I am the Senior Instructional Technologist at Whittier College’s Center for Teaching and Learning.
I work as part of faculty and staff development to drive and inspire the effective and ethical integration of educational technology. I provide specialized instruction, advice, and guidance in the application of educational tools and techniques. I build programming and projects that focus on digital pedagogy, media & digital literacy, and blended learning.

This fall 2024 I am excited to continue working with our Mellon grant that supports the study of Brown Identities at Whittier College. The “Poet StoryLab: Narrative, Community, and the Transformative Possibilities of Brown Storytelling” continues the work we’ve collaborated on with our community partners and digital storytelling projects.

A major campus role (that brings me hope and joy!) is to be part of our leadership team that focuses on expanding inclusive teaching methods in STEM and other disciplines as part of a generous grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

This year my work in leading the Center for Teaching and Learning will include exploring how Generative AI is affecting Higher Education.

I also produce and host a podcast called Teaching at Whittier.

My specialty is teaching digital storytelling to engage students in higher order thinking, deep learning, and to build digital literacy skills.  In study abroad, digital storytelling assignments capture amazing transformative learning experiences! 

In 2020 I contributed to a chapter in the book Digital Storytelling: Story Work for Urgent Times on digital storytelling in higher education.

I also work on a series of multilingual PhotoVoice projects, the most recent called “Connections to Home/Conexiones a Nuestro Hogar” (2024), “Nuestro Arte: Community & Photography” (2023) and “Life During Pandemic/La Vida Durante La Pandemia” (2021).

My research and teaching interests include partnering with community-based groups to create learning spaces (physical and virtual) that provide opportunities for diverse populations to participate in digital media making projects like digital photo archives, story maps, multimodal storytelling & podcasts, and augmented reality tools. 

Equity and inclusion are at the forefront of every digital initiative that I engage in. The ethos of reflection, education, and social justice greatly influences the dynamic of my workshops and partner projects.  I believe that through creative and collaborative projects, participants are invested in learning communities that we build together to continue contributing to digital platforms for the diverse populations that will use them in the cycle of life-long teaching and learning.

My background is in filmmaking and I have traveled to Mexico, Cuba, Syria and Iraq to make documentary films that show the plight of cultures trying to preserve their history while adapting to modernity.
My documentary projects can be viewed on Vimeo.