Dr. Jennifer C. Richardson is a Professor in Learning, Design and Technology in the College of Education. Her research and teaching focuses on evidence-based practices in online learning environments. Specifically, through strategies and design for teaching online, social presence, gauging learning in online environments, and the Community of Inquiry framework she creates scholarly contributions to teaching and learning. Teaching and conducting research in distance education for the past 20 years, Richardson feels that these two processes are interwoven, with one advancing the other.

Coming from the College of Education, Richardson feels that teaching excellence is encouraged as part of the broader culture. She was promoted to Associate and Full Professor on the basis of scholarly contributions to teaching and learning. She is a Fellow of the Online Learning Consortium, granted for contributions to advancing quality, scale and breadth in online education. In her field, she received awards related to her work with online education including the Online Learning Journal Outstanding Research Award in Online Education and the Sloan-C Effective Practices in Online Education Award. At Purdue, she was the recipient of a College of Education Graduate Faculty Mentor Award (2020), a Teaching Leadership Award (2019), and the Digital Education Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award (2017).

Richardson mentors graduate students and faculty through formal and informal settings. She has taught research-focused courses, e.g., Writing Research Proposals, Issues and Methods in Educational Technology Research, and specialized courses related to online learning, e.g., Cognitive Load and Online Course Quality, Scaffolding Strategies in Online Learning Environments, Foundations of Distance Education, and Online Course Development Consulting, etc. She mentors graduate students to teach, both online and face-to-face, and this process includes not only research into and on effective teaching strategies, but also the design and development of courses using evidence-based practices. She has used her classes as a clinical experience for graduate students to develop their own online learning environments and to work with faculty members across campus to develop online courses, e.g., EDCI 57500 Foundations of Distance Education, EDCI 62700: Advanced Distance Education Research and Issues; EDCI 62700 Online Course Development Consulting. Most recently, Richardson, with Dr. Wanju Huang, led a team of graduate students in the development of PoRTAL (Purdue Repository for online Teaching and Learning), a peer-reviewed, grounded in research, digital repository for online teaching and learning. Her team was the recipient of the AECT Division of Distance Learning Best Practice Award (2019) for this work. PoRTAL applies knowledge to salient societal challenges and had over 5,000 hits during 2020 when the pandemic found instructors and designers shifting to online environments. 

The year of ERT (emergency remote teaching), as she calls it, made Richardson a popular speaker among her Purdue colleagues as well.  She engaged in a number of brown bags, e.g., Maximizing Student Potential Conference, Purdue Active Learning Community of Practice, Teaching for Tomorrow fellows, and workshops across campus to discuss engaging students online and developing instructor presence for online and blended environments. She also was called upon to serve as a faculty representative for Purdue’s contingency team in March 2020 to develop materials to help Purdue faculty and students transition from face-to-face to online/remote teaching and learning (Example).

The following table maps Dr. Richardson’s teaching excellence evidence to evaluation activities.

Activity	Example Evidence
Mentoring and Advising Learners Beyond the Classroom, e.g., undergraduates, graduates, interns, residents	Mentors graduate students and faculty through formal and informal settings Mentors graduate students to teach, both online and face-to-face, and this process includes not only research into and on effective teaching strategies, but also the design and development of courses using evidence-based practices Served as a faculty representative for Purdue’s contingency team in March 2020 to develop materials to help Purdue faculty and students transition from face-to-face to online/remote teaching and learning
Awards and Recognitions	Online Learning Journal Outstanding Research Award in Online Education Sloan-C Effective Practices in Online Education Award College of Education Graduate Faculty Mentor Award (2020) Teaching Leadership Award (2019) Digital Education Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award (2017) AECT Division of Distance Learning Best Practice Award (2019)
Curriculum Development and Teaching Innovations	Taught research-focused courses, e.g., Writing Research Proposals, Issues and Methods in Educational Technology Research, and specialized courses related to online learning, e.g., Cognitive Load and Online Course Quality, Scaffolding Strategies in Online Learning Environments, Foundations of Distance Education, and Online Course Development Consulting Used her classes as a clinical experience for graduate students to develop their own online learning environments and to work with faculty members across campus to develop online courses, e.g., EDCI 57500 Foundations of Distance Education, EDCI 62700: Advanced Distance Education Research and Issues; EDCI 62700 Online Course Development Consulting
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning	Fellow of the Online Learning Consortium, granted for contributions to advancing quality, scale and breadth in online education PoRTAL, a peer-reviewed, grounded in research, digital repository for online teaching and learning; applies knowledge to salient societal challenges and had over 5,000 hits during 2020 when the pandemic found instructors and designers shifting to online environments Brown bags, e.g., Maximizing Student Potential Conference, Purdue Active Learning Community of Practice, Teaching for Tomorrow fellows, and workshops across campus to discuss engaging students online and developing instructor presence for online and blended environments