As part of the Online Teaching and Learning Support program, we are thrilled to offer the services of the instructional design team. They will assist you in course design and provide tips and ideas on how to approach teaching and learning challenges.

Request Assistance From An Instructional Designer

Our Staff
		Abigail Machson-Carter (Abby, she/her pronouns) is a MA native, currently in Boston, MA. She has taught and designed in higher ed since 2011, including 8 years of teaching critical reading and writing at UMass Boston and Northeastern University. She has worked as an instructional designer at CAST, the developers of Universal Design for Learning, and at MIT's Teaching Systems Lab, where she designed free online courses for educators across the globe. She loves learning and supporting faculty, and works to incorporate equity, access and care into her design work. She has an MFA in creative writing. During the pandemic she navigated working remotely while parenting a toddler - it made for some adorable Zoom interruptions! Abby specializes in active learning and student-centered design, digital and face to face design, support for engagement with texts, and Universal Design for Learning. Email: ctr_amachsonca@salemstate.edu
		James McGrath (Jim; he/his pronouns) has been teaching in higher ed since 2003 and has spent most of the last decade doing digital humanities and public history work in classrooms and with community partners. He has a PhD in English from Northeastern University and most recently was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University’s John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage. In addition to his extensive experience with online learning contexts and the uses of digital tools and platforms in the classroom, Jim taught courses this past spring at Brown and supported faculty as we all navigated the transition to online learning, and he continues to teach undergraduate and graduate-level courses at Northeastern University. Jim currently lives in Brookline with his dachshund Charlie. You can find out more about him at his personal web site. Jim is an expert in digital humanities, digital public history, digital project development, and digital pedagogy. Email: ctr_jmcgrath@salemstate.edu
		Eliza Bobek (she/her pronouns) joined SSU in June 2022 as the Director of the Center for Teaching Innovation. She has over 20 years of experience as an educator, beginning as a K-12 elementary and STEM teacher in New York City. She has served in numerous roles in higher education; she was previously the Director of UTeach, a teacher preparation program for STEM majors with a focus on inquiry-based and project-based instruction, as well as the Director of the BA in Education, both at UMass Lowell. She has designed and led numerous pedagogy programs in higher ed, including a Hybrid Course development program, and is passionate about online course design and evaluation. She holds a BA in Neuroscience from Barnard College, Columbia University, an MA in Elementary Education from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and a PhD from Teachers College, Columbia University. Email: ebobek@salemstate.edu

		Sahar Hussain (she/her pronouns) Sahar has over 16 years of educational leadership experience, spanning from higher education, educational technology, consulting services, and K-12 public, private, and charter schools across NYC and Long Island. She is currently a Faculty Coach at Noodle \| EdTech, as well as a site-visit and accreditation consultant for the NY State Department of Education Charter School Office. Sahar is also the founder and CEO of Edlevate, an educational consulting firm that specializes in professional and workforce development services for cross-industry partners. As a curriculum specialist, learning experience designer, and adjunct professor at Berkeley College, Sahar contributed to the growth of departments and faculty through coaching and course build support to be 21st-century aligned, student-centered, anti-racist, and culturally responsive to meet the needs of diverse learners in online, in-person, and hybrid settings. Sahar is a doctoral candidate of Educational Leadership with a focus on Higher Education and Instructional Technology at American College of Education and holds a Master of Science from College of Saint Rose in Educational Leadership, a Master of Science in Teaching English to Students of Other Languages from Long Island University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Labor Studies, and Sociology. Sahar specializes in Faculty Coaching, Curriculum, Professional Development, EdTech Integration, Online Learning, Culturally Responsive and Anti-Racist Teaching, and Building Effective Learning Communities for Diverse Learners. Email: ctr_shussain@salemstate.edu