Acknowledgments

The writing of this book has been a team effort. It simply would not have been possible without the support of my university colleagues at Plymouth State University, who graciously picked up the service load to provide me with time to write. My thanks to Trent Boggess, dean of the College of Business Administration, for his instrumental assistance, in the form of graduate assistant Valer Suteu, and his professional support. My gratitude also goes to Emerald Insight’s Chris Hart, contracting editor, Sharon Parkinson, publisher, and Sarah Baxter, managing editor as well as to Charles Wankel of St. John’s University, series editor.

Thanks also go to those who have helped shape my thinking and helped me to develop a concept for course redesign that I’m excited to share. Redesigning Courses for Online Delivery: Design, Interaction, Media, & Evaluation is the product of years of reading, discussing, reflecting, and experimenting. Perhaps I am most indebted to my students, who freely shared with me when things worked and when they didn’t.

There are several other people who were directly involved in this project. Thanks to colleague, Professor Deborah Brownstein for her invaluable insights on metaphor and design thinking. Heartfelt appreciation goes out to Sheryl Hansen, director, Ohio Board of Regents, eTech Ohio, for a dozen years of support and her guiding feedback on the DeSIGN concept. Appreciation goes out to long time collaborator and colleague Professor Albert (Chip) Ingram of Kent State University. Chip’s input to the interaction chapter was an organizing force, putting order to chaos.

Enduring gratitude to my loving family, without whom I simply wouldn’t have completed this work. Thanks to my daughter Lauren, who used her newly minted degree in creative writing to keep her mother from mixing too many metaphors, Katherine, for her patience and understanding, and Meridith and Rachel, for their expressions of joy and support for this project.

Finally, this project would not have happened without my loving husband and collaborative partner, Steven Bardus. Steve was graphic designer, page editor, table maker, and all around go-to guy. Many, many thanks for his help in bringing this project to fruition.