Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Laura E. Gray , a Southern gal, was born and raised in Louisiana and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Laura grew up in Long Beach, Mississippi, and graduated from Long Beach High School in 1988. From there, she went on to college at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where she earned her Bachelor's degree in secondary education with credentials in social studies and English for grades 7-12. She taught a year of junior high in Louisiana, a year of Job Corps in Gulfport, MS, and four years at Hancock High School in Kiln, MS (most famous for being the home of Bret Favre of Green Bay Packers football fame). After finishing her master's degree in school counseling, she spent the next 8 years as the counselor of a large K-5 school back in Long Beach and was there when Hurricane Katrina blew the school away in 2005. By 2007, Laura was able to take early retirement, where she stayed home with her 3 children and worked on her doctorate in Instructional Design for Online Learning, which was completed in 2015. Since then, she has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in instructional design and has developed a variety of courses and trainings. In the summer of 2019, after having lived in Belize for 2 1/2 years and the Yucatan for 6 years, Laura and her family moved back to the States where they chose the Treasure Valley near Boise, Idaho as their home. Since then, both of their sons, ages 25 and 27, have left Mississippi and joined them, and their daughter, who is 22, is going to college and figuring out what she wants to do. When she's not working and doing family things with the husband and kids, Laura enjoys traveling, shopping, reading, watching shows on Netflix, and spending time with friends and her two dogs, Dany and Lucy, as well as her cat Xander. Laura currently works remotely as a full-time faculty member and research methodologist in the Ed.D. program at South College. Shernette D. Dunn is a four time graduate of Florida Atlantic University earning her bachelors, masters, specialist, and Ph.D degrees all from the College of Education. She is also the first to earn the Instructional Designer Certificate offered by the College of Education. ‘When I moved to the United States in 1997 from Jamaica, like most immigrants, I wanted to achieve the ‘American Dream’ and I chose education as my path,” said Dr. Dunn, who earned her doctorate in 2020. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Dr. Dunn began working for Broward County Schools teaching various grade levels. While working in the school system she also gained the coveted National Board Certification. She was also an adjunct instructor at Broward College for over 10 years where she taught Reading, English for Academic Purposes and College Success Skills. She has worked in various other educational sectors in Broward County supporting children and their families. While attending FAU, Dr. Dunn was a commuter student and considered the Davie campus her home campus. “It was easy and convenient to attend the Davie campus because it was a stone’s throw from Nova Eisenhower Elementary where I worked for over 10 years,” she said. Dr. Dunn has also worked as a part time instructor for FAU to help first year students get familiar with college courses, and expectations. She said that was one of the highlights of her career where she felt like she came full circle by helping other students to grow and develop educationally. Dr. Dunn supports education both at the local and nation level. She previously worked at one of the Nation's Military Academies where she served in an administrative role to promote student success. She is now working on a project for the National Academies of Science where she is helping to write a report for education practices for adult learners in the military context. Dr. Dunn also supported education and technology ventures by being part of the National Technology Leadership Summit and other organizations that promotes education and technology.