She serves on the board of BYTE a cross-border youth development program offering tennis and academic classes on both sides of the Nogales US/Mexico border. She became involved with this organization because of her passion for digital storytelling and love of the game of tennis (https://bytetennis.org/).

She served as the Interim Dean of UA South (the branch campus and the College of Applied Science and Technology for the University of Arizona) from 2016 to 2019. She was chosen for this role for a few reasons, one she has been associated with UA South for the past eight years in both a support role and as a faculty, two she can assist in establishing connections to Main Campus through her many relationships with colleges, departments and faculty, and finally, she understands the demands of a non-traditional student as she completed her graduate degrees both online and during evening and weekend programs.  

From 2014 to 2019 she also served as the Senior Director of Digital Learning and Online Education at the University of Arizona.  In this role she created an office of instructional design, visual design, video production and quality assurance for the Arizona Online. She came to UA ten years ago as an Instructional Designer to help faculty create online courses that reach out and engage students in an online UA experience.  Before coming to the University, she served as an Instructional Designer in Professional Development and as an adjunct faculty for Pima Community College.

Her faculty affiliation is with the College of Education at the University of Arizona.  She conducts research and teaching in the areas of educational technology, digital and creative literacies and multicultural education.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University.  She earned her PhD in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies from the University of Arizona in 2015. Her informal education consists of living in over 40 different places including several countries overseas.

More information can be found at http://www.melodybuckner.com/ 

Office of Digital Learning: https://digitallearning.arizona.edu/

 

She is also a PhD candidate in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on emotional labor in higher education, faculty professional development, and transformative pedagogy. 

She first began her teaching career at a small high school in Northern California.  Since then, she's been a Graduate Teaching Assistant at two different universities (UofA and UC Santa Cruz), a Graduate Student Instructor (UofA), and an instructor at Pima Community College, San Jose State University, and UC Santa Cruz. She also spent several years teaching high school in Tucson before returning to graduate school. 

After earning her master's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona, with a focus on understanding first-year K-12 teachers' experiences through interviews, observations, and surveys, she earned a master's degree in Social Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  

Presentation Title: Five Steps to Integrate Collaborative Learning into Your (Online) Classroom 

 

The email to use for contact related to k-12 engagement opportunities is: education@tucsonmuseumofart.org