TOPkit Past Events – Workshop 2023

Christine Brown is the Associate Vice President of Innovation Education (InEd) at the University of South Florida. Her team provides strategic leadership at the intersection of education, technology, and the student experience.

Christine has a passion for developing engaging digital content to solve learning challenges. She has over 25 years of experience designing learning experiences with custom multimedia and has served as the AVP for InEd’s Digital Learning for several years. Under her leadership, the team has won over 80 international awards for learning design and video production. Christine’s areas of interest focus on the exploration and evaluation of digital content to improve student learning outcomes, AR/VR for engaged learning, technology enhanced active classrooms, and improving digital fluency in higher education. 

Josh Strigle is the Director of E-Learning and Learning Support Centers at the College of Central Florida. He began serving online students and faculty in 1998. He has experienced the pains associated with the growth of online learning from the administrative, faculty and student perspectives.  He has served as his college’s representative to the Members Council for Distance Learning and Student Support, of the Florida Virtual Campus, since 2010 and is currently serving a second term as chair. This combination of student, faculty, administrative and policy experience serves him well, as he seeks to continually improve the learning experience for online students.

Vicki Westergard is the Executive Director of Instructional Design, Education and Support (IDEAS) at St. Petersburg College, with 30+ years of experience in higher education in instructional support and leadership positions, including overseeing a 2014 college-wide online learning revitalization effort. Ms. Westergard has lead teams in instructional technology and videography, learning management system support and web development. She has led her current team of instructional designers and other creatives since 2004. 

Dr. Wendy Howard is the Program Director of the Pegasus Innovation Lab (iLab) at the University of Central Florida. The iLab is an incubator of experimental projects focused on digital learning innovations aimed at positively impacting student success in online learning at the institutional level. With over twenty-five years of experience in both instructional design and teaching. Dr. Howard brings invaluable insight and leadership for both faculty and student engagement to the position. Her current research is focused on faculty development, collaborative online learning, and internationalizing the curriculum through technology.

Dr. Charlene Hu is the Director of Instructional Design for the Center for Distributed Learning at the University of Central Florida. Her duties include oversight of all aspects of the instructional design process and managing the instructional design team. Charlene started her professional career teaching in higher education. She has been in instructional design and faculty development roles for nearly twenty years, including ten years at California State University in Bakersfield, where she was instrumental in guiding faculty professional development for online quality assurance.  

Born and raised in China, she has lived in the United States for over three decades. She enjoys traveling, gardening, and spending time with her family and friends.