This Term
5,512
Active Courses
1,784
Consults
26
Webinars
4,043
Emails
9
Consultants
What do we do? The numbers speak for themselves. Our expertise includes D2L, Panopto, Zoom, Clickers, and course design. Plus, we hold advanced degrees in fields from Instructional Design to Library Science, Linguistics, Management, & Geography. Among us are published authors, photographers, experienced educators, and even an Emmy nominee. Who are we?
Partners in your success
Mark Bryant
Mark Bryant
MS, Texas A&M
MPA, University of Arizona
MA, University of Arizona
520-626-6804
Mark leads the D2L/Brightspace (Desire2Learn) consulting team. In addition to providing consulting services for instructors on campus, Mark works with instructional technology groups to help ensure consistent and reliable support across technologies on campus.
Prior to joining OIA, Mark was a Technology Integrator at Sunnyside Unified School District working with teachers to integrate technology into classroom teaching. Previously he worked at the U of A’s College of Humanities in instructional support.
Mark has an M.S in Global E-Learning from Texas A&M, a Masters in Public Management and a Masters in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Arizona.
Chelsea Timlin
Chelsea Timlin
MA, University of Arizona
PhD, University of Arizona
520-626-6804
Chelsea has a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona and is an experienced instructor of German as a foreign language and applied linguistics. She left Tucson briefly to serve as the Assistant Director of the Center for Language Studies and Lecturer in Language Studies at Brown University, where she provided professional development for language faculty and graduate students related to instructional design and technology for language teaching.
Chelsea commits to a learning objective-informed approach to technology use. She prioritizes learning about instructors’ and students’ goals for learning and teaching and collaborates with them to find solutions and technologies that will best align with these goals.
At home, you will most likely find her spending time with her two pugs, Tug and Bug, creating with silk floral, or perfecting her Bolognese recipe.
Josh Butcher
Josh Butcher
MS, Western Illinois University
520-626-9913
Josh grew up in Macomb, Illinois a small city in west central Illinois. He attended Western Illinois University (WIU) where he discovered his passion for instructional technology. He obtained his B.S and shortly after his M.S in Instructional Design and Technology from WIU.
For the next 12 years, Josh worked for WIU within the College of Education and Human Services. He served as an Instructional Technology Systems manager responsible for college-wide tech support for faculty, staff, classroom, and computer lab technology equipment. He was the manager of the Interactive Multimedia Lab and Technology Resource Checkout where he oversaw a staff that provided just-in-time training and assistance on a wide variety of technology topics and initiatives as well as provided equipment checkout services to faculty, staff, and students.
In 2017, Josh decided to make a big career move and made the trek out to Tucson, Arizona to join the OIA team here at the University of Arizona. He provides support and training to faculty and staff on instructional technology applications such as our lecture capture solution (Panopto), video conferencing solution (Zoom), and classroom/student response polling solution (Turning Technologies Clickers). In addition to the tech support, he can sit down and ensure you incorporate these technologies into your course using sound instructional methods.
When not hard at work, Josh likes to spend time with his black Labrador retriever named Yadi (pictured). He also enjoys running, hiking, and taking photographs of storms, sunrises/sunsets, and the night sky. His photographs have been featured several times on local Tucson morning newscasts. His favorite sporting event to watch live or on TV is baseball, favorite MLB team is the St. Louis Cardinals, and favorite sport to play as a hobby is golf.
Lara Tarantini
Lara Tarantini
MA, University of Bologna
MA, University of Arizona
520-626-9913
Lara was born and raised in Bologna, Italy, the town where Ducati motorcycles, tortellini, and mortadella are from. Interested in learning languages since an early age, she studied English, French, and Spanish. Later, she attended the University of Bologna and earned a B.A. in Storia, Culture, e Civiltà Orientali, and an M.A. in Lingue e Culture dell’Asia e dell’Africa, with a focus in Islamic studies and Arabic. While earning her degrees, she worked as a promoter and played the drums in a band on weekends. In 2014, she left her job as an Apple Solution Consultant and moved to Tucson to earn her second M.A in Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. While at UA, she worked as a teaching assistant and instructor, and during this time, she learned how to use D2L and developed an interest in LMSs. Combining her experience in and passion for helping people how to use technology and teaching, Lara has often helped fellow graduate students and instructors in developing their D2L sites. Eventually, she decided to turn this experience into a career and joined the OIA in 2020.
When not at work, Lara has many diverse interests. An avid music listener, she loves going to hard rock and heavy metal concerts whenever she can. She loves painting, and at times you can see her painting watercolor sketches around campus or by the Rillito River Path. She also loves cooking regional Italian dishes and baking, so if you want to know how to make tiramisù, don’t hesitate to ask.
Rachel Wehr
Rachel Wehr
BS, Environmental Science
520-626-6804
Rachel is an experienced educator, school garden practitioner, and instructor. Prior to joining OIA, Rachel worked as an environmental educator at Saguaro National Park and in TUSD school gardens. In 2018, she joined the University of Arizona as a Program Manager, working with university students and staff to provide professional development and support to K-12 school garden educators. It was through experience leading classes and facilitating professional development workshops for everyone from kindergarteners to adults that Rachel fell in love with teaching. As a teaching assistant at the UA, she also helped to transition an internship and engagement course fully online, blending community engagement with online learning through apt instructional design. Rachel joined the D2L consulting team in 2021, bridging her experience in informal, classroom, and online instruction. Rachel graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Environmental Science.
Rachel uses her experience in community engagement courses to approach instruction, promoting online community through conversation and exploration in order to best achieve positive learning outcomes.
After work hours, you can find Rachel climbing or mountain biking in the Catalina mountains, backpacking in questionable and remote canyons, or watching cute dog videos.
Amy Hamman
Amy Hamman
PhD, University of Arizona
520-626-6804
Amy earned a PhD in Art History and Education, emphasis Colonial Mexico and Early Modern Cartography, from the University of Arizona and is currently completing an MEd in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University. Her involvement with EdTech grew from her decade plus of experience as a University instructor and interest in learning how appropriate technologies can drive student engagement and support inclusive teaching.
After returning to Tucson from her home state of Texas where she served as a bilingual elementary teacher for two years, Amy worked in a corporate training environment to create e-Learning materials for staff development. In 2021, she joined the D2L Consulting Team where she uses the range of her pedagogical background to support instructors.
Outside of work, Amy enjoys pedaling her senior dog to the park, designing polymer clay earrings, reading novels in Spanish, and hitting the trails around the Old Pueblo. She also loves to travel and never misses a chance to talk about her experiences living in Mexico (CDMX) and the archival research she conducted in a former prison there.
Keri Miller
Keri Miller
MFA, University of Texas at Austin
PhD, University of Arizona
520-626-6804
Keri earned a dual PhD in Linguistic Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona and has since been teaching classes in Anthropology at the U of A and Pima Community College. She also has an MFA in costume design from the University of Texas at Austin, and experience teaching English as a Foreign Language to Azerbaijani students during three years in the Peace Corps. She now joins the D2L Consulting team excited to extend her life journey in teaching and learning more deeply into the exploration of learning technology and instructional design.
Outside of work, her current passion is gardening. You can find her mornings and evenings checking on her plants and herding her one cat, Princess Tiny Feet. On weekends she enjoys visiting plant nurseries and botanical gardens. From her past lives she maintains a deep love of languages and travel, and aims to return to silk painting.
Adam Ragan
Adam Ragan
MA, Arizona State University
520-626-6804
Adam received his M.A. in English Linguistics from Arizona State University, where he worked on demonstrating the harms SEI has on Arizona’s English Language Learners. Adam relocated to Tucson after grad school, with an eye towards social justice & equity building in the community. He has worked as both a community organizer & educator, opening southern Arizona’s LGBTQ youth center, located on 4th Avenue & continuing to teach college writing courses (101/102) in Phoenix & Tucson. He eventually took on the role of dual-enrollment instruction at the high school level & also taught high school English. He is dual-certified secondary education, in ELA & government/poli sci. Adam continues as adjunct writing faculty at PCC.
Beyond the classroom, Adam has long championed public education & has been active in local & state politics. He ran for the TUSD school board & served on TUSD’s Family Life Curriculum Committee, authoring revisions to the middle & high school sex ed curricula. Long a champion of workers’ rights, he served as co-chair of the César Chávez Holiday Committee & has served in leadership with his union. He was the Mayor’s appointee on Tucson’s GLBT Commission, serving as co-chair & advising on issues facing the LGBTQ community. He has served on several non-profit boards of directors & continues to exert energies to make his community better. He was selected the 2020 Tucson Man of the Year.
Adam is a fan of the WNBA, a student of history, a connoisseur of dark humor & enthusiastic reader. He’s an avid, self-taught crocheter, something you can catch him doing wherever he goes. A big fan of Doctor Who, Adam spends an inordinate amount of time watching for the TARDIS, hoping to explore all of time & space. He continues a proud tradition of cooking & baking instilled by his parents. Proud of his Italian & Irish heritages, Adam keeps both close to his heart, following the politics & cultures of both. A keen Spades player, he enjoys teaching others to play the game.
Nadia Hamrouni