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R. Diane Schmallegger, Ed.D.

Online & Extended Learning Admissions, School of Education and Extended Learning

Director of Learning Design

diane schmallegger
Degrees & Certificates

Ed.D. in Instructional Technology and Distance Education, Nova Southeastern University
M.A. in Educational Technology, University of Northern Colorado
B.A. in Mass Communications with emphases in Public Relations and Broadcasting

Diane is Director of Learning Design at Tiffin University in Ohio, where she has worked as a remote employee since July of 2019. She manages a remote team of instructional designers and leads efforts to create Tiffin’s online courses.

She currently resides in Estero, Florida, situated on the Gulf Coast between Naples and Fort Myers.

In 2020, she moved from Las Vegas, Nevada, where she had worked as an Instructional Designer for MGM Resorts in their corporate office. At MGM, from 2014 to 2019, she created a blended-learning program for new leaders and led efforts to pilot and launch an online professional development program for line-level employees.

At The Learning House, in Louisville, Kentucky, from 2006 to 2013, she managed a faculty support team in preparing their online classes, led the creation and delivery of a faculty development class, which introduced faculty at more than 100 institutions to the Moodle learning management systems and online pedagogy, and implemented a team to provide technical support for both faculty and students.

She then served as Director of Instructional Design for the division of Distance Education at Utah Valley University, where she worked as part of a team to develop quality standards for online courses and led implementation of these standards.

Her research interests include examination of how hosting platforms may influence course quality and delivery of massively open online courses (MOOCs); academic integrity as it pertains to online education; and how Community of Inquiry supports the distance education environment.

Waiting 12 years after high school to begin her undergraduate degree at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado, she can relate to non-traditional students and is passionate about encouraging adults to pursue their dreams through higher education. Excited about the high quality online courses she has completed, and discouraged about the low quality ones, she is driven to do what she can to improve the online learning experience for both learners and educators.