Student Spotlight

We are thrilled to recognize our students for their achievements both inside and outside of the LDT program.

Not only do our students excel in their coursework, but they also apply what they've learned in the classroom to professional contexts by pursuing scholarships, fellowships, and initiatives focused on teaching, learning, and student success.

How are LDT students making a difference?

LDT offers its students several opportunities to actively participate in programmatic efforts and partner with faculty on applied innovation initiatives. These learning by doing opportunities enable LDT students to integrate what they are learning in their coursework to broader, cross-cutting efforts taking place inside and outside of the formal education space.

We list some of the key initiatives below and invite you to read more about the program’s efforts.

LDT Student Publication in the Journal for Political Science Education

Citation: Mark Carl Rom, Jorge Abeledo, Randall Ellsworth, Noah Martin & Lina Zuluaga (2023) Engaging Students in American Politics: Effort and Accomplishment, Journal of Political Science Education, DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2023.2176313

Working on a real project in our Learning Analytics course gave us an opportunity to learn about learning analytics by using learning analytics.

Noah Martin, MA 2019

Higher Education's Big Rethink

Learning Analytics Learning Network DC Chapter

Student Ambassador Program

Higher Education's Big Rethink

Learning Analytics Learning Network DC Chapter

Student Ambassador Program

The Big Rethink Initiative

Higher Education’s Big Rethink was born as an LDT response to the COVID-19 pandemic along with the great awakening the United States was experiencing with the momentum of the Black Lives Matter Movement. It is being implemented with support from both the LDT and the Baker Trust for Transformational Learning. The Big Rethink initiative includes several components: a graduate course, expert interviews conducted during Summer 2020, and community engagement efforts focusing on COVID stories from higher education.

John Clarke, LDT’s Big Rethink Graduate Student Fellow, is working with the project’s lead faculty, Randy Bass and Bryan Alexander, to design and implement a curriculum for the Big Rethink course.

Big Rethink Graduate Student Fellow: John Clarke (center image in photo).

The Learning Analytics Learning Network Initiative

LDT supports the Learning Analytics Learning Network in the DC metro area which is part of a broader international initiative led by The Learning Analytics Learning Network (LALN). The Learning Analytics Learning Network DC Chapter (LALN DC) aims to facilitate the convergence and divergence of broad interdisciplinary ideas enabling the sharing and communication of knowledge, skills, and resources related to learning analytics. This network of individuals (researchers, practitioners, enthusiasts) is driven by their shared interest in the field and the belief that innovative ideas and actions stem from engaging with a diverse, cross-disciplinary community.

Madeleine Olson, the LALN DC Graduate Student Fellow, is working with LDT faculty (Yianna Vovides and Shannon Mooney) on this initiative.

LALN DC Graduate Student Fellow: Madeleine Olson

Child Protection Certificate Program by the Catholic University of America

LDT’s reach in relation to applied innovation is enhanced by its close ties to the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). Several LDT students serve as CNDLS Graduate Associates and contribute as a core team member on various projects. One such project involves the design and development of the online Child Protection Certificate Program by the Catholic University of America. This involves curricular, course, and activity level designs and development working closely with faculty and other experts to ensure that the fully online certificate program is meeting its programmatic goals and doing so by following human-centered design principles.

CNDLS LDT Graduate Associate Lead: William Cleaves

Learning, Design, and Technology Student Achievements

Our students come from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds, bringing to the program their own perspectives and expertise. While we are always impressed with their work inside of the classroom, we want to recognize them for their personal and professional accomplishments as well. Here you will find a few of our students who have recently received recognition for their work in the field of learning, design, and technology.

Sarah Chamberlain Named EdSurge Independent Fellow

LDT Student, Sarah Chamberlain was awarded a competitive Fellowship with EdSurge Independent, as she and 9 other Fellows were selected from a pool of applicants from around the world. Throughout her fellowship, Sarah will meet with other Fellows online every week to discuss the most pressing challenges in education, as well as engage with leading educators, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. Stay tuned for more updates from Sarah, as she will be sharing her perspectives on teaching and learning, and associated challenges throughout the Fall, with EdSurge Independent.

Ijeoma Njaka Awarded Two Conference Scholarships

In November 2018, Ijeoma Njaka will attend the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education annual conference for a poster presentation. Earlier this year, she received the POD Network Donald H. Wulff Diversity Travel Fellowship, a funding opportunity for practitioners historically underrepresented in the broader conversation on educational and faculty development. Last spring, Ijeoma also had the opportunity to attend the 2018 National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) as a Student Scholar. There, Ijeoma presented a Pecha Kucha format (a presentation style consisting of spending 20 seconds on a set of 20 slides) on bicultural identity, decolonization of the mind, and Prince.

Jasmine Wong and Team Win Second Place in Pitch Competition

LDT student, Jasmine Wong, and her teammates won second place in a pitch competition hosted by StartupHoyas MED, an organization dedicated to healthcare entrepreneurship throughout the Georgetown University Community. Contestants participated in a Design Lab in which they learned about the process of defining a problem, creating a solution, and evaluating a market opportunity. Jasmine and her teammates designed a pitch for a voice assistant, DocTalk, that guides patients to the most effective resource for their care. The question guiding their pitch was “How might we manage the care of the elderly population to provide directed solutions for the patients and better outcomes for providers?”

Lina Zuluaga Selected as Department of Education Contest Finalist

Lina Zuluaga was among the top 25 finalists in the US Department of Education’s Reimagine the Higher Education Ecosystem Challenge with her project on The First Blockchain University with the First Global Career Bridge–Woolf & TalentoLab. Lina is the founder of and head of applied research at TalentoLab. Her research is at the cutting-edge of how effective methods of learning design and knowledge management remove institutional silos in industries that must adapt to survive the fourth industrial revolution. She also provides strategic advice to the International Development Bank. Lina acknowledges support from Mary Rowe, former Ombuds at MIT; Maurice Ashley, Grandmaster and MIT Media Lab; Jose Manuel Restrepo, Colombian Minister of Trade and Commerce; Phil Komarny, VP of Innovation Salesforce; Mark Schneider, Director IES; Diego Molano, former Minister of Technology and McKinsey global advisor on Digital Transformation for governments and companies and Emiliana Vegas, Chief of the Education Division at the Inter-American Development Bank.