Staff directory

Dr. Rajiv Jhanhiani

Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani

Vice-Provost
Teaching & Learning
rjhangiani@brocku.ca

(he/him/his; proper pronunciation)

It is with immense joy and gratitude that I assumed my new role of Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning earlier this month. I am grateful for the trust being placed in me and am especially humbled by the opportunity to work alongside and support the extraordinary humans who make up our Centre for Pedagogical Innovation and Co-op, Career, and Experiential Education teams.

[Updates from Dr. Jhangiani]

Contact me about:

  • Inclusive Teaching
  • Ethical EdTech
  • Open Education
Matt Clare

Matt Clare

Director,
Technology-Enabled Learning
mclare@brocku.ca

Matt has over 20 years of experience in university teaching and learning technologies.  He thrives, thanks to a very healthy sense of curiosity, in a project and support role that lets him work alongside the expertise of faculty and staff from a wide variety of subject areas across Brock. In his words, his foremost contribution is to: “Make technology an enabling element in teaching and learning, not an obstacle … it is important that self-support is always offered and facilitated support is ready during operating hours.”

Contact me about:

  • Strengthening & Sustaining Brock University’s Teaching Technologies
  • Promoting Digital Accessibility
  • Next-Generation Digital Learning Environments (NGDLE)
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Giulia Forsythe

Director,
Teaching and Learning
gforsythe@brocku.ca

Giulia Forsythe has been at Brock University’s Centre for Pedagogical Innovation since 2005, where she started as the Special Projects Facilitator. As the Director, Teaching and Learning, she continues to support the lofty goals of education to transform lives through high quality teaching, learning, research, and a commitment to equity, justice, and accessibility situated within our community. She is a champion for open education that serves to “honour different ways of knowing and demonstrating knowledge.”

Contact me about:

  • Instructional Design
  • Curriculum Mapping
  • Event and Workshop Facilitation
  • Visual Practice
  • Open Education
Marc Breschuk

Marc Breschuk

LMS Operations Manager
mbreschuk@brocku.ca

Marc has been working with CPI since 2013, where he has been helping Brock educators utilize educational technologies to accelerate their course delivery. He oversees the operational aspects of several large educational platforms, including Brightspace and Brock’s Student Course Experience Surveys. His role involves ensuring that these platforms are evolving to meet Brock’s unique learning context, and that the resources of the CPI and Brock team are being effectively marshalled to this end. Marc has an enduring interest in the usability of technologies and ways of sharing information to make them knowable.

Contact me about:

  • Brightspace operations and integrations
  • Student Course Experience Surveys
Alisa Cunnington

Alisa Cunnington

Senior Educational Developer,
Technology Enabled Learning
acunnington@brocku.ca

Alisa joined the CPI team in early 2019, having been a part of the Brock University teaching and learning community since the Walker complex addition was a parking lot.  Alisa is happiest making complicated information or problems seem human, manageable, and accessible.  Supporting and troubleshooting the operation of educational technologies while imagining creative ways of using available technologies are some of the ways she enjoys exploring the many facets of teaching and learning.  In her words: “Let’s see what we can do together to figure that out.”

Contact me about:

  • Teaching with Brightspace
  • MS Teams
  • Many online technologies
Natalie Currie-Patterson

Natalie Currie-Patterson

Associate Director,
Educational Development
ncurriepatterso@brocku.ca

Dr. Natalie Currie-Patterson joined the CPI team in July 2019 but has spent a great deal of time on the Brock Campus throughout her educational career as both student and instructor. As an educational developer Natalie works to support TAs and faculty members explore their teaching style while acquiring valuable instructional skills. Natalie has an interest in the ways research, teaching, and learning can operate to support moves towards truth, reconciliation, equity, and social justice rooted in relationship and community. She is excited “to forge connections between theory and practice to support transformative education.”

Contact me about:

  • Teaching Assistant Programming
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant Practicum
  • Teaching Dossier Consultations
  • Instructional Design
headshot of Kosar

Kosar Dakhilalian

Educational Developer
kdakhilalian@brocku.ca

Kosar joined CPI team in August 2023 after having graduated from Brock University’s master in Comparative Literature and Arts. Kosar has a background in Drama. In addition to being a TA at Dramatic Arts Department at Brock, she has a keen interest in performance and pedagogy. Kosar offers support and consultation for open education and open educational resources (OER). Kosar has a passion for teaching and finds joy in connecting with people and supporting them.

Contact me about:

  • Open Pedagogy

  • Open Educational Resources

  • Pressbooks

Melanie Elliot

Melanie Elliott

Manager,
Educational Technologies
melliott2@brocku.ca

Melanie has been a casual member of the CPI team in an Educational Technologies support and research capacity since 2016, joining the team full-time in 2020 when she became the Project Coordinator for the LMS Review. Now, as the Manager of Educational Technologies she supports her team with faculty consultations, liaises with third-party integration vendors, and coordinates the transition from Sakai to Brightspace. Melanie’s background is in qualitative research and evaluation which fostered her love for complicated questions and listening to people’s stories, preferably over a hot cup of coffee.

Contact me about:

  • Brightspace
  • Educational Technologies
  • …and how they might work better together
headshot of smiling Ann wearing glasses and a blazer

Ann Gagné

Senior Educational Developer,
Accessibility and Inclusion
agagne3@brocku.ca

Dr. Ann Gagné (she/her) has over 12 years’ experience in instructional design, curriculum, and educational development. As Senior Educational Developer, Accessibility & Inclusion, Ann supports accessible pedagogical considerations in course, assessment, and learning activity design, as well as resource selection. She works to foster educational communities and spaces where disabled learners’, faculty, and staff lived experience is acknowledged and supported.

Contact me about:

  • Universal Design for Learning
  • Inclusive Classrooms
  • Accommodations in Teaching and Assessment
  • Accessibility in teaching, learning, and social media
Nurbek Imangazin Headshot

Nurbek Imangazin

Educational Technologies Developer
nimangazin@brocku.ca

Nurbek joined the CPI team in early 2020. As an Educational Technologies Developer, Nurbek supports existing educational technology infrastructure, ensures system reliability, expands software functional capabilities, and helps advance the teaching and learning practices through emerging contemporary technologies.

Contact me about:

  • Teams Live Events
  • Educational Technology Development
  • Computational Logic
  • Computers talking to other computers about teaching and learning (APIs)
Photography of Jennifer Kopczinski

Jennifer Kopczinski

Curriculum & Quality Enhancement Manager
jkopczinski@brocku.ca

Jennifer joined the CPI team in 2018 and has been a member of the Brock community since 2012. She supports departments in curriculum projects aimed at designing or re-envisioning program learning outcomes, program pathways, and course alignment to support student learning and incorporate aligned and high impact teaching practices. This includes supporting programs through the IQAP cyclical academic review process and new program proposals. You will often find her supporting faculty and staff on curriculum mapping projects. In her words, “teaching and learning is an adventure … and every journey benefits from a map.”

Contact me about:

  • IQAP cyclical academic review
  • New program proposals
  • Program redesign and renewal
  • Curriculum mapping
  • Program learning outcomes
Stuart McCulley

Stuart McCulley

Educational Technologies Support Assistant
smcculley@brocku.ca

Stuart joined the CPI team in November 2022 after having graduated from Brock University’s Interactive Arts and Science program in June. Stuart took a liking to the art of storytelling throughout his studies, so as an Educational Technologies Support Assistant he is very interested in an instructor’s journey to educate their students and how various technologies can fit into their story. Stuart finds daily inspiration among his CPI peers, who reach above and beyond to provide solutions and support to the university community.

Contact me about:

  • Brightspace
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Nostalgic reflections on being a student in Sakai
head and shoulder photo of Mac with trees behind him

Mac Orlando

Educational Developer,
Indigenous
morlando@brocku.ca

Mac brings his curricular expertise to the CPI educational development team. He is also part of the Vice Provost, Indigenous Engagement’s extended team working with faculty, teaching assistants, staff and students as part of Brock’s commitment to decolonization and reconciliation.

Contact me about:

  • Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning
  • Curricular consultations at the course and program level
  • Decolonization and Reconciliation in the classroom
headshot of Oya in front of the pond inlet

Oya Pakkal

Research Associate
opakkal@brocku.ca

As a PhD graduate student in the Department of Psychology, Oya brings her expertise in research and writing about inclusive design to support the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation.

head and shoulders photo of Anne

Anne Readhead

Educational Developer
areadhead@brocku.ca

Dr. Anne Readhead joined the CPI Team in May 2020. Anne supports TAs and Faculty with their development of instructional skills including pedagogical growth and creativity. “Being a part of the Brock community is such a fascinating experience; as we learn and grow together towards a progressive and better academic space for everyone.”

Contact me about:

  • Instructional Design
  • Curriculum Mapping
  • TA and Faculty Workshops
gareth picture profile

Gareth Seymour

Educational Technologist
gseymour@brocku.ca

Gareth joined the CPI team in January 2022 and has almost a decade of public experience in helping tear down the barriers of technology use, be they perceived or actual. He sees it as his duty to empower others through understanding and is excited to assist with enhancing any and all aspects of the learning experience at Brock.

Contact me about:

  • Brightspace
  • EdTech Help Documentation
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Asynchronous video production
Wanda Gilmore

Wanda Gilmore

wgilmore@brocku.ca

Wanda has been CPI’s Resource Coordinator since 2003. In a support staff role, she values being part of a great team, including faculty, staff and students with a common focus on teaching and learning. In her words: “Working collaboratively with groups across campus and connecting people to resources that enhance teaching and learning at Brock University is both gratifying and fulfilling – that is why I’m still here after 16 years.”

Contact me about:

  • On Secondment to OSSTF until 2024

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