Recently, an Elizabethtown College faculty member had the opportunity to present at the annual National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Conference. Crystal Donlan is the Instructional Designer and Online Learning Specialist at Elizabethtown College, and she is also an adjunct faculty member at Luzerne County Community College. She’s also currently studying to gain her doctorate degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Donlan was a first-generation college student, and originally worked in corrections education for ten years. Unfortunately, she got ill and had to step away, leading her to the higher education setting.
Donlan spoke to this as she said, “What’s really important is that no matter how humble your roots, you can really grow and flourish and set your goals and follow them. I’ve had obstacles that I’ve had to overcome… but I feel so blessed because I get to teach and continue learning from all of the students and people I meet.”
At Etown, Donlan teaches faculty at the Teaching and Learning Center. Many of her lessons include best practices for teaching, which include mindful scaffolding, her topic at the NISOD Conference. Through this, Donlan has a direct effect on both faculty and students at Etown, even though her work seems more behind the scenes.
Due to the recent surge in the Delta variant, Donlan has been instructing virtually since Sept.. However, she has been teaching online longer than most, since before the pandemic, she was also exploring virtual teaching due to her illness. Donlan said that she was an “accidental scholar” in the area of online learning, and that she is glad that her experiences were able to prepare her for the pandemic, and the virtual NISOD conference.
NISOD is a membership based organization for colleges and technical schools, and it’s all about best practices in learning and how it can be taught to higher education professionals.
Donlan said, “It was really cool to be a part of a conference that is doing what I do every day, but on a national scale.”
Originally, she wasn’t going to submit her proposal for the conference, but she did, and was chosen out of a large pool of applicants to speak. Hundreds of educators were able to hear Donlan’s speech, and they were able to ask her questions that specifically related to their classrooms and institutions. Donlan was able to represent the College at the conference, and contribute in a meaningful way to how people practice higher education around the country, an experience that she described as humbling and exciting.
Unfortunately, since the conference was virtual, there was no face-to-face audience, but because of Donlan’s background, she was able to coach herself through the conference and present in an impactful way. Her presentation was on mindful scaffolding, which is coaching faculty to be responsible to student’s needs in any modality of learning.
“Students don’t stop experiencing life during the learning experience… I want to teach our faculty how to teach in ways that make meaningful and relevant experiences for our learners, but also in a way that is compassionate and aware,” Donlan said. “Illness has taught me that your learning journey is meaningful. I want to be able to learn something new every day until my last day on earth. I expect everyone to feel that way, and I try to encourage it. I think knowledge is power, and the more we learn, the more we are empowered agents, not only for ourselves, but for our causes.”
Donlan exemplifies the College’s motto of “Educate for Service” by providing resources and instructing other professionals in higher learning how to practice better and get students to learn in a more healthy environment.
