Curriculum Services
Our learning design and technology professionals can develop courses and learning experiences to drive student-centered outcomes and your institutional goals.
Amy Peterson
Senior Vice President of Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
Amy Peterson has over 15 years of experience developing online and hybrid courses and learning experiences for dozens of universities and colleges. Prior to joining Pearson, Amy served in several leadership positions in course development, education technology, student support services, and higher education online operations.
She has master's degrees in Education from Michigan State University and Public History from Loyola University. She is currently working on a PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on collaborative learning facilitated by computer-mediated communication (CMC) in postsecondary education, specifically the pedagogy and technology that support interpersonal and group processes in synchronous and asynchronous online courses.
Elizabeth Adkins
Director of Instructional Design for Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
Elizabeth Adkins has been in the Pearson family for over eight years as a services partner to the Online Learning Services/OPM team. She has a MEd in Instructional Systems Design from the University of Central Florida and a BS in Psychology from the College of William and Mary.
Her career in learning design covers a broad spectrum of consultative experiences, most notably including game-based learning in secondary algebra, clinical development within graduate-level nursing, synchronous lab-based science instruction, environmental law policy, and undergraduate psychology. In addition, related experience in supporting partners in accreditation measures, providing guidance to academic partners going online for the first time, and facilitating workshops for faculty have helped to solidify several new and existing partnership ventures for the Online Learning Services division of Pearson.
She currently leads a very talented team of 65+ instructional designers who work in offices across North America, including Chicago, Orlando, and Toronto, and in various remote locations. She is a native of Richmond, Virginia, but she has lived in Orlando, Florida for the last nine years.
Erin Gabrysh
Director of Custom Curriculum Development for Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
With over 10 years’ experience in higher education, Erin Gabrysh leads a talented and creative team of instructional and learning design experts located in many locations across the United States. Erin has worked with more than 100 professional organizations, colleges, and universities in the graduate, undergraduate, developmental, and corporate training areas to develop thousands of custom learning experiences and courses.
Her team creates and implements learning technologies and pedagogically sound, innovative, and engaging online, blended, and traditional programs and courses for adult learners, and they deliver specialized training and workshops for faculty and organizational stakeholders according to the institution's’ unique learning design needs. In addition, she has developed and taught numerous online courses, learning design curriculums, and training programs in several disciplines and topics.
Erin has an undergraduate degree in Marketing, a master’s degree in Education focused in Instructional Design, and previously served as a Quality Matters Reviewer and Institutional Representative.
Craig Gunderson
Director of Content and Multimedia Development for Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
Craig Gunderson specializes in strategic online learning content deployment and coaches developers and their managers through content creation and implementation challenges. Craig's 12+ years in the online education industry have resulted in a diverse background in building multimedia learning objects, web-interactivity best practices, graphics creation, LMS expertise, and learning design theory.
Craig’s team is made up of web developers, graphics specialists, motion graphics animators, UX/UI experts, audio and video editors, and project managers in Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, and Toronto. Craig has a BFA in Illustration and is based in Chicago.
Jason MacLean
Director of Operations Management for Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
Jason MacLean has a Business Degree from St. Francis Xavier University. He joined Pearson in 2002, and in his current role he oversees Project Management and Quality Assurance. He developed his online learning skills through various positions all related to course development. Jason has been involved in all aspects of partner launches and has helped support the success of every managed program delivered over the past fifteen years.
Barbara E. Rowan, PhD
Director of Academic Research, Usability, and Evaluation for Course Design, Development, and Academic Research (CDDAR)
Barbara E. Rowan is responsible for aligning internal standards to third-party standards; leading and managing efficacy culture and workflow efforts; and developing and implementing a research roadmap that focuses on instruction, assessment, and learning models and practices.
Prior to joining Pearson in 2010, Dr. Rowan spent twenty years in higher education, holding a variety of administrative positions and teaching research methods and statistics courses, both onground and online. Dr. Rowan’s research interests include computer-based and computerized adaptive testing, measurement equivalence of computer-based versus paper-based measures, student motivation and engagement in the online environment, and online assessment evaluation. Publications and presentations focus on assessment in self-paced, online courses; creation and validation of a measure of quantitative literacy; competency-based education; the science behind learning design; and assessment and measurement-related topics.