Educational Technology Leadership from George Washington University, and holds a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A & M Corpus Christi and earned her Ph.D. in Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas.
The emotional labor and long hours from the pandemic’s upheaval of higher education have left many instructional designers overworked and burned out. With more work ahead, these members of the campus community need support, empathy, and resources.
A new initiative aims to provide the skills and expertise that instructional designers need to help higher education meet its growing demands for online education.
The resurgence of learning engineering as a concept and professional role in higher education has exacerbated tensions within the field of instructional design related to job titles, responsibilities, and position within academic institutions.