Dr. Charlene VanLeeuwen
Coordinator

As Coordinator, Charlene provides academic and administrative leadership to the Teaching and Learning Centre. She collaborates with institutional, national and international partners to support, research and advocate for initiatives related to teaching and learning. 

Charlene has taught at UPEI since 2003, developing a deep familiarity with higher education teaching and learning along the way. Her interdisciplinary background includes a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Guelph, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa, a Master of Education in Leadership in Learning from UPEI and a Ph. D. in Educational Studies from UPEI. Her postdoctoral research focused on understanding and improving faculty experiences of teaching, learning, and participation in post-secondary digital learning environments. She also maintains research interests revolving around the scholarship of teaching and learning, community-based learning, and international development work in rural Kenya, with an emerging interest in the scholarship of educational development. 

Charlene is an active member of national and international organizations related to teaching, learning, and educational development. In addition, she's led the Shad UPEI program, a Pan-Canadian STEAM and Entrepreneurship program as Program Director since 2019. Away from campus she is involved in the community as a Swim Canada official and sits on the board of Farmers Helping Farmers, a local organization that does international development work in Kenya.

A recipient of multiple awards for teaching and educational leadership, Charlene is excited to share her experiences as an educator in physical classrooms and online spaces as Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Centre at the University of Prince Edward Island. 

cvanleeuwen@upei.ca or tlc@UPEI.ca
902-620-5217 

Jason Hogan
Instructional Designer

Jason has been an instructional designer with UPEI since 2015, working with faculty and staff to support online, hybrid, and blended instruction in both credit and non-credit contexts, assisting in brainstorming, course planning and mapping, and rubric and assessment design. He has participated in UPEI’s Academic Integrity Working Group and helped found UPEI’s Teaching Community Conference.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Science with a Major in Chemistry as well as a Bachelor of Education. He has worked with UPEI’s Accessibility Services to help foster awareness of Universal Design for Learning and co-develop student empathy mapping personas. Jason also blogs about instructional design ideas on Medium.

As a volunteer Jason assists in the design and facilitation of training at Cross Roads Fire Department. 

jbhogan@upei.ca
902-566-0790 

Joel MacDonald
Instructional Designer

Joel has been involved in the world of instruction for over 30 years. His specialties and interests include online course design/re-design, faculty training and development, interactive content design, and ecological dynamics theory applied to teaching and learning. Joel has a Bachelor of Human Kinetics Degree and a Bachelor of Education Degree from the University of New Brunswick, a Master of Coaching Sciences Degree from the University of British Columbia and a Certificate in Adult Education and Instructional Design from St. Francis Xavier University.

In addition to his work as an instructional designer at UPEI, Joel has taught both at the public school and college level, worked in youth soccer as a coach and technical director, and has facilitated hundreds of sports coaching courses and workshops.

joelmacdonald@upei.ca
902-566-6061 

Kristy McKinney
Instructional Multimedia Specialist

Kristy provides support in the creation of multimedia resources. She does this by meeting one-on-one with instructors and instructional support staff, running workshops, and creating short self-guided courses. Support varies from suggestions of equipment and software to recording audio and video projects in collaboration with faculty. Recent video projects range from filming lectures across campus to lab safety videos with Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering to creating a video lab manual for first-year Chemistry. A couple of her audio project collaborations have been with The Maudcast: The Podcast of the L.M. Montgomery Institute, Halifax Literary Landmarks a project with Dr. Kate Scarth, and presenting to Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture students on creating a podcast. She is always interested in discussing projects and coming up with creative solutions for unique obstacles. Kristy has been involved in online education for over 10 years and multimedia creation including photography and video for 15 years.

kmckinney@upei.ca
902-566-0707

Kelcia Nelson
ACLC Placement Student

Kelcia Nelson is a fourth-year student at UPEI, majoring in Applied Communication Leadership and Culture. Currently engaged in her work practicum for ACLC 4070 at the Teaching and Learning Centre, Kelcia is on track to graduate and subsequently complete an internship at a film production company. Over the next five years, she envisions gaining diverse experience in the creative field through roles in social media marketing, public relations, production management, and more. Driven by her passion for writing, Kelcia plans to publish her work in the near future and aims to establish a career as a writer.

Mary-Leah Toole
ACLC Placement Student

Mary-Leah is a fourth year Bachelor of Arts student majoring in Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture. She has recently been accepted to the Bachelor of Education program at UPEI starting in May, with an end goal of being an Intermediate/Senior level teacher. This semester, Mary-Leah will be completing her work practicum at the Teaching and Learning Centre. Mary-Leah hopes to learn and gain more experience in areas she is not familiar with, and provide any aid she has learned through her education and experiences.